having problems with custom models and skins

(xzibit) #1

well i exported my model and it goes ingame but is liike black and orrange…
here…
ive got all the files in the right plce right names and i dno weatr i did wrong

what in gods name am i doing wrong and how do i stop it!!!?!?
:angry:

(bacon) #2

You have to scale your textures to be a power of 2.

(xzibit) #3

? what?

(bacon) #4

64x64, 128x128, etc.

(xzibit) #5

oh, damn :expressionless: thanx

(SCDS_reyalP) #6

note they don’t have to be square. 16x256 or 128x512 would be fine too

(xzibit) #7

thanx. do thewy have to be like that or can they be like just even

(No1_sonuk) #8

No, each dimension must be one of:
1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024

RTCW wasn’t that fussy, but ET is.

(xzibit) #9

mmmm i just found out… how do i specify the uvw thing in 3ds max??? :frowning:

(No1_sonuk) #10

What I usually do is create a blank skin image first, then assign it to the model. Saves a lot of hassle working out how to set stuff up.

The other thing to remember is that the UV coordinates are relative to the image size, not absolute (i.e. NOT based on pixel coordinates).
This means that if you UV map on a 1024 x 1024 texture, but find that you want to use a 512 x 512 in-game, you don’t need to change the model, only the skin image. Just replace the skin image file and it’ll work fine.

(Nathan Havok) #11

You can also go the LithUnwrap route to get your skinning work done.
It can be gotten here: Lithunwrap (http://files.seriouszone.com/download.php?fileid=198)

Once you’ve skinned your model in LithUnwrap, export it as a .3ds and import it into GMax (this is, of course, assuming you’re using GMax). Once it’s back into GMax, select all of the vertices, do a vertex weld on the standard setting, and export as an md3 again.

Then bring it into md3 compile, assocate any necessary shaders with it and you’re golden.

Mean Mr. Mustard and I did a tutorial on this. We should get around to finishing it sometime soon.

(No1_sonuk) #12

Note that you’ll have to redo all your smoothing groups if you use Lithunwrap.

(Jan) #13

xzibit: Read the skinning tutorials that come with max/gmax for a basic understanding of the uvw mapping progress. Learn what the uvw map and uvw unwrap modifiers do. After that it should be pretty self explanatory.

No1_sonuk: Does md3 support smoothing groups? Afaik, they don’t.

(No1_sonuk) #14

I don’t think so, but IIRC, the models are exported from Milkshape in the right way to make it look as though it does.

I don’t know if Max does the same thing, though.