Technical Talk

Topic	Replies	Latest Post
Do you recommend Polyboost for new Max user? Hi I am fairly decent at Maya modeling (not great). I am trying to learn Max now. I watched a Gnomon Tutorial which the tutor demostrated Polyboost. do you recommend me to get Polyboost at this stag…	11 Last	Eric Chadwick Nov 2006
exchanging 3d files wondering how you handle 3d file exchanging within your studios. while likely you might use a combo of more, please specify which you use in most cases.	3 Last	Eric Chadwick Nov 2006
J.I. Styles' skin shader So, I downloaded that nice lookin' skin shader, but have no idea how to put it to use. Where exactly do I put all of the TGAs and such? Should it have come with a plugin or some sort of shader file c…	9 Last	erik! Nov 2006
UT2K4 static mesh problem blah, disregard this, I figured it out, for some reason my UV's were flipping when I imported the mesh into UnrealEd so I just flipped them in Maya and they flipped back to the correct way in UnrealEd	1 Last	Joao Sapiro Nov 2006
MAX 9 trial, try it out [url="http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=5972446"]http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=5972446[/url] for anyone wanting to try it out here is …	28 Last	mvelasquez Nov 2006
lumonix SHADER FX [url="http://www.lumonix.net/frames_shaderfx.html"]http://www.lumonix.net/frames_shaderfx.html[/url] its still in beta trying it out now, will let you guys know if its any good. Shader FX is a fu…	5 Last	conte Nov 2006
wire frame showing when i hide faces I have just gone from max 8 to 9.I have a lo poly model i am working on.If i select the faces of the body and click hide so i can work on the arm they disappear,but when i switch to vertex i get a wi…	1 Last	kunglao Nov 2006
which 3d package? I know this has probably been asked but I am having trouble with the search here not returning results relevant to what I ask for. I am just wondering what package is recommended for an aspiring new…	11 Last	CheeseOnToast Nov 2006
2 free NURBS training videos Free video tutorial: Making of modern tap [img]http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/8348/tap01ft9.jpg[/img] [img]http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/2205/tap02zm4.jpg[/img] [img]http://img132.imagesh…	1 Last	Joao Sapiro Nov 2006
Bounding box prob. I got a bounding box problem when i use the middle mouse button to move the scene around. What happens is Im modeling lets say a head and i want to move the scene aside to see the background image…	3 Last	D4V1DC Nov 2006
Is there a Maya equivalent of uvHelper? Well, thats about it. Just wondering if theres a Maya equivalent, plug-in, or mel script that does what the uvHelper script does in Max.	5 Last	fmnoor Nov 2006
Best 3dsmax realtime shader atm? Hi, just wondering what everyone was using these days to view their NM'd models in realtime. I'm using one I found from Ben Cloward, its a 3 light source, spec map shader for MAX. Not sure what every…	42 Last	Ghostscape Nov 2006
Buttocks help Been modelling lopoly characters male/female(1000-10000tri's) for a while now but always had difficulty in modelling buttocks not so much the cheeks themselves but the join in the middle especially i…	12 Last	Josh_Singh Nov 2006
Pulling from the R, G, and the B separately (max)? Is it possible to pull from the R, G, and the B separately in 3dsmax's material editor? I create my shaders in the game engine we are working on this way (spec in red, spec power in green ect.) and i…	4 Last	Silva_Spoon Nov 2006
Biped Stretchy Limb Tutorial It bugs me (just a little) when people say they don't like to animate with biped because you can't scale limbs. So...I made a tutorial that teaches you to create Custom Attributes and Wire them to a…	6 Last	monster Nov 2006
Newbie to 3D Max Hello all, I'm new to 3D max and 3d modelling. I've watched several free video tutorials as I can but I think I am not covering all the important steps in making a model. 3D max is overwhelming. I …	4 Last	Ninjas Nov 2006
3dsmax patch modelling anyone got a handle on the workflow for this. I used surface tools years ago. suppose ideally it would good to do a low poly head , convert to patch object and tweak from there, but you get tri patc…	4 Last	Ruz Nov 2006
normal mapping for games hey guys, quick question. I come from a film background and haven't done any game work but was wondering about normal mapping for games. I know with gams, UV and texture space must be optimized. s…	11 Last	Eric Chadwick Nov 2006
Ambient Occlusion - Opacity Mapped polys? Hey all, I've been doing a lot of ambient occlusion lightmap baking lately, and dread the times when the object is using some opacity mapped textures. The ambient occlusion needs to properly read th…	1 Last	arshlevon Nov 2006
Free ZBrush Training Videos Hi All Some of you probably know already but for those that don't 3DBuzz has posted 2 video tutorial on You Tube which serv as an introduction to ZBrush - [url="http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=3…	3 Last	Lee3dee Nov 2006
horizon mapping horizon mapping just got implemented into our engine and i am wondering if any of you have ever used horizon mapping on characters? what were the results? was it worth it? thanks, picture would be gr…	15 Last	Jarrod1937 Nov 2006
Maya with Dual Monitors? Heya, I recently got a second monitor (it's set as secondary display in dual view using nVivida's desktop tools), but it's almost useless to me when working in Maya. The reason is that I can drag …	10 Last	Whargoul Nov 2006
Normal Seams Is there any way to get rid of these normal map seams? I've tried using Melody and Santiago's xNormal with different settings in each but no luck. [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Syama/D…	11 Last	Neox Nov 2006
Best DX shaders to view normals I was wondering what are some of the best dx shaders that you guys and gals have successfully used to view normals in the viewports of max? Thanks alot!	1 Last	CopperHaze Nov 2006
are you a swooper or a basher? Swooper: You model swiftly and return to work in the details and get things perfect after building most if not all of your model very quickly. Basher: You work on your model methodically, securing e…	30 Last	killingpeople Nov 2006
Poly/Ribbon trails from moving objects? Okay, so you know how in games with ships or flying craft you will see the strip of polys trailing behind it? You also frequently see it with close combat style games when characters swing their weap…	5 Last	Vailias Nov 2006
Maya: random texture tiling? Anyone know a good way to set up random texture tiling in maya, where you create a few different variations of a tiling texture and they randomly get placed on a mesh to eliminate repeating patterns?…	0 Last	Justin Meisse Nov 2006
LODs and UVWmaps I always wondered how to make LODs withouth influencing the uvwmap.. Each time you delete a polygon and weld the vertices the uvwmap doesnt follow it leaving a open gap in the uvwmap and a seam on th…	9 Last	Shady-D Nov 2006
max organisation problem i´m working on a continuously growing animated scene and i´m beginning to get in trouble with the organisation .. the default max layer thing is not the best way to organise a lot of objects.. how …	7 Last	arshlevon Nov 2006
alpha channels using photoshop CS2, and Max 8... so, is there any reason why any time i want to make alpha planes for hair in max 8, using CS2, that the tip of the planes has a non-transparent line? i've checked the alpha texture, and its pitch bla…	3 Last	FatAssasin Nov 2006
New CG Academy HLSL Fundamentals DVDs A lot of you have mentioned that you really like [url="http://www.bencloward.com/resources_shaders.shtml"]the HLSL shaders that I've written[/url] and that you use them frequently in 3ds Max to view …	6 Last	FatAssasin Nov 2006
Maya display issues, dual monitor Hey hey, I'm having issues within Maya 7 where the frame-rates within the app drop horribly when I go in to component mode on a rather low-poly model (10k or less). The issue also happens if I drag …	3 Last	adam Nov 2006
Topology references? Yo. I could really use some good knee and rib topology reference. Care to help?	4 Last	erik! Nov 2006
Asset Tracking & Organization I'm wondering about what kinds of asset management systems people have used and would recommend. It would have to work over the net for remote access. Free is good, too. [img]/images/graemlins/smile…	33 Last	sinistergfx Nov 2006
Silhouette Masking Ok, I'm posting this before it leaves my brain, cause I just had one of those dreams that seems like a really innovative idea. Here it is: Currently game engines render the silhouette of an object …	14 Last	Sage Nov 2006
Normal map help Hey guys Arman over here i realized how much i need normal mapping on my models so decided to learn one of the members on the pod team sent me a good tutorial but ive come into a bump in the road, my…	2 Last	Armanguy Nov 2006
things you miss when you never read the manual ... for the first time ever, i've just noticed the max Lattice modifier. How good is that? I've manually built shit loads of cages in the past ... probably never have call ever to use it in the future, b…	19 Last	Geezus Oct 2006
Free NURBS video tutorials [img]http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/705/sixfreenurbstutorsye1.jpg[/img] From basic to advanced NURBS modeling. 01 [url="http://hammerbchen.blogspot.com/2006/10/videotutormodeling-body-of-volute…	0 Last	hammerbchen Oct 2006
dxt1 compression alternatives? The nvidia dxt compressor looks like junk if you give it a texture which is not really bright, unfortunately I need to give it textures and they come out horribly colour banded. Giving it the same t…	9 Last	malcolm Oct 2006
Completely f*cking batshit insane maya 8 problem In a nutshell: Im modeling away and at some point my hotkey assignments literally change on the fly. Pressing 'W' changes from selecting the move tool to 'undo'. Re-starting maya resets it. It happen…	14 Last	Slash Oct 2006
Multiple UVs, tileable maps, and viewports, OH MY! I am trying to set up a faked ambient occlusion over a tiled map that will display in Max 8's viewport, and was wondering if anyone could offer some help. I have a tiled map on one UV set set to map…	12 Last	Cthogua Oct 2006
UV Mapping Texture Does anyone have a link to the UV texture we came up with here a few years back to use when looking for UV stretching while unwrapping? I think it was the one with the circles, etc.	10 Last	Eric Chadwick Oct 2006
Unwrapping heads Ok, my problem is this: Whenever I unwrap a head, too much UV space goes into parts that don't need a whole lot of detail. The back of the head doesn't need the attention and love the face does, but …	10 Last	Eric Chadwick Oct 2006
Tile-based environments Have any of you worked on environments that used tile segments? Something similar to the sims, or any console-based level editor? I've never dealt with anything like this before, and I wanted to try …	14 Last	adam Oct 2006
PolyBoost 2.5 out! [url="http://www.polyboost.com/"]http://www.polyboost.com/[/url] Now works with max 9. Features: PolyShift Interactive transform tool to freeform shape an object by moving vertices around in scr…	0 Last	CMB Oct 2006
Standalone batch image processing tools? We're doing an overhaul of mipmaps in our game. I was wondering, does anyone have recommendations of a good batch image processing tool? Ideally I want to be able to automate precise levels, hue \ s…	6 Last	adam Oct 2006
Maya Fatal Error. Anyone help? My Maya just started giving me this error. I get the same error with every version of Maya I install on it. 6.5 - 8 are the versions I have, and each give me a Fatal Error. [img]http://img.photobu…	3 Last	Daz Oct 2006
Tank Treads Hey guys, does anyone have a good Max tutorial on making tank treads? I've seen some, but they either aren't for animation, or they cripple the mesh as it bends around the tread path. I also have s…	6 Last	FatAssasin Oct 2006
Closed diffuse, specular, normal maps all the time!? it's wrong. gloss is important. they are all channels for per pixel lighting. you can't pick and choose; they all belong together in a package. you either enable a model to have the engine do the lig…	78 Last	MoP Oct 2006
Outdoor Environmental Lighting... Hey folks. Currently in the process of making a scene and I am trying to light it. Lights have just given me a wave of problems in the past and they seem to be haunting me again. The scene is outdo…	6 Last	Striff Oct 2006