Well, you're not really supposed to make use of any of the previous geometry. Sure you can, but Valve may not like that, and it's kinda pointless IMO to reuse things from the default loadout. But yeah, anything you create needs two layers of geometry.
I've got around it now, not 100% sure what step it was that fixed things, but setting my theme to classic (not aero) and resetting the ati drivers setting all to default has allowed me to load thunderbird, max etc. with no strange AA or blurring.
Go to the mesh object properties and change the tangent space to Mikkt, this should match the results you're seeing in Painter. You can go to Edit -> Preferences and set a default tangent space as well, which will apply to any meshes you import in the future.
http://download.autodesk.com/us/3dsmax/2012help/index.html?url=files/GUID-9596F6EF-3569-44F2-8D6C-6EB58C30BED-480.htm,topicNumber=d28e99920 Procedures, step 2: use the Select By Name dialog (default hotkey H) to choose the Biped bones.
Thanks for the replies guys, after rattling my brains and even re-installing maya I found out that a mixture of coloured feedback and view with default material meant that it couldn't display it... I even got new drivers for my graphics haha
You can still get a seamless bake when you have split smoothing groups, provided your projection cage is averaged(by default if you're using a cage in max, and not the "offset" method). But if you have physically split the geometry, you cant.
Mmm, is max installed to another folder other than the default? (Even tho in theory it shouldnt matter, the bat should search for it) Anyway, you can just copy it by hand, just put the CryArtistTools.ms file in the "..\3ds Max 20xx\Scripts\" folder.
I'll have to see if speed tree actually works with the new UDK update (all my previous tries just crashed) but Speedtree always sticks out like a sore thumb to me, maybe it's just lazy artists using default settings.
place some slightly colored lights instead of the dumb default white light which causes the grey shading over your textures. Just add a light and make it for example bright yellow - or perhaps slighty orange - that might look more natural.
Oh I used mayas default grey but feel free to edit. Maya wants BMPs! Just uploaded them as pngs to avoid jpg artefacts :P Making shelf icons is fun. I usually use boobs and stuff. READABLE hehe