gmax question... Created 15 years ago2009-03-03 14:17:20 UTC by Frozen Storm

I'm trying to make a chair as a model and am currently having difficulties with the back of the chair. It's made of three boxes like this:Now I want to make it like this:Or at least like this:Can someone please tell me how to do this because gmax is currently successfully driving me mad.

This seems um, pretty simple to model, i mean if you can't even make this in gmax you might want to consider some very basic tutorials on how to use it.

Just go to vertex mode and ctrl-select the outer vertices on both ends, and drag them down. (for the third set of pics at least)

For the secod set of pictures i would just extrude the end faces out, and then weld back the extra vertices to get the desired shape. I know there is are many other ways to do this, but that's just the way i would go about it.

And btw why are you bothering with gmax anyway. hasn't it been unsupported/dead for quite sometime? What game are you modeling for?

Yeah, I was gonna say. Just by looking I wouldn't recommend using it for anything other than Flight/Train Simulators.

Looks as old and ugly as sin.

Just go to vertex mode and ctrl-select the outer vertices on both ends, and drag them down. (for the third set of pics at least)

Ah, I couldn't find the vertex mode, now I found it and this of course makes it really simple.

This seems um, pretty simple to model, i mean if you can't even make this in gmax you might want to consider some very basic tutorials on how to use it.

Yes, I would definitely need some tutorial which would explain all the tools usable in gmax, this is the first time I use it. But I've tried googling and found nothing that would be on less than 50 pages and would explain all the tools, or at least the ones that are used the most.

For the secod set of pictures i would just extrude the end faces out, and then weld back the extra vertices to get the desired shape. I know there is are many other ways to do this, but that's just the way i would go about it.

OK, but I can't seem do anything with the Face Extrude tool... Whatever I input, however I move the xyz axis thing, nothing happens...

And btw why are you bothering with gmax anyway. hasn't it been unsupported/dead for quite sometime? What game are you modeling for?

I thought you were supposed to model any complex geometry because the game can support more epolys than wpolys...
I'm making this for a CS map.

Check out Rimrook's modeling tutorials on his site.

I have a few links with G-max stuff for HL somewhere, its possible but not ideal, you could combine it with Blender though, which works quite well.

I've read it and set the gmax up with its help. But some things are different in gmax and some tools are in different locations and stuff like that.

So is it worth trying to learn gmax or should I just go back to Teh Hammre and do stuff that I know how to do?

Yeah pepper but for cs 1.6 wouldn't he be better off using Milkshape?

I used to have a shitload of gmax tutorials, but they were all lost with "the purge"... = (
I remember when i used gmax i found that a lot of the plugins/tutorials/whatevs were actually for Max NOT Gmax i couldn't get many things to work. Also, i never once successfully compiled a gmax file to Half-life .smd, no matter how hard i tried. I gave up rather quickly and bought a regular version of max...

And didn't Rim say he had some texture mapping/animation problems using max with HL? didn't he end up using Milkshape to do some of those things properly? RIM ARE YOU THERE? = )

Off to the general section with all your non half-life related questions!

Scat!

Technically, this IS related to half-life.

Milkshape? Do you have to pay for it?

You do after a 30 day trial.

Use Maya 08, theres a easy tool in the called "Create Polygon tool" in the 'Edit Mesh' menu, Take that into the top view with image planes and go over it, then extrude it down. Easy as pie...

1) Select an object and click and hold right-click.

2) You get a hotbox of tools and functions, find Convert To and choose Editable Poly.

3) The tool pallette on the side changes and has roll outs of a variety of tools. To use these, you must choose a time of selection. At the top, you should see some squares and dots. If you mouse hover over them, the say Vertex, Edge, Border, Polygon, and Element. Choose Vertex.

4) Select the outer most 2 vertices (the ones you wish to pull down) and move them. You can right click to the hotbox and select the move tool.

5)???

6) Profit.

Yeah I managed to make the pic no.3, I can't make the number 2 (the one with the curved outer boxes). Anyway I need to first get home before I can try out anything else.

The vertex thing works even if I don't convert it into an editaple poly. But the face extrude just won't do anything.

Are you still using gmax? Rim and Pepper are modelling Gods, but i really believe you'd be better off with milkshape. It's only like $30 for the program and unliminted updates afaik, and it was pretty much created to make HL models..

Technically, this IS related to half-life.

Wow the first post i can think of ever agreeing with Darkie.

Darkie: Have you ever considered changing your username to something, um... i dunno, less-stupidly pointless? really...... anti-lulz would be much better imo, or really, anything else (except of course: penisjuice, poopsex and other stupifyingly even more chav names obv)
[/rant]

Hey, whats so great and not "stupidly pointless" about "Captain Terror"? Or "Muzzleflash"? Or even "Penguinboy"? There's nothing wrong with my username.

Whut?

Im using Max 8 for HL, and Max 2009 for Unreal Tournament/XNA. Not because its so much better, it has bugged tools and lacks stability that version 8 had. But because i have to.

Completely forgot abou the links, there on my main rig and im working on my laptop now, it takes a while to boot so il do it tommorow.

EDIT:

http://3dnow.informe.com/3ds-max-gmax-df10.html

Usefull?

OK, so should I buy milkshape or keep learning gmax?

*cough *cough torrent

cough download this shit here *cough&

Lite version of 3ds max, or milkshape 3d...

I'd go with lite 3ds max, it's free.

You have a link to that? Google gives me al kinds of results...

cough *cough torrent *cough download this shit here *cough&

OK I went and downloaded legally acquired it.

Do I have to install any plugins as well?

Oh and is the grid set to the correct settings by default?

Here: http://www.maprookie.com/tutorials/modellingp1.html

Wait... Isn't this the same as rimrook's tut?
Anyway I'm doing Milkshape now, seems a lot simpler at first sight. At least you have all the tools in one place and stuff.

You have a link to that? Google gives me al kinds of results...

I was referring to gmax as a lite version of 3ds max

OK, this is not gmax related anymore, but still it's a similar subject.
I have two questions about mislkshape and models:
1) How do you copy brushes (or whatever they're called in models)?
2) If my chair model has 1500 polys, is that too much?

Maybe start a new thread? I must reiterate there are TONS of milkshape tutorials out there to answer your questions, plus a lot of info compiling to HL smd (usable format for HL) on this site. do a little diggin you'll be surprised = )

1)google "clone objects milshape" A lot of the results are for milkshape tutorials for The Sims, but you'll be able to use many of the techniques--such as cloning brushes(objects) in making your HL models.

2)Not sure what are acceptable wpoly counts for Half-life. I think as long as your in-game performance is ok you should be fine. As you become a better modeller, you'll find what are the most efficient ways to build things.

Maybe start a new thread?

Yeah, I might try that next time. But in this case it was a similar subject, so...

1)google "clone objects milshape" A lot of the results are for milkshape tutorials for The Sims, but you'll be able to use many of the techniques--such as cloning brushes(objects) in making your HL models.

OK, thanks I'll have to check the techniques on the other computer.

2)Not sure what are acceptable wpoly counts for Half-life. I think as long as your in-game performance is ok you should be fine. As you become a better modeller, you'll find what are the most efficient ways to build things.

Well, the problem is that I map for CS (multiplayer) which means that someone might have a worse computer than me (although it's highly unlikely, but it's still possible) and then it would cause problems to him even though it would work fine for me.

Why don't you try to build/skin/compile a model before worrying about epoly counts...

Because I don't want to build the whole model and then find out that it has a too high epoly count and is therefore useless.

Anyway is the grid in milkshape set to the correct settings by default or do I have to reconfigure the settings?

Yeah but first things first. I would just recommend starting simple for your first model, you can make the railing post more advanced when you learn more about milkshape. again, try skinning and compiling it to half-life, and see what i looks like in there. (very likely making these overly fancy will be a waste of time and mapping resources, but you can judged that for yourself in-game)

Hopefully a more experinced modeller will chime in and let you know about what are acceptable poly counts (Rim, World Crafter, Pepper, among others)

about the grid, it's been eons since i used milkshape, so i can't say. I know i'm sounding like a parrot here, but again, i would search for the best, most relevant milkshape tutorials you can find, go through every one, (you'll find some are really helpful and comprehensive and some are very vague.

If i get some time later, i'll try to dig up some old milkshape tutorials if i still have them, or provide you with some links. There are probably whole forums dedicated to milkshape and mabye even still some around dedicated specifically to HL1 modelling. (it's been too long i don't remember any atm)

Hey, who gives a shit about half-lifes limits, i can fully compile the full fy71 from crysis into half life without error.

The only thing about that is that crysis textures are hard to get, but that doesn't matter, the point at hand is basically getting a tough model into hl.

Well sure you can compile extemely high poly models into HL but the game will start to to suffer even on the most uber of PC's after a while because of the engines limitations.

Yeah, but honestly you'd have to be pretty stupid to stick 50 fy71's in the same level, like you said urb, it's nice for one model, but don't go overboard.

I finally have some time to return to this project. I managed to make the box (though it's not textured yet) but now I can't export it. I extracted all the plugins into the plugins folder but I don't have 'Valve HL2 SMD' under file types when I try to export.
Is it allright if I choose 'All types' and just give it a .smd suffix or is smd something other than half life models as well?

Also when making a texture, do I select the 256-colour bitmap or 16-colour bitmap?

EDIT: I managed to export it with milkshape now but now I can't compile it. I copy-paste the QC script and edit it as it says in the tutorial but when I try to compile it, it just says (in the compiler) that all tests were passed but then I get a Debug/Send/Don't send error report message and there is no .mdl in my project folder. The compiler doesn't close though.

OK, I managed to compile it now. Turns out the 3dsmax->milkshape->compiling way isn't very good.

The texture has to be 8 bit, and smd is a filetype that has it's own header, so you can't export to any file, and use the suffix smd.

Yeah, I managed to do it. Turns out I somehow copied the plugins for 3DSMax into the plugins folder of Milkshape and therefore I wasn't able to export to .smd. I fixed that now.
Also I now know that 8 bit bmp = 256 colour bmp (stupid me, I thought 2x8 instead of 2^8).
It works fine now.

I just have one more question. What exactly do bones do and why do I need them? Because I need to know how to place them for my chair model.

OK I know I was really annoying with this and I apologize but finally my chair is done and I can get back to working on my map.
My first real model ever