Technical Talk

Topic	Replies	Latest Post
Architecture Resources Im wondering if anyone knows some good sites to read about [B]Architecture[/B] all the books are expensive and cost hundreds of dollars on amazon, im looking for just a few free papers, ebooks wit…	7 Last	120Degree_Flip Oct 2009
high poly modeling question i'm sure this has been answered before...but what is the way to go for your high detail base that you are going to pull normals off of... turbo smooth/mesh smooth/smoothing groups? is anyone more c…	2 Last	EarthQuake Oct 2009
Terrain - How I Hate Terrain... Sup wiggas... Me and a few of the guys from the team have been scratching our heads so much his past week at terrain... Now, the issue isn't so much we can' do it, the issue is we cant do it "NICE".…	17 Last	[iWi] Oct 2009
Character Polycounts? I was just wondering if theres any info out there bout polycounts/texture sizes for characters on the different systems? For Example DS - PSP - MMO (World of warcraft relative) - iPhone - Wii - Ne…	8 Last	East Oct 2009
Tutorial - "Holy Crap! I lost all my work!!" [I]I posted this on GA.org, but I'll share with ya'll.[/I] [B][COLOR=Red]The best protection from loosing your work is iteration saving. [U]OFTEN[/U][/COLOR][/B]. Although you can't protect yourself…	6 Last	Whargoul Oct 2009
3d max - question about materials I have 1 multi/sub-object and 1 standard material in my scene. In multi/sub-object I have 20 textures (diffuse color), every texture has different ID. is it possible to join this standard material t…	3 Last	Mark Dygert Oct 2009
Question: Continuity vs Multiple Elements I seem to see a lot more continuous meshes (B) rather than multiple element designs (A.) Is there reason to the madness? As far as I can see as long as the texture is mapped correctly, (A) would use …	7 Last	Guriamo Oct 2009
Are normal maps always necessary? Hi there, I'm still a beginner, so I've got a beginners question. Is it always necessary to bake a normal map when creating hard surface models for games? I'll always bake a normal map for organi…	10 Last	Tom Ellis Oct 2009
Hi need help Hi guys, My friend and I trying to make mobile game I'm modeling for it and friend programming for it. So I'm in need of some information about poly count and other stuff related. Target mobile is NO…	1 Last	Mimp Oct 2009
smoothing seam issues Ok so I was redoing my comicon entry and I kept having this gaping huge seam in the model, at first I thought it was textures but it definitely is not, something to do with the mesh. textureless norm…	3 Last	glib Oct 2009
3ds max 2009 autoback fail. Im having some strange saving and backup problems with max 2009. I have a max file that has about a 5% chance of crashing max every time I save, which is strange but ok because max will backup the fi…	7 Last	Slum Oct 2009
12K Maps? I've noticed games like Unreal and Gears of War have amazing texture resolution for each of their meshes, and I recently heard of a process that would allow up to a 12K map, be compressed down to a 1…	11 Last	frubes Oct 2009
RL Photoshop Tutorial sooo - i'm giving a photoshop tutorial to a group of students in two weeks (twice actually, 30 per session) and I have to keep them entertained for about 7 hours (including breaks, so real time shedu…	14 Last	Japhir Oct 2009
Terminology, Polygon/Face Hey guys. I was just curious if there is a difference between the polygon component called "Face" (Maya only?) and a "Polygon"? Or is this just two different words for the same thing? Within Maya t…	7 Last	Mark Dygert Oct 2009
quick city does anyone know of a way to generate or paint a big 3d city (something similar to speed tree or like maya paint effects). Doesnt have to be detailed, just need tooonns of buildings and i dont want t…	12 Last	renderhjs Oct 2009
To Cage, or not to Cage I have just now baked some Normal Maps in 3ds Max and at first I used a Cage for every object. It resulted in some skewed and squashed detail which I deduced to be caused by the Rays not being shot p…	4 Last	bugo Oct 2009
Can Zbrush do Displacement maps Been messing around with Z brush and since fixing my Zmapper problem I am now curious if Z brush can be set to generate Displacement maps instead of normal maps like Mud box can. The normal map resu…	3 Last	vargatom Sep 2009
Path Deform (WSM) In the words of the immortal poet Malekyth... "Arghlblarghfuck" .... I know it has something to do with my pivot point, or reset x-form, but why are my path deform objects never over the spline (e…	13 Last	michi.be Sep 2009
graphite Paint deform I was having as bit of fun using this and it works ok on the whole. I discovered today that you can paint symmetrically by turn on mirror in the painter options. Works fine for most of the brushes …	0 Last	Ruz Sep 2009
rendering max vertex color so i was laying down some base colors with vertex paint on a high poly mesh but it doesn't render. just curious if there is a way to convert vertex painted color to material ID or something?	4 Last	Junkie_XL Sep 2009
3dsMax : how to mirror objects and keep a correct matrix ? Basically, when i mirror an object, the transform matrix is reversed aswell and when it comes to export it to the engine, the faces are flipped. So i have to flip normals in max (it's the dirty way) …	6 Last	sinistergfx Sep 2009
Texture painting - How fo I change my techniques for normal maps? Hi all. Sorry My first post is another 'asker.' Anyway I'm Snacuum and although I'd rather be in design I'm working on my art skills. I'm completing an old challenge model from a year ago and I've go…	2 Last	Snacuum Sep 2009
Modo uv question It's there any way to get non symmetrical uv layout sizes in Modo? Like 1024 x 512 uv space sizing?	5 Last	OBlastradiusO Sep 2009
My New PC I just ordered this pc and realised I havent asked the trusty polycount, Im pretty sure these parts are good value for money and they need to be as I am on a tight budget. What do you think? good bud…	84 Last	Ged Sep 2009
Superspecular soft edges Scripts I opened this thread to track all the development steps for an ideal script solution to apply my technique. i start adding a link to a video showing actual stage of a new set of tool i'm writing for …	5 Last	deadlineproof Sep 2009
RTT Rendered Frame Window Is it somehow possible to make the Rendered Frame Window of the RTT dialog show the actual texture I am baking? I am currently trying to bake a 4k Normal Map (using the Scanline Renderer) and I am ru…	4 Last	Piflik Sep 2009
Need Help Starting off :D Hello all, As some may know im new to 3ds max, and i really want to get to modeling, but i need some one to help me with some things: For 1st when ever i make a plane or add segments od a object, i…	4 Last	BladeMoster123 Sep 2009
Turning a pretty big model usable I have a pretty big model here, with over 100,000 vertices and 200,000 faces, that i'm trying to make usable for Unreal Engine. About 5000~7000 would be ideal, however, i'm not sure which technique i…	12 Last	CheeseOnToast Sep 2009
Exporting Settings Hey guys i ran into a problem when trying to export the settings on my mod panel. Does anyone know how to export them ? [IMG]http://www.hitenmistry.com/S/Pro.jpg[/IMG]	1 Last	renderhjs Sep 2009
how to use mirror in zbrush? I have a problem while sculpting the face. The transform symmetry didnt following it correctly. And I am not sure how to use the mirror function in deformation window. It keeping it saying "note: thi…	2 Last	vofff Sep 2009
Widescreen Vs. Multiple displays So for about a year now i've been meaning to stop fucking up my eyes by having two old crt's at different sizes resolutions and refresh rates as my dual setup. There's a pretty sweet deal on a 25" lc…	31 Last	Joshua Stubbles Sep 2009
Z brush Z mapper config question Hay yall, got a question that comes from my lack of knowledge of Zbrush, kinda embaresed cause it seems so simple When in Z mapper what config file do I use for a model I imported from Maya 2009 and…	4 Last	Harryscary276 Sep 2009
max move tool prob so at work using max 2010 64bit version and i'm trying to move verts freehand and its treating them like the grid snap toggle is on. but its not!!!!!!! it moves 5 ft in the x axis and 10 in the y a…	0 Last	oobersli Sep 2009
autobak in maya? Which is the best autobak after market script for maya, I want it to be magical like the max one.	2 Last	MoP Sep 2009
Low-poly/general modeling questions Hey all, I've been chugging along on Maya and found many tutorials on everything, except I've seen maybe 1 tutorial ever on making a low poly model and he built it primarily with NEX Tools and I was…	3 Last	Tom Ellis Sep 2009
Light, Shadow, and Specularity It's a bit long and it doesn't really fit well into forum format, so you'll have to travel off site. [url]http://mr-chompers.blogspot.com/2009/06/light.html[/url] * Unfocused light falls off in…	55 Last	Michael Knubben Sep 2009
superspecular soft edge now with video I have added a video to the tutorial hoping it will be more clear. [URL="http://deadlineproof.com/model-shading-techniques-soft-edge-superspecular/"]Superspecular soft edge videotutorial[/URL] it's …	2 Last	Mark Dygert Sep 2009
Topogun to Zbrush subd levels pipeline? Wondering if someone could help me figure this out. I see an option for ZTL in Topogun and I've watched a workflow pipeline for Topogun to Mud but I have yet to see how it works getting your differe…	3 Last	Cristi Sep 2009
How did you get started with ZBrush ? Well it seems from looking around, you wont get nowhere without including ZBrush in your pipeline. I started it up and tried to just get stuck in, like i did with Photoshop and 3DS. Trouble is, Eve…	23 Last	vcool Sep 2009
Maxscript: Possible to launch a .Bat file from maxscript? I'm writing some level tools for 3ds max and would like to launch a .bat file once an export has been completed. Any way to do this? The docs have lots of info about batch scripts (running max in s…	1 Last	gamedev Sep 2009
3Ds Max - Viewport camera settings? Hi! I couldnt find this anywhere and I am wondering if there is a way to change the [B]viewport camera settings[/B], so you can navigate the same way as in maya? I probably need to learn max now. :)…	38 Last	vcool Sep 2009
Dual normal mapping -- form and detail. Hey all, Okay, here's my problem. I currently have a tree asset that has a tangent space normal map baked from a higher poly model -- thus requiring unique UV space (UV1). Basically, the object's fo…	4 Last	Whargoul Sep 2009
A little Maya help? Not the first thread on the subject, but I was hoping that some of you more Maya-savvy folks out there could spare a minute to enlighten the not-so-elucidated on some basic niggles for someone making…	2 Last	rebb Sep 2009
Self shadowing normal maps. anyone using them? Didnt find under quick search so general questioning here. As title says....anyone using self shadowing normal maps? If so, got any quick tips and such on cleaning up the maps for bake? I spend a la…	0 Last	stimpack Sep 2009
3dsmaxInk and Paint Shadow Problem I've been modeling in 3dsmax and for what I'm working on, I need to use the ink and paint material. I've placed an omni light in the scene with shadows ticked on and I've noticed the objects aren't c…	1 Last	Piflik Sep 2009
suggest high poly software? I'm pretty much done learning with max and want to move onto something that is more made for high poly modeling (not like zbrush tho) I'm kind of confused on what to choose tho. I've heard modo, maya…	15 Last	fattkid Sep 2009
mental ray-3ds max more ambient occultion How do I get more shading or more depth to a model. because some parts of it are just pure white where I want more shading. I'll explain more if you don't know what i'm talking about. sorry i'm in a …	4 Last	Ark Sep 2009
CS3 and Com Surrogate are using all my RAM Hey all, I tried searching for this but didnt come up with much. Over the past few days i have been working with a 4096x2048 image in CS3 and everything goes smoothly until all of a sudden all my R…	5 Last	xamy Sep 2009
Fraps Force Fullscreen captures I am using Fraps for screengrabs and right now in Maya it only takes a pic of the active window. How do you force it to do fullscreen (images and video)? Gonna cross post on Fraps forum...	2 Last	willy-wilson Sep 2009
Advice needed on normal maps Ok so i am beginning to work on my graduation portfolio soon, and with that i have been trying to learn as much about normal maps as possible. So my question is, does it look bad If I use object spac…	2 Last	CrazyButcher Sep 2009