Topic: KDF E-7 "Blood Honor" (quv 'lw) class battlecruiser wip...Need your help

[Bernard Guignard]

I remember the FNCA I thought it was a nice TMP variant design that I could see evolving Great work on that one 

[Raven Night]

Ok, almost finished, but im having a problem. Maybe someone here can help. Im using Max 5.5 right now, and my tutor is Awol.

Here is the problem...I have 4 sets of 3 maps each, diff, spec and glow. They have a base color assigned to the polys, so you can shut off the map and see which poly group applies to that particular diff map (useful for those that wish to see how each map is assigned). I also have MatIDs assigned (4 groups) in poly selection, so the major poly groups that each specific map is assigned to can be removed.

So 4 map sets, 4 MatID groups they are each assigned to. I want it to stay that way.

The problem I am having is that when I attach all 4 objects into one seamless mesh, then do a Unwrap UV all of the maps on all of the groups show up. Let me explain a bit further.

I have Map 1 assigned to poly group 1. It has a purple color. After attaching the group to the other groups, if I select the group by matID and do another unwrap, all the maps from all groups on the mesh show up. Even if I detach the group again it still shows all the maps.

What I want is the ability to assign a poly group to a map, and have only that map set (diffuse, glow, specular) show up when the poly group is selected in the combined mesh. At the very least I want to be able to remove the polys in the group and have only the maps assigned to it show up. I dont need the maps from the other groups clogging up the Unwrap UV dialog window.

Does anyone know how this can be done?

[FoaS_XC]

If I'm following you, correctly...
There should be a drop down thing at the bottom of the Edit UVW map dialog that allows you to display only that material. Do NOT use CTRL+A to select everything, because it will select even the hidden UV data.

[Raven Night]

I may not be explaining it right...I thihk I know what you mean, though.

Your talking about the drop down material ID box at the bottom? If you are, that displays the mapping for that particular group....when I first open it up, its a gaggle of poly lines of course, but when I use the drop down to choose, say one for instance, the polys that I assigned to MatID group 1 stay and the others hide.

What I am actually talking about is the drop-down texture display box at the top left, next to the "show map" and "UV" buttons. When I open that drop down box, all the textures for every single MatID group in the model are shown, instead of only the ones that belong to the MatID I selected using poly select. I wanted to find a way to display in that box only the maps assigned to that MatID poly group, if possible.

[Raven Night]

Ok, as it turns out there is no way to prevent Max from combining all the skins into the mesh, available for all MatIDs. Bummer. I wrote a paper to include with the model, that, among other things, establishes which skins go with which MatID group.

Now, I have a few more questions. I want to set a size standard. Im having some trouble with it, so im looking for your help.

I have a model of a D-7, Moons Dark D-7 actually, generally the size standard that I use for all my models. I know how big a D-7 is supposed to be, but I dont know how to set the scale in the viewer windows (and the grid) in max to match up with the model, so I can just use the grid to set the right size for each model.

Does anyone know how to do that?