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ARG... MILKSHAPE

Here you can discuss building custom ships, texturing and 3D modeling in Freelancer

Post Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:49 pm

ARG... MILKSHAPE

why is it so stupid? I'm making a base and i have too many triangles, how can i change the limit? I've only run into this once before, and i could cut down, but I would really rather just change the limit rather that redo it...

Post Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:54 pm

Lacking that... any way to reduce the triangles without redoing it?

tried a lot, didn't do much. if i send it to anyone with 3dsmax, can that edit more verts, and is there anyone who will do a 3 second thing then send it back so i can re import it into ms?

a third edit: just watching alien vs predator, the pods the predators use to land look a huge amount like metal nomad fighters- I know what the developers were watching when the couldn't come up with anything new!

Edited by - lancerlover on 4/28/2007 6:33:54 PM

Post Sun Apr 29, 2007 3:13 am

ms3d has a direct X tool for mesh/polygon count reduction that works pretty nice. its a real boon to making multilevel models if you're interested in that, also.

Post Sun Apr 29, 2007 7:07 am

as Cold Void said: Milkshape has a Dirext X Mesh Reduction tool that will do the job nicely for you.
Find it under the TOOLS tab. You have 4 or 5 that will increase your count and only one that will reduce them. It also gives you the option of viewing your model as a wire frame or solid object.

Post Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:23 am

thanks- now just to figure out how to use it...

Post Sun Apr 29, 2007 2:46 pm

select the faces you want it to act on, you click the tool, a window with preview pops up and as you drag the slider right to left the polycount drops, until the original shape becomes so faceted as to be unrecognizable. when you have it where you want, you click the save progress button and the change is carried over to the stage

Post Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:42 am

Yeah, best thing to do before you start mucking around with your pride and joy is to try it out on a few other items until you get a good feel for it. Once you're confident enough, then give it a try. (You'll be glad you did)

Post Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:38 am

ROFLMFAO, a bad workman always blames his tools.

Milkshape is far from stupid, it's a true model makers program as you need a lot of skill to get good models out of it, unlike MAX & GMAX which holds your hand and does most of the work for you.


The only problem will be getting it in to milkshape to start with, saving your model in the .X format will help, but I can't remember if there's a Direct X exporter for MAX. MAX isn't very popular with the people that make non commercial plugins, which is why most modding communities prefer milkshape.

**EDIT** MAX has a feature that you can set the max poly count for your model, I've never used it as the models I do in MAX are usually around 200,000 polys(renders, CGI, poser etc).

**shuffles off with a new headache**

Edited by - Bejaymac on 4/30/2007 6:39:35 AM

Post Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:37 pm

Yeah, Milkshape has been my only modeling tool ever since I first tried it out, then bought it. It's only the 1.7.5..and somewhat unforgiving of some mistakes.
But, it took all the plugins I needed to import and export goodies.

Post Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:50 pm

yup, i''m tired of hearing people rag on ms3d too. if you know where else you can get access to a full featured modeling program with open-licensing on plugins (they don't want several thousand dollars just to give you the privilege of writing an open source plugin) for 25 bucks i'd like to hear it!

Post Tue May 01, 2007 11:29 am

Ms3D is a amazing modelling prog, its easy to use, and as rankor said, get used to it n all youll soon find yourself making simple but cool looking models in no time

Requiem: A Freelancer Total Conversion MOD

Openlancer Project

VOTE FREELANCER!!!!

Post Tue May 01, 2007 5:39 pm

What I would rather use other than Milkshape is the actual program the Freelancer Creators used along with the utilities it had for textures such as .dds and .txm .
But, honestly...I don't know if I've ever heard a mention of the actual program.
Until I find out what they used, I'll have to be satisfied with MS3d.

Post Sat May 26, 2007 3:06 pm


ROFLMFAO, a bad workman always blames his tools.

Milkshape is far from stupid, it's a true model makers program as you need a lot of skill to get good models out of it, unlike MAX & GMAX which holds your hand and does most of the work for you.



Why is it that people always seem to say things along the lines of "if you use this program you obviously aren't a very good modeler" or "if you use plugins it's only because you aren't skilled enough to do the job without them"? I have seen this a lot in Max forums across the net for YEARS. This whole concept is, to me, asinine. If there are two programs available, and both are good enough to let you do the job you intend to do, but one of them is easier and faster such that you can do the job in less time and with less effort, using the weaker program does not mean you are more skilled, it means you are less productive, period. And plugins the same... if a plugin will allow you to accomplish a task more easily and more quickly, there is every reason to use the plugin and no reason not to. It's called progress people!

3ds Max is one of the most powerful and versatile modeling programs I've ever had the pleasure of using. Yes, it does a lot of the grunt work for you. But this means that you can do more work in less time and you get to focus on creative vision and design rather than spending all your time doing that same grunt work. Knock it all you want, but in the end, a person who has total mastery of both Milkshape and Max will be able to produce their models more quickly in Max. This doesn't make them less talented, it just gives them more free time.

Unfortunately Max is atrociously expensive, which is why I haven't upgraded to version 9 yet

Post Sat May 26, 2007 4:49 pm

Actually, i love milkshape and you can do a ton with it... it was the first i used. The Arg was because i was particularly exasperated at the cmp importer which had been crashing a lot. It imports/exports to everything and is just luvverly.

Stop the fighting! *cringe*

oh yeah and here's (also here) the model, which wouldn't work in directx editor because it's already as simple as it can possibly be (each of the cells has 15 faces) but the thing is just really big, and i had been putting models in the cells to cut down on hardpoints and make it more interesting.

overall, too big for milkshape. Fl would probobly implode... ms is also freaking out with some new models im doing (really complex destructable SURs) to but it's not that much of a problem.

Edited by - lancerlover on 5/26/2007 6:03:40 PM

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