Wed Jun 02, 2004 6:25 pm
**Tutorial**- Substitute Ship Creation
*****BEFORE YOU READ*****
Note that this is a substitute tutorial explaining how to use VHE to create\export a ship rather than starting from scratch in GMAX. This is ONLY intended for those who have trouble grasping the concept of GMAX.
*****Continue On*****
Hi All.
I recently posted an article about using VHE(Valve Hammer Editor) to create ships for use in FreeLancer. I encountered some problems which I thought were the result of using a program that was NOT meant for model creation, so I quickly tossed away the idea.
My problem was that everything was fine up until I tried to import the GMAX Export MD3 into MilkShape. When I Imported it, the whole ship was nothing but a big mess. Vertices all the way out in space and faces all turned inside out, backwards and stretched beyond repair. It was hopeless.
I FIGURED OUT THE PROBLEM - At least, I found what I did during the export process in GMAX fixed my mess in MS3D. So, with that in mind, I have revamped my entire article to bring to you a simple tutorial on using VHE instead of GMAX to start your ship design. Read below for the tutorial.
____________________________________________________________________
Using VHE(Valve Hammer Editor for Half-life) instead of GMAX
==NOTES== : VHE does NOT have any modeling capabilities such as subdivision, smoothing, vertex flipping, etc... It is a LEVEL BUILDING TOOL, but the basics of building a level can ALSO be used to build a very makeshift ship for freelancer a LOT easier than trying to BEVEL then EXTRUDE and then BEVELING again, etc... in GMAX.
GMAX has NUMEROUS different controls, hard to get used to so many. VHE on the other hand, is limited in controls, hence its' purpose as a LEVEL BUILDING TOOL. Building a ship in VHE is much like building a room(level) with stairs, doors, bookshelves, some fancy walls, computer consoles etc... The only difference is, instead of building an entire room with contents on the inside, you are actualy creating an object which has no inside or lights or the such... Your main purpose is to create a replica of your ship with the same aspects\idea that you would in GMAX, only it's really easy to use VHE because you don't have to worry about creating a new box and aligning it perfectly, or having to subdivide by x amount, or beveling and extruding, and beveling, or having to... you get the idea.
VHE is straight forward. You can create a BOX, a CONE, a CYLINDER, a WEDGE, or an ARCH. You can NOT Create a CYLINDER, then manipulate vertices to form it into a STAR. What I mean by that is, all sides MUST BE CONVEX! YOU CAN NOT CONCAVE A SIDE OF ANY SINGLE POLYGON! In order to create your desired shape, you'll need to use 2 shapes, or 3, or 4 to get the desired CONCAVE concept. Keep that in mind. (In English, you can NOT create a culdesac using only 1 polygon. You'll have to use more than 1 polygon(brush), manipulating them to create your culdesac.)
I don't know how to explain it, but lets try this as well... Regular Polygons are LEGAL. Irregular Polygons are ILLEGAL. To create the effect of an irregular polygon, you must use 2 or more REGULAR polygons, shaping them, keeping them regular. I'm sure you learned the terms Regular and Irregular Polygons is school.
If you know how to use VHE, you're in GOOD hands. If you DON'T know how to use VHE, Check up on some tutorials on how to use it. SEARCH THE NET - DON'T ASK ME TO SEND IT TO YOU - IM TOO BUSY AS IT IS.
VHE Also has a built-in help system which covers the basics as well. But it is in reference to building an actual LEVEL, NOT a SHIP, so adjust the idea in your head while checking out the help system.
____________________________________________________________________
VHE to GMAX EXPORTING TUTORIAL
If you have followed Drizzt4.0's Tutorial on ship creation, you will have all the necessary programs\plugins needed to make your ship. You will also notice that at the point in his tutorial, where you use the UVW Modifier > Shrink Wrap BEFORE exporting to your ship. HOLD ON THIS - DON'T DO IT YET!
After your ship is done in VHE, EXPORT the ship you made via the FILE > EXPORT .DXF selection. You're done in VHE.
Now load up GMAX. Go to FILE > IMPORT. In the new window, look for 'Files of Type' field. That should be changed to 'AutoCAD (*.DXF) - Browse to your ship, and select OPEN.
In the next window, select 'COMPLETELY REPLACE CURRENT SCENE' .
In the next window, the following should be checked\unchecked:
DERIVE OBJECTS FROM - ENTITY
WELD VERTICES - UNCHECKED
AUTO SMOOTH - UNCHECKED
The rest, LEAVE ALONE.
Click the 'OK' Button. (or whatever it is named)
Now right click in your perspective view until a menu appears. Select CONVERT TO > EDITABLE POLY
Follow this next few steps CAREFULLY.
Make sure EVERYTHING is selected via the EDIT > SELECT ALL option.
RIGHT CLICK in the perspective view, then select SCALE in the menu that appears. LEFT CLICK and then drag your mouse DOWN to make the ship smaller.
KEEP AN EYE ON THE X=### field right below the perspective window. DON'T LET GO OF THAT MOUSE BUTTON - Your CURSOR will loop back to top of the screen allowing you to keep dragging.
KEEP SCALING DOWN until the X=### just changes to 25. Now you can let go of your mouse button.
Now that your ship is smaller, go straight to MODIFIERS up on the menu bar, go down to UVW Coordinates > UVW Map. Then in the menu to your RIGHT, you want to select SHRINK WRAP. Notice the LENGTH, WIDTH, HEIGHT fields below in that same menu? You want to enter in different values (bigger usualy) until you get an elipse or sphere completely surrounding your ship. Don't go too big. You want to keep it just barely big enough to encompass your ship all the way around. The LENGTH, WIDTH, HEIGHT fields can have different values so if you have a SKINNY but TALL ship, you can size up the shrink wrap to be TALL and SKINNY so it surrounds your ship. Same if your ship is FAT but SHORT and VERY LONG.
Once that is done, you can save your ship in GMAX, then EXPORT it into Quake3 MD3 Format so you can import it into MilkShape 3D to play with your hardpoints.
____________________________________________________________________
Thats the end of this tutorial - Now you can pick up at the IMPORT into MilkShape3D section of Drizzt4.0's Ship Creation Tutorial.
Hope all you guys who can't seem to use GMAX at all like my VHE tutorial. VHE is TOTALY different in respect to creating objects and manipulating them. For me, it is 5000% easier for me to create a ship using VHE rather than GMAX and I can get down and dirty in detail with VHE as well.
Happy Modding -
***************** Thanks to Drizzt4.0 for his awsome tutorial. IT IS THE BOMB.
***************** Lancers Reactor KICKS <insert profanity here if you are over 18>
.-~={ BUDDY WEISER }=~-.
'~=-{^v^/XxX/XxX/^v^}-=~'
Edited by - Chips on 10/31/2004 7:20:53 AM
Note that this is a substitute tutorial explaining how to use VHE to create\export a ship rather than starting from scratch in GMAX. This is ONLY intended for those who have trouble grasping the concept of GMAX.
*****Continue On*****
Hi All.
I recently posted an article about using VHE(Valve Hammer Editor) to create ships for use in FreeLancer. I encountered some problems which I thought were the result of using a program that was NOT meant for model creation, so I quickly tossed away the idea.
My problem was that everything was fine up until I tried to import the GMAX Export MD3 into MilkShape. When I Imported it, the whole ship was nothing but a big mess. Vertices all the way out in space and faces all turned inside out, backwards and stretched beyond repair. It was hopeless.
I FIGURED OUT THE PROBLEM - At least, I found what I did during the export process in GMAX fixed my mess in MS3D. So, with that in mind, I have revamped my entire article to bring to you a simple tutorial on using VHE instead of GMAX to start your ship design. Read below for the tutorial.
____________________________________________________________________
Using VHE(Valve Hammer Editor for Half-life) instead of GMAX
==NOTES== : VHE does NOT have any modeling capabilities such as subdivision, smoothing, vertex flipping, etc... It is a LEVEL BUILDING TOOL, but the basics of building a level can ALSO be used to build a very makeshift ship for freelancer a LOT easier than trying to BEVEL then EXTRUDE and then BEVELING again, etc... in GMAX.
GMAX has NUMEROUS different controls, hard to get used to so many. VHE on the other hand, is limited in controls, hence its' purpose as a LEVEL BUILDING TOOL. Building a ship in VHE is much like building a room(level) with stairs, doors, bookshelves, some fancy walls, computer consoles etc... The only difference is, instead of building an entire room with contents on the inside, you are actualy creating an object which has no inside or lights or the such... Your main purpose is to create a replica of your ship with the same aspects\idea that you would in GMAX, only it's really easy to use VHE because you don't have to worry about creating a new box and aligning it perfectly, or having to subdivide by x amount, or beveling and extruding, and beveling, or having to... you get the idea.
VHE is straight forward. You can create a BOX, a CONE, a CYLINDER, a WEDGE, or an ARCH. You can NOT Create a CYLINDER, then manipulate vertices to form it into a STAR. What I mean by that is, all sides MUST BE CONVEX! YOU CAN NOT CONCAVE A SIDE OF ANY SINGLE POLYGON! In order to create your desired shape, you'll need to use 2 shapes, or 3, or 4 to get the desired CONCAVE concept. Keep that in mind. (In English, you can NOT create a culdesac using only 1 polygon. You'll have to use more than 1 polygon(brush), manipulating them to create your culdesac.)
I don't know how to explain it, but lets try this as well... Regular Polygons are LEGAL. Irregular Polygons are ILLEGAL. To create the effect of an irregular polygon, you must use 2 or more REGULAR polygons, shaping them, keeping them regular. I'm sure you learned the terms Regular and Irregular Polygons is school.
If you know how to use VHE, you're in GOOD hands. If you DON'T know how to use VHE, Check up on some tutorials on how to use it. SEARCH THE NET - DON'T ASK ME TO SEND IT TO YOU - IM TOO BUSY AS IT IS.
VHE Also has a built-in help system which covers the basics as well. But it is in reference to building an actual LEVEL, NOT a SHIP, so adjust the idea in your head while checking out the help system.
____________________________________________________________________
VHE to GMAX EXPORTING TUTORIAL
If you have followed Drizzt4.0's Tutorial on ship creation, you will have all the necessary programs\plugins needed to make your ship. You will also notice that at the point in his tutorial, where you use the UVW Modifier > Shrink Wrap BEFORE exporting to your ship. HOLD ON THIS - DON'T DO IT YET!
After your ship is done in VHE, EXPORT the ship you made via the FILE > EXPORT .DXF selection. You're done in VHE.
Now load up GMAX. Go to FILE > IMPORT. In the new window, look for 'Files of Type' field. That should be changed to 'AutoCAD (*.DXF) - Browse to your ship, and select OPEN.
In the next window, select 'COMPLETELY REPLACE CURRENT SCENE' .
In the next window, the following should be checked\unchecked:
DERIVE OBJECTS FROM - ENTITY
WELD VERTICES - UNCHECKED
AUTO SMOOTH - UNCHECKED
The rest, LEAVE ALONE.
Click the 'OK' Button. (or whatever it is named)
Now right click in your perspective view until a menu appears. Select CONVERT TO > EDITABLE POLY
Follow this next few steps CAREFULLY.
Make sure EVERYTHING is selected via the EDIT > SELECT ALL option.
RIGHT CLICK in the perspective view, then select SCALE in the menu that appears. LEFT CLICK and then drag your mouse DOWN to make the ship smaller.
KEEP AN EYE ON THE X=### field right below the perspective window. DON'T LET GO OF THAT MOUSE BUTTON - Your CURSOR will loop back to top of the screen allowing you to keep dragging.
KEEP SCALING DOWN until the X=### just changes to 25. Now you can let go of your mouse button.
Now that your ship is smaller, go straight to MODIFIERS up on the menu bar, go down to UVW Coordinates > UVW Map. Then in the menu to your RIGHT, you want to select SHRINK WRAP. Notice the LENGTH, WIDTH, HEIGHT fields below in that same menu? You want to enter in different values (bigger usualy) until you get an elipse or sphere completely surrounding your ship. Don't go too big. You want to keep it just barely big enough to encompass your ship all the way around. The LENGTH, WIDTH, HEIGHT fields can have different values so if you have a SKINNY but TALL ship, you can size up the shrink wrap to be TALL and SKINNY so it surrounds your ship. Same if your ship is FAT but SHORT and VERY LONG.
Once that is done, you can save your ship in GMAX, then EXPORT it into Quake3 MD3 Format so you can import it into MilkShape 3D to play with your hardpoints.
____________________________________________________________________
Thats the end of this tutorial - Now you can pick up at the IMPORT into MilkShape3D section of Drizzt4.0's Ship Creation Tutorial.
Hope all you guys who can't seem to use GMAX at all like my VHE tutorial. VHE is TOTALY different in respect to creating objects and manipulating them. For me, it is 5000% easier for me to create a ship using VHE rather than GMAX and I can get down and dirty in detail with VHE as well.
Happy Modding -
***************** Thanks to Drizzt4.0 for his awsome tutorial. IT IS THE BOMB.
***************** Lancers Reactor KICKS <insert profanity here if you are over 18>
.-~={ BUDDY WEISER }=~-.
'~=-{^v^/XxX/XxX/^v^}-=~'
Edited by - Chips on 10/31/2004 7:20:53 AM