Hi, trying to get into new unit making

[Joe Harker]

She's a British Light Crusier completed in Augest 1939, armed with 12 6 inch guns, she's now moored up as museum on the Thames near Tower Bridge in London if you ever get the chance to go.

I have a question about gmax, iam merging the destroyer amination and my model, is there a way to change the pivot point because my turrets don't line up with the dummy turrets so two of them rotate round a point that isn't inside the turet if you get what i mean so they appear to go off the ship.

 

[GeneralMatt]

Ah yes, I would love to go, unfortunately I live on the wrong side of the ocean. But if I ever et a chance I will tour her.

I am not sure how to change the pivotpoint (or the centre) in Gmax. I know in Blender though.. Just rotate her and move her back into position, she should be ok.

 

[danrh]

So that XML stuff I posted was not what you were after then? Hmm thats a shame I thought the animations could be an easy part if all I needed to do was just use the stock ones with a little xml work. I hope folks don't mind me butting in on this thread. I've attached my finished (I think) model for a CAC Wirraway fighter.

 

[GeneralMatt]

You do need the XML eventually, but first you have to get all the bones correctly in place for it to use the animations.

That airplane is a great start! Just of course the smoothing, and texture and you are good to go!Well you make want to cut down on the triangles though..

 

[Joe Harker]

problem number 4

I still can't work out a way of moving pivot points in gmax without screwing the whole thing up, does anyone one know how to move pivot points so that the turrets all rotate perfectly or if there is no way can and how do you move them in blender?

 

[GeneralMatt]

Just export it as a Nif as you did with the Belfast. Import it into Blender, change the centre, export from blender into a Nif, and import back into Gmax.

 

[Joe Harker]

Thanks GM, i managed to do it in nifskope rather than blender

However (here we go again!) I now can't work out how to UV map it and so on in blender, in fact i can't work blender at all, everytime i touch the ship it just assumes that i want to move it, and i can't seem to turn the feature off.

By the way is 1300 polys ok?

 

[GeneralMatt]

Yep, that is a good amount. To move it is a little different than in Gmax, you use your moue wheel. Ctrl and Shift do the different directions while regular zooms in.

If it wants to move on you, make sure it is selected before you try to drag it. Press "B" to draw a suare around objects.

 

[Joe Harker]

She's nearly done, just got to skin her tonight! Thanks for all the help!

 

[Joe Harker]

Right i have textured it and saved it from blender but it appears white in the game, how do i remove the white? (plus, possible related what is the point of the dds file and if it is related how do i save it in the file so that the unit appears painted?)

 

[GeneralMatt]

The 'dds is the texture actually, the skin that is raround the model.

Could you upload what you have done so I can take a look?

 

[Joe Harker]

Right here she is, i wasn't happy with the UV Unwrap becuase alot of it came out as a black mass, making it difficult to actually know what part i was painting, is there a way to beat this? but i have started some of the major surfaces. How do you create a wood effect?

 

[Joe Harker]

Plus when i put it into the game the amination doesn't work (in that two turrets disappear when idle and appear way off the ship when fighting, plus it doesn't side by side when attacking, it points forward towards the ship when firing, but in nifskope using destroyer aminations it works, is there something i am missing?

 

[GeneralMatt]

We will get to the animations in a but, don't worry about that yet.

Ok, for the texture, what did you UV it with? I think I said I use blender. What I normally do first once the model is done is get the bits and pieces from other textures, or in cases of the hull decal I try to make the blueprints for that bit look fitting. (Colour them in etc). I then fit them all into a 256x256 tga and load that into Blender. I then don't unwrap the whole thing, I select the faces I want to place in their place on the texture and press "u" and click project from view. This will put the vertices of the model exactly as they are in the viewport into the UV panel. So if I want to do the side area I select the right faces and go to the side view and project from view. I then line it up on the UV panel. I think there is a tutorial for it here. And blender is much easer than Gmax for. it.

 

[Joe Harker]

I use blender as well, thanks GM I will give it a try tonight!

 

[Joe Harker]

How do you select the right faces and move them around on the UV map?

 

[GeneralMatt]

Right-Clicking selects one, holding Shift and right clicking allows you to select multiple ones. You have it in two areas so you can see both at the same time?
Once they are selected they will appear on the UV mapping panel and then you select/deselect them like normal vertices's in that area so you can mold the sections to fit the texture.

Here I have an idea, let my upload something.

 

[GeneralMatt]

For what it is worth, here is the ".blend" with with the ".tga" file that I used for the texture (I later saved it as a ".dds" when exporting the model).

The blend should save it's views and all, so you can look around and see how I did it, sort of.

 

[Joe Harker]

Right here she is unwrapped, is that ok? I haven't done it over a texture, just trying out the idea first!

Once again thanks! (no doubt i be back in five minutes with another problem )

 

[GeneralMatt]

Yep, that will work, not the easiest way I find personally, but it will work that way also! The best thing to do is get the texture ready as much as you can before you start unwrapping. That way you can place the faces on the texture where they are needed.

Also, for parts of the ship (like the turrets) that are the same, use the same bit of texture, much easier and saves space for other important stuff.