I'm new to 3D modeling and just getting familiar with GMAX.
My intent is to gain enough experience to develop elements for WOFF mods. I know this will take some time to achieve. That being said, I would like to dialogue with someone quite familiar with this art with respect to the needed tools to do the job and later possibly a little assistance with any issues I may run into.

Once I have conquered the challenges of GMAX I will need to know how to proceed to integrate these models with CFS3/WOFF infrastructure.

I would appreciate a PM from anyone who has this kind of experience and would be willing to pass on the knowledge as needed.

Best Regards;

God speed sir!

HI Robert - i too want to get more into this but am starting from a zero knowledge base..!

maybe we should try and set up a 'step by step' thread similar to the skinning one?

i have some art background (and am an architect by day) so have some basic 3d modelling skills, but i need to understand which software to begin with and go from there as well

Ron

I did some simple stuff with FSX.
Rural sea plane bases. I like a hidden mountain top lake!

I could only do that with EZ scenery, it made it simple enough for me.

Over on the ATAG forums there are some guys learning 3D modeling. Spiritus_Mortem might be a guy to contact. He did a tutorial with Blender on TeamSpeak. FWIW.

Sim-outhouse.com - try posting this request in the CFS3 forum and you'll likely find what you're looking for. Pat Pattle is the man you want to talk to. I have worked on and off with Pat on many projects over the years and he is primarily responsible for bringing most of the historical airfields and buildings that we have to CFS3.

Spiritus_Mortem and Pat Pattle sounds like men I need to talk to.



One of the challenges with GMAX is that it is very old. Lots of progress has been made with coding and user interfaces that will speed up workflow and make your life so much easier, Robert.

The closest to GMAX now is the paid for version, which is 3DS Max. This is an industry favourite in gaming but eye wateringly expensive. I also don't like the interface, but that's just me.

I prefer Blender, which is free (yay!) and impressively good for that. Lots of tutorials out there, plus I can answer any questions you are likely to have for quite a while.


To get models into CFS3/WOFF, you still need gmax and the developers SDK for CFS3. Quite how you do it is the bit I don't know yet, but I'm working on that.

Yhanks for all the posts folks! Some good suggestions here.

I'm going to try to spend some time with GMAX over the holidays to see if I can get my head around it. Thanks Maeran for your post regarding Blender/ I will keep that in mind for later investigation.

Gecko, thanks for the tip regarding Spiritus_Mortem and Pat Pattle on SOH. I just joined that site recently and will check in with them.

Manitouguy, that is a great suggestion, I may do that once I have some knowledge to share. for now I would just like to keep this thread alive to touch base with anyone else who may have the background to contribute suggestions.

Best Regards to all and thanks for checking in on this thread.

Just thought I would share what knowledge I have acquired to date and hope it helps some.

Here is the result of my first attempt at GMAX modeling using the WOFF dds file for the base texturing file and then generating my own building framework (hope is it visible...GMAX screen background is quite dark) Took me 2 days and many attempts but perseverance paid off, still some things to learn to clean up the model though:



Here are some links to GMAX tutorials. I used the approach in the first tutorial as a template for my work.

GMAX modeling and texture for realism - Youtube

Here are three more with slightly different approach:

Basic Modeling in GMAX Lesson 1

Basic Modeling in GMAX Lesson 2

Basic Modeling in GMAX Lesson 3

Robert:

In the lower left view, there seems to be another view superimposed. How did that happen? And the right hand perspective view .dds shows a Quanset/Nissan Hut semi-domed roof. Did you pass on that and just go for a simpler peaked roof?

Robert: since my website has not been updated in quite a while, here's some pics. that were created later. The last two are supposed to be the Hawker/von Richtofen fight. I did them just before I discovered OFF P3. Therefore, at the time, I didn't know that von Richtofen did not fly a D.V on that occasion, nor had he yet become 'The Red Baron'.

Hauksbee;

The superimposed image seems to be a corruption that occurs in the GMAX screen. When I minimize it to the task bar and then maximize it again, the problem clears up. I just forgot to do that before taking the screen capture. It's an annoying problem and only happens with GMAX. I really don't know why.

since the dds file I used for the texture was quansit and I only wanted a simple model, I just lived with it. I could have made an effort to accomodate either one, but I was running out of time and really just trying to achieve an end product. Once I start building the real thing, I will be more judicious with my texture choices.

All I wanted to achieve here was a frame model and then be able to apply a dds texture to it, to learn the methodology.

Have you done anything like this yet in GMAX?

what tools/methods did you use to create the pics? They look very good!

I'm pretty sure that all of those were done in Animation Master, a spline-based program that I used for about six or seven years. (it's been a while since I did those.) Before that I was using Carrara which is polygons.

Haven't tried GMAX Yet. I'll try to download it tonight.

I've downloaded GMAX twice now. I've also opened an account with FSDeveloper and got to their Fourms. Problem is, when I launch GMAX a message window pops up and want my Confirmation Number, which I don't have yet. However; there's a URL link there to a 'discreet.com' page. Clicking it takes me to the page, but the page is blank.

I have somehow, accidently, disabled Java on my IE page. But Firefox works fine. So I deleted GMAX in the Control Panel, and downloaded a fresh GMAX copy. But the same thing happens.

EDIT: 'Went back to the FSDeveloper Forum and got some fresh advice. The one that worked involved a 'Work-Around' crack. Now GMAX opens just fine.

Glad you got around the Conf Number. I had the same problem and sent a message off to support and they sent me what I needed. I should have passed it on to you but it slipped my mind. Sorry about that!

Hey! Glad to know it wasn't just me. But as you see, I got it up and running. I remember a lot more that I expected I would (plus some web crawling when I drew a blank. Not that infrequently either.)

I figured what these WOFF airfields need more than anything, is some good chateaux so our lads can house themselves, their raucous pets and scads of admiring groupies. So, here an offering complete with out buildings, and deep cellars to keep the beer cold and a barn to keep the rain off your kites. Currently Off Limits to all but BOC members. If this passes muster (Robert?) I'll go on to texturing.

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Outstanding Hauksbee! If Robert needs a hand perhaps you could help him with a few little bits and pieces I am needing for my Boistrancourt aerodrome project.

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Hauksbee, it's looking good but the towers without the flags kind of look like the disneyland castle

It's a really good piece of work with a fair amount of complexity there. Your modeling skills are ahead of mine for sure.
I was working in polygon form and then applying imported textures. Yours look like you worked with frames and built in textures.
Both approaches have their advantages.

So now we could listen to Lou and see just what kind of building he is looking for and what texture application he would like on it. That being said, creating the model is one thing, figuring out how to get it into WOFF is another. I have a dialogue going with Pat Pattie which might shed some light on the road to WOFF. We shall see.

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I mentioned to Maeran, in the Boistrancourt thread, that the chateau I currently have will work fine for now, (not that I wouldn't like a more historically accurate one at some point in the future). What I could really use at the moment are a couple of wall sections. A brick wall about 5-6' tall and a wooden board fence about 8-10 feet tall would be great. If you could build them about 40' long I could repeat them as needed to create the walls around the chateau grounds and the fence around the sugar factory. Also, reventments that look more like the ones at the real Boistrancourt would be nice too, but I can repaint the ones I have and get by for now.

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