what do use to make your models?

(xion) #1

so there’s Radient for brushwork, EasyGen for terrain, maybe photoshop for heightmaps/textures…but what’s the best/easiest program to use to make models? (houses, trucks, tanks, planes, boats, flagpoles…etc). Milkshape looks nice and simple, but 3dsMAX seems a little better. Any tips for a newb?

(hummer) #2

Milkshape, 3dsmax and Maya are all the goto model packages as far as I can tell.

I’m learning Maya currently… only because I’ve used 3dsmax and I couldn’t get used to it. Maya seems much easier to use. Plus, you can download a near full version from the Alias Wavefront site (well, your saving / exporting is crippled, as are the use of plugins) but for learning the editor, this is the way to go. I couldn’t tell the difference between this and the full version…

Also, there’s a lot of supporting tools… like Npherno’s md3 compile to do some dirty work after you’ve made the model… you can find that here: http://dl.fileplanet.com/dl/dl.asp?q2pmp/NMD3C.zip

There’s also a ton of tutorials online (google quake 3 modeling tutorials), but most of them are for 3dsmax. Actually, You could use gmax (a mini version of 3dsmax), and it’s free… although I’m not sure if the formats it supports will work with Radiant & q3map2…

(system) #3

I’m familar with photoshop for skinning my Models i made with max5.1. Terrains with Easygen and for shaders of curse Notepad or Q3ase.

I have some .md3 .mdc im/export plugins.

I like modelling and catch myself modelling more and more and put the .ase models into the gtk. Like caves and other stuff.
atm I have to skin a generator for my new map. :-/ Still a lot to do (and learn) but i can help myself. :chef:´

EDIT: For modelling Tutorials check 3dbuzz.com. This guys rock but you need a good connection for the VTM’s.

(kat) #4

MD3 only atm for gmax.

There a quite a few importers but no general exporters for gmax beyond ‘official’ gamepacks. I’ve been hearing there is a technical problem (feature lockout) that prevents an exporter to say *ase from ever working - something to do with ‘disk writing’.

There is apparently a ‘listener’ script for gmax that you can copy/paste data from to another package to create *.obj files but I’ve not tested this myself. It’d probably take ydnar and co to develop support for *.gmax files in q3map2 or discreet to build a general exporter into gmax (which is probably the less likely of the 2), until then we’re kinda stuck exporting models in sections if they go beyond the limitations of MD3…

Have to look a round at other freebie modelling apps to see if they export to *.ase…

(hummer) #5

http://aztec.sourceforge.net/aztec.php

This one exports to md3 at least (I think) and it open source / free… Havnen’t really used it much though.

(kat) #6

Blender another freebie I’ve been using for a while. It does export to VRML and DXF and there is probably a plugin around to do other stuff, I’ve not tried any serious modelling with this yet (being trying to get my head into gmax) but it is a seriuos bit of software that gets a lot of ‘poopoo-ing’ becasue of it’s querky interface.

a couple of apps mentioned here
http://www.map-center.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=100

Just clicked on the links to see Wings3D… that exports to 3DS and blimey… some pretty good stuff’s been done with it…!

(sock) #7

Some of the big bulky stuff in ET was originally made from brushwork and then converted to ASE format. Some of the smaller stuff was created as mapmodels because of the brush resolution in GTK was not fine enough.

Sock
:moo:

(kat) #8

thnx for that sock… link below to that *.ase thread from Q3W
http://www.quake3world.com/ubb/Forum6/HTML/025680.html

(sock) #9

For some reason alot of Q3W’s threads have been deleted (even the one’s suppose to be saved) here is some bits and pieces from the thread …

Part 1 - The summary …

The best solution to creating brushwork at “odd” angles is to …

  • create the brush on the grid
  • save the brushwork as an ASE
  • import the ASE into Q3 and rotate it like a mapmodel.
  • Add rough clip brushes afterwards, or use the q3map2 shader clip feature IF the brushwork is fairly simply.

Using the arb. rotation function in GTK is like bashing yourself over the head with a brick, pointless unless you really enjoy the pain!

Part 2 - the long winded version …

Ok here is an explaination of how to create an ASE map object. I know that some of you may know this already, so just ignore this explaination of how to suck eggs!
First how to create an ASE map object.

  • Create your brushwork at 0,0,0 of the editor grid. When you create an ASE it uses 0,0,0 as the origin of the mapmodel for rotation purposes.
  • Create a caulk hull around the brushwork.
  • Add a info_player_start entity somewhere inside of the caulk hull.

Then create the following batch file.

@echo off
REM -------------------------------------------------
REM ASE CONVERTION STUFF ONLY
REM -------------------------------------------------

@set Q3_PATH=“c:/games/quake3/”
@set MAP_PATH=“c:/games/quake3/baseq3/maps/%1”
@set COM_PATH=“c:/games/quake3/radiant/sdmap2.5”

@set COM_OPTIONS=-v -meta -patchmeta -fs_basepath %Q3_PATH%
%COM_PATH% %COM_OPTIONS% %MAP_PATH%

@set COM_OPTIONS=-convert -fs_basepath %Q3_PATH%
%COM_PATH% %COM_OPTIONS% %MAP_PATH%

Change the top variables in the batch file to reflect your location of Quake 3. Run the batch file with the name of the special ASE map as above.

Then create a “misc_model” entity and find your ASE model with the filename dialog box. You must remember to clip the ASE model because it does not have clippage anymore, but endless rotation possibilities.

Also this will ONLY WORK WITH Q3MAP2, so dont delay and get the latest version.

Part 3 - The examples …

chavo one: q3map2 does all the stuff you need for ASE generation and use within Quake3.

ribgib: misc_models can be rotated in 360 degrees in one plane. The rotation buttons are simply shortcuts to the “angle” key. Once you have used the short cut buttons once the entity will have a “angle” key. Simply click on it and change the value to something between 1-360 and press enter. The misc_model should update in the 2d/3d views.

The special key is “angles” which allows you to twist the misc_model in 3 planes. (Y/Z/X) The value of the key requires 3 values to specify what to rotate the misc_model by. (The angles key is Pitch-Yaw-Roll, Y-Z-X where 0 0 0 is looking down the positive X axis)

There is one slight glitch (which I did not realise until recently) the latest version of GTK does not display the results of the “angles” key yet. I have been assured that the next version due out soon will support this update.

The latest version q3map2 does support ASE and the “angles” key fine.

The5thHorsemen: Nope you dont need special shaders for ASE’s as they are textured like normal brushwork originally and they usually maintain this after the ASE conversion process. (See sample file below)

The only glitch with ASE’s atm is that you will need to clip then after creation. That could be frustrating if the latest version of GTK does not show the “angles” key changes but that should be fixed in the next version. (Something to look forward too then!)

Sample screenshots of an ASE in Quake3 using the latest “angles” key and compiled with the latest compiler q3map2.5.


Sample map_bsp_ase files

Sock
:moo:

(wudan) #10

But GTKRadiant does show changes to the angles keyword, if I recall …

I guess maybe the SD one didn’t, but 1.3.8 beta should be fine …

(sock) #11

This thread is old and talking about the GTK 1.2.12 (The public version). I have been using the SD version for the last year and I believe most of the features of SD are being ported back into the main GTK code tree.

Sock
:moo:

(wudan) #12

/me hits himself with a spoon.

I read you loud and clear now, sock. Ok. Roger. Angles keyword is A-O-K.

(weasel) #13

In the pk3 file, all the models for the vehicles are .md3. If I want to create my own vehicle, do I need to use an md3 model, or can I use an ase for that? It would be nice to be able to make models without having to learn a different editor.

(sock) #14

The vehicles are MD3 for a reason. All misc_gamemodels have to be MD3 format because they move around (not all of the reasons). ASE’s are compiled into the map and not interactive.

Sock
:moo:

(hummer) #15

Best. Thread. Ever.

I think I love you.

(system) #16

And .md3’s are better if you want to put a props_decoration in your map with and animation.
For example the horses in WWest-Mod or the flying birds and other small animation-stuff i did for my new map.

(hummer) #17

It seems like q3map keeps getting all these new features that are “discovered.” Is ther some place that q3map2 features are being documented?

(sock) #18

Ydnar generally keeps the q3map2 manual update at this site.

http://www.shaderlab.com/q3map2/manual/

Sock
:moo: