this is a quick random example. I made the center mesh x-ray to see the intersection a bit better goal is to get one connected mesh where you just have to clean up here and there a bit.
Depends on the renderer, and the version of Max. Usually you need a specific material type for that particular renderer. For example https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/VRAY3MAX/Light+Emitting+Material+|+VRayLightMtl https://support.solidangle.com/display/A5AF3DSUG/Emission
What kind of engineering were you doing and does it relate to the kind of video game art you want to work on? For example, if you are modelling cars for a racing game, being an experienced mechanic is a huge plus.
This is great! I'd love to see it shown off with some nice lighting though, instead of just the plain old headlamp you have right now. For example, some lighting more like this would be neat:
Can of compressed air and a fine brush (get it in a camera store) I wouldn't disassemble it though. If there's too much dust, think of putting your PC somewhere else. Maybe on the desk and not directly on a carpet, for example.
It's pretty straightforward if all you want is the transform. There's an example of an ascii format (.ASE) exporter in the maxscript docs iirc so I'd say just have a go at it and post back here if you get stuck.
This looks awesome! Which software did you use to paint? And from the highpoly, Do you extract any maps? for example, AO,Normal? if so, how do you composite them in the final texture?
For example, this is a good place to start. This is Max 2011 help, looks like you're using 2010 but they're similar. http://docs.autodesk.com/3DSMAX/13/ENU/Autodesk%203ds%20Max%202011%20Help/files/WS73099cc142f487557579ab9211cd73fdb9e4def.htm
Thank you for taking the time to write back, I will check out that video. Yeah, I also need to be more flexible and be willing to move the placement of the texture thumbs. Like in the Dumpster example, to the upper right.
Try what I suggested initially. In your example, you would select the one face that is on uv set 2 and copy it to uv set 1. Edit: Then you can just delete the 2nd set.