[Help] 3dsmax Texture Animations and Proper Scaling

[Starfox1701]

Ok I am putting out a general help call here. I'm tring to transition from milkshape to max 5 and take the models I have been upgrading with me but I have hit a few major problems. The biggest is duing all my test exports I have ben unable to see the sod at all. I supect that this is because max and milkshape are scalling the models completly different but cant really find any way to scale the mesh in max that I can verifiy the export size beforehand. I am also tring to animate the Bussards on some TOS ship and have gotten completely lost. HELP!!!!

 

[Terradyhne]

Ok I am putting out a general help call here. I'm tring to transition from milkshape to max 5 and take the models I have been upgrading with me but I have hit a few major problems. The biggest is duing all my test exports I have ben unable to see the sod at all. I supect that this is because max and milkshape are scalling the models completly different but cant really find any way to scale the mesh in max that I can verifiy the export size beforehand. I am also tring to animate the Bussards on some TOS ship and have gotten completely lost. HELP!!!!

jepp Max rescales those models and it even has some other sort of coordinate settings for the various views.
for the scaling you have a button in max that is named "select and uniform scale" and there you can scale your mesh with a percentage setting.
how do you import your ms3d files into max, as 3ds files or directly as ms3d ??

for that texture animation i can't be that big of help as i didn't really got into that but i think copying the sprite anime settings from legacy could help to get the bussard animation work.

 

[MrVulcan]

Here's what I found on importing ms3d to 3ds max.

First, I export ms3d to 3ds from Milkshape.
Next, I import the 3ds model into 3dsmax.

The model is usually rotated forward (90 deg) and backwards (180 degrees). The first thing I do in 3dsmax is use the rotate tool (set to relative rotation) to orient the model properly. Rotate the model 90 degrees on x-axis, followed by 180 degrees on z-axis.

Next, 3dsmax uses the metric system by default (mm), while milkshape seems to use imperial (in). To restore the original scale, I use the uniform scale tool (relative scale) to scale up the model by 254%. Make sure that you use the center of selection to scale rather than local selection.

As for your other inquiry, texture animations in 3dsmax are made in similar fashion as in milkshape. To animate the texture on a mesh, attach a "c_anim_ANIM" helper point, where ANIM is the texture animation identifier.

For mesh animations, the SOD exporter appears to support only rotation and translation animations. You can add animations via the keyframes to either mesh parts, or point hepers. If you want, I can post more detailed instructions on how to create animations in 3dsmax for SODs.

Cheers

 

[Terradyhne]

Here's what I found on importing ms3d to 3ds max.

First, I export ms3d to 3ds from Milkshape.
Next, I import the 3ds model into 3dsmax.

with this method of importing the model into max you don't have to wonder if the mesh has mesh errors after exporting to SOD.The 3ds format destroyes the smoothing on your models and if you don't want to have mesh errors after export, than you have to rework the smoothing of the polys in max or use another file format to imprt and the best would be wavefront obj-format.

 

[MrVulcan]

I will definately give your suggestion a try if that solves some of the problems I've described in the other 3dsmax thread.

However, with the 100+ models that I have converted from ms3d to 3dsmax, most models had no issues. If I'm not mistaken, the exporter in ms3d uses smoothing groups, but the exporter in 3dsmax determines smoothing groups based on welded vertices (ie, any continuous object is considered as a single smoothing group). So I can see how upon conversion, the loss of smoothing groups will mess up the models.

For the purposes of SOD conversion, that method worked for me. Perhaps it did because the models I worked with used continuous objects for smoothing rather than smoothing groups. Anyhow, I will try other formats too, thanks for the tip

Cheers

 

[Terradyhne]

I will definately give your suggestion a try if that solves some of the problems I've described in the other 3dsmax thread.

However, with the 100+ models that I have converted from ms3d to 3dsmax, most models had no issues. If I'm not mistaken, the exporter in ms3d uses smoothing groups, but the exporter in 3dsmax determines smoothing groups based on welded vertices (ie, any continuous object is considered as a single smoothing group). So I can see how upon conversion, the loss of smoothing groups will mess up the models.

For the purposes of SOD conversion, that method worked for me. Perhaps it did because the models I worked with used continuous objects for smoothing rather than smoothing groups. Anyhow, I will try other formats too, thanks for the tip

Cheers

its not a SOD exporter problem, its a 3ds file format problem, as i make models for SFC to and there are similar problems with mesh errors after i exported a model with max, to their MOD format.