Modelling/Import questions?

[sithlord-II]

well as some have seen i've been working on that darth vader model

i've learned quite a bit about how to import character models into the game, and whilst i am still learning i would be glad to try and answer any questions you guys might have

[spacermonkey]

ok, I've been trying to convert the Kyle xsi that raven included in the tools to a glm. I tried followed bloodriots method that he posted a while back but I couldnt get it to work.

 

So what method do you use?

[haplofxp]

how can i get a saber hilt model from gmax into the game? and will it still have textures when i import it into the game or do i have to skin it another way?

 

thx

[sithlord-II]

ok as for a saber within gmax, i am not sure

best method would be to export as an md3 for the saber, then open in md3view and export as a glm, and to test have it as a replacement for the regular saber, in a pk3 file

as for the texture the best method is to include it in the same directory as the saber, and can't quite remember ATM but you have to have it set to local texture path i believe when u export

 

as for converting kyle.xsi

first extract the files from the assets0.pk3

put the file from the models/players/_humanoid/_humanoid.gla

into a directory seperate

for instance

c:\base\models\players\_humanoid\

etc

then put the root.xsi Kyle file in the same directory, or for instance whichever model you have exported from 3d studio. This model will have to already have been run through 3d studio and had all the vertices weighted, if this has not been done, for instance if its a custom model, then carcass wil come up with errors telling you which parts have not been assigned weights.

ok next part

 

take the assimilate and carcass exe's from the tools and put them in the base folder (c:\base\) or wherever you have easy access to

open assimilate

go into the preferences/setup area, in the second menu

and point the program to the carcass file directory

delete the enum path, and the base quake 3 folder path

now

go into 'add file', select thehumanoid.gla file

then go to Build file, its best to name it as model.car

 

this should create a model.car and model.glm among other files

the .glm file is what you will use to view in modview

the naming of model.glm is what they have setup for the character models ingame. The reason for setting the model up in the \_humanoid\ folder is because otherwise you will have to export the humanoid.gla file within your pk3 which will add 10 mb to the file size and is unnecessary, this makes it look for the humanoid file in the right directory. When you zip it up for pk3, make sure to zip up the full path - i moved the files for say, jango, into a directory c:\base\models\players\kyle\ so that it would act as a replacement for kyle ingame, for testing purposes.

that is how i was able to export files from 3d studio, including bloodriot's jango fett.

[spacermonkey]

excellent thanks, I got it to work. Ok I guess now I've got to start thinking about applying a skin modifier to the model.

Btw do you know if the model reads the textures that where assigned to it in max? because I noticed in the model.txt that it already had them linked to the correct directories for the kyle model.

[Madjai]

i have no problem exporting or importing, right now im modeling a battle droid from episode 1, never modeled before, its coming along. What im sure i will have a problem with is bone structure, getting the model in the game, all that stuff you have to do after youve built the model...

[haplofxp]

i dont need to have q3 to use tempest right? cause the installation tutoial is for q3.

[sithlord-II]

can't say i know much about tempest

there havebeen ways around it to make it work with jedi i believe, but i'm not sure, i've only been usign 3d studio 3 and 4

sorry

and i'm still playing around with how the textures are assigned

i think it does have something to do with the path that is setup within max, but i haven't had much time to test out with the textures, that is my next step

one recommendation for the skeletal system, you should import the root.xsi model for kyle and use his skeletal system, and i believe you should use the tags and such left on the model as well - just delete his mesh

and then align the skeleton with the body. alot of this stuff is common sense to veteran modelers/importers to q3 of course but i can't stress that part enough or else your model will deform really really poorly

heh

what i mean is put the elbow joint in the elbow, etc

then link your mesh to the bones

and there is a definite heirarchy setup for the mesh

pretty much everything links back into the hips in the end

[haplofxp]

well i think i got tempest to work with jk, at least i think i got it to work cause now i can choose from shader nav, just like it says it the tut to test it out. now ill try to import and export to see if it worx...

 

edit: i can import and export but i have not yet textured my handle model so im gonna finish it first then i am going to export it and pak it into a .pk3

[Madjai]

ok heres a question.

i got the kyle model into an MD3, imported it into gmax. The model is made up of many meshes, one such mesh is called Davinci_Male01_TrueBones.r_arm_3, and theres 1 and 2 of the same name, what im wondering is why are there so many different meshs?

also how do i see the kyle models bones, or how do i distinguish the bones from the rest of the body?

[Guest seantree]

you should be able to select what you want to import, it allows that in 3ds max anyway. the dialog box should come up and list, meshes, bones, animations etc.. with check boxes next to them. just select what you want to import.

[sithlord-II]

the only real way to see and edit kyle's mesh is using 3d studio 4, right now...

dont; know if they managed to ge the xsi import/export tool to workwith gmax, i think someone did

for instance me and bloodriot were playing with converting the xsi file to 3ds, and importing into 3d studio 3. When youd o that, itcomes out *really* messed up. When we simply used 3d studio 4, it came in perfect.... when u see it like this, then you can easily see the bones from the mesh

[cabraswel]

I have put together a model for JK2. However, I'm traditionally a high-res animation modeler. I noticed a very long hierarchy when looking at the models in modview.

Now, my question is how to set up the model for Jedi Knight. I am guessing that you need separate objects for the Head, Torso, Arms, Hands, and Legs. But what about capping those sections off. And what about the tags I've heard rumours of from Quake 3?

Thanks for any help you guys can provide!

[Madjai]

yea i have 3ds max 3, not 4

i guess ill have to wait for new plugins to come out or something...

 

is it possible to convert .glm models with anything yet?

 

oh and also, did you try putting the 3ds file into gmax because it can import it? if that works could you possibly put kyles 3ds file into a zip and send it to me (going_postal99@hotmail.com) or put it for download, if its not too much trouble?

[sithlord-II]

the best way i could explain about how its tagged, how its linked etc is to open up kyle's xsi file and see it for yourself

the caps are on the end of each limb and key points basically, at the knees, at the wrists, upper arm,shoulder, neck, and at the waist line

don't know about glm conversion, its something specific to this game

and i don't think i could send you the 3ds file because it is over the hotmail limit

[Ki_Amaru]

My problem is this:

 

I have a speeder bike (md3) that I have imported into my level made in GMAX tempest and am positioning it to sit in my level.(still in GMAX here)

 

I position everything.....save it as a map and then go to JK2 radiant and load it as a map. loads fine...no errors.

 

My conundrum is this...the level is there and can be wandered through no problems.....the bike....no such luck....zip.... nada....zilch.

 

I have attempted it with a 3ds format bike but still nothing.

 

 

I don't have quake 3 while using tempest....could this be causing problems with...er....shaders or something?

 

(I'm at the bottom of a very large barrel here, please help/advise)

 

PS. I do highly recommend GMAX tempest for 3ds to md3 converting though...it has worked where many have failed.

[sithlord-II]

hm... i haven't played too much with mapping yet, i've simply exported files as md3 for the lightsaber, etc, via 3d studio. The only things i coudl think of would be pathing the object properly within the folder setup, as well as its texture paths

wish i could be of more help for this but until i play more with JO-Radiant i'm not much use in that way

[mother-tucker]

is there a plug-in or something for 3d studio max 4 to convert the animations from .xsi a 3d max format. Or do I have to use softimage?

[cabraswel]

Thanks very much for that tip, man. It did help a lot. Though I am wondering about some of those nonsensical pieces of geometry in there.

Unfortunately I've already run into another question. Do I bind my model to the skeleton with Skin or Physique (or something entirely different?)?

Also, anybody know if it'll be a problem not to go thru all the trouble of skinning the face and just bind the whole damned head to one bone? I really don't want to bother with that for something that won't be noticed in game.

 

THANKS, PEOPLE!!!

[sithlord-II]

you don't have to go thru all the trouble of binding to the face, unless you want facial animation for a single player model

heh

for instance, say for a fett model or vader, you can just bind the helmet all to the cranium bone, then the neck to the appropriate bones (cervical, thoracic, etc) - or even for a face itself, you can just bind it all to one bone

remember that not every bone needs to have a vert assigned to it, but every vert needs to be assigned

and unfortunately the anims are not in the xsi portion, they are kept in a seperate _humanoid.gla file

as for what you would use to apply to the bones, you use the skin modifier

[spacermonkey]

I can copy the kyle root.xsi to the humanoid file and get it to work in assimilate, (get it to make it a glm) but if I import the file into max and try to export it as a xsi (called root) then everytime I try to compile it in assimilate it tells me the stupid_off triangle isnt assigned to anything. What do you have to assign it to, also can you include some details about how you changed the heads - what you assigned them to etc.