A-Z of Modeling a new Lightsaber

[oldflash]

Now that's cool hilt. Verry nice.

[Captain_H]

^^^

Did you apply the texture to the model in the material editor. Assuming you did is the texture a perfect square (ie, the dimensions 256x256, 512x512, ect)

 

Yes I did.

[oldflash]

Yes I did.

Also could be a problem with texture's filename.

[LoneFerret]

Did you by any chance rename your .tga after copying it in the override folder?

[Buzz1978]

The colors are not as bright I would've liked it, but that will come in time.

 

I ran into that too, I guess. In the material editor did you set "Shader Basic Parameters" to metal and "Ambient"/"Diffuse" to white? By default it's medium grey and even if it's looking just fine in GMax it will be very dark in game...

 

HTH

 

PS: I finally got Kotor1 now (ok, I see why people think it's better than TSL). Are there any differences in modelling to TSL? Is there anything different between modelling a lightsaber and modelling a blaster?

[LoneFerret]

I ran into that too, I guess. In the material editor did you set "Shader Basic Parameters" to metal and "Ambient"/"Diffuse" to white? By default it's medium grey and even if it's looking just fine in GMax it will be very dark in game...

 

I think so... I'll have to check...

 

HTH

 

PS: I finally got Kotor1 now (ok, I see why people think it's better than TSL). Are there any differences in modelling to TSL? Is there anything different between modelling a lightsaber and modelling a blaster?

If there are differences, probably not that much. I'm no expert, but it's the

same engine and all... I've seen that the scripting has changed a bit, but

for modding sabers I'll bet there aren't that many differences... Can anyone

confirm this?

 

LoneFerret

______________________________

'Harvey, kiss my medulla oblongata.'

John Crichton

Farscape

[Captain_H]

Did you by any chance rename your .tga after copying it in the override folder?

 

I think I did (still tired here ). But I went in and replaced the texture on the models UVMAP in Gmax with the file with the new filename.

[LoneFerret]

I recon it didn't work... I'm starting to fresh out of ideas here... hmmm

And you say your model shows up in game right?

 

LoneFerret

[Buzz1978]

I recon it didn't work... I'm starting to fresh out of ideas here... hmmm

And you say your model shows up in game right?

 

LoneFerret

 

Still to dark even with the Ambient and Diffuse color (they are connected anyhow) set to white? Do you have a .txi file? .tga is 32Bit-TGA?

[Buzz1978]

Ok, this Thread is about Lightsabers but I think blasters arent't that far away...

 

I made a new blaster for KOTOR1 using 3DSMax7 and NWmax 0.8. Mapped, "textured", exported, with MDLops replaced... but... Somewhere between 3DSMax and KOTOR the UVMap gets "lost". One can see that the .tga-file is actually used but the texture is f* distorted. One or two polys look like they are textured correctly, but probably only by accident.

 

Any hints are welcome.

[LoneFerret]

Hey there again..

I know when the polys aren't detached the texture will look weird... This may sound

stupid, did you detach all the polys?

[Buzz1978]

Hey there again..

I know when the polys aren't detached the texture will look weird... This may sound

stupid, did you detach all the polys?

 

I can't believe that I went into the same trap again... (Damn you Darwin!) The polys were detached but I had to step back to a raw version where they weren't...

[LoneFerret]

Gimme word on how it turns up...

 

 

LoneFerret

_______________________________

I got nothin'...

[Buzz1978]

Gimme word on how it turns up...

 

Just fine. I'm only making a new iw....tga file now, then the mission will be accomplished...

[Captain_H]

I recon it didn't work... I'm starting to fresh out of ideas here... hmmm

And you say your model shows up in game right?

 

LoneFerret

 

If your questions was directed at me then yes the model shows in game.

[Buzz1978]

I just made a new sword and for the first time everything's working from the start... except a little imperfection: Like in the original file the blade consists of two pieces in the map and at that crossing the shine in game makes a step. I can live with that, but it would be nicer without it.

 

Is there a low-brain solution for that?

[Shadowfang3D]

Im having a small problem with the ngon portion of the tutorial... for some reason i go threw the steps word for word and i see that in the pictures the ngon gets bigger but the one i have in gmax dosent i dunno what im doing wrong any clues to what im doing or in this case probably not doing.

[dede_frost]

please be a bit more specific. Do you mean tha it is still 2d instead of 3d? if that's the proble then you probaably didin't extrude it. To do so, select your Ngon, go to you modifications tab and click on extrude (in the pull-down window) once yu do that, select your Ngon and there should be an "extrude: 0.0cm" option, so you just change that to 2cm and it shoud become "larger".

[Shadowfang3D]

Mine

The tutorial's

but im not sure whats happening so mine isnt as long as it shows in the tutorial

[dede_frost]

I'm assuming you right-clicked on the Ngon and and converted it to an editable mesh. So now you click on the modify tab, expand the "edteable mesh" and click on "polygon". This should allow you to select the top poly, then there is a small field (still in the modify tab) named "extrude", then you should change this number to the number of cm you want the object to expand (looks like about 5 in the pic). If you have any more problems, PM and I'll try to help you,

[SirFalastur]

ok, I know this is probably the dumbest question ever, but I'm a noob and cannot be blamed for my stupidity. Anyway, I was making my lightsaber, my first venture into the modding world ever, la la la when (gasp) I realised I was missing something, a button! Yea yea, who cares, it's just a button right? Wrong! Without a button a jedi would not be able to turn on their lightsaber and then where would they be then? They would be space dust or bantha poo doo (or any other sutable star wars medaphore)! Anyway, I was wondering how the heck do you get a circular button on the side of a very poorly made lightsaber? Some help please.

[dede_frost]

a circular button? np

 

1)Make a ngon paralel to the z axis, facing the side u want the button to face.

 

2)Put the Ngon at the height u want the button to be.

 

3)Extrude the Ngon as the size u want the button to be.

 

4)Attatch the Ngon to the saber.

 

Voila, u have ur button:)

 

btw, its spelled metaphor :p

[SirFalastur]

Ok, two questions: how do you make a ngon parallel to anything and how do you attach stuff?

 

Thanks of responding so quickly and correcting my spelling oh and to return the favor it's spelled parallel

[dede_frost]

k, to make the Ngon parallel to the z axis, just make it in the "left" or "right" viewpoints, depending on which way u want it to face

 

Now, to attach stuff u need to select one of the objects u want to attach, and click on attach under "edit geometry" on the modify tab, then hilight all the objects you want to attach (they will appear on a list) and click on attach.

 

and yes, I know its spelled you, not u

[SirFalastur]

You are a life saver or lightsaver or lifesaber, wee! this is fun... ... *clears throat* Anyway, thanks, I've been trying to do that for at least a day, and now I can move on and get stuck on parts of the lightsaber that are not related to the button.