After a few weeks of searching I haven't found much on nightlight tutorials. I was wondering if it is possible to explain to me how to make a simple spotlight step by step? I will figure out the rest by myself.
I started BATing again, but am in the need this time to learn nighlights. I already have figured out by myself to illuminate a window the Maxis way, not very hard.
I read the phillipo tut about making a basic bat building and I followed his instructions (3 times) for nightlights, but they don't show up once rendered. Hm.......wsomething missing in his tut for sure!
It would be greatly appreciated if someone could help me to learn the basics of making lights. Thanks in advance.
mrb/ Fred
Well I guess you're missing something, cause there is nothing missing from the tutorial...
in a nut shell there is nothing to make nitelites. Just make any light you wish and name it with prefix nitelite (spelled exactly like that!!!) and voilá you've got your nitelite!
Well Simfox, there must be something missing or it hasn't been well explained. I have tried everything possible with gmax lighting, believe me, and I even srewed the program up one time and had to re-install it.....lol.....but nothing seems to work properly.
The best thing I came up with was this below (picture). There seems to be some light, but very fade althought the light strength was set at a reasonable strength, but also there seem to be light in the day render....hm....although I did name the freaking light to nitelitespot01.
So, what is wrong? Is it me, my program or the tut? Thanks.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg292.imageshack.us%2Fimg292%2F2815%2Fnl1bp3.jpg&hash=2b2c82575f10f6b527425a5601e5d9d03869c8cc)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg379.imageshack.us%2Fimg379%2F7770%2Fnl2jd8.jpg&hash=0645fa202cf3ef8da31aa5974edb13604a13133d)
mrbisonm ;)
I'm sorry to point out it but... mrbisonm, it is a typical situation - people just don't pay attention and then blame it on someone/something else...
I have stressed that light has to have nitelite prefix. I specifically pointed that is has to be nitelite EXACTLY.
You in your reply say that you did name them nitelite... but look at your screenshots. Now tell me how EXACTLY your lights are named?
Just humor me, type one above another the way I told you to name it and the way you have named it...
I believe the answer will jump at you right away...
$%Grinno$%
Capital N? Is it really that tempramental?
Wow, I have faced just the opposite situation. It took me ages to learn how to BAT, but never had any problem with nightlighting. While concepts like mesh, splines, extruding etc looked black magic to be, I always found nightlighting easy, as all terms are quite self-explanatory.
Spot lights are somewhat more complicated, as they also have a target, and you need to set the angles between the hotspot and fallof carefully in order to achieve a realistic effect. I mostly use Omnis, they act as a bulb emitting light, and are ideal for achieving an "ambient" effect.
I'm attaching a sort of tutorial I had sent long ago to a friend, together with some images. Hope you find it useful.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg228.imageshack.us%2Fimg228%2F351%2Fincineratorsk5.th.jpg&hash=b42ac17a375d7687ce1b28235ae722320c7e0b05) (http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=incineratorsk5.jpg) | (https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg228.imageshack.us%2Fimg228%2F8292%2Fpillarplanwq8.th.jpg&hash=29872da239201d432ddc05295153c27da95e04a3) (http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pillarplanwq8.jpg) | (https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg228.imageshack.us%2Fimg228%2F199%2Fpillarsidedc5.th.jpg&hash=9ee77b85f33a9d07f46fa6adc713e45e084460eb) (http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pillarsidedc5.jpg) | (https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg228.imageshack.us%2Fimg228%2F5729%2Frailstationlargeplanqw8.th.jpg&hash=7028602dc98f8cceee0098c94ddd05c6fd863dda) (http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=railstationlargeplanqw8.jpg) | (https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg228.imageshack.us%2Fimg228%2F8889%2Frailstationroofplanqt1.th.jpg&hash=36c2d16bdf2118fe033302fd9a3d93059ca1aa02) (http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=railstationroofplanqt1.jpg) | (https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg228.imageshack.us%2Fimg228%2F7269%2Frailstationroofsideek3.th.jpg&hash=dc9090a22ca3d899ed3fa4360ebf0243142b5a59) (http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=railstationroofsideek3.jpg) |
Lighting a BAT may prove challenging. The best you can do is to well understand how lighting works, and apply your knowledge as needed, and experiment, experiment, experiment... There are no general rules - each BAT is unique and has its own requirements - and lighting may be a thing of personal preference.
You have not posted any pics in your thread so I can't commend or suggest anything. Maybe you could send me the BAT to have a look or try to improve it a bit.
Some bits from my experience:
1. Try setting the attentuation and maybe the decay parameters. This way you can limit the area a nitelite affects. The light does not light the area outside the far attentuation limit at all. The area close to the far attentuation limit is very little lit (almost unlit), while the area between the near and far attentuation limit is half-lit. The angle the light falls on the surface also affects the lighting. For example have a look at the Incinerator pic. It has two Omni lights at 6.0 and 10.0 meters above ground. As the incinerator has a cylindrical shape, the light falls at a different angle on each point on the surface, and this results in an uneven effect (like a "gradient"), which is quite realistic. In such a case setting the attentuation parameters is not needed. However, for a level surface (wall) you should set them, unless the light is quite close to the wall. This way you can also avoid having the light lighting objects you do not want.
2. Don't forget setting the Casts Shadows parameter, the default is off, and many BATters forget it. The Exclude option does not work in Gmax/BAT, so don't bother with it.
3. Don't hesitate to use as many lights as you need for your BAT. A few strong lights may not light the whole BAT correctly, so you may end up having many "small" lights, lighing a specific area of your BAT. Setting the attentuation parameters limits the lights to confined areas, so that you won't get an overall "overexposed" effect. My stations have many different types of lights, for the platforms, the pillars, the light globes, the entrances, the roof arcs even special lights for the revolving door as well as external "ambient" lights (Omnis). There are 164 lights in total, each one lighting a specific area.
4. First have a look at the total lighting in RailStationLargePlan.jpg. This may look confusing, but as said above most of them light only a specific area. Image RailStationRoofPlan.jpg shows the lights of the roof only. It's simpler, and you can see two kinds of lights, the ones that light the roof arcs, and four large Omnis for the external lighting. Notice the attentuation settings. The roof arc lights light only a small area and don't go far. The external ones give an "ambient lighting" effect. I have set the attentuation parameters so that the walls are mostly within the far attentuation limits. You should also experiment with the distance as well as the multiplier parameter (intensity). A small change may make a great difference in the final result. Try values between 1.0 and 1.5 for the multiplier, but also have in mind that this relates to the material/trexture lightness as well (a darker material generally requires a higher value).
5. Light bulbs or globes are especially hard to light, this took me almost two days! First I tried using nitewindows for the lightglobes, but this didn't work well, they always looked dim though I tried even Goldiva's "Almost White" windows. So I used 3 special lights (from the left, right and front side) for each globe! These are spotlights and have very high multiplier settings (30) but only light up the globes. Have a look at the pillar photos, the green box is the pillar, the blue cylinder the light fixture and the purple spheres the globes (the lower globe was placed a bit lower than it normally would, cause otherwise the fixture hides it, as all views are actually captured sideways from the top). You can see the three lights for the globes. The two inclined lights in PillarSide.jpg are for lighting the pillar itself (the effect of the light emitted by the lightglobes on the wall). As you can see the difference between the "Hotspot" and "Falloff" parameters is broadened so as to achieve a more gradual effect.
6. The lights settings also relate to the material(s) you use (light or dark), as well as the specular parameter.
Other tips:
1. If you need to make multiple identical lights use the array tool with the "Instance" or "Reference" method (don't use "Copy") so that when changing a parameter for one of the lights all others are changed automatically.
2. It's quite easy to test nightlighting in Gmax/BAT, first save your BAT and make a preview render at Draft quality, the result you get does not look good, but nightlighting is very similar to what you will get in the final render, and it's too fast, even for large BATs. Then, if you want to try a different setting reload the BAT from the least-recently used BAT list, change the parameter and render again. Repeat this procedure until you get a satisfactory result.
3. Before exporting you can some steps to clean-up your BAT:
a. Open a fresh instance of Gmax/BAT.
b. In your empty scene put a new Omni (or any other) light. Then delete the light.
c. In the file menu select "Merge", choose your bat file, and in the dialog that appears select everything except TB2CameraHandle.
d. Save the new scene under a different (or why not, the same) filename (overwrite).
e. You may also need to refit the LODs, they may be mangled.
This results in a new, error-free scene, your unused (forgotten) materials will not be imported, and the camera handle reset. You should also take the above steps if your BAT has problems, like materials getting lost in renders (getting gray objects). You may also do this as a precaution before exporting a large BAT, so that you don't have to export again if some materials are lost.Hope the above have helped.
Regards
Quote from: Diggis on May 05, 2008, 11:36:08 AM
Capital N? Is it really that tempramental?
Fraid so...
This is the part of BAT that initialises nightlight renders:
Quote----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Function: FnEnableNightLigts
-- Param: doEnable (true - enable; false - disable)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
fn FnEnableNightLigts doEnable =
(
if ($lights.count > 0) do -- scene has local night lights
(
for lt in $lights do
(
-- $lights collection includes targets & targets don't have 'enabled' member
if (lt.classID[1] != 4128) do
(
local namePrefix = (substring lt.name 1 8)
if (namePrefix == "nitelite") then
(
lt.enabled = doEnable
)
else
(
lt.enabled = not doEnable
)
)
)
)
)
Geeez......lol........now I feel like a jacka** with a Capital *J*. I didn't think, nor did I pay attention to the Capital N in nitelite. Well, one always learns.....lol. I tried it with *nitelite* and it works....thanks.
cogeo, thanks for the help and the tut, I will surely have a look at this, but only as long it is simple. I don't want to learn how to make comlicated lighting, just a spot light that lights up a statue or a sign on a wall. That will be just fine to start of with.
One thing....is there a way to make simple lighbulb without cover? I mean a simple light (no spot) that lights up on top of a buoy and then make it green and red. Or is this complicated? It doesn't take much to be complicated for me.....lol.
Thanks for the help everyone.
mrbisonm
Mr B by far are you are not a jacka** $%Grinno$% you are learning and wanting to learn that I think is Awesome!!!!!
now you know, in the plugin manager you have to make sure nitelites are enabled...
I had the same issue and did everything by the tutorial then realized something was missing :D
Quote from: Pat on May 05, 2008, 09:07:50 PM
Mr B by far are you a jackass $%Grinno$% you are learning and wanting to learn that I think is Awesome!!!!!
lol.......did I say I am a Jacka**?....no, I said I feel like a Jacka**....I hope there's a difference, otherwise I'm gonna have a problem....lol ;)
Quote...now you know, in the plugin manager you have to make sure nitelites are enabled...
Wait a minute
Zaphod I have never seen an enable nitelites in the Plugin Manager...don't confuse me here.....is there?
mrbisonm ;)
Its OK there Mr B and I knew if I did that you would see it lol.... I've heard there is a way to turn on nightlites threw Reader but not in PIM.... in reader it turns out looking like ummmm yea.....
Quote from: Pat on May 05, 2008, 10:42:06 PM
Its OK there Mr B and I knew if I did that you would see it lol.... I've heard there is a way to turn on nightlites threw Reader but not in PIM.... in reader it turns out looking like ummmm yea.....
Buildings automatically by default turn on their lights at night. Props (or buildings that are props ;)) have a property in their exemplar called "Light", which is set to either "True" or "False". This property can be set in the Plugin Manager under the "Advanced" tab when you are making a prop from a SC4Model file.
Most people seem to forget about it since they are in a hurry to make their props, or they don't look for the "Advanced" tab in the Plugin Manager. The "Advanced" tab is also where you set which zooms your prop will be visible at, among other settings.
-Swamper
Quote from: mrbisonm on May 05, 2008, 07:32:16 PM
One thing....is there a way to make simple lighbulb without cover? I mean a simple light (no spot) that lights up on top of a buoy and then make it green and red. Or is this complicated? It doesn't take much to be complicated for me.....lol.
Use an omni-directional light as your source. However light sources are invisible so you'd also need to model a sphere with a self-illuminating texture and place the omni directly above it (not inside, it's a solid object). Make sure you use inverse square falloff or the light will go on forever.
Great callagrafx ,thanks that worked fine. I tried and it came out pretty nice. It was almost too easy....lol. But what do you mean by this: "Make sure you use inverse square falloff or the light will go on forever." Is there a box to check for the inverse square falloff? And a light going on forever is that it always is lit up? Thanks, much appreciated, now I know how to make a lightbulb......yahooo!
Swamper77, I think we don't have the same PM (SC4PluginManager) since I have no "Advanced" tap on mine, unless I have to say some magic words.......lol. Honestly I tried every tab without finding it. Where did you get your PM?
Quote from: mrbisonm on May 06, 2008, 07:10:46 AM
Great callagrafx ,thanks that worked fine. I tried and it came out pretty nice. It was almost too easy....lol. But what do you mean by this: "Make sure you use inverse square falloff or the light will go on forever." Is there a box to check for the inverse square falloff? And a light going on forever is that it always is lit up? Thanks, much appreciated, now I know how to make a lightbulb......yahooo!
The light going on forever means it will light all your model equally. So if you had it 100m or 100000m away from the model you would get the same amount of light. There should be a check box in the modify panel for the onmi.
Quote from: mrbisonm on May 06, 2008, 07:10:46 AM
Swamper77[/b], I think we don't have the same PM (SC4PluginManager) since I have no "Advanced" tap on mine, unless I have to say some magic words.......lol. Honestly I tried every tab without finding it. Where did you get your PM?
I assume by PM you mean the Maxis Plugin Manager? or P
IM as the rest of the SC4 community call it?
Mrbisonm: I dragged a model to the prop tab in PluginManager and this is the Advanced tab in the prop desc box:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi5.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy171%2Fbarbyw%2FPIM.jpg&hash=e1bf23fd402f5d252e0cfca8dc3531c83f77e718)
Mr. B I was re-reading my first post and I meant to say your're not I was tired and me brain wasnt functioning right lol.... sorry about that lol
Quote from: Pat on May 06, 2008, 08:48:21 AM
Mr. B I was re-reading my first post and I meant to say your're not I was tired and me brain wasnt functioning right lol.... sorry about that lol
Hey don't be sorry, I was only kidding anyways. ;), besides I know
I'm not.....lol
Diggis , Thanks for explaining the forever light, makes sense, and yes, I found the checkbox.
By PM I mean the SC4Pluginmanager (official name) and yes it is available from the Maxis site, so I suppose it is the same.
Oh thanks
Barby, I found it afterall, that is about the only place I didn't check. I never bothered with the tabs on top before. Maybe I have to check them out and see what these are for.......««starting to feel like a Jack again........lol (I know I'm not)»»
mrb ;)
Hope you don't mind me bumping this......... &mmm
Have a question about nightlights again, now that I'm starting to know how to make them.
When I refit the LODs, once the model is done, including the nightlights, it makes an awful bigger box (LODs, see picture) than without the lights. Now is it necessary to include the lights into the LODs before rendering or can I just refit the LODs like before without bothering wwith the lights?
Also, do I need to prename the parts *nitelite* that I want to light up at night the Maxis way like I do with the gmax lights?
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg122.imageshack.us%2Fimg122%2F3300%2Flightslodspb4.jpg&hash=c32477371ff52789132d3e4043f86dfba4ec40d2)
Now, how about my fist nightlights, how do you like them? Still have to fool around with all the possibilities (darn, there are soooo many), shapes, colours, disributions, ambiance, spots and etc.......This is fun!......lol :thumbsup:
.......ingame night picture of one of my new BATs. I might as well mention that I use the darknight mod............
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg72.imageshack.us%2Fimg72%2F1390%2Fdolphinsingamenightfronuf2.jpg&hash=8d3125778850c1bf04f7a81302d720c8ad12eaf9)
.........and the gmax renderpreview...
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg390.imageshack.us%2Fimg390%2F3432%2Fnexhonordolphgmaxpreviebg6.jpg&hash=789256893d44d0d4abf4d5bcc60313da64a9def4)
Thanks you all
Fred/ mrbisonm
Firstly, it looks like you've included the spot in the group for the object...this is what's causing the extra large LOD. Always treat lighting as completely separate from any model. Ungroup and regroup without any lights. Secondly, only light sources should be named "nitelite", mainly for good practice reasons.
Quote from: callagrafx on May 12, 2008, 12:42:45 AM
Firstly, it looks like you've included the spot in the group for the object...this is what's causing the extra large LOD. Always treat lighting as completely separate from any model. Ungroup and regroup without any lights. Secondly, only light sources should be named "nitelite", mainly for good practice reasons.
Thanks, that explains the LOD thing. I'm glad that we can Lod the models without the lights, kinda thought so too or at least hoped for, because the boxes on some models I am working on really have become excessively large.
Now just to make sure for the «nitelite» naming thing. By lightsource you mean the gmax lights only (found in gmax only) and not the Maxis light (found in BAT only), right? The Maxis light is just to make an object lighten up in rendering, like most of the windows we see in BATs. So , I don't have to write nitelite in front of these objects for them to brighten up at night, right?
Sorry , kinda hard to explain and also to understand....lol
Thanks for the help............
mrb ;)
Sorry to bump my thread but this is a complete different question that I have.
I want to elongate some beams in my gmax model, well there are 63 of them, all the same model. Now, here's the question. Is there a way to elongate (make them taller only, not bigger wider etc) all together at the same time or do I have to take them one by one?
Thanks for the help
mrbisonm ;)
Quote from: mrbisonm on May 14, 2008, 08:18:11 AM
Sorry to bump my thread but this is a complete different question that I have.
I want to elongate some beams in my gmax model, well there are 63 of them, all the same model. Now, here's the question. Is there a way to elongate (make them taller only, not bigger wider etc) all together at the same time or do I have to take them one by one?
Thanks for the help
mrbisonm ;)
Are they instanced?
What does instanced mean???
The beams are just some simple rods (column like) of the same model but of different angles and all I want to do is put the length from 7 meters to 9.3 meters. Is there a way to do modify them all at the same time?
You can if they are all instanced copies of each other. When you do a shift+drag copy you get a dialogue box asking what type of copy you want. Copy, instance, or reference. If you chose instances you can change one and they will all change. Otherwise it's changing each one.
No, when I do the drag+shift, no dialogue besides the copy one comes up. Hm...... As complicated, sophisticated and almost perfect this program was made, they forgot to add the most simple tools. I guess that is what the computer program world is like, make it complicated and not simple.....lol.
Thanks for the help, I guess I get to work now doing the *one by one* job... ;)
mrbisonm
Nope, they haven't
You probably don't do it right I guess. Or may be there is some setting somewhere that turns that dialog off. But even if it exists you must have turned it off, because by default it shows it.
Anyway to default to the conclusion that makers of the program had screwed up isn't very helpful. I would suggest to you to either read some book on Max essentials, some old version would do fine! Alternatively you could download GMAX help, and GMAX tutorials from turbosquid. I believe they should introduce all the features and give basic understanding of their workings. To click blindly isn't very productive...
I don't have the habit to click wildly on anything without knowing what it does. Maybe I don't have the knowledge of the 3d program that much but that doesn't mean I just click blindly. ???
I included a picture below that shows what comes up when I do the shift+drag thing........Nothing else ever came up, and I just installed gmax only 6 days ago since I changed computers. It never did it before with the other computer and I re-installed it twice in 3 years, and it doesn't now.
Thanks for trying to help anyways and even if you believe I must have turned off that option, I surely did not! Besides if it can be turned off then how do we turn it on?
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg301.imageshack.us%2Fimg301%2F6027%2F34473ym4.jpg&hash=30a7a16f3246a0884293f09401c1b9859ca3351f)
Quote from: Diggis on May 15, 2008, 01:04:54 AM
You can if they are all instanced copies of each other. When you do a shift+drag copy you get a dialogue box asking what type of copy you want. Copy, instance, or reference. If you chose instances you can change one and they will all change. Otherwise it's changing each one.
Maybe read this, and check your pic again... ::)
Thanks Diggis for pointing that out, but it is not what I really asked. Even if I make a copy and then choose instances of them, they will change only one by one of each one of the original and the one from the copy, but not all of the others, it still comes back to changing one by one. (see picture)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg186.imageshack.us%2Fimg186%2F9093%2F43535ww3.jpg&hash=d49aea6883cceb33cbc6ff8e4c44c5697fc15210)
English is only my fourth language, therefore I have some problems explaining things in details and/or understand *professional* words. But this is the best that I can explain what I would like:
I want to be able to choose all of them (the posts standing up vertically) and then make them all longer of 1.2 meters at the same time in one shot. Is that possible or not?
That should be simple and clear enough as a question. Is there a simple and clear answer for this?
Thanks
mrbisonm ;)
OK, my point was that if you used instance to create them, then you could change 1 and they would all change. Obviously you didn't, you used copy, so No, you can't do that, you have to change each one individually.
Thanks everyone for trying to help me. I got my answer from a member of Simtropolis (wanting to stay incognito) who pm'ed with the answer and the instructions how to do it. Actually very simple, as my question. So I want to share this with you all, since you don't seem to know it and surely it can become very useful if you don't use instances.
I asked if it was possible to choose all the poles and make them longer at the same time.
1. group them all together in one group
2. Go to Modifier list and choose Edit Mesh and then Vertex.
3. Choose the bottom vertexes of the poles you want to make longer and pull down to the desired length.
That's it.
Thank you all again, I will be back when I need more help with gmax. Maybe I didn't get the solution here, but I learned the differences of copies and instances and what you can do with it/them and that probably can become quite useful one day, thanks
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg221.imageshack.us%2Fimg221%2F4701%2F54355cy8.jpg&hash=7648fe6ee13bee2f37baffe0ac5e4e2d79657d03)
mrbisonm ;)
OK, see, I did know that, but as this thread was about lighting I figured you wanted to edit the beam of some lights. If I had of known it was beams as in columns or posts then maybe I could have helped more.
Sorry Diggis, if I didn't make understand myself correctly. Yes, this thread is about light when it started but instead of opening another thread for every problem I encounter I just decided to use the same thread. Kinda logic....and yes I called them poles *beams* before, as in woodbeams.......I meant :(
So, I renamed the thread to *mrbisonm needs gmax help*...sounds ok?...;)
Thanks
mrbisonm
Sounds good to me.... But them I'm drunk and most things sound good. I'll let you know in the morning... ;)
Quote from: mrbisonm on May 16, 2008, 01:58:51 PM
Thanks everyone for trying to help me. I got my answer from a member of Simtropolis (wanting to stay incognito) who pm'ed with the answer and the instructions how to do it. Actually very simple, as my question. So I want to share this with you all, since you don't seem to know it and surely it can become very useful if you don't use instances.
I asked if it was possible to choose all the poles and make them longer at the same time.
1. group them all together in one group
2. Go to Modifier list and choose Edit Mesh and then Vertex.
3. Choose the bottom vertexes of the poles you want to make longer and pull down to the desired length.
That's it.
Thank you all again, I will be back when I need more help with gmax. Maybe I didn't get the solution here, but I learned the differences of copies and instances and what you can do with it/them and that probably can become quite useful one day, thanks
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg221.imageshack.us%2Fimg221%2F4701%2F54355cy8.jpg&hash=7648fe6ee13bee2f37baffe0ac5e4e2d79657d03)
mrbisonm ;)
One extreme downside with this method...the texture mapping will now apply across the group so you cannot easily vary or apply textures to individual columns, so you'll either end up with a repeating pattern or a real headache if you have to re-texture. A more obvious method would have been to select everything and clone them vertically downwards.
I know that texturing will change on them, I was informed about it by the person that told me how, but one thing, these represent an old forgotten and abandonned quay and is so small and also partially underwater that it won't even be recognized or seen ingame. ;)
I'm back.....lol....that wasn't too long.
I have another gmax or maybe a LE problem now.
While doing everything as supposed to in the gmax and the LE, the lot does not come out as all the others I did that way.
It is a ploppable land/water lot 1x5 that I deleted the textures, and it is showing somethin as a foundation everytime I render or redo it in the LE. I even deleted the foundation and the retaining walls in the LE and still this brown line is showing.
Does anyone know what can be done?
I have done it exactly like all the others, while they came out just fine......
Thanks
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg107.imageshack.us%2Fimg107%2F228%2F031211224051ov8.jpg&hash=3e9412a1e76c2985e4d3c47b81d35f89d73d209b)
Is is supposed to just be the posts?
Sorry I fogot to mention, yes, just the posts in the water, no brown line or anything else. You know like an old wooden quay rottening slowly away.
Couple of things...are the LODs skin tight to the meshes? Also, is this a prop on an invisible LOT? Try making it so the prop is offset with the 1x1 LOT on land, so any foundation is hidden.
This is a lot with deleted groundtextures, yes, and it is not a prop, but a building and it is on a 4x5 lot, one tile water on one end and one tile ground on the other. I have done similar lots and they all work like this, why not this one?
This really would work best as Callagrafx suggested - an overhanging prop on a 1x1 lot. I suspect the problem is with the foundation showing as I am not sure you can ever completely get rid of a building foundation. I am not sure what other lots you have done this way but that would be the solution for this.
Maybe you're right BarbyW, maybe I don't have another choice than to use an overhanging prop.
Here's the other one I did the same way as the last and all seem to be ok on this one.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg372.imageshack.us%2Fimg372%2F10%2F001210035217xn5.jpg&hash=afb6afe047cafeb31b0cec03a9820d2b357b1b28)
I will see what I can do later tonight. Thanks
mrb
Looks like this thread is steering away from being just about Gmax. Maybe you should just remove the 'with gmax' off? :thumbsup:
Hope you sort this out. Waaayyy out of my area.
Mr B looking real sweet there and Im glad you are getting a lot of great help!!! BTW what other languages do you speak?
Hello MrB
At the risk of telling you something that you may already know. And I'm not sure how you did yours. But this is how I did these test pilings. I should also say that I have gmax.
1. Create a piling. Made mine .5 radius and 30 meters deep. Skinned it with a brown material.
2. Clicked refit LODs and then deleted LODs 4 and 5
3. Grouped the LOD and piling together.
4. Save as something.
5. Open a new project and merge the above. I then offset it by -18 meters (experiment a little). I then used the array tool to the desired length. Ungrouped them.
6.Save as something.
7.Open a new project. Merge the above and select only the pilings. Save as something (like NEXISPilings)
8.Open a new project. Merge the previous and select only the LODs. Now the question is what to do with all those LODs. Find LOD three. Click the edit mesh tool. Then click on the attach list button. Select all that is on the list. Now you now have a single LOD3.
9.Save as something (like PilingsLOD)
10. Start a new project. Merge NEXISPilings, save as something.
11. Merge PilingsLOD. Clone LOD3 as LOD4 and LOD5.
12. Export.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi148.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs26%2Fjmyers2043%2Fnexis01.jpg&hash=4d5ca42bc8ba9b6f4516f8ada7cb606672e3f555)
As you can see, the pilings are an offset prop. (18 meters). I did a quick test lot and placed the lot next to the shore, and then 1 and 2 game tiles away from the shore.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi148.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs26%2Fjmyers2043%2Fnexis02.jpg&hash=e95cd3883fb2aed413ac117eef439cf14e7b3e79)
The rest is PIM, LE, and ILive.
Hope this helps.
Diggis, I think we generally still stick to gmax....lol.....
Pat my languages spoken written and understood are: German, French, Swedish English, Mohawk, Abenaki and Dutch, then I also understand more or less Spanish, italian and some Latin if I may call it a language. But the language spoken most is German and French......Why do want to know? ....if I may ask.
jmyers2043 , I will try that for sure, although it sounds a bit complicated. (I thought that there were only 3 LOD's....hm?) Right now I am too darn busy to do some experimenting with gmax, but I surely will this coming weekend, make sure you'll drop back in then. Hey, Thanks for the help everyone.......now I got something to work with and maybe get those sunken posts working.
mrb
If you read JMyers steps closely, you will see that step 14 is where he merges all the LOD elements together to make one LOD object, renamed LOD3. This is a very well written step by step guide and if you follow it step by step it will produce the results you want.
Ah - Thanks Cal... Let me clarify as well.
First phase I made a piling and a single LOD. Grouped them together.
Next phase I arrayed the above group. Thus creating 10 pilings and ten LOD's.
Hence the need to use the attach mesh. Combining all the LOD's into a single object called LOD3. By the way, The array tool will rename that first LOD3 into LOD01, LOD02, and so on.
I wouldn't say it's difficult but one does have to be a bit organized in their thoughts. I find that file naming is critical for me to keep things straight. Such as:
Click save as "a_piling_with_LOD.gmax"
Click save as "pilings_no_LODs.gmax"
Click save as "pilings_LOD.gmax"
Quote from: mrbisonm on May 16, 2008, 06:06:24 AM
English is only my fourth language, therefore I have some problems explaining things in details and/or understand *professional* words. But this is the best that I can explain what I would like:
I want to be able to choose all of them (the posts standing up vertically) and then make them all longer of 1.2 meters at the same time in one shot. Is that possible or not?
That should be simple and clear enough as a question. Is there a simple and clear answer for this?
Well Mr B based on that qoute there I thought you do so well with english and that gotten me intrigued with how many other languages you do speak... Sorta like curosity killed the cat... Ive been watching you working @ ST and also asking question here Mr B and I comend you for doing something I can't even do is touch BAT....
I guess I still have a lot to learn about the LOD's, sound more complicated than I thought. Thanks for the help jmyers2043 and callagrafx . I will experiment with what I learned now and hopefully will be able to solve that problem. One thing though, the foundation is still to be seen although I completely deleted the retaining wall and foundation in LE. How's that possible?
Pat, learning a language for some is difficult and for others easy and I think I was blessed with it, since it just came naturally and very easy. Like I said, english is my fourth language and only spoken here (on the net) and when I go tanking in the US (New Hampshire) only about 5 miles from where I live. Of course in business I sometimes use the english language also.
mrb
Quote from: mrbisonm on May 20, 2008, 08:27:35 PM
my languages spoken written and understood are: German, French, Swedish English, Mohawk, Abenaki and Dutch, then I also understand more or less Spanish, italian and some Latin if I may call it a language.
Kom och hälsa på oss
här då (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=265.0)! :thumbsup:
Come visit us where we speak Swenglish as well! :)
Quote from: mrbisonm on May 19, 2008, 12:19:12 PM
While doing everything as supposed to in the gmax and the LE, the lot does not come out as all the others I did that way.
It is a ploppable land/water lot 1x5 that I deleted the textures, and it is showing somethin as a foundation everytime I render or redo it in the LE. I even deleted the foundation and the retaining walls in the LE and still this brown line is showing.
Does anyone know what can be done?
I have done it exactly like all the others, while they came out just fine......
Thanks
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg107.imageshack.us%2Fimg107%2F228%2F031211224051ov8.jpg&hash=3e9412a1e76c2985e4d3c47b81d35f89d73d209b)
If you are using your model as a building, and if you haven't already done so, try setting the building foundation in the building exemplar to the invisible foundation (make sure the first rep is set to 0x194B1000). If the foundation is not present or 0x0000000 then the foundation will default to the red brick, which you dont' want.
You can sometimes get away without doing this if you use the lot on water tiles only, but as soon as you use the lot on transitional tiles you will get a foundation unless you specifically set the building foundation to 0x194B1000.
RippleJet , thanks for the invitation, I might drop in later and leave a message. ;)
sam, that sounds good and simple, will try it it first when I get back to the drawing board. I am offline right now for a few days, taking profit of the beautiful weather we have right now here and enjoy the outdoors for a few days....................be back soon.
Thanks
Fred/mrb
Thanks to you all I was able to work out the last problem of the posts showing a foundation when rendered. Thank you all.
Now I have another problem, well,...... not really a problem but more like not knowing how to........
I am working right now on a model, the skywalk of the Grand Canyon, and I can't seem to find a darn way to make the U-shaped ramp, frame and glassfence. Nor I couldn't find any info on it.
Could someone please point out how to create a U-shape model and lead me on the right way? I know it must quite easy, but I just can't figure it out.
(oh, and I just learned how to make things transparent....lol)
Thanks,
Fred/ mrb
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg294.imageshack.us%2Fimg294%2F162%2Fskywalkne6.jpg&hash=83e4511911e85fbe29a88544db5b441d73ce60ee)
Edit: I just wanted to show to what point I got before I blocked. This I have done with the Textletter *U*, then extruded to the height I wanted and then played with boolean a lot to get it to this shape. But there must be an easier way I am sure, because this took me nearly an hour to do and it doesn't come out as good as I wanted.......now the part where I got stuck is the sideglass and the rail (pipe)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg508.imageshack.us%2Fimg508%2F551%2Fskwlk1ok6.jpg&hash=2503ad98dbb832370a06858dac730036e6c36976)
Thanks
make a cross section of all the parts of the walkway then create a spline that follows the path of the U, select each cross sectional element in turn and then select the loft modifier, then click the get path and click on the large U, repeat for all elements and that should give you the basics of what you want.
Hey Fred that is looking real good there!!! I've done a yahoo search and here [linkie] (http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=opera2&va=grand+canyon+skywalk&sz=all) I hope those work out for you on the photo's.... Also Fred found Some more pics [linkie] (http://www.funnypicturesblog.com/funnypictures.aspx?picture=533)....
Quote from: mightygoose on June 04, 2008, 11:14:04 PM
make a cross section of all the parts of the walkway then create a spline that follows the path of the U, select each cross sectional element in turn and then select the loft modifier, then click the get path and click on the large U, repeat for all elements and that should give you the basics of what you want.
"Get Path" is hit and miss at the best of times...select the path, choose "move" and then "get shape"
I don't quite understand what you folks mean by cross section and where is that *get path* thing anyways. Sorry, but my knowledge to the gmax is still quite newbie limited. Thanks
Without using the letter U is there a way to make u-shaped things?
Thanks Pat for the pics, I already did that search on yahoo, aol and google pics, but your second link will be quite useful, since it shows the details of the frame.
mrb
:thumbsup: Awesome Fred Im glad I could be of some help...
Let's see -
I made a 30 meter long 3 meter wide box (Floor)
I made a pair of 30 meter long by .4 wide by.5 boxes. (floor support frame)
I made some vertical frames
I made two glass pieces.
Applied some quick textures then grouped them together and used the bend modifier.
You'll need to designate some length segments when making the boxes. The glass didn't bend at first so I also added height and width segments. I use the bend modifier a lot. e.g. when making pipes, AC vents, etc. . . Note how the floor boards bend.
Hope this helps.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi300.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fnn22%2Fjimmyers%2Fmrbisonm01.jpg&hash=5a8ac7bbeee9ee483a01c2a0e7dcb3da328e3b93)
<<edit>> I think 'get path' is a MAX function. I use gmax ...
Ok so far. And I know what your are thinking. You wish the pathway to extend out some distance before it makes the turn. To accomplish this you need to check the 'limit effect' box. I set the upper limit to 16 deciding that would make for a smooth curve. Selecting 4 would make a jagged curve. Trial and error. I then open the bend modifier and select the gizmo function. I then go over to my top view and move the X and Y. You'll see that dragging in the X direction makes the bend tighter while dragging the Y determines where the radius will be located. And presto! A U shaped object. If you wish to have a longer U then you would start out with a longer (40 or 50 meter) path. Trial and error is your best teacher now. Hope this makes sense.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi148.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs26%2Fjmyers2043%2Fmrbisonm02.jpg&hash=2bb78b3e0935fe1f1ca23aaad8b0c2ac3c00e7ed)
Oh geeeez.......that was some great help again jmyers, now I know how to bend things....just wonderfully explained. Thanks very much everyone. This is really appreciated.
If my gmax knowledge continues growing like this by learning from you folks, you're gonna have some competition .......lol Thanks again, now I have something to play with for a couple of days.. ;)
I haven't tried that yet, but I guess that probably will work with piping also, right?
.........and just to show what I can do in 15 seconds now and prove that I understood it......imagine what I can do in 15 minutes......lol...( just being happy to have learned some more on gmax)
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg386.imageshack.us%2Fimg386%2F5873%2Fcanneasucrepz4.jpg&hash=52acb168d840db88ce3dc1cc9bd731d876c64272)
Youppppie!!
mrb ;)
That is sweet work for 15 seconds and I cant wait to see the 15 minutes project.... :thumbsup:
I'm back needing some help with BATting again please.
I want to have the end of this cylinder in a different texture, how can I do this?
Also sometimes I have walls and I would like to add different textures on the same wall, is there a way to , let's say, put a wooden texture on the lower half and a metallic texture on the upper half on one surface? How is this done?
One more question please while I am here. I downloaded a 3ds model for my CJ and would like to texture it, but when I add a tetxure the whole model gets textured. It is not grouped. Is it possible to texture individual pieces like roof, door, windows and walls on a model like this, and how do you do it?
I know, a lot of questions but hey.....I don't ask often for help, thanks, much appreciated.
mrb
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg18.imageshack.us%2Fimg18%2F9595%2Fcylinder3.jpg&hash=e5738c70647e539849650667749ffa945b42d28f)
You need to use the Unwrap UVW modifier. The best thing you could do is go to the Help menu, select User reference and do a search for Unwrap UVW. Follow the tutorial there.
Is unwarp UVW in Gmax Lee?
Yep, but it's quite different to Max, but the basic principles are the same. Just takes patience and a little getting used to....
Is there another place where this is explained, because my help button doesn't bring up anything......
BTW, the UVM unwrap modifier is for what, the cylinder or to get several textures on the same wall? Thanks
mrb
Did you download and install the help file from the Turbosquid/Gmax site? It's very detailed and explains how do do it quite simply. An Unwrap UVW does exactly that, it takes the UV map and "flattens" it, so you can move the map around a specific texture.
Here's a screenie of it in action
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi95.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl151%2Fcallagrafx%2Fuvws.jpg&hash=5100e8822e974655a4c3dd4d4d8eab183583b428)
And here's the texture I used...as you can see it's a single bitmap.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi95.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl151%2Fcallagrafx%2Foildrum.jpg&hash=273c269566c24dedd19ccf7a95b9b33196583b58)
No, I didn't get the help file, didn't know about it, I downloaded the gmax program 6 years ago.....and it didn't have a help file then on the old site. I better get it now and see how it works out, thanks.
Fred ;)
Exactly, as callagrafx explained, the Unwrap UVW modifier is used for making custom mappings for textures; you can select vertices and move them in the texture, resulting in a custom mapping. The feature is especially useful for using textures depicting multiple items/parts, which would be otherwise unusable. I remember a HVAC tutorial, using a composite image. Don't have a link and can't remember where it was posted, or how it was named, so if someone does, pls provide a link.
However, I think you are after something simpler. Assigning a (single) texture to a cylinder is simple, you have to apply a UVW map to the object, set Mapping type to "Cylindrical", and check the "Cap" option. Adjusting the U and V parameters and/or the Gizmo's dimensions (they don't necessarily need to be equal to the object) you can apply the texture exactly the way you like.
If you want to apply different textures to the same object (eg on different faces of the same Box) you should use Multi-Materials. Making and applying Multi-Materials can prove tricky, but there is a quite simpler procedure:
- In the Material Editor make some simple materials (as usual).
- Pick the material that will cover most of your object's surface, and assign (drag) it on the object.
- Apply a UVW Mapping modifier to your object and properly adjust the mapping parameters (at this point you should have your object textured properly, but with a single material).
- Apply an Edit Mesh modifier, expand the tree, and select Faces or Polygons. Now select the Faces or Polygons for which you want to apply a different texture (Tip: the Ctrl button while selecting adds the items being selected to the current selection, while the Alt button removes them - you should see a plus or minus sign next to the cursor arrow).
- Now pick the other material and drag it on the object. The material will be applied ONLY on the selected faces/polygons. If you open the material editor, you will find the gmax has created and applied correctly a Multi-Material.
Now, about your question about your model, if it's a single object (and not a group) you can use the above technique and apply different textures on the roof, walls, windows, etc. But as this can prove really complicated and tedious, it might be meaningful to consider slpitting the object into individual objects (I assume it's a collapsed mesh), so that each object can be textured properly (and much easier).
Hope this helps.
Thanks cogeo for explaining, I hope I will understand it. I will try it out later this weekend and come back.
Now to the other part, the model is in one part, not grouped.....a picture below. How can I texture this, because when I do, the whole model wraps into the texture.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg8.imageshack.us%2Fimg8%2F3023%2F6453788.jpg&hash=839f064a69a7772e13b34f1e8019d19769a2b9ef)
mrb
I have another texture problem now. The texture on the roof was tiled so it looked good in gmax, but once rendered, the texture turned ......?? Now I'm kinda lost, any help would be appreciated.
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg18.imageshack.us%2Fimg18%2F9214%2Froofproblemstexture.jpg&hash=d268b1e2ede7aa3a0cc77dc312f370a33077ea16)
Thanks in advance
Fred
I think thats a trick of the light as it were. Your texture is quite fine and when it renders it loses detail and can end up like that. Try increasing the size of the texture and see if that solves the problem.
It's also possible this is the problem:
http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=4020.msg148687#msg148687
But I'm not sure.
Thanks Diggis, I'll have a look at your recommendations later this week and come back, much appreciated.
Fred