Gmax and Alice

I figured out a way to get objects from Gmax into Alice.

Gmax is a free 3D modeler. It is almost a exactly like 3D Studio, as far as I can tell.

There are some errors, mostly to do with turning and rolling. If anybody has any suggestions on fixing this, please post.

This is a pdf file.

A very nice post! While I personally like Anim8or, I recognize it has it's limits. Without examples, I can't really comment on the rotation problems, but in general they arise from not really thinking through the origins of the various subparts of an object. That's not easy in any program - as I discovered with a moving map project!

The TGA "error" is rather irrelevant, since you need to import textures into Alice separately anyway. Just a reminder that computer programs are basically dumb.

When making the object in gmax, be sure to make the center of the object at point (0,0,0). This will fix the rotation problem.

The easiest way to make the object at the origin is using the keyboard entry rollout.

Nice post! Good work.

i made an object, and i am wondering how i would create the skin texture for it. do i have to use a certain program or do i just use photoshop? and how will i know how big to make the size of the bmp or whatever image type?

Almost any graphics program will work - including Paint. The best format is .png, though that's not necessary unless you need transparency.

For transparency, you have to use a format that supports alpha level transparency - a simple one level color transparency won't work.

As for size, I suggest you start with 640 x 640 pixels. This seems to map nicely to a "one meter" (Alice dimensions) cube. But prepare to experiment here.

okay thanks for your help but im really wanting to know if there is any way to skin 3d models pixel perfectly. i mean i see it all the time with video games and such, but what program would i use? i currently have 3dsmax design 2009, but it doesnt seem to have the ability to paint textures, only a material editor

On the Anim8or forums I have heard people talk about uvmapper. The Clusty search engine points at http://uvmapper.com/downloads.html to get hold of this, but I have never used it, don't know if that is the exact one they are talking about (maybe some of the links on the Anim8or site would be better for hunting this out). As usual, you are recommended to search out information about this site and program before getting it, and to scan it with virus and anti-spyware programs before using it.

The name comes from the change of co-ordinates from (x,y,z) space to (u,v) space which is the 2D space in which you paint. I've never used it, don't know how well it might work with Alice, and generally can only say this is the kind of program you would be looking for. You might be better using Anim8or itself to change the material properties of parts of your mesh, before exporting it. But I don't do enough in this area to be sure what is possible.

I have found Anim8or useful.

Some of the effects in material editors can add textures to a material. So if you have access to a good material editor, you may be able to achieve what you want with "procedural textures" and other such things.

Originally Posted by hgs

people talk about uvmapper.

This is a nice piece of freeware that takes a 3D mesh and flattens the surfaces into a single 2D space (think of flattening a cardboard box). You can then paint the surface and use the resulting image as the texture the 3D mesh.

The actual mapping takes some skill (OK, a lot of skill ) to draw and scale correctly, however, so I really wouldn't recommend this for beginners.

It also will only work with your own objects since there is no way to export a mesh from Alice.

Some of the effects in material editors can add textures to a material.

You can do this in Anim8or - and even stretch and distort the texture image to get a good geometry match. The process is covered in the manual but in two different sctions (the uv texturing tool is discussed briefly in Ch. 3 and the other texturing basics are discussed in Ch. 10 . It would be nice if there was a good Anim8or tutorial on the subject, but I haven't found one.

I'm a little surprised that there isn't a similar tool in 3dsmax. You might want to do a search of the manual or on the web with one of the key words being either UV or UV mapping.

thanks for your help, i will look for uvmapper and also check out anim8or. im jw..what do the people who make the objects that come with the program use?