Modelling Advice

[MarkyD]

If its needed please ask.  :mrgreen:

Any questions.......

How do I?

What is that?

What if I wanna?

Here to help guys.

[Age]

I can't wait till I get photoshop to start playing around with it.I see you have new sig AkamI nice.

[MarkyD]

Yeah I like to play with my toys now and again  :mrgreen:

[flyingvirtual]

to keep acquanted to them :P

BTW marky wouldn't it be nice to have a waffle ship in the shop,
i would even buy such a ship for you, instead of that little snub fighter

[Juran]

Here's a question for you. Where can I get a copy of 3DS Max version 3, 4, or 5 that won't break the bank (or cause me to rob the bank, hehe).

I've been watching ebay for a few months now (been outbid twice. grr.) but are there any other resources where I've not thought to look? As I understand it, 3, 4, and 5 are the only ones that you can use to export the models to use in sfc3

[IKS-TranceEmotion]

as i understand it, max 4 is the highest u can go and export models to sfc3, um yea ebay is probably your best bet if u want to get it legally, there are other ways, that can only be talked about in pm's, so if worst comes to worst om me and ill see what i can do

[MarkyD]

Actually Max 5 and 5.1 both use the max R4 plugin to export to .mod..

and unfortunately... I cannot help you find a copy.. discreet wont sell old when they relesed new versions... so the only place ur gonna get your hands on a copy is ebay or somthing.  8-)

[Juran]

I'm mostly watching ebay. I've only seen the older versions there and no where else.

On a different note (sorta) are there any good tutorials on creating textures from the ground up. I'd like one that has some explanation on getting the textures to look "real". I've been studying the ones on the various models and can't quite figure out just how some of it's done. Like "aging" of the ships hull. Know what I mean?

Also could use one on making the illumination maps. I tried making one using what I thought was the right technique, but when I exported the model to see it in Taldren's model viewer, the area where I had put the illumination was all black. Now, that might have been due to the fact that when I exported, Milkshape (or the plugin) reduced the number of groups I had down to 8 (which kinda torqued me off a bit, lol). Anyways, long question short, any good tutorials. BTW, I looked on dynaverse.net but the tutorials didn't help much, only a little.

[MarkyD]

Yeah.... there are a few.... but nothing like what you need.... depending on your software. I use photoshop... when i first started using it i didnt have a clue what was going on.... I went on the web.. did some signature tutorials and learnt how to use it... I then started by looking and replication textures to the best of my ability.. texturing is a long process... but the more time spent on developing them.. the better the outcome...

Illumination maps.. I dont know if this is gonna go straight over your head but here it is..

I open up the texture, add a new layer, fill the layer with black and set the opacity to 60%, the black layer becomes transparent and you can then see the hull markings and decals. with the black layer selected draw over what you want to glow in white or blue for necelles.. once your done. put the opacity of the black layer back to 100% and save the file as "i"

for example if the filename used was necelle.jpg  save as necellei.jpg

ensure the file is in the folder with model, and that is it.  :bounce

[Juran]

Ok, yeah, I follow what your saying about the illumnations. I'll give it a shot and see what happens. I'm using Paint Shop Pro 5 currently. Version 9 is sitting in the box next to the PC opened as of now. Defragging the drive before I install it.

As for the textures, I"ll open up some of the ones that I like from other models and give those a good look and see if I can kinda duplicate them.

Thanks for the help bro.

[MarkyD]

Cool... NP  :alien

[Juran]

Okay, next questions.

What system requirements does 3DS Max have? Is it compatible with Win XP? Is it a memory hog?

I might have a line on a copy of 3DS Max R4 but want to make sure my system can handle it or what I might need to upgrade.

[MarkyD]

Yes it is a powerfull tool... basically like with mst things the better your computer the better it runs... it likes loads of ram and video ram, if you havent got these then it will work without them.. however if you intend on making hugeky higher poly models you may find it difficult to work with... for making ships however you should have no probs.

[majorracal]

Old copies of Max... Another possibility, if you have the persuasive talents, might be to approach a college or Uni that uses Max and ask if they'd be willing to sell you an older version (assuming they've upgraded to the latest versions).  Sometimes you'll find a copy in their "old books" sales.  That's how I got mine.

[[DMZ]Dave]

Doe's anyone have or no where i can get a plugin for 3ds Max 6 to export Armada 2 ???
Thanks...