Topic: 3d max 4 question  (Read 4678 times)

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Offline Don420

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3d max 4 question
« on: June 23, 2005, 01:26:20 pm »
i just got max 4 and im looking for tutorials on how to
hardpoints and kitbashing? any help is appreciated
thanks
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Offline Mr_Tricorder

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2005, 11:47:15 pm »
The easiest way to do hardpoints is to import a similar model, delete the imported model so only the hardpoints and damage points are left, and adjust them so they better fit your ship.

Kitbashing is pretty easy too.  Select the sections of the ships you want, detach them from their ships, and attach them to each other.  I know that these directions are kind of vague, but if you want to know more, you can email me at a_co_trumpet@msn.com.

3ds max is a very powerful program with tons of features.  Don't be intimidated by it.  Play around with it as much as you can.  Use the tutorials that came with the program and the ones on the internet.  A good site for tutorials is www.3dtotal.com.  Don't be afraid to stray from the tutorials and try new things.  Remember, the undo command is your friend.

I have made a tutorial for applying textures to a ship (this does not teach you how to actually make the textures).  It includes an untextured Akula class starship model and the textures included in SFC2 to practice with.  I hope you find this useful.

Offline Don420

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2005, 12:41:26 am »
thanks for the help, much appreciated.ill have a flood of questions after i check some
of the web sites you pointed out,thanks again. :banghead:
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Offline Bartok

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2005, 08:31:33 am »
Greetings Folks -

Question for you modelers regarding 3D max 4 or other versions.  Is there a freebie version of the program that can be used (is GMAX sufficient?) to work on models, or do I really need to shell out $700 if I want to make models for the game?

Sorry if this is a dumb question - I guess I could search Ebay - seems like the current version of this program is 7?

TIA for any responses:)

Offline Mr_Tricorder

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #4 on: June 24, 2005, 08:38:38 am »
The problem with gmax isn't making the models.  The problem is exporting them to .mod format so the game can use them.  The import/export plugins will only work with 3ds max versions 3, 4, and 5.  You may be able to make a ship in gmax and then convert it to .mod format in milkshape.  I've never tried it before, but it might work.

Offline Don420

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2005, 07:58:03 pm »

Kitbashing is pretty easy too.  Select the sections of the ships you want, detach them from their ships, and attach them to each other.  I know that these directions are kind of vague


can you please elaborate, i'm a dumbass so please explain in terms a idiot can understand?
thank you :help: :banghead:
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Offline Mackie

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2005, 07:59:26 pm »
pah! get Lightwave!
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Offline Antivyrus

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2005, 08:38:49 pm »
if all you want to do is bash  Milkshape is ideal and its only $20-25 US

Offline Don420

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2005, 11:19:06 pm »
i have milkshape and 3ds max but i want to learn max because it is better
and i lost my part time job so getting lightwave is out.
 :drinkinsong:
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Offline Mackie

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2005, 01:29:07 am »
max is far inferior. only few aspects are equal :P
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Offline Starforce2

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2005, 08:21:40 am »
do you use Emule? I typed in modeling a while back just to see what I got and there was tutorials for everything from CGI to Maya and LWO. I'm not sure if they were vids or what I was just testing it out....and..ya know...admiring some of the naked chicks that poped up in the search too... :o

Offline Sandman3D

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #11 on: September 18, 2005, 11:04:26 am »
max is far inferior. only few aspects are equal :P
Actually, it's LW that is inferior...ALL HAIL MAX!! ;D
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Offline Mr_Tricorder

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #12 on: September 18, 2005, 06:56:34 pm »

Kitbashing is pretty easy too.  Select the sections of the ships you want, detach them from their ships, and attach them to each other.  I know that these directions are kind of vague


can you please elaborate, i'm a dumbass so please explain in terms a idiot can understand?
thank you :help: :banghead:
Ok, here's how you do it.

SETTING UP:  Import the ships you want to bash (I'm assuming you already have the import/export plugins already installed), delete the hardpoints, and move one of the ships off to the side so they aren't overlapping anymore (leave the one you're using the main hull from in the center to make things easier).

DELETING PARTS:  Select a ship.  Select the Modify tab on the panel on the right side of the screen (it's the second tab from the left).  Click the Edit Polygon button (the square in-between the triangle and the cube) and highlight all of the polygons on the section you want to delete (if the polygons don't turn red, hit F2.  This will make selecting the right polygons easier).  Click on the Delete button in the Modify panel.  A dialog box should appear asking if you want to delete the isolated vertices (if this doesn't happen, don't worry about it.)  Select "yes".  The selected section should now be deleted.

MOVING PARTS:  Follow the same steps for deleting parts, only instead of clicking Delete, Click on Detatch.  A dialog box will appear asking you what you want to name the new object.  The default name should be fine since this object is going to be attached to your ship soon.  Use the Move and Rotate buttons in the top toolbar to place and orient the parts however you want them.  TIP:  right-click on the Move button to bring up a coordinates box.  This box shows the values of the x,y, and z coordinates of the "centerpoint" of your object (CAUTION:  the "centerpoint" may not be in the center of your object.  Don't worry, it doesn't need to be.  Just adjust according to what looks right.)  You can move the object with this box either by assigning new coordinates or by typing in the number of units that the part needs to move in a certain direction (for example, if your object is at x=10 and you want to move it to the right 15 units, you could either type 15 in the left box or 5 in the right box).  This will also work for rotating objects too, just keep in mind that you will be working with degrees instead of coordinates for rotation.

ADJUSTING PARTS:  You may need to scale some ship parts to make them larger or smaller so they look right.  Next to the Rotate button on the top toolbar, there is a Scale button.  It should look like a square with a smaller square inside it.  For this one.  Right click on this button to bring up the same kind of box that you brought up when moving the parts.  In the field on the right side, it should say 100%.  Replace the 100 with the percent value to resize the part (example, if you want to double the size of the part, type 200.  If you want to shrink it to half its size, type 50).  If you want to scale the part only across one axis (you want to make the part fatter, skinnier, deeper, shallower, taller, or shorter) then click on the scale button and hold down the left mouse button.  A drop, down list of different scale buttons should appear.  Select the one that looks like one horizontal rectangle and one verticle rectangle that intersect in the bottom left corner.  This will let you scale all three axes independently of each other.  Also, if you need to make finer adjustments, select the Vertex (the picture of the dots) button in the Modify panel on the right side of the screen.  This should cause all of the vertices in the selected object to show up as blue dots.  Highlight the vertices you want to adjust and use Move, Rotate, and Scale to adjust them how you want to.

ATTACHING PARTS:  After you have finished moving all of your ship parts into position, it is time to put your kitbash together.  Select the main hull of you ship.  In the modify panel, click on the button that says Attach.  Click on all of the parts that you want to attach to the ship.  Hit escape when you are finished to deselect the Attach button.  Delete any extra ship parts by selecting them and hitting delete.  Now, the only thing on the screen should by your kitbashed ship exactly as you want it to look.  Select it, and then click on the Vertex button in the Modify panel.  Highlight all of the vertices.  In the Modify panel, you should see a button that says "weld" and next to it should be a field that says 0.1.  Change the 0.1 to a 0.001 and click "weld".  Your, kitbash should now be ready for Hardpoints and Damage points.  If you need help with adding those, please respond.  I have to go to work now, so I'm stopping here.

Offline Tus-XC

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #13 on: September 18, 2005, 07:08:08 pm »
max is far inferior. only few aspects are equal :P

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Offline Lord Schtupp

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #14 on: September 18, 2005, 11:32:30 pm »
Real nice clear set of instructions Mr Tricorder, good work :thumbsup:

Offline Don420

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #15 on: September 19, 2005, 04:29:39 pm »
thanks man im going to attemp it now  :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:
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Offline Mr_Tricorder

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #16 on: September 19, 2005, 05:13:22 pm »
I just noticed a mistake in my instructions.
...  You can move the object with this box either by assigning new coordinates or by typing in the number of units that the part needs to move in a certain direction (for example, if your object is at x=10 and you want to move it to the right 15 units, you could either type 15 in the left box or 5 in the right box). ...
Just ignore my example.  It's wrong.
This box that I'm talking about should look something like this:  (don't worry about the numbers; I'm making them up.)
x=10    x=(empty box)
y=12    y=(empty box)
z=2      z=(empty box)

If you want to move the object to the right 15 units, replace the x=10 with x=25 (not 15) OR you could type 15 (not 5) in the empty box for x (since you're moving the object 15 units in the positive direction along the x axis.  It pays to listen in math class, doesn't it  ;) ).
If you wanted to move the object 2.5 units back (toward the rear of the ship), then you should either replace y=12 with y=9.5 OR type -2.5 in the empty box for y.

This sounded confusing to me while I was typing it, so I'm not sure if you can understand what I am trying to tell you.  Let me know whether or not this makes sense.



Offline Don420

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #17 on: September 19, 2005, 11:06:20 pm »
thanks again that was easy i'll post a wip later i want to play with
my first bash :rwoot:
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Offline Don420

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #18 on: September 19, 2005, 11:43:16 pm »
how do i post a screen shot?
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Offline Bartok

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Posting a Screenshot
« Reply #19 on: September 20, 2005, 07:50:47 am »
how do i post a screen shot?

Greetings Don420, psyched to see your first bash!!!! - MrCue's instructions were wonderful - though I don't have the program to try it out.  I'm psyched to give it a shot at some point.

As far as posting a screenshot, my guess is that it would work much the same way a signature graphic is attached.  Basically it just has to be somewhere on the internet (personal webspace etc.) and you surround the complete url with image tags

HTH - Bartok


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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #20 on: September 20, 2005, 08:10:53 am »
Also, when you are making a post, it should say "Additional Options..." in yellow letters below the box in which you type.  Click on that, and you will be given the option of attaching a file.  If you attach a picture (preferrably .jpg, .png, or .gif) it will appear in your post.

Offline Don420

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #21 on: September 20, 2005, 06:31:43 pm »
ok, i've always loved this ship http://www.the-tcs.net/ships/gafy/Frontier_no_HP.jpg
so for my first bash i thought i should try that design with wz's models.
feedback is welcome its my first try
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Offline Bartok

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #22 on: September 21, 2005, 07:26:37 am »
Hi Don,

Very nice ship there - is this your base model (ship you're going to start "moddifing").  I like it a lot, nice mix of primary and secondary hulls, interesting seeing the nacelly pylons originating at the bottom/base of the secondary hull.

Cheers,

Offline KBF MalaK

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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #23 on: September 21, 2005, 10:02:18 am »
Great info Mr. Tricorder- I've already cut and paisted it into my kitbash book. ;)

Is it possible use cut and paste for model objects ?? Say I want to use the engines from one model on another model, can I simply import the part only ??
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Re: 3d max 4 question
« Reply #24 on: September 21, 2005, 10:41:49 am »
Ok, here's how you do that.

Now, let's say that you're making a ship and you want a warp nacelle that is saved in a .max file along with several other parts.  In order to retrieve this part, and any other parts you need from this file, open the File menu and select Merge.  Chose the file that has the part or parts that you want (this should work similar to opening a file).  Next, you should see a dialog box listing all of the objects in that max scene.  Select the object or objects you wish to merge into your current scene.