you could just alpha the holes in the texture, that way you dont need to add unecessary polygons to the cover piece.
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3D & Animation Thread of modeling and stuff.
- Thread starter Z3RO
- Start date
It would be better for optimization just to modeling them in, my textures are at 2048^2048 I would be be wasting whole map just for a few holes. It's too late to go back and model them I've already textured the whole gun 
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The UV space is already there for the heat shield, the insides of the holes would be pretty small strips and you could "tetris" them in without having to move any of the other islands around.
Only re-baking I see would be the AO and youd only have to do it on the heat shield and the barrel its sitting on, composite in PS along with your new uvs and you're set
. Textures fairly monotone too so re texing the shield and the little holes would be fairly quick.
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This thread makes me want to take up 3D modelling again. What do y'all reckon I could try modelling for the sake of a good exercise?
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spent 6/12 hours making an AA12... for the sake of making an AA12, it is My second MAX model xD.
sorry about the rez too lol
sorry about the rez too lol
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thanks fawng :3
look at the top where the window is transparent, SO MANY TABS!, not as many as usual though :3, useds to have 3 firefoxes open at a time with 300 tabs each, took a week to fill, sometimes a month
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Blocky
Yes, very.
I do hope this game dev course I'm going on covers 3D modelling instead of just programming.
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C Gibby, post some wireframes, when looking for critique it's best to show a render of the model in different positions with wireframes enabled, like this.
That way other artist can spot errors in the geometry or teach you new ways to create geometry that would be better optimized. I would also recommend cropping out the Max UI and just leaving the Viewport, Turning off the grid (press G). I personally turn off the ViewCube (Alt+Ctrl+V) I find it annoying while modeling.
That way other artist can spot errors in the geometry or teach you new ways to create geometry that would be better optimized. I would also recommend cropping out the Max UI and just leaving the Viewport, Turning off the grid (press G). I personally turn off the ViewCube (Alt+Ctrl+V) I find it annoying while modeling.
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Also there's a quick guide for Hotkeys In 3DS Max.
F1 – Opens 3D Max Reference (Help)
Depending on the feature you are currently working with, it may take you directly to the main help page regarding that feature.
F2 – Shade selected faces toggle
When you are in polygon sub-object level and select one or more polygons, they will be shaded entirely (red) by default. When you press the F2 key you can toggle between the default setting and having only the edges turn red for select faces/polygons, as shown below. This can be very useful when you have complex models.
F3– Toggle between Wireframe and Smooth + Highlights
By default, a viewport in 3D Studio MAX will show objects as wireframes. Instead of right-clicking the viewport and choosing Smooth + Highlights to show the shaded object, you can simply press the F3 key to set a viewport to Smooth + Highlights, or back to Wireframe.
F4 – View Edged Faces
When you switch to Smooth + Highlights, 3D Studio MAX will not show the edges of the faces. By pressing the F4 key, you can have the object display the edges of all faces, regardless of whether they are selected.
The following two keys are usually the first two keys I press when starting with a default empty scene:
G – Hide/Show Grid
Unless you actually need the grid (e.g. to snap to), it can get in the way. The G key allows you to hide or show it.
J – Show Selection Bracket Toggle
The reason for using this key is similar to using the G key. By default, 3D Studio MAX shows a selection bracket around each select object (unless the viewport is in Wireframe mode). This can become very annoying, but can easily be removed by pressing the J key.
The following four keys are amongst the first I suggest you start using:
Q – Select
Enables the Select tool:
W – Select and Move
Enables the Select and Move tool:
E – Select and Rotate
Enables the Select and Rotate tool:
R – Select and Scale
Enables the Select and Scale tool:
H – Select by Name
Opens the Select by name dialog. This dialog shows a list with all visible objects in the scene. When you need to attach or link objects for example, and there are many objects in the scene, selecting by name can make things a lot easier.
CTRL-A – Select all
CTRL-D – Deselect all
Spacebar – Selection Lock toggle
This key can be useful sometimes, but annoying more often. When you try to select a certain object and a different object remains selected, press the Spacebar key because you probably already hit it by accident and ‘locked your selection’.
1 to 5 – Sub-object level X
This is another good example of a real timesaver. Instead of using the mouse button to select a sub-object level of an Editable Poly for example, you can press one of the following keys.
1 - Vertex
2 - Edge
3 - Border
4 - Polygon
5 - Element
These allows you to quickly change between the sub-object levels, e.g. move a vertex, than scale a polygons, chamfer a line, etc.
7 – Polygon counter
The 7 key allows you to display a polygon counter in the upper left of the upper left viewport:
8 – Open Environment and Effects Dialog
9 - Open Render Dialog
0 (Zero) - Open Render to Texture Dialog
Viewport Hotkeys
F – Switch to the Front viewport
T – Switch to the Top viewport
L – Switch to the Left viewport
R – Switch to the Right viewport
P – Switch to the Perspective viewport
B – Switch to the Bottom viewport
C – Switch to a Camera viewport
CTRL-C – Create camera from viewport
Creates a new Camera, work only on Perspective viewports. Useful for say, you're rotating your scene and you find a really nice angle you want to render from but you're still working on the model/texture. Hit this to create a camera to go back to at that position whilst still working on the model in perspective mode.
V – Open view shortcut menu
Allows you to pick a view from a list (using another key again of course). For example, press the V key and then the K key for Bac k view.
Z – Zooms in on the current selection
Another useful hotkey, especially when you find yourself trying to zoom and it seems like the range of zoom is gradually getting resisted, like an invisible wall. No matter how much you scroll that mouse wheel it doesnt move a smegging pixel? Zoom Extents resets those limits and zooms to the border extent of the object(s) you've selected, and rotates around that objects pivot.
CTRL-X – Toggle Expert mode
Removes command panels, toolbars, etc. and leaves you only with viewports. Don’t even think about using this unless you know your hotkeys.
ALT-Q – Isolate Object
Isolates the object you selected and hides all others. This is a great feature for when you work with a scene or object consisting of many individual objects. Unfortunately, it does not work for sub-object selections such as a group of polygons. If you got used to hiding and unhiding objects, this option will definitely save you a lot of time.
O – Adaptive Degradation Toggle
Shows objects as boxes while moving, rotating, zooming on viewport to increase viewport performance. I hardly ever use this one, but it’s one of those darn keys you may hit by accident and wonder what the heck is going on with your objects.
X – Transform Gizmo Toggle
Another good example of a key you may hit by accident and wonder why you cannot move, scale, rotate, etc. anymore. Pressing X will change the gizmo from
to:
D – Disables the viewport
Although this one can be useful, it is also one I occasionally press by accident. Press the D key again to disable/enable the viewport.
Shift-Z / Shift-Y – Undo /Redo viewport operation
Undo operations such as switching to a different view, rotating, zooming or moving through viewport.
+ and - – Increase/decrease Gizmo size
The following are three rendering related hotkeys I used the most:
F9 – Render last rendered viewport, or, in case of the first render, render selected viewport.
Shift-Q – Quick render, renders selected viewport.
F10 – Opens the Render Scene window allowing you to set rendering options.
M – Opens the Material Editor
CTRL-V – Clone object
Although holding down the Shift key and moving, rotating, or scaling an object also allows you to create a clone, by using CTRL-V you can create a clone on the exact same location and of the same size as the original.
Alt-X – Display As See-Through Toggle
By pressing the ALT-X keys you can display an object as see-through, partly transparent. This is useful for when you need to see the model sheet/reference/blueprint or other models/geometry through it.
The hotkeys mentioned in this tutorial are just a small subset of the available hotkeys in 3D Studio MAX. And additional or different hotkeys can be available depending on what features you are using. If you search for Default Keyboard Shortcuts in the 3D Studio MAX user reference, you should be able to find a complete overview.
Using the Mouse Efficiently
Just as important as using hotkeys is for working efficiently, using the mouse properly can be a huge timesaver as well. Using the primary mouse button frequently (that’s the left button for the most of us) is mandatory when you use 3D Studio MAX but the others (middle, and right for example) are just as useful.
Let’s start with the secondary mouse button (usually the right-mouse button). The most common purpose of this button is opening the shortcut menu. For example, if you right click on the name of the viewport (e.g. Front, Left, and Perspective) a popup menu appears allowing you to perform several tasks related to the viewport. For many of these options, you should use hotkeys such as mentioned above, but for other options, such as the Properties of the viewports, it’s still an useful menu. More useful though, is the main shortcut menu that opens when you right-click on the viewport.
Some of the options on this menu I use frequently are:
* Unhide/Hide selected/unselected, by name, all
* Convert to Face/Vertex/Edge - This converts, for example, a selection of vertexes to a selection of edges. It does not actually change the geometry of your model; it merely changes the sub-object level and remembers the selection.
* Save and manage Scene States (very useful!)
Another common task for the right mouse button is to open the shortcut menu of a selected object, e.g. to manage its Properties.
Some less common use of the right-mouse button:
* Right-click the Undo or Redo to see and select a list of undo/redo actions.
* Right-click a spinner to reset it to zero.
* Right-click a color or map slot to cut/clear/copy/paste it.
The middle mouse button I use more often than the right mouse button, especially during the modeling process, and saves me a huge amount of time. The following are the most common tasks I perform with the middle mouse button:
* Hold it to drag/move through viewport. This saves time because you don’t have to switch your current tool to the Pan View tool (little hand) at the right bottom of the interface and switch it back to the tool you were using.
* Hold it while also holding the ALT key to rotate the viewport, this saves time because you don’t have to switch your current tool to the Arc Rotate tool at the right bottom of the interface (which you could do with CTRL-R if you don’t have a middle mouse button).
* Since my middle button is also a scroll wheel, I use it to zoom in and out on the viewport. If you hold the ALT key, you can zoom in more gradually.
Thanks to Sureshot who had these all written down.
F1 – Opens 3D Max Reference (Help)
Depending on the feature you are currently working with, it may take you directly to the main help page regarding that feature.
F2 – Shade selected faces toggle
When you are in polygon sub-object level and select one or more polygons, they will be shaded entirely (red) by default. When you press the F2 key you can toggle between the default setting and having only the edges turn red for select faces/polygons, as shown below. This can be very useful when you have complex models.
F3– Toggle between Wireframe and Smooth + Highlights
By default, a viewport in 3D Studio MAX will show objects as wireframes. Instead of right-clicking the viewport and choosing Smooth + Highlights to show the shaded object, you can simply press the F3 key to set a viewport to Smooth + Highlights, or back to Wireframe.
F4 – View Edged Faces
When you switch to Smooth + Highlights, 3D Studio MAX will not show the edges of the faces. By pressing the F4 key, you can have the object display the edges of all faces, regardless of whether they are selected.
The following two keys are usually the first two keys I press when starting with a default empty scene:
G – Hide/Show Grid
Unless you actually need the grid (e.g. to snap to), it can get in the way. The G key allows you to hide or show it.
J – Show Selection Bracket Toggle
The reason for using this key is similar to using the G key. By default, 3D Studio MAX shows a selection bracket around each select object (unless the viewport is in Wireframe mode). This can become very annoying, but can easily be removed by pressing the J key.
The following four keys are amongst the first I suggest you start using:
Q – Select
Enables the Select tool:
W – Select and Move
Enables the Select and Move tool:
E – Select and Rotate
Enables the Select and Rotate tool:
R – Select and Scale
Enables the Select and Scale tool:
H – Select by Name
Opens the Select by name dialog. This dialog shows a list with all visible objects in the scene. When you need to attach or link objects for example, and there are many objects in the scene, selecting by name can make things a lot easier.
CTRL-A – Select all
CTRL-D – Deselect all
Spacebar – Selection Lock toggle
This key can be useful sometimes, but annoying more often. When you try to select a certain object and a different object remains selected, press the Spacebar key because you probably already hit it by accident and ‘locked your selection’.
1 to 5 – Sub-object level X
This is another good example of a real timesaver. Instead of using the mouse button to select a sub-object level of an Editable Poly for example, you can press one of the following keys.
1 - Vertex
2 - Edge
3 - Border
4 - Polygon
5 - Element
These allows you to quickly change between the sub-object levels, e.g. move a vertex, than scale a polygons, chamfer a line, etc.
7 – Polygon counter
The 7 key allows you to display a polygon counter in the upper left of the upper left viewport:
8 – Open Environment and Effects Dialog
9 - Open Render Dialog
0 (Zero) - Open Render to Texture Dialog
Viewport Hotkeys
F – Switch to the Front viewport
T – Switch to the Top viewport
L – Switch to the Left viewport
R – Switch to the Right viewport
P – Switch to the Perspective viewport
B – Switch to the Bottom viewport
C – Switch to a Camera viewport
CTRL-C – Create camera from viewport
Creates a new Camera, work only on Perspective viewports. Useful for say, you're rotating your scene and you find a really nice angle you want to render from but you're still working on the model/texture. Hit this to create a camera to go back to at that position whilst still working on the model in perspective mode.
V – Open view shortcut menu
Allows you to pick a view from a list (using another key again of course). For example, press the V key and then the K key for Bac k view.
Z – Zooms in on the current selection
Another useful hotkey, especially when you find yourself trying to zoom and it seems like the range of zoom is gradually getting resisted, like an invisible wall. No matter how much you scroll that mouse wheel it doesnt move a smegging pixel? Zoom Extents resets those limits and zooms to the border extent of the object(s) you've selected, and rotates around that objects pivot.
CTRL-X – Toggle Expert mode
Removes command panels, toolbars, etc. and leaves you only with viewports. Don’t even think about using this unless you know your hotkeys.
ALT-Q – Isolate Object
Isolates the object you selected and hides all others. This is a great feature for when you work with a scene or object consisting of many individual objects. Unfortunately, it does not work for sub-object selections such as a group of polygons. If you got used to hiding and unhiding objects, this option will definitely save you a lot of time.
O – Adaptive Degradation Toggle
Shows objects as boxes while moving, rotating, zooming on viewport to increase viewport performance. I hardly ever use this one, but it’s one of those darn keys you may hit by accident and wonder what the heck is going on with your objects.
X – Transform Gizmo Toggle
Another good example of a key you may hit by accident and wonder why you cannot move, scale, rotate, etc. anymore. Pressing X will change the gizmo from
to:
D – Disables the viewport
Although this one can be useful, it is also one I occasionally press by accident. Press the D key again to disable/enable the viewport.
Shift-Z / Shift-Y – Undo /Redo viewport operation
Undo operations such as switching to a different view, rotating, zooming or moving through viewport.
+ and - – Increase/decrease Gizmo size
The following are three rendering related hotkeys I used the most:
F9 – Render last rendered viewport, or, in case of the first render, render selected viewport.
Shift-Q – Quick render, renders selected viewport.
F10 – Opens the Render Scene window allowing you to set rendering options.
M – Opens the Material Editor
CTRL-V – Clone object
Although holding down the Shift key and moving, rotating, or scaling an object also allows you to create a clone, by using CTRL-V you can create a clone on the exact same location and of the same size as the original.
Alt-X – Display As See-Through Toggle
By pressing the ALT-X keys you can display an object as see-through, partly transparent. This is useful for when you need to see the model sheet/reference/blueprint or other models/geometry through it.
The hotkeys mentioned in this tutorial are just a small subset of the available hotkeys in 3D Studio MAX. And additional or different hotkeys can be available depending on what features you are using. If you search for Default Keyboard Shortcuts in the 3D Studio MAX user reference, you should be able to find a complete overview.
Using the Mouse Efficiently
Just as important as using hotkeys is for working efficiently, using the mouse properly can be a huge timesaver as well. Using the primary mouse button frequently (that’s the left button for the most of us) is mandatory when you use 3D Studio MAX but the others (middle, and right for example) are just as useful.
Let’s start with the secondary mouse button (usually the right-mouse button). The most common purpose of this button is opening the shortcut menu. For example, if you right click on the name of the viewport (e.g. Front, Left, and Perspective) a popup menu appears allowing you to perform several tasks related to the viewport. For many of these options, you should use hotkeys such as mentioned above, but for other options, such as the Properties of the viewports, it’s still an useful menu. More useful though, is the main shortcut menu that opens when you right-click on the viewport.
Some of the options on this menu I use frequently are:
* Unhide/Hide selected/unselected, by name, all
* Convert to Face/Vertex/Edge - This converts, for example, a selection of vertexes to a selection of edges. It does not actually change the geometry of your model; it merely changes the sub-object level and remembers the selection.
* Save and manage Scene States (very useful!)
Another common task for the right mouse button is to open the shortcut menu of a selected object, e.g. to manage its Properties.
Some less common use of the right-mouse button:
* Right-click the Undo or Redo to see and select a list of undo/redo actions.
* Right-click a spinner to reset it to zero.
* Right-click a color or map slot to cut/clear/copy/paste it.
The middle mouse button I use more often than the right mouse button, especially during the modeling process, and saves me a huge amount of time. The following are the most common tasks I perform with the middle mouse button:
* Hold it to drag/move through viewport. This saves time because you don’t have to switch your current tool to the Pan View tool (little hand) at the right bottom of the interface and switch it back to the tool you were using.
* Hold it while also holding the ALT key to rotate the viewport, this saves time because you don’t have to switch your current tool to the Arc Rotate tool at the right bottom of the interface (which you could do with CTRL-R if you don’t have a middle mouse button).
* Since my middle button is also a scroll wheel, I use it to zoom in and out on the viewport. If you hold the ALT key, you can zoom in more gradually.
Thanks to Sureshot who had these all written down.
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I'm in the middle of going through my bloated / archived models back from when I was working on KF-themed weapons (G36e, G3, Vector specifically). I'll be posting renders soon, but in the mean time does anyone know what a good number for polys is for Killing Floor? I'm in the middle of trimming the excess from some of them and just want to know what a good theoretical range is.
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