I have a problem with registering Milkshape Created 5 years ago2019-09-14 15:49:38 UTC by SirCobalt

I know this sounds really stupid but I need to know this so please help, but first some background...

So I've used Milkshape 3D before and after a while I've gotten used to how it works. Now I've decided I want my mod to use custom models because I want it to be original. I've found a way to create such models but the only problem is I can't save them unless I register Milkshape. Here is the problem.

Milkshape has three different payment options. That and considering how old it is has immediately tripped an alarm inside my brain. I am very concerned whether or not the software will properly register after paying for it and which payment option will actually work and it worries me, but I can't make progress with my mod unless I have a working modelling software.

Put it simply, Milkshape makes me nervous, and I'm wondering if anyone here has registered it recently so that they can prove it is still legitimate so to speak.

Side Note: I have ruled out kHED and Blender.

I used Milkshape previously, but never registered it. Given that the site hasn't been updated since 2013 and there are no obvious methods of contacting the author (not to mention the "strictly no refunds" policy), I would suggest that it might be worth getting to grips with Blender instead. Yes, it means learning a new toolset, but it's very compatible with GoldSRC models, is open source and still actively being developed on top of being totally free.

Probably uninstalling it and reinstalling it will restart the trial period. It´s not illegal.

But how do you import smd files like you would in milkshape in blender? Is there a plugin or something that I have to download?

There is a plugin, yes. Blender Source Tools: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/BlenderSourceTools

Already a few minutes in, and simply adding a texture to a model is an impossibly complicated task. I don't suppose anyone here knows?

Assuming you have already UV unwrapped your model, there's "Material" tab in the properties bar. you apply a texture by clicking on the button next to "Base Color" and choose "Image texture" and then "open". Change viewport shading color to "Texture" to actually see it on your Mesh.

Not sure where the complicated part is.

Or rather, if you're using Blender 2.80, press Z then either click Rendered or LookDev.

You can find the Materials tab on the bottom-right portion of the window. Blender is designed for modern workflows so it supports something called materials, which is a bunch of different texture maps that define a surface. GoldSrc only uses diffuse maps, or Base Color if we speak in Blender terms.

I highly suggest you to find some beginner tutorials for Blender. They can get you started quickly.

Yeah sorry about that. I got frustrated at how complex blender is and what should be a simple task that would normally take a few seconds took me a about a day to find out how to do it.

That is called learning. No need to be sorry.

"took me a about a day to find out how to do it."

Same. When I started using 3ds Max 9 in 2015, it basically took me a day to get a texture up on a simple cube.
Any modern modeling program is like that, really.

It's a different philosophy from Hammer, where you simply right-click a face in the Texture tool.
Meanwhile in modeling programs, you create a material, give it an image, and apply it.
Furthermore, you don't have the Select tool, you don't have the Clipping tool and whatnot. Instead, you got a different set of tools that are suited for both organic and anorganic geometry, so you got functions like Bevel. In Hammer, you'd have to use the Clipping tool, then cut the edge off diagonally. If you wanted it to be smoother, you'd have to cut the edge multiple times. Meanwhile in Blender, you select an edge, use Bevel, and set the parameters, like how many cuts, how smooth, you get the point. Combined with Blender's hotkeys, it's a pretty fast way of modeling things.

It is that different philosophy and way of thinking, which you have to learn. Once you're over that obstacle, you'll be skyrocketing in modelling.

Okay, I've got it sorted out. I'm quite familiar with modelling so I should be fine (for now) in that area. However now I need to get good at making textures...

Start off with photo-sourcing. Go out, take a photo of the floor or something, and turn it into a texture. Later on, you'll likely learn to hand-paint textures with various brushes.

With models, it'll be better to hand-paint them or mix textures from photos together. So good luck. There are hundreds of ways you can make textures, even procedurally.

Yeah, photosourcing is an invaluable resource! Anything I do that isn't done procedurally in Substance Painter is done with photosourced layers in it. Sometimes even the procedural stuff gets extra layers and detail from it.

Generally I'd recommend hand painting solid colours then grabbing some stuff either from photos you've taken or from a resource like textures.com, making them grayscale (or very desaturated, depending on the look you want) and using the overlay or multiply blend modes in your photo editor of choice, adjusting the opacity until you're satisfied with that section of material, repeating for all the different surface types on the texture. You can also do it in the opposite order, blending solid colours on top of the 'texture' layers, but I generally go for the former technique.

Add some hand-painted edge highlights (white with a low opacity and the screen blend mode is usually best I find), shadows as needed (Black with multiply, mix shadows and highlights as needed to get surface height definitions newer engines would do with a normal map or more polygons) and multiply on a baked AO (Make sure it's normalized so the non-shadowed areas are pure white) to really make it pop, and you've got yourself a nice looking diffuse texture!

It takes some practice to get good at it but with those tips in mind you should be able to get yourself making good quality textures relatively quickly.

I have lithunwrap, which´s free and you can do an UV map within seconds.

https://gamebanana.com/dl/163109

It´s free and legal. And donig things like this is easy as pie (even if it is the part I like the less when modelling... ) .