3ds max question...

#1 I'm with you. I got 3DS Max 4, and I have -no- idea on how to model. Every tutorial I find says, "First, make a box. Now, this is how to texture and do various other essential things for your model to work in-game."

Really, how many boxes am I going to make before I magically learn how to make a person? So far, I have discovered absolutely no helpful way of doing this, and every tutorial I find takes a lot of things for granted and never, ever explains anything aside from boxes and spheres.

#2 This might help a bit.

http://www.garagegames.com/articles/dhannah/tutorials/

#3 if you have powerpoint look on my profile page for some presentations

#4 Online tutorials are worthless when you are starting from scratch with abolutely no knowledge of the topics.

I highly reccomend the book "Modeling a Character in 3DS Max" by Paul Steed. Its a great book. Takes you thru the entire process of making a character in Max. I think I paid about $30 for the book.

#5 yeah... I guess I'm just going to have to break down and buy the book. But first I'll look at the links. Thaks guys.

-Barzahd

#6 How much did you buy 3Ds Max for anyways? Just wondering.. Always wanted to get it, I just cant find where or how much that thing is hehe

#7 If you're a student, you can get the educational version of max for just under $500. The regular version is $3500 :\

#8 Yeah.... I could have bought that, but doesn't the educational version have several limitations? I went ahead and bought the full version. (gonna pay on that for a while lol)

-Barzahd

#9

Quote:Really, how many boxes am I going to make before I magically learn how to make a person?

Just a note. Every model I build starts off as a box. I use the extrude tool a bit, and then use the cut and divide edge tools and basically move vertices around until it looks like what I want.

There is no magic to it and no special tools that are used. Jsut move all the vertices around until it looks good.

#10 Joe pretty much nailed the question right there. Most people do start from a primative object of some sort, convert it to a mesh or poly shape and then slowly create a shape out of it as if we were working with clay. This is a popular process not even with real-time modeling but with high resolution TV/Film stuff as well.

If you own the tutorials that come with 3DS Max they explain this process numerous times as well as how you can setup UVW coordinates and rig the model up (if its a character) so that it can deform. If you do not own the tutorial book then you might want to go buy some books so that you can get started.

Once you know how to build your own models using whatever modeling method and process that you like, you will need to read and understand the DTS Exporter Documentation.

Get to know your tool inside and out before you contemplate jumping too far ahead.

Logan

#11 The book I learned the most from is George Bridgeman's Constructive Anatomy. It allows you to visualize the masses in very simplified geometric forms.


For UnWapping,check out this UV UnWrapping Tutorial.

#12 Well, to be honest, I not the biggest fan of buying things online. I had to for Torque, but does anybody know if there's possibly a '3ds max for dummies' book out there? I've found those work the best.

#13 If you live in a city, take a trip to your library, if its a decent one they'll have a nice selection of 3d related books. You only need to read 3d "how-to" books once through, and after that you only ever need them as the occasional reference. Which you can use the net for once you've grasped the basics anyway.

I don't know about 3d studio max books to be honest, I haven't used it for about 3/4 years now, but if I can get a softimage book out from a library you can bet your ass there'll be max one's. If you don't live near a big library, take a day trip somewhere and just use the library there (dunno about US but in UK library cards work anywhere inside your county).

However, there are some very good resources on the net if you look...especially for a popular app like max. My tip...google before post ;)

www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=3d+studio+max+box+modelling+low+poly+...

That throws up a lot of results, have a browse through them, theres more than enough information to get you well on your way...and heres a couple that will interest you more specifically.

3dlinks.com low poly tut
PlanetFortress low poly human (a very thorough one)

As for skinning and animation, there are lots of tutorials on these as well, but the likely-hood you'll find one telling you *exactly* how to do what you want to do is very slim. You just have to work through various tutorials until you have enough of an understanding to be able to put your knowledge from the tutorials into practice.

www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&q=3d+studio+max+game+skin...

www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&q=3d+studio+max+animation...

#14 I would just like to say that version 3DS max 5.1 comes with great tutorial books.

#15 I have the Academic priced version of 3DS Max 5.1 and haven't found any limitations so far. I've worked my way through both of Paul Steed's books, modeling and animating, and it does everything in those two books, and a few more books as well.

#16 Email me if your interested in a video tutorial on creating/exporting game models.
I specialize in character models but the process will be similar to others.

Email is Hivoltage@san.rr.com
Please don't ask me to go over ervery little detail of using max. I am assuming that you will have a somewhat working knowledge of the application.

I have gotten all of the player models I have worked on exported and working in game.
The only thing that is preventing from completion is animations. They take me more time to do than modeling. Not to mention I just started college which also takes some of my time. I am able to work on the video tutorials cause I already have a working model. I can show others how to get rid of a bug that may crop up when using max 4.x and abouve.
I will also include the current versions of the plugin/scripts as well.

Stephen Cook
CG character artist

#17 Please help.....How do i export a shape from 3ds max with the texture i have choosen for it. Im using a bitmap and its in the same directory as the dts file exported. In torque the object either comes out light blue or transparent???? (the bitmap is 256x256 as well)???????????????????????????????????????????

#18 Please help.....How do i export a shape from 3ds max with the texture i have choosen for it. Im using a bitmap and its in the same directory as the dts file exported. In torque the object either comes out light blue or transparent???? (the bitmap is 256x256 as well)???????????????????????????????????????????

#19 If your model is transparent then you must have an alpha channel and map applied to the model. Strange it should come out that way if you didn't want it to but you should check the maps rollout in the Material Editor and see if the 'opacity' box is checked. If it is uncheck it.

To find the Material Editor look for the four colored balls grouped on an icon on the top tool bar to the right. Click it. When the Editor comes up scroll down to the last rollout button marked 'maps'. When this pops open look down the list for opacity.

Good luck on your first venture with Max. You've got a long road ahead of you.

BTW, I second the vote for Paul Steed's book. I struggled for a long time with the extruding box method but Steed uses a completely different approach. He uses spline-cages to shape the torso and limbs, though he does use a geosphere to start the head. Anyone tackling character modeling should definately give his book a try.

#20 In reply to the original post, I really like video tutorials when I can find them. Nothing like having the skills demonstrated to you. I found these at 3DBuzz.com:

sv3.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/uunr_vtmlist.php?c=2