Technical Talk

Topic	Replies	Latest Post
How efficient are alpha maps? Just a short question: how do you determine when to use alpha maps and when to model something? It's a more easily answered question for next-gen models, but I'm often in doubt with the lowpoly model…	5 Last	Tumerboy Feb 2008
Falloff Script for Max 9 - Is this possible? Okay I've been trying to find an answer to this question, maybe someone here knows the answer. I'm not too great at scripting. Basically, I have this script that I found that increments the falloff…	15 Last	robioto Feb 2008
Modeling a cloth wrap? I have a problem. [img]http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g304/krasnoarmiich/clothstripsproblem.jpg[/img] [img]http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b346/Cardamomaddict/Blog%20Pics/060404owiefoot.jpg[/img…	6 Last	MoP Feb 2008
sound effect website off topic Im sure, but im looking for like a website that offers some sound effects that have some military esk sounding noises (gunshots and such) and wind//blowing sound effects......and a transfor…	7 Last	airbrush Feb 2008
Q: Does anyone recognize the name of this apps? [img]http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/1477/sharewaresh7.jpg[/img] I was watching free tutorial from other forum, and OP used it to show both mouse buttons and keyboard strokes as he demonstrates t…	3 Last	adamlewis Feb 2008
cloth simulation i ssomebody into simulating cloth for trousers or something instead of sculpting it out in zbrush or mudbox? i wanted to know it a simulated cloth looks as good as a good sculpt.. edit: darn, i tho…	15 Last	Neox Feb 2008
unable to select vertices in UV Editor in max8 some vertices become unselectable in vertex mode, but still selectable by CTRL-A; edge or face mode. what's going on?	5 Last	Ghostscape Feb 2008
ji styles shader...QUICK question.... hello, i'm using this shader. right now it only supports 3 lights. however, i need 5. after messing around a bit, i can go into the code itself and add more lights in the parameter section. but, …	4 Last	fritz Feb 2008
Best place to start to learn authoring shaders? I want to learn how to write shaders, I believe the language being HLSL (are there other types? I assumed HLSL is the standard, if not only.) I've got programs like rendermonkey and whatever the ATI…	2 Last	Keg Feb 2008
Need help with Import Export for Zbrush3.1 and Max I know this has been asked many times before and despite searching this site and others i am still looking for a suitable answer to getting my workflow from Zbrush 2/2.5 to Max 9 to work in order to …	3 Last	Husch Feb 2008
I fail at normal maps Hi everyone, first post here on Polycount. I'm a currently a student working on becoming an environment artist someday, but unfortunately I seem to have hit a speedbump. When rendering normal maps in…	11 Last	RobAI Feb 2008
Standard model format? What is the most universally used model format? I used to think it was .3ds, but recently I've mainly been seeing .obj files. From my investigations neither of these really seem to support animatio…	7 Last	rooster Feb 2008
A simple UV question Hi, im new to UVs and could use some help. I created this. [img]http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/626/tproll02ja8.jpg[/img] The toilet paper roll is unwrapped, but the TP Holder is not. First…	3 Last	Eric Chadwick Feb 2008
Unity Engine Hey I recently came across this and from what I can see its really good. I was just wondering if anyone here has experience with it and wether they would recommend it? [url="http://unity3d.com/unity…	12 Last	Ged Feb 2008
Realtime Toon shader ? Hello again ! i was wondering if anyone has an .fx of a toon shader or any pertinent information on how to create an aproximate effect , right now i was gonna tackle it by using an inverted model wi…	3 Last	CrazyButcher Feb 2008
Laptop BIOS video system Shadowed My brother has an issue with his laptop... Apparently when he tried to start it up today...the laptop locked up after displaying this message Video BIOS shadowed. I tried going into boot by hit…	2 Last	pliang Feb 2008
uv problem so I'm working out some uv's for one of my characters that is already animated, but I'm running into so problems... Whenever i play the animation back, the uv's distort horribly. Frame 0 (T pose fram…	9 Last	MikeF Feb 2008
turn off ICQ shortcuts? AAAARGGGGG!!!!! How do you turn off the ICQ shortcuts in the latest version? I'm trying to work in photoshop and it keeps popping up when I use my shortcut keys. - BoBo oh and 5 bucks, someone say…	11 Last	BoBo_the_seal Feb 2008
Anyone know Unreal 3 engine? I used a female skeleton from UT3 and rigged my own mesh. I imported in Unreal 3, but ca't get textures on. Also need to know how to copy animations from existing characters in UT3. Anyone has good U…	3 Last	Xena Feb 2008
Beginner question regarding workflow Hi guys, I am new here and also to 3dsmax. I modelled a 2000 tris car in max and attached seperate parts (air cooling, spoiler, mirror etc) to the main body of the car. My question now is: Can you …	7 Last	Eric Chadwick Feb 2008
Max 2008: Disappearing verts Heyo, I figure this is the best place to ask. I'm getting a problem in Max'08 where verts are displayed when a file is initially loaded but the second i move the camera they disappear. I'm using a …	4 Last	adam Feb 2008
yes doctor, it's about my normal maps maya 8.5: I thought I'd get in a bit of texturing practice before dom war so I threw together a chunky gun design with some simple bits o' geometry, and proceeded to bake them down. I checked them al…	13 Last	rooster Feb 2008
Baking AO to Vertex Colors in Max? So I was playing with vertex paint in max, and I found that there's a whole panel about illumination, and you can set up radiosity in there and then assign that to the vertex colors. Is there a way …	5 Last	Eric Chadwick Feb 2008
Problem with Normal Map into 3D Studio Max [img]http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i159/seanieboi4lif/School%20Stuff/wtf.jpg[/img] I rendered my normal map from Zbrush, yet I'm getting a strange seam in the mesh, as seen from the image. Is t…	2 Last	Ruz Feb 2008
wacom's bamboo Hey was wondering if this will do for starting out. I have recently started drawing my own textures in PS and some friends said to get a tablet and learn to use that. the intous3... is well out of m…	13 Last	East Feb 2008
overlapping uv's hey guys Got a question about overlapping uv's. I have seen lots of people that texture out just one side of there models and just overlap the otherside. In the picture I only have one side of the g…	2 Last	copain Feb 2008
Colours Question Hey, I've come to realise that I'm not great at working out what colours to make things eg. monsters etc. where it be diffuse maps or just 2d sketches. I was wondering if any one could give me any i…	3 Last	El Z0rR Feb 2008
Swappable heads How is it done with most engines? And more specifically, How is it done in Torque? A basic explanation is fine.. Is it through use of "hide mesh?" thanks guys dave	2 Last	Neox Feb 2008
Photoshop - File > Open > Punch Self I open a thousand images a day, and nothing drives me nuts more than clicking File > Open and watching the window that pops up EVERY DAMN time be super small. I'm constantly searching for images …	16 Last	pliang Feb 2008
search engine Does anyone know a good search engine to search for ref for other than the norm like Google, Yahoo, what not... thanks Jessica ps ive looked though the ref thread and found some good things just n…	4 Last	rooster Feb 2008
rope on a biped? howdy gang! I have a character in 3DS Max, that has long ties on a mask and belt sash. The character is rigged with a biped, and the mask ties are rigged with the ponytail bones on the biped, while…	4 Last	Rick Stirling Feb 2008
Simulated texturing, particles and weathering? I've unwrapped and textured a number of metallic, chipped, scarred and scratched surfaces as of late and I was wondering if any of you guys had thought about or knew of an automated solution to perfo…	4 Last	Eric Chadwick Feb 2008
Max Pivot Problem Ok, I'm probably just being dense but I'm having a serious problem with my model's pivot, it's alignment is totally wrong but if I try to correct it or if I export the model and import it into a diff…	2 Last	RazorBladder Feb 2008
problem opening maya files. hey there everyone. I've got the Alias book Learning Maya 7. it comes with a bunch of files that i would like to utilize - mostly rigged chararcter stuff. However when i set the project and attemp…	2 Last	breakneck Feb 2008
Max viewport quirk So, i've switched from softward, opengl and direct3d and it just seems that max 9 viewports are screwed for me. I've got a nvidia 8600 gt vid card. If i turn it to software then it gives me fucked …	3 Last	oobersli Feb 2008
PolyBoost 4.0 Looks kickass, most parts have been converted to c++ so it's supposed to be faster. Lots of cool features, free upgrade. [url="http://www.polyboost.com"]www.polyboost.com[/url]	10 Last	Wetterschneider Feb 2008
Q (ZBrush): Importing UVed mesh not allowed... This is not a first time I see error message, but it surely doesn't leave a hint for me this time.. Workflow was as following: - System: Core 2 [2.4Ghz] / Windows XP 64 bit / 4GB RAM (1) Open 'zmapp…	7 Last	rybeck Feb 2008
halo 3 sky domes does anyone have info on how bungie environment artists created the sky domes? i think they look very impressive and would love to see the technical side of it all.	7 Last	Jesse Moody Feb 2008
maya render weirdness i was checking a few camera angles at different points in my student film a couple minutes ago, and for some reason every time i do a hardware render my time slider runs through about 700 frames and …	2 Last	Vailias Feb 2008
CrazyBump Beta 6 Hail, Polycounters, CrazyBump Beta 6 is ready for poking and prodding! This version includes some new tools for creating specmaps, and for removing unwanted shading from an image. Full release not…	73 Last	Ryan Clark Jan 2008
Cartoony Eyes - MAX? Im in the middle of building a high poly, cartoony character at the minute but am stuck on how to approach the eyes/ eyelids and their rotation. The eye shape is roughly oval, and not spherical, so …	3 Last	aesir Jan 2008
Questions about UnrealEd Hello everyone! I've been planing on modeling a next-gen environment for a long time, but never had the patience to start learning lowpoly modeling until now. I have quite a lot experience with hig…	5 Last	Ville Pakarinen Jan 2008
Max Quad Menu selection Here's an interesting one.. I'm wondering if there's a plugin/setting/script that allows me to see and select all scene objects using a quad menu. For example, you press the "H" key, you get a list…	9 Last	Rob Galanakis Jan 2008
convert biped to bones? Is there a way to convert biped to max objects so they'll behave like bones? ie access to curve editor and be able to use set-key as well as auto-key? All without reskinning the mesh?	4 Last	Hito Jan 2008
baking vertex colors to a texture I have found lots of tutorials that show me howto bake scene lights to verts, but what about baking vertex colors to a texture map? Has anyone done this with Maya? -R	1 Last	PaK Jan 2008
Roadkill helpful UVer [url="http://www.pullin-shapes.co.uk/page8.htm"]http://www.pullin-shapes.co.uk/page8.htm[/url] I'm sure many of you are aware of this tool or it's mother UV Layout. But I just discovered it out of n…	19 Last	romi Jan 2008
Tiling Textures - Thorough learning and questions I've been reading some critiques of artwork in the other forum that recently have had a lot to deal with tiling textures. Having said that I understand the principles of how to set up a building via…	5 Last	Rick Stirling Jan 2008
Maya memory allocation I'm trying to render an AO map using the Transfer Map tool in Maya 8.5. It looks like it works reasonably well at low resolutions as high as 512x512. However raising the ray tracing above 16 or scali…	1 Last	Daz Jan 2008
ZBrush Problem Ive just recently been learning z-brush but Ive followed my teachers direction completely and Im still having problems. The problem is when I try to create a Normal map off of my brushed model the ma…	4 Last	nurow Jan 2008
What is this and how do I kill it? Something evil with grids and selections. Evil useless photoshop features be damned!!! [img]http://webspace.ringling.edu/~eshoham/1.jpg[/img] CTRL-H hides it, but if I make some selection and ctrl-…	10 Last	moose Jan 2008