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Author Topic:   FREE 3D modelling Tools!!! read it
stargazer79
Honorary Warlord

Posts: 883
From: Sweden
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 22 November 2001 17:07     Click Here to See the Profile for stargazer79   Click Here to Email stargazer79        Reply w/Quote   Visit stargazer79's Homepage!
ok guys, here the deal
http://www.discreet.com/products/gmax/gmaxconsumer/downloads_text.html

taht link there is a link to a program called gmax, which as you can probably guess is made by teh talanted guys at discreet, the same ppl who made 3ds MAX.

teh above program is a modeling program which calims ot have everything that you need to create your own models.

im not sure what the exporting options are like but i will get back to you on that as soon as possible.

this program is going ot be used by the up coming Dungeon siege (by microsoft), and even unreal 2 will be able to use it (using convertion utilities that come with the game once released?. or perhaps even an inhouse version of gmax?.. eh cant remember)

anyway.. i figure it will be of use for dcc editing.. if we can export to gif, or any kinda of animation or image that can then be turned into the approriate format.

the rquirements are a p2 300, with 128 meg ram , and a 300 meg swap file ..

which.. is by most standards today.. not high.... hope you all like it...

note its FREE legally free. its desgined for modders basically.

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Dr Slue
Honorary Warlord

Posts: 418
From: Australia
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 23 November 2001 01:00     Click Here to See the Profile for Dr Slue   Click Here to Email Dr Slue        Reply w/Quote   Visit Dr Slue's Homepage!
I still stick by Milkshape. It is useful for any purpose and it's damn easy to use. And it's only about 2 mb to download!

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Don't yell at me so much!! Pobodys Nerfect!

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stargazer79
Honorary Warlord

Posts: 883
From: Sweden
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 23 November 2001 02:21     Click Here to See the Profile for stargazer79   Click Here to Email stargazer79        Reply w/Quote   Visit stargazer79's Homepage!
MilkShape?

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Love is the irresistable desire to be irresistably desired.

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Dr Slue
Honorary Warlord

Posts: 418
From: Australia
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 23 November 2001 16:12     Click Here to See the Profile for Dr Slue   Click Here to Email Dr Slue        Reply w/Quote   Visit Dr Slue's Homepage!
Milkshape 3D. AWESOME modelling program.
You get a 30 day fully functional trial and then if you want to buy it, it only cost US$20. GREAT VALUE. It is very easy to learn and it's fun to do.
http://www.milkshape3d.com
Try it out. They used it to make NOLF - It was the only modelling program they used and the results are awesome. Check it out guys.

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Don't yell at me so much!! Pobodys Nerfect!

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Dr Slue
Honorary Warlord

Posts: 418
From: Australia
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 26 November 2001 15:55     Click Here to See the Profile for Dr Slue   Click Here to Email Dr Slue        Reply w/Quote   Visit Dr Slue's Homepage!
WOW. To hell with Milkshape!
I just downloaded gMax yesterday and i'm slowly working my way through the tutorials and i must say...WOW! This thing is AWESOME it has so many functions and it even includes the teapot I'm sure i'm going to be sing this for a while and it might even mean the end of my modding. D2 modding rather bores me now since all your efforts are barely noticable. The game itself (unmodded) is much the same. Unlike Starcraft, it gets old. Quick. Guys, i say give gMax a try, i love the bloody thing!

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    Getting through the River of Flame and breaking all the seals in hell: 10-30 mins or $5 to get some nerd to do it for you.

    Killing all the Seal Bosses without dying in Hardore Hell: A lot of lost body fluids(sweat, #1's etc.) and the subsequent hospital bills: $168

    Gettin to Diablo and sending that very gratifying Guided arrow flying right up his Ass:
    Priceless.


For everything else...i steal.

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Man Pie
Squire

Posts: 47
From:
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 27 November 2001 16:43     Click Here to See the Profile for Man Pie   Click Here to Email Man Pie        Reply w/Quote   
hey dr slue, im d/ling milkshape (i dont have time to download 50 megs for gmax) and im wondering after i make my model (of a human) will it be easy to use the model to make armor images out of? or am i just making extra work for myself?

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Man Pie
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Posts: 47
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Registered: Oct 2001

posted 27 November 2001 19:39     Click Here to See the Profile for Man Pie   Click Here to Email Man Pie        Reply w/Quote   
this seems pretty good, i bet i could make some great item images with it, but i first need a model of a man so i can make the armors. do you have one that you could send to me? i could make one, but it would be much faster if i used one you had.

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pyrAXE
WarLord

Posts: 168
From:
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 27 November 2001 22:18     Click Here to See the Profile for pyrAXE   Click Here to Email pyrAXE        Reply w/Quote   
You don't really need a model of a person to make armor and weapons.

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Man Pie
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posted 27 November 2001 22:54     Click Here to See the Profile for Man Pie   Click Here to Email Man Pie        Reply w/Quote   
True you dont need a model, but having a model makes things way faster, easier, and better looking

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Dr Slue
Honorary Warlord

Posts: 418
From: Australia
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 28 November 2001 01:45     Click Here to See the Profile for Dr Slue   Click Here to Email Dr Slue        Reply w/Quote   Visit Dr Slue's Homepage!
Well there are some tutorials out there (i think ones by scarecrow are what i'm thinking of) and one of them was about making armor. But i'm talking full chest - shoulders etc.

To do with Milkshape: i like[d] it. It was quite easy to learn which is great since that was my first attempt at modelling.
With Milkshape, i made a few things such as a big Red Dude that break-danced (really funny when you put music on), many little things and two completed guns.
Go to: http://www16.brinkster.com/ccutp
go to other stuff(or whatever it is) and then the modelling section. It is when i first started out, but it also shows the two guns which were a bit later.

But now, i really like gMax. It is great to use and has HEAPS of different functions.

------------------

    Getting through the River of Flame and breaking all the seals in hell: 10-30 mins or $5 to get some nerd to do it for you.

    Killing all the Seal Bosses without dying in Hardore Hell: A lot of lost body fluids(sweat, #1's etc.) and the subsequent hospital bills: $168

    Gettin to Diablo and sending that very gratifying Guided arrow flying right up his Ass:
    Priceless.


For everything else...i steal.

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Greymalkin2k
Lord

Posts: 135
From: CT
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 28 November 2001 13:52     Click Here to See the Profile for Greymalkin2k   Click Here to Email Greymalkin2k        Reply w/Quote   
Okay, I'm brandy new to this whole moddeling idea. I have DLed gMax and am playing with it now and I am impressed at what I have been able to do so far! Looking forward to getting a clue with this soon.

The only problem I have is I do not understand how any models I make in gMax can be used in D2. Can anybody give me a hint here?

Thanks!

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- Greymalkin

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Apocalypse Demon
Moderator

Posts: 4023
From: Mississauga, Ontario
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 28 November 2001 14:48     Click Here to See the Profile for Apocalypse Demon   Click Here to Email Apocalypse Demon        Reply w/Quote   
Dr Slue, a link to gMax would be appreciated I'm currently using MilkShape but wondering if gMax is better...

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God gave me a brain to use but I miserably failed to use it to my advantage

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Greymalkin2k
Lord

Posts: 135
From: CT
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 28 November 2001 15:09     Click Here to See the Profile for Greymalkin2k   Click Here to Email Greymalkin2k        Reply w/Quote   
Isn't that the link in the first post?

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- Greymalkin

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Dr Slue
Honorary Warlord

Posts: 418
From: Australia
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 29 November 2001 02:30     Click Here to See the Profile for Dr Slue   Click Here to Email Dr Slue        Reply w/Quote   Visit Dr Slue's Homepage!
hehe. Sure is.

quote:

The only problem I have is I do not understand how any models I make in gMax can be used in D2. Can anybody give me a hint here?


technically it can, but ACTUALLY it most likely wont. This is because there is no way to get it straight from ANY current program into D2, the only way you can do it is to take screenshots of EVERY frame that is required from 8 different angles(i'm not sure if this is the same for every animation, but i'm guessing it would be), then you have to change the size (i cant remember off the top of my head, but for a player or npc, its about 20x10 or something), then change the back ground color to black(transparent in D2), then apply the D2 Palette, then save each frame and use a program to make them into a gif (or any other animation files supported by cV5),then go into cV5 and save it as a .dcc.

Phew. That's a mouthful! Anyway, i tried to make a NPC idle animation from a model that i had made in Milkshape a while ago. Hmm..didnt work to well, i tried having just three frames per different direction and i went into the game, walked up to my modded Charsi (a red monster thing) and it showed up with lines on the sides on certain frames(you could see the box-size of the picture file) and then after a few seconds it crashed the game. I'm guessing this was because of not enough frames. But i just hope my experience (which took more than an hour i'll have you know...) can be used as a base of thigns to do and not do for anyone who wants to try some such thing.
Wow. My head hurts.
Hmm...i think i have what it takes to moderate this forum and it is as of yet UN-moderated....never mind, just thinking.

------------------

    Getting through the River of Flame and breaking all the seals in hell: 10-30 mins or $5 to get some nerd to do it for you.

    Killing all the Seal Bosses without dying in Hardore Hell: A lot of lost body fluids(sweat, #1's etc.) and the subsequent hospital bills: $168

    Gettin to Diablo and sending that very gratifying Guided arrow flying right up his Ass:
    Priceless.


For everything else...i steal.

[This message has been edited by Dr Slue (edited 29 November 2001).]

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Greymalkin2k
Lord

Posts: 135
From: CT
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 29 November 2001 08:16     Click Here to See the Profile for Greymalkin2k   Click Here to Email Greymalkin2k        Reply w/Quote   
Wow. I was hoping it would be easier than that, oh well.

Now does anyone have the relative angles we need?

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- Greymalkin

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stargazer79
Honorary Warlord

Posts: 883
From: Sweden
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 29 November 2001 11:43     Click Here to See the Profile for stargazer79   Click Here to Email stargazer79        Reply w/Quote   Visit stargazer79's Homepage!
ok.. heres a lil scoop.. pyrAXE has the angles. ...

its a slight bit easier than what you say though dr_slue.

first off you should be able to simply save the animation as a animated gif file.. which can be imported into dc6maker2.1 (3.0 is in progress i look forwards to its release).. saved as a dc6 file..

then opened with cv5 and saved as a dcc file..
(can you save an animated gif as a dcc file directly?..)

what you will need to do.. is to have different parts of the model visable at each moment of rendering.. im not sure of the exact method.. but i do believe that you CAN can select parts of the model to be INVISABLE during rendering..

which means you create your model.. and animation (keeping in mind that each animation movment has to have the amount opf frame equal to that of the same animation in the game)...
select the par tof the body you want to begin with.. and set the camera in the right place.. and render the camera view. to an animated gif file..

does anyone see any problems wiht this approach??..

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Love is the irresistable desire to be irresistably desired.

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Dr Slue
Honorary Warlord

Posts: 418
From: Australia
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 30 November 2001 04:13     Click Here to See the Profile for Dr Slue   Click Here to Email Dr Slue        Reply w/Quote   Visit Dr Slue's Homepage!
Stargazer: that's how you have to do it. It isn't easier than that. Because within the 3d Modelling program (i was using Milkshape at the time), you can't just take pictures within it, so i had to take screenshots and then paste them into Psp(7) and then trim down the excess size, then make them the correct size, then change the background colour (mine was blue) to black which is the transparent colour in D2.
And what i said before was exactly what you said. I got the frames and opened up Dc6Maker pasted all of the frames in (IN ORDER!! THIS HAS TO BE EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE OLD ONE, or else all of the directions will be messed up. e.g. you look at charsi and she moons you...) and saved it as a dc6. Then i saved that as dcc and yes, you can save gif to dcc directly.
Oh, about the directions. They are easy to find out. Nothing fantastic.
But the thing that annoyed me was that it took me quite a while(more than an hour) to do this for 24 frames(all in the correct order etc) even though i now know that i need around 64. Bah! Good luck to anyone who wants to try to do this. But i for one cant be bothered trying again...for a while at least.

------------------

    Getting through the River of Flame and breaking all the seals in hell: 10-30 mins or $5 to get some nerd to do it for you.

    Killing all the Seal Bosses without dying in Hardore Hell: A lot of lost body fluids(sweat, #1's etc.) and the subsequent hospital bills: $168

    Gettin to Diablo and sending that very gratifying Guided arrow flying right up his Ass:
    Priceless.


For everything else...i steal.

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Greymalkin2k
Lord

Posts: 135
From: CT
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 30 November 2001 05:15     Click Here to See the Profile for Greymalkin2k   Click Here to Email Greymalkin2k        Reply w/Quote   
Stargazer: I'm using the gMax software that, well, you posted at the beginning and I have not seen a way to save as an animated GIF. Could you please tell me how to do this from gMax? It is probably something incredably easy that I'm missing.

Thanks!

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- Greymalkin

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stargazer79
Honorary Warlord

Posts: 883
From: Sweden
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 30 November 2001 08:42     Click Here to See the Profile for stargazer79   Click Here to Email stargazer79        Reply w/Quote   Visit stargazer79's Homepage!
Hmm im actually not sure if gmax has that apcability.. i'lll check.. i just imaged it would...
i mean.. it woud suprise me greatly if you couldnt.. either. way ..


OH THE PALETTE THING.. i havent even thoguth about that!!!!!... hmmmmm.... if someone who knows 3dsmax well could read this topic..
but it would suprise me greatly. if you couldnt set up swatrches for 3dsmax.. i wonder just WHAT has been disabled in gmax in comparison to 3dsmax..
i might jsut takea look at that..
also.. i assumed that the rendering options were the same in gmax as in 3dsmax.. in 3ds i know you can pick yoru output resolution size.. and yoru format. naing conventions.. even make one bitmap for each frame. the idea also ofcourse is that you set the colors right while in 3dsmax. so that when it exports it keeps those colors. (which coudl be a problem due to the lighting effects).. eek.. many issues.

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Love is the irresistable desire to be irresistably desired.

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Dr Slue
Honorary Warlord

Posts: 418
From: Australia
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 01 December 2001 02:58     Click Here to See the Profile for Dr Slue   Click Here to Email Dr Slue        Reply w/Quote   Visit Dr Slue's Homepage!
Greymalkin2k: you cant export from gmax. In any way unless it is using a "Gamepack".
You cant save gifs, nor can you export it to another program to do this. But you still can do exactly what i said before. EXACTLY.
It works if you have the time, patience and mental capacity to make sure your head doesn't explode. I did it...or should i say 3/8ths of it. And even that took 1-2 hours.

All in all, gMAX is still AWESOME and i love the thing. I was following the tutorial on making a head and i gave mine a *few* adjustments...a few horns here and there...and it looks VERY cool. Now to animate it...for my own personal amusement of course.

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Everyone is born to pass the test of life. Everyone fails.

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stargazer79
Honorary Warlord

Posts: 883
From: Sweden
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 01 December 2001 03:03     Click Here to See the Profile for stargazer79   Click Here to Email stargazer79        Reply w/Quote   Visit stargazer79's Homepage!
mmmm yes,, i checked up on it.. no exporting or rendering fucntions.. 3dsmax can but gmax cant. cry...i wil just install my student copy of 3dsmax 3.1 i think..

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Love is the irresistable desire to be irresistably desired.

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Dr Slue
Honorary Warlord

Posts: 418
From: Australia
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 01 December 2001 16:44     Click Here to See the Profile for Dr Slue   Click Here to Email Dr Slue        Reply w/Quote   Visit Dr Slue's Homepage!
You can export with gMAX Dev though! ...but that is companies only and i'm guessing it costs A LOT. They haven't givin any indications of pricing etc (i post on the official boards) but they have said that its pretty much companies only. And no, it cant be done using max-scripts. Basically there is just no way that you can export from it unless you're using a 'gamepack'.

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Everyone is born to pass the test of life. Everyone fails.

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