3D Modelling Thread

[Colin]

Trial/Learning 3D Software Download Links


Autodesk Maya Personal Learning Edition (http://www.alias.com/glb/eng/products-services/maya/maya_ple/get_maya_ple.jsp)

Autodesk 3DStudio Max (30 day trial) (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=5972446)

SOFTIMAGE XSI: Foundation Edition (30 day trial) (http://www.softimage.com/downloads/default.aspx?downloadid=1)

Blender (Windows) (http://download.blender.org/release/Blender2.37a/blender-2.37a-windows.exe)

Blender (Mac OS X) (http://download.blender.org/release/Blender2.37a/blender-2.37a-OSX-10.3-powerpc.zip)

Wings3D (subdivision modeller) (http://www.wings3d.com/)


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Please bare in mind the following:


Constructive critique is valued, as it's always welcome.......so don't be afraid to suggest something
If you're linking to a piece of your work in video form, then please compress the file, as I doubt anyone wants to wait for a 50MB download and only to find out the actual clip is 10 seconds long (tutorials on this will be posted in the next few weeks or so)


This section will be updated over time to ensure a smooth ride. :wink:


A quick note and a thankyou

I would also like to add, that this has been the most successful 3D thread yet throughout the whole C-E/R-E history to my knowledge, so I would like to thank each and everyone of you that's contributed to this thread in anyway.............and hopefully this will be only the beginning. Keep it up guys!

If anyone's got any suggestions for this area then feel free to mention them.

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

So here we are again, re-creating this thread for all those users with an interest in 3D modelling.

I hope those of you that have mentioned the creation of this thread previously on these new forums the other week will stick by your word and keep this thread updated with any of your latest creations, questions, and just general techniques/theories which can push your renders to their maximum potential.

Last week I started back at college for my second year in the course that I'm taking, and on the Thursday one of our lecturers told us that we would be starting Maya in a more in-depth fashion. So he took the class through modelling with CVs, and finally took the class onto rigging a basic model ready for animation. In class we made a Seal, and put in a spinal bone structure so it could pivot it's head up & down, and also rotate left/right. This was done to a very basic degree, and over time we'll be looking into these stages in alot more depth.

So today at home, I created a basic structure of a Swan, and again implemented a spinal structure. The wireframe of the bone structure is below, and an animated gif of it being animated is displayed after.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/swan_rigged.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/swan_beauty.gif

Anyway, if you've got any shiznit you want to post, then go ahead and don't be afraid of demonstrating your skills, whether they be beginner or professional.

[arab_freak]

Damn, my school would never teach me that...let alone college

:'(

[Eenuh]

Wheeeee, 3D.

I should actually be trying my hand at some more 3D stuff. I'm studying animation and of course they're also wanting us to do 3D stuff (we work with Lightwave in school). However, the classes we've had up to this point have sort of sucked really bad and I'm just not good at this stuff. So yeah, I should actually really try to improve on it; any and all tips are welcome. =D

Right here I have a screenshot of my Makar model I did last year. Not the finished version, but still looks quite the same. Just a naked model though; no texturing yet (which I just first tried out this year).
http://www.inespiration.com/movies/3dmakar.jpg

I had to try and put it in a background and stuff. I actually tried to animate it too but there's just all kinds of stuff going wrong with the model. I don't yet really understand much of the more advanced bones settings and I don't know how to prevent the model from deforming. So I didn't really animate much in here. Still, you can check it out here. Beware though, it's like, almost 43 MB. >.>;
If anyone knows how I can make the filesize smaller without having to render all of it over again, please tell me. ='D

http://www.inespiration.com/school/makaraf.avi

(there's sound in there too, so be sure to put on your headphones/turn on your speakers; even though it's just Makar's violin theme song thingie X3 )

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

verry nice done!


ow ps you can see some of my work at the wallpapers :grin:

[Minlack]

What programs do you guys use for 3D Modelling, and are there any decent ones which are not ridiculously expensive. I've just started at Art College, and 3D modelling is an area that I'd like to get in to :D

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

I use 3D studio max 7. its a great program and its bether to start with than Maja!

[Schpickles]

What programs do you guys use for 3D Modelling, and are there any decent ones which are not ridiculously expensive. I've just started at Art College, and 3D modelling is an area that I'd like to get in to :D

www.blender3d.org is a free (and fairly decent) modelling app.

[Colin]

Wheeeee, 3D.

If anyone knows how I can make the filesize smaller without having to render all of it over again, please tell me. ='D

http://www.inespiration.com/school/makaraf.avi


Wow, brilliant piece of work I think. You should be proud. :hehe:

And I managed to compress the video down to 8MB by using Premiere on it. If you want me to send it over by email, then give us a shout.

How long have you been learning Lightwave for aswell?

[zaraki]

I havent tried modelling in a long time now, maybe Ill start up again. Can get help from my brother, who just started with game-designing.

[Eenuh]

Wow, brilliant piece of work I think. You should be proud. :hehe:

And I managed to compress the video down to 8MB by using Premiere on it. If you want me to send it over by email, then give us a shout.

How long have you been learning Lightwave for aswell?


Hey, thank you for the compliment. =D
*will send you a PM about the file and stuff*

I started with Lightwave two years ago in school, though because the teacher that first year was really bad (they fired him after that year), I had to learn most of the basic stuff on my own. Last year we got two new teachers for 3D, but they didn't start teaching till the last couple of months, so I feel like I still didn't learn very much. I'm hoping this year I'll actually get to learn a bit more because I do want to get better at this. =3

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/1201/revrobot200905a2bo.jpg
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/6803/mastersword11bymaikynisute8va.jpg
http://img322.imageshack.us/img322/5655/rewallbymaikeldebakker2cq.jpg
http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/9250/gamecuberood10247ks.png

these are some works of mine. they also can be found at the wallpapper thread

[darkcloud]

I'm currently sitting in my 3D modelling class and yeah we have some random person marking our writting skills.......... "Excellent piece of writting!" is what she said so I'm happy.......


Will postsome work when I have some. =P

[GB116]

Hey guys I'm really intrested in this stuff, will PaintShop Pro work as a sort of modelling software I've got the PaintShop Pro 8 version but I don't know if it's out-dated I've also got Animation Shop 3.

[Keit]

these are some works of mine. they also can be found at the wallpapper thread

*Picks up jaw from floor*

Amazing!

[Smalldude76]

Hey guys I'm really intrested in this stuff, will PaintShop Pro work as a sort of modelling software I've got the PaintShop Pro 8 version but I don't know if it's out-dated I've also got Animation Shop 3.

I don't think Paint Shop Pro can be used as a modeller. As far as I know it's a Photoshop-esque program. as for versions, I've got 9 but I think 'X' was just released...

[Charlie]

Paint Shop Pro won't work. Try out Anim8or or Lightwave.

[kellett03]

i always been keen to learn some 3d modeling but never knew where to start. i guess i begin trying something out. i try lightwave as i know what that is but if anyone knows a begins program gives us a shout

[Minlack]

Tried out that Blender thing. I've done the first couple of tutorials, and I feel as though I'm in a position to make some basic models (Made a Majora's Mask models but forgot to save it, D'oh!). Was panicing over how to apply the textures, but then realised they only appear when you render the whole screen. Can anyone tell me how tho apply different textures to different objects, and then join them together. The spikes on my Majora's Mask, all stayed in their position when I pressed ctrl+J, but the main bit of the mask remained detatched. Also, is there any way I can, for example, cut a sphere in half, so that it is a semi circle. Anyway, i'm going to keep working at it, and I'll post the results on here when i get round to it...

[Minlack]

Aaaah...just had to convert them all to Meshes to get em to stick together!!

[Minlack]

Okay....here's the dolphin I made from the Tutorial.

http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/8522/dolphin1nt.th.jpg (http://img372.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dolphin1nt.jpg)

/cheer

[Minlack]

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/6567/majorasmask6qw.th.jpg (http://img390.imageshack.us/my.php?image=majorasmask6qw.jpg)

Yey!

Can anyone tell me how to colour/apply texture to this?

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

your getting some progres there ceap it up!

[bob]

I have to learn how to use Solidworks for my engineering course. I know its not quite the same, but it was my first try at any sort of 3D thingy, and i found it quite fun.

[kellett03]

minlack im trying out blender right now, the tutorials are great and easy to follow, thanks for the heads up

[darkcloud]

http://conbox.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/highwindscreen.bmp


Ermmm yah, I kinda like made this primarilly with the extrude tool....... First lesson in box modelling today you see.. I decided to take on the challenge........ Everything but the propellers are made out of one box with I dunno how many polygons. :-/ But yeah, I'm quite proud of it although I could have made a much better representation using more primitives. *shrug*

[Eenuh]

Hey darkcloud, that looks really cool. =3

I started modelling something again today (should've been working for school but meh, procastrination is funnnnn). As a reference, I'm using one of the drawings I made not too long ago.

http://www.inespiration.com/images/other/Ride%20the%20Whale.png

The model I'm making now is not yet finished. As you can see, I still need to add the head (and coloring/texturing of course). However, I'm not sure if I should make it so he can open his mouth... because that's a lot of extra work. And it just seems a bit difficult to do even; any tips as on how to do it are welcome. =3

http://www.inespiration.com/3D/whale1.jpg

I'll be sure to post again when (if) it's finished; might do some animation tests with it too even, if I can find the time.

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

I hope you dont feel ofenced but isnt that a standart wale you can download? If not see this as a verry big compliment

[Eenuh]

I hope you dont feel ofenced but isnt that a standart wale you can download? If not see this as a verry big compliment

What would be the use in downloading it? I mean, I don't learn anything if I just download it eh. So no, I modelled this from scratch.

[Minlack]

This is a 3D model of my Saxaphone.

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/5572/saxaphone7ql.th.jpg (http://img376.imageshack.us/my.php?image=saxaphone7ql.jpg)

Didn't take too long as well :D

[Minlack]

Here are some Zelda pigs, although the shout is a bit dodgy...:P

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/4165/zeldapigs8nr.th.jpg (http://img413.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zeldapigs8nr.jpg)

P.S can someone tell me how to put shadows on without it doing this:

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/3902/zeldapigswrong9fe.th.jpg (http://img413.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zeldapigswrong9fe.jpg)

[Colin]

Here are some Zelda pigs, although the shout is a bit dodgy...:P

P.S can someone tell me how to put shadows on without it doing this:

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/3902/zeldapigswrong9fe.th.jpg (http://img413.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zeldapigswrong9fe.jpg)

Sorry I haven't bothered to keep on this thread in a while.................but from what people have posted so far, it all looks like everyone is moving along quite nicely.

In reference to your image Minlack, I'm wondering if that's a screen capture from one of the view ports, or if you've rendered it?

I've got an extensive lesson tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully I may have something up in the evening.

Also I've updated the original post on page one because of the growing size of this thread, and if you could all take 2mins to give it a goose then that'll be much appreciated. Cheers

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

What would be the use in downloading it? I mean, I don't learn anything if I just download it eh. So no, I modelled this from scratch.

Wow realy nice jobe!!!! you are realy talented!! ceap that up and you might get a jobe in the games industry!!

[Minlack]

It's being rendered from one of the camera things (Which is there when you start a new file). Are there other ways to render the scene (like from the view of my screen) with all the shadows/textures? Ty for any help :)

[Colin]

It's being rendered from one of the camera things (Which is there when you start a new file). Are there other ways to render the scene (like from the view of my screen) with all the shadows/textures? Ty for any help :)

I've got no experience with Blender at all, but I had a look at their homepage, and found the manual on there. If you haven't looked through it yet, then I recommend you do, as it looks like there's quite abit of info on there which may be of use to you. Also check the forums there, as you may be able to find someone else who's got a similar problem.

Blender HTML manual (http://download.blender.org/documentation/NaN_docs/Manual2.0/TOC2.html)

Blender Forums (http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Help_Forums.192.0.html)

At the moment I'm working on a seal character in college. Added a bone structure aswell to the main body and the flippers. It's about half-way from completion, but the main tasks for me now are to add an environment, and to animate the final result.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/seal_test_render.jpg

Here's the wireframe of the same model.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/seal_test_wireframe.jpg

I've also got an "aim constraint" in the scene aswell (circled), which is grouped with the eyes. So when it finally comes to animating, I plan to then add a ball into the scene and then set the aim constraint to that object, so wherever the ball goes the seal will have his eyes moving and focusing on it as it bounces....etc.


...and Eenuh, I'm loving your whale model you made...................and it looks like you'll enjoy rigging that beast aswell. (well I would :P)

[Minlack]

Nice! I've started doing the tutorials for Blender, but I stopped after a bit to mess around with things. I suppose I should better get back to follwing those guides, and learning more of the basics. I don't even have a clue about animating yet...

[Haakon]

Whoa, I'm very interested in 3D modeling, Blender tutorials looks great, but the pics made in Max7 are awesome, wich is better?

[Colin]

Whoa, I'm very interested in 3D modeling, Blender tutorials looks great, but the pics made in Max7 are awesome, wich is better?

It really isn't a case of "which program is better" when you first start getting into 3D modelling.

The only difference tends to be the interface with each program, and they can all achieve similar results (bar Blender, Wings3D) if the user is a master of the art.......

3DStudio/Maya/XSI are all industry standards as far as programs go, as they're used in the games you play and the movies you watch today.

Blender and Wings3D on the other hand are freeware, and are very ideal for anyone interested in getting into the art. But these programs can't produce the same results as the industry heavyweights..................but they were never intended for that use anyway.

I recommend getting hold of Blender, as unlike Wings3D, you can still map textures and render your results.

Wings is purely a modelling program. I've never used it before, but I've heard very good things about it considering it's freeware.

I use Maya because I also use it at college, which makes perfect sense really.

And if you're interested in Maya or Max, then I think both their respective websites offer learning editions of the software for free..............but bare in mind that your renders will be watermarked to prevent you making a profit from your work.

[Sarka]

I've started the Blender tutorials, and how the heck can you guys can make such good modles. I can make a very poor set of weights... I have no ideas...

[JonSt]

Hey darkcloud, that looks really cool. =3

I started modelling something again today (should've been working for school but meh, procastrination is funnnnn). As a reference, I'm using one of the drawings I made not too long ago.

http://www.inespiration.com/images/other/Ride%20the%20Whale.png

The model I'm making now is not yet finished. As you can see, I still need to add the head (and coloring/texturing of course). However, I'm not sure if I should make it so he can open his mouth... because that's a lot of extra work. And it just seems a bit difficult to do even; any tips as on how to do it are welcome. =3

http://www.inespiration.com/3D/whale1.jpg

I'll be sure to post again when (if) it's finished; might do some animation tests with it too even, if I can find the time.


That is some pretty shit, youve got a great flair for that. Keep it up

[Ysm]

Or, you know, you guys could stop modelling in Lightwave and other inferior programs and start modelling in XSI cause, you know, its what was used to make the models for both Resi 4 and Half Life 2 and is the industry standard for companies like Pixar....

[Colin]

Or, you know, you guys could stop modelling in Lightwave and other inferior programs and start modelling in XSI cause, you know, its what was used to make the models for both Resi 4 and Half Life 2 and is the industry standard for companies like Pixar....

Pixar use their own in-house software along with their Renderman tools.

Dunno about the others, but I would have thought Valve do the same, considering the versatility of the SDK's they released.

Sorry, forgot to add. I would go nowhere near saying that any of these so called "other " programs are in anyway inferior to XSI. For example, Bizarre Creations used Lightwave throughout PG3's development.

[Eenuh]

I've never even heard of XSI before... and I don't think I want to know what it costs really. I like working with Lightwave, as it's easy to start out with and you can still get nice results. Same goes for a lot of other, "inferior" programs.

[Cube]

Started working on a scale model of the solar system (im planning to do 10 planets), so far ive done earth and the moon.

Heres some renders:

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/570/earthmoon8mw.th.jpg (http://img366.imageshack.us/my.php?image=earthmoon8mw.jpg)
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/192/europe0rm.th.jpg (http://img366.imageshack.us/my.php?image=europe0rm.jpg)
http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/4417/moon6hp.th.jpg (http://img366.imageshack.us/my.php?image=moon6hp.jpg)

[darkcloud]

Just for anyone really wanting to get into this...... You can buy a student version of 3DS max for like £80......... It's a little steep, but nothing compared to what they charge for there other versions.... Only downside to this is the watermark you will be left with. :-/

[Ysm]

While I obviously dont condone this (;)) but XSI can be downloaded for free from certain websites and torrent centres....

And actually, Valve do use XSI, as do Capcom. Valve even gave out the XSI files for a number of the Half Life 2 characters on PC Gamers cover disc about a year ago....Also the files for Leon from Resi 4 have been made available too.

Do a computer modelling course at most universities and they will teach you on XSI. It is the industry standard and my University has even had guest speakers from various animation houses (such as Pixar) who have given tutorials on it.

Of course, if you want to stick to your programs thats fine, I apologise if I came across badly, I was just making a reccomendation.

[Colin]

Of course, if you want to stick to your programs thats fine, I apologise if I came across badly, I was just making a reccomendation.

No worries man........you didn't come across badly at all. Your input is muchly appreciated like everyone elses.

Also the files for Leon from Resi 4 have been made available too

I don't suppose you've got a link to that have ya.......as I wouldn't mind checking it out. :smile:

[Hem]

I'm currently deciding on what uni to go to, I want to do some kinda animation/multimedia course?

I am looking at Kent (Cantebury), Brighton, Bournemouth etc... any advice? Where are any of you?

Also, how are the pay prospects in this field jobs wise?

[Ysm]

Unfortunately I dont have any links, I was told about it by a friend who does Multimedia Desgin and Digital Animation at my Uni, apparently they were looking at the Leon model in their lectures. Maybe it is only released in educational packs, or maybe he was speaking bullshit.

[Matt]

Hmmm, though it was about time I posted in this thread. :)

I'm in my final year at University, studying Multimedia. I like to concentrate on the animation side, because it's really what I love.

I should hopefully be starting a web-based portfolio soon, so I'll be able to show more then, but here's something I rustled up this evening.

I use 3D Studio Max 7.0, by the way, but am currently learning Maya 7.0, too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/N0032188/bathroom_shelf.jpg

[darkcloud]

That looks really nice, good work....... The tiles are really cool cause they actually have chips in them unlike a lot I see. lol

I was just wondering, can anyone give me a really good beginners texturing tutorial for 3dsmax...... I really need to get my head around how to texture this building I've modelled. ;_;

I've found loads of specific one, but, not a general........ :-/

[darkcloud]

Hmmmm seeing as no one else is updating on there work I'll try to get things going again, here is a pic of the mountain that will be the base for my big city! ^^;

The texure I used was kinda a bit of luck as I was going for a top/bottom texture with grass when I realised in a quick render that it looked like someone had spilled green paint over the mountains... And what does green paint look like when you turn it white? Well apparently snow. lolol So yeah I think it's turned out really well. ^^d Now to ruin it with my poorly made city. wooh

[Matt]

That looks great! I've actually got an updated version of that shelf and glass thing now that I've bump-mapped it out. I'll stick it up later if I can be arsed.

[Minlack]

I really need to get a proper program for 3D stuff. Besides, all the stuff I've been doing in the last month or so at Art College has been 2D stuff (Painting/Graphics design jazz). Will probably get back into doing it sometime. I just haven't had that much time to get working on it.

[Cube]

I still cant model well, but im geting good at rendering.

Heres the second one i did. The model was made for a computer game.
http://img4.picsplace.to/img4/14/Relevant001.jpg

[darkcloud]

Wooh people are here again! XD

That's a nice ship Cube, could use a bit of work in the texturing department, but, I'm not really one to talk in that department seeing as it's REALLY my week point. lolol

If I haven't made a finished update of my work by monday then assume I haven't finished my work in time for the deadline and I'm screwed. lol

Until then. ;)

[Konfucius]

I still cant model well, but im geting good at rendering.

Heres the second one i did. The model was made for a computer game.
http://img4.picsplace.to/img4/14/Relevant001.jpg

That looks really cool, reminds me of the Defiant a bit only with even more teeth. (And for all other to understand the insider quote: Sisko talking about the Defiant: She may have flaw, but she has teeth).


I'm currently going through a tutorial for Blender in hope that I can create such beautiful 3D models as you lot do some day.

[Stefkov]

what programs are you lot using and if possible could you tell me where you got them from cos i would love to start 3-d modelling.

[Colin]

what programs are you lot using and if possible could you tell me where you got them from cos i would love to start 3-d modelling.

I've just updated the first post to include trial/learning editions of any available 3D software.

I ain't been able to update much recently, as I've not had the time to knuckle down and get anything done. But I'm currently building some sort of environment and so far only the modelling is anywhere near complete.

We're also doing lip syncing on a face with a sound clip which we had to record. That should be done by Christmas, as the deadline is fast approaching.

There's some snappy work going on here aswell, and I'm loving your texturing on that rock surface darkcloud. And Cube, your modelling on that ship is brilliant.

[darkcloud]

Hehe, thanks! ^^d

It's not really a very complex texture or anything though, and when zoomed in you can tell things are kinda stretched in places.... Oh and the snow.... Ermmm in some places it's a bit, odd........ lolol

Well anyway, I still don't fully understand texturing properly. ;_; UV maps have me a bit like "eh?!?" so yeah..... One day I'll get it. lolol

[Cube]

And Cube, your modelling on that ship is brilliant.

I said im good at rendering: ie setting up the scene to make other people's models look amazing. That ship was made by someone else for a computer game.

[darkcloud]

Just a mini update, after two LONG days (from 12 in the afternoon until 6am and then 12 in the afternoon until 4am) I finally finished my work and handed it all in today! HURRAY! XD

Well actually I was like 3 hours late but I think I got away with it... You see my scene was still rendering when I woke up today at 9am and didn't finish until 12. ;_; So that was like 8 hours rending for a 6 second animation 150 frames..... >.>

Well yeah the file is 130mb and I wanna upload it, but, yeah not quite sure where I can..... Hmmm what can I use to compress the video? Does NEED to be in perfect quality to show everyone. lol

Anyway, I'll upload some pics a bit later before the video. ^^

Oh and that mountain wasn't used in my final scene as to my horror it contains too many faces to be exported, what kinda retardedness is that? ;_;

Anyway, I'm now exausted, can you believe I was so caught up in my work I forgot to eat anything ALL DAY two days ago? >.> *sigh*

/sleep......


^^d

[darkcloud]

Ermmm I completely forgot to update this. o.O

http://conbox.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/city1.jpg
http://conbox.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/city2.jpg
http://conbox.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/city3.jpg
http://conbox.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/city4.jpg

Ok so like theres loads of problems with this.... Basically caused by my limited time whilst doing it..... I ran out of time before I needed to start the long rendering period for the video's.... I am going to finish it though by actually adding a streat below instead of a nasty texture and by sorting out some of the kinks in the road.........

http://conbox.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/deagle1.jpg
http://conbox.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/deagle2.jpg
http://conbox.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/deagle3.jpg

Ermmmm, not much to say about this... Looks how I wanted it to. :)

[Shino]

:shock: :shock: :red: :bowdown: Just... Bravo!

[Shorty]

I'm thinking of trying my hand at 3D design, can someone reccomend me somewhere to start? Software and perhaps tutorials for the very basics with that software (learning the tools etc). My current knowledge of 3D design is... well I don't know anything about it at all.

[darkcloud]

Thanks Shino. ^^; I wish I could show the video of it, but, I really need someone to tell me how to compress it first. XD

As for software, there are quite a few routes to go.. I'm using 3DSMax, but, there is also Maya, XSI and many others...... You will probably use other software in conjunction at some point though.... ZBrush being one.......

If you get yourself some software and then post again requesting tutorials I can point you in the right direction. ^^;

http://conbox.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/citywire.JPG
http://conbox.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/citywirecam.JPG

Just thought I would share the wireframe version of my model and the lighting set up I had. >.< Dunno why, but, it seems like the right thing to do. lolol

[Cube]

That city is amazing.

Here is my latest attempt:

http://img7.picsplace.to/img7/5/Mug_Glass_001.jpg

[darkcloud]

Nice work cube.. By any chance, is that a planet texture on the cup on the left? lol

[Cube]

Yea, i have plenty of Mug designs through because of selling personalised mugs with Young Enterprise.

[Bogbas]

Here's my first 3d model:
http://koti.mbnet.fi/juhahar/puukko.png

Made the model with blender (finally got around to learning it's basic interface)

The texture in the handle sucks, but it's the best I could do without any "real" wooden texture. The knife itself was modelled (poorly) after a knife I got for my bithday. It helped me last year in the army to make a fire out of completely soaked tree branches :)

And the sphere is there just to show off the reflection on the knife. When I get the inspiration I'll probably make a better model of it.

[darkcloud]

It would look nicer without the shiny surface under it... Kinda takes attention away from the knife. lol

Otherwise nice work. :)

[Bogbas]

It would look nicer without the shiny surface under it... Kinda takes attention away from the knife. lol

Otherwise nice work. :)

That's because I heven't gotten into blender that much, tried to make it less shiny, but couldn't find out what was making it that bright.

[darkcloud]

Try messing about with the specularity levels. ;)

[Jamba]

Cloud, I'm guessing that you extruded those highways? You make one "hoop" and then extrude it along a given path yeah?

I'm guessing that the city is mostly NURBs too? Sorry I know it sounds like a lot of questions but I'm just picking out the techniques you've used...

[darkcloud]

Not exactly......... But similar........... What I did is I made to splines, one for the path and one for the shape (the outline I guess) and created a lofted compound object *Create > Compound Objects > Loft*....... The path adds the 3rd dimention of depth to the shape that you created..... As I still have control of the splines after this I can edit the shape of the eventual object I've created.... This allowed me to make the object change in levels so that I could get it going through the buildings....
This might be what you're talking about, but, I'm assuming you mean extrude along path?

The reason I have a few problems with the road is a) I didn't have enough time to smooth the problems out and b) the sheer scale of things brought my viewport to a crawl with everything displayed, which is really what I had to do at some points to avoid collisions. ; ;

The buildings I created by originally drawing a basic shape of the base of the buildings and extruding upwards for one level..... I then inset and extruded all the windows........ And extruded the window ledges..... Really I didn't use any advanced modelling techniques to make this city as I wanted to keep the modelling simple with such a complex idea like a city. ;)

I could now model and texture a building like the ones in this city in about 20 mins. ;)

Oh that brings up another point.... At first the texturing was VERY difficult, because I was litterally going one polygon at a time in order to label everything for the multisub object texturing method I was using, but, I worked out a more effective method for doing this and things spead up a lot........ It's a shame the most complex buildings are the ones I didn't do this with. lol.... Really I guess the biggest thing about 3D modelling is working this kind of thing out and it just comes with experience, it's just a shame I don't have this yet. XD

Oh and finally, a little piece of information..... If you can see it there is a building that looks like 2 circles and 1 elongated circle put together..... This building (well there are 3 of them) has an insane polygon count... Infact, at first, before I cut out as much as I could, it could cripple my viewport on its own. XD It easilly still has the biggest polygon count of all the buildings (the road destroys it o.O.... I can't export that thing because it's go too many apparently) and guess what... It's one of the smallest buildings in the thing.... Really my reasoning behind saying this is the fact that it was my first building and I had no idea what I was getting into and really it didn't need that many polygons.. What's this to do with anything? Well basically I'm telling you to try to force yourself to use less polygons.... Having a lot of pointless extra poly's makes things a lot harder.. Oh and before you say this is easy, it really isn't... Wasting memory is a lot easier then saving it. ;)


[/endrandomrantthingy]

[Jamba]

No worries dude, I do symapthise.

Yeah I was thinking about extrude along path. Btw if you try and use your masking techniques like template and also fully hiding stuff, doesn't this reduce the memory usage? Or were you still being crippled even doing that?

Also did you put the curve in the skyscrper before or after you did the windows? It has quite a cartoony weight to it. I like it a lot. Muchos kudos

[darkcloud]

Yeah extruding along path does pretty much the same at first, but, lofting gives you more options to edit it with.....

Yeah hiding stuff reduces memory usage, but I had to have a lot stuff showing so that I could get the road going on the right path...... As getting it going through the buildings/around buildings was difficult...

And yeah the skyscraper was done normally with the windows and then I added the curve. ;)

Also I only technically did 1/4 of the windows as I used symetry to speed things up.

[Matt]

Been messing around with the material editor on 3DS max, trying to create some interesting materials. Managed to create silk! My only regret is that I didn't use a brighter colour. Also, if you look real carefully, you can see that I completely cocked up the bump-mapping. I won't say why...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/N0032188/silksmall.jpg

[darkcloud]

That's some really nice looking cloth. :) Obviously there are ways everything can be improved, but, I would suggest you go onto another project and try to improve your skills on something else so I'm not going to mention any problems... :) Hopefully I'll see something new from you. ^^d

I'm going to be posting some pics of a character I've got to start making soon so I won't post anything for now.... I'll also be showing some renders of a appartment type thing I have to do. ^^;; The first project is far more interesting. lol

[darkcloud]

Ok long time with no update I'm sorry... Here is the dragon I'm working on now. :)

http://conbox.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/dragon.jpg
http://conbox.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/dragonearly.jpg

Hope you like despite a couple of problems with the mesh. ^^;

[AshMat]

Looks pretty sexy, looking forward to see the finished v.

[darkcloud]

Hehe thanks.... I have to say that modelling characters is a much bigger challenge then I expected..... Especially modelling them without a reference picture (my mistake ^^;.)

Anyway, has anyone else attempted to model a character or any kind yet? I know someone did a whale earlier in the thread..... How about anyone else? Show your results. :)

[Stefkov]

i was looking through what i had, software, and i came across blender, i remember downloading it becasue i wanted to do some 3d modelling. i opened it and i was baffled by everything. even the bleedin mouse had about 6 functions!
does anyone know of any good noob tutorials for blender? is anyone else usingblender here? if so how long did it take to learn to use?
i wouldnt mind moddeling a figure but ive not even got passed GCSE's yet, so i want to go at a steady pace.
so does anyone know a good tutorial(s) for noobs like me?

[Bogbas]

Start on this (http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Video_Tutorials.396.0.html) I did because I find reading tutorials boring...

And more tutorials (http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Tutorials.243.0.html)

Blender has a great interface as soon as you get familiar with it.

[Stefkov]

ah...didnt think of the offical website for it. he he he.....:) silly me cheers for the links, in the next year i might be posting something in his thread :D

[Bogbas]

If you get into it you'll probably post something next week ;)

[gmanprime]

Start on this (http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Video_Tutorials.396.0.html) I did because I find reading tutorials boring...

And more tutorials (http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Tutorials.243.0.html)

Blender has a great interface as soon as you get familiar with it.

Ausome,:bowdown: incredibly ausome

[Konfucius]

I'm currently trying to get into 3D Studio Max, however, the official tutorial often confuses me and although I think I'm doing the same as instructed I get different results.
I looked for other good tutorials but couldn't find any.
Does anyone know a good tutorial?

[darkcloud]

www.3dtotal.com is awesome..... Infact once you want to get into character modelling defo go there! There is an amazing tutorial on creating joan of arc.... So much detail!

You can also get other great tutorials there..... ;)

[Konfucius]

www.3dtotal.com is awesome..... Infact once you want to get into character modelling defo go there! There is an amazing tutorial on creating joan of arc.... So much detail!

You can also get other great tutorials there..... ;)

Thanks a lot, I read into some of them and they are indeed very promising.

[Colin]

Looks like I've missed loads around here! :angry: (That's an angry with myself for not finding time for this thread) :kiss:

I've been real busy with college work recently since Christmas...........but I've finally got something worthy to show.

has anyone else attempted to model a character or any kind yet?

And its a character of some sort aswell! :wink: This is just a a college assignment which finished up not long ago.....I think I mentioned it before.......but anyway, we had to do a tribute to Aaardman Animations Creature Comforts but with a 3D model instead of stop-motion. I'll try and get the final video up at somepoint soonish.

http://www.passive-reactions.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Creature_comforts_overview.jpg

-----------

Darkcloud - I love that massive city of yours. Looks like you had a pretty intensive modelling session there with that aswell. The first image in your posting of that looks awesome. Brilliant lighting aswell. :love:

Bogbas - That's a well good attempt, considering it's your first render aswell. I don't think I managed anything like that in my first couple of attempts at stuff.

Matt - Nice cloth there, and real good flow aswell.

Good to see a few other people join this thread with learning Blender aswell........especially when some of you are still doing GCSE's, I mean these programs are really quite complicated and they definetly take some dedication. I hope some of you keep at it, as sometimes it can really feel like you're getting nowhere with it.............but once you render something you've put alot of time into, you kind of look back and just think "yessssssss" in your head that you've now got something you're real proud of. (I hope that makes sense in someway). :hmm:

I recently got accepted for 3D Games Art at Hertfordshire Uni, but then they let me know that they primarily use Max. So looks like I'm going to have to join all the Max users here, and slowly move over from Maya.

My next piece of work will hopefully be a car that I'm working on. There's a wip image on my site if anyone wants to check it, but it's nothing really so far. Just wish I had more time for all this at the mo.

Darkcloud - Soz about not updating the video compression programs. I'll try and get that done aswell, as I would love to see a video of your city. What format video does Max render out as aswell?

[darkcloud]

It renders in .mov format. v.v;;

Nice Nemoish fish you got there, I can see the likeness to creature comforts as well. Good work. ^^d

[Bogbas]

Bogbas - That's a well good attempt, considering it's your first render aswell. I don't think I managed anything like that in my first couple of attempts at stuff.

Thanks,
But maybe the first 3d model is a bit misleading, as it's the first blender model I made. But also a first render that I took more than 15 mins to do... I have fiddled with povray, and moray in the past. Now it seems I haven't got much time on my hands to do 3d modelling. Work and studying to entrance exams taking up most of my time. And of course playing also. But it should ease up towards the summer. And I will post some updates to the knife or other things then.

[N_Power]

This is a good thread lets try to keep it going! There's some great work. :hehe:

Here's a couple of examples of things im working on at the moment.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f104/stuart1984/example1.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f104/stuart1984/example2.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f104/stuart1984/example3.jpg

[AshMat]

V.Nice, im trying to understand the blender, but the tutorials didn't make sence either. I don't know how to start.

[Stefkov]

V.Nice, im trying to understand the blender, but the tutorials didn't make sence either. I don't know how to start.
im in the same boat, i got the videos from that tutorial website, and it made no sense to me at all. id just like a tutorial thatll show you how to make something.
like with photoshop i did ttorials which then helped me to learn the layout easy. if there was the same thing with blender then i could probably start to use it

[darkcloud]

The thing is with any 3d modelling software is that it is infact very different from photoshop, it isn't as easy to pick up and just make something...... This is the reason I quit when I was younger and waited until I had someone teach me. lol

However, there are some really good tutorials...... If you go to 3dtotal.com and look at project overviews there are tutorials that kind of apply to all software.... I would suggest messing around with tools on a simple primitive however just to get to know what they do. :)

[Cube]

Time to bump this.

Heres my latest attempt at moddeling:

[Click on the image for a 1280x800 pixel one. (size of my desktop)]

http://img9.picsplace.to/img9/10/GolfBall__Cube_Small.jpg (http://img9.picsplace.to/img9/10/GolfBall__Cube.jpg)

[opentarget]

just saw this thread, great stuff, ill post up some stuff later

[Bogbas]

im in the same boat, i got the videos from that tutorial website, and it made no sense to me at all. id just like a tutorial thatll show you how to make something.
like with photoshop i did ttorials which then helped me to learn the layout easy. if there was the same thing with blender then i could probably start to use it

Try to find the pdf called BlenderTutorialGuide1.pdf it teaches how to make stuff. But when you get into doing them watching the interface tutorials vid helped me to get where I wanted.

Edit: Nice golf ball there Cube, how and with what did you make that grass?

[Cube]

Edit: Nice golf ball there Cube, how and with what did you make that grass?

I made a few samples of the grass, then used the "scatter" tool in 3ds Max.

[darkcloud]

I've made grass the exact same way before cube.. It's a really nice easy way of making grass for something like that........ Not really a good idea if you aren't gunna go that close though. lol

[Colin]

Cube - Wow, real realistic golf ball, and the grass looks lush aswell. I'm not familiar with max, but it looks like that scatter tool makes some good results. It sounds kind of like Maya's PaintFX.

I still haven't managed to get my fish animation up yet, as the renders keep screwing up............and when it takes like nearly two days to render a minutes footage it becomes real annoying. Going to try again this weekend I think.

[Sixfold01]

I wanna make 3d stuff... :(

[Bogbas]

Here's a (short?) movie that was done with blender. And it's completely free. You can even get the models and textures they used if you like. The link (http://www.elephantsdream.org/)

And the best way to get it is probably with a torrent client. The direct downloads are probably hitting the bandwidth limit.

[volvis]

This is my second full mesh I've done. I'm trying to find time to rig and texture her, but I'm way too busy atmo... :(

http://mbnet.fi/zenbie/taide/gurlievalmis.jpg

Program used, surprise surprise, Blender3D

[Cube]

This is my second full mesh I've done. I'm trying to find time to rig and texture her, but I'm way too busy atmo... :(

http://mbnet.fi/zenbie/taide/gurlievalmis.jpg

Program used, surprise surprise, Blender3D

Wow. It looks ace.

[Sarka]

Well, I feel embarrased posting this but it took so long that I will anyway:

http://img331.imageshack.us/img331/1156/fruitofeffort8ai.jpg

It is the second model I've ever made and it has bones and can be animated! It was origianally a donkey - but I failed at that. I'm going to make another one tomorrow with a nicer bone structure so I can post a nice animation for you all.

I must say that I am amazed at some of the work you guys do.

[moorek]

Been using max for a few months, only done a few bits and bobs. Here are my first completed scenes.
the water on the wired looking thing was done using a program called bryce, i just imported the mesh.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kelvin.moore/hylian%20shield%202.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kelvin.moore/aiiii.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kelvin.moore/dansguitar.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kelvin.moore/toxic.jpg

hope you like!!

[Cube]

Nice work, the shield could be touched up a bit tho (looks like the details ant attached to the shield).

How'd you do the grass?

[moorek]

Cheers. I felt the shield loked better with the features raised a little as it added to the shadow but they do need altering a little. I just used the Hair modifier for the grass, changed the colour to green!

[Jamba]

OK I really NEED SOME HELP!!!!!!

In a major panic because I'm doing a pretty big project in quite a short space of time. I haven't really done any texturing or playing around with materials before but I thought I was getting the hang of things until TODAY. Been asigning some nice bumps to materials and sunddenly stuff just stops working. NO bumps. Not anywhere... wtf?!! I'm using Maya and at first thought it could be the render settings I was using but it's not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


PLEASE HEEELP!

[Marshmellow]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kelvin.moore/hylian%20shield%202.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/kelvin.moore/aiiii.jpg


WOW these 2 are amazing! im such a noob at 3d modeling all this stuff looks really cool! lol

[darkcloud]

To the person whose having problem with the textures........ Ermmm I'm not really sure whats going on as I don't use Maya...... I have had problems with max materials before though. v.v;;

One thing (I dunno if its the same in maya) did you have a have a UVW map or unwrap uwv and then modify the object? That can mess things up... Don't think it would mess up bump settings though. :(

Yesterday I gave in my final project for my 3D course and I got quite some praise (dunno why it wasn't that good XD)... Well we had a presentation of all the work and yeah.. Was fun. ^^:;; I'm going to upload a couple of videos of work I've done and will post a link a bit late.

Edit: Here it is. ^^;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezESd7vDLEQ

[Jamba]

Pretty damn good mate. The bit with the bunny heads is pretty sick. Liking it a lot.

It was me worrying about the bumps earlier. They just started wokring again for no reason, just as quickly as they had stopped. I'll be posting my work a bit later. Nice to finally see the city in a vid btw.

[Jamba]

Ok, so I got impatient... here's a taster!

[Shino]

What's this phallic object?

[darkcloud]

Looking back at my work now I kind of wish I had the time to re-render some of it....... Especially one I left out of that video as it looks so horrid when it's not played with the screen settings I made it on. ; ; That's shown me never to mess with colours on a screen your using for any kind of art. >.>


As for your tower Jamba, it's looking pretty good. :) Any chance we can get a loot at the side with the holes so we can see the stairs inside?

Also, is the pinkish colour finalised? I personally think it would look cool in a dirty white colour. :)Throw in a noise map or two (if that's what it is on maya v.v;;;) for some dirt and I think it would look awesome. :)

[Jamba]

It'w meant to be skin ya see... but yeah that would look quite nice. And for those who are all like "huh?" at this: it's architecture based on human body forms, internal and external. I know it looks a bit phalic but I was looking at both Gaudi and Giger for inspiration so it's probably a bit of a subconscious accident. Also it's based on a tower... what else would an organic tower look like?!!?!

[Jamba]

The inside? OWRLY?!

Here ya are... and also anothe one of my personal favourites from the chamber upstairs!

[darkcloud]

These pics would have helped make more sence. XD The randomness isn't conveyed in the first pic. XD

[Fuzpoy]

do any of you use blender?
i started learning it and i couldn't get to grips with it, is blender like other 3D programs?

[Bogbas]

it takes a while (actually a lot of time...) to learn blender. The key to it: learn the keyboard shortcuts. There are some good tutorials on the blender site. Just dl some of them and just force yourself doing the stuff as long as you need to.

As if it's the same? Absolutely no. It does 3d modelling but thats about all that there is similar to maya or 3ds max. Personally I don't like the 'hooking' versions of maya and 3dsmax so I use a free one.

[Fuzpoy]

it takes a while (actually a lot of time...) to learn blender. The key to it: learn the keyboard shortcuts. There are some good tutorials on the blender site. Just dl some of them and just force yourself doing the stuff as long as you need to.

As if it's the same? Absolutely no. It does 3d modelling but thats about all that there is similar to maya or 3ds max. Personally I don't like the 'hooking' versions of maya and 3dsmax so I use a free one.

i did some of those tutorials for a week and didn't feel i got anywhere, i'll try a different appliction then might go back to it.

[Elekko]

For this I had SimplyMaya tutorial as reference....

http://members.chello.se/ilyas/elekko/site/gallery_images/apache_rm_render.jpg

[Stefkov]

Lol, me of all people is bringing this thread back to life.
Anyway, I recently (3 hours ago) thought to try out blender. Thus I found a pdf with some advice, and...duh duh duh duuuuuuh* i find link to their wiki page.
So I follow the first tutorial, and I made this:
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/1307/myfirstfloorhu2.jpg
Pretty shit, I cant get the light right.

(*tune when link gets an item)

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

it has beeb ages ago since i started up 3d studio max.

[Colin]

Stefkov - I approve of your bump of this thread. :smile: Great to see you're getting into it. When you first start this sort of thing, you really just need to cain through some tutorials. Then you'll feel confident to make things on your own, and you won't get so stuck on how to make things for example.

I started posting my 3d work in the "meaningless post of the day" thread, as I felt there wasn't a lot of interest still here in the subject compared to where it used to be. But I'm usually doing 3d non-stop really at the mo. I did create my first car model recently which came out OK.

Currently I've got to create a street scene, and it has to be fully textured and that as well. Needs to be in for this Thursday coming, so going to be working on it flat out between now and then. Progress is slow, but here's what I've got so far. It was more of a test to see what the corrugated metal door and its bump map came out like. Modelling a street themed around Barcelona.

I reckon I'm only about under 5% complete or so of the modelling phase, which will give people a rough guess as to how much more needs to be done. Then it's the texturing all on top of that as well. This stuff takes time.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/Barca_test_render_CR.jpg

*image is stupid big. But rendering in HD makes me all warm.

[Stefkov]

cheers for the advice Colin, damn that building looks sweet.
Booker, how'd you aquire Maya?
Those wooden shack pictures they all 3d modelling? Cos thats hot.

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

Some of mine:

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7046/1974gaming8zd.th.jpg (http://img215.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1974gaming8zd.jpg)

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/7852/nisutebuble3nr.th.jpg (http://img101.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nisutebuble3nr.jpg)

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/1201/revrobot200905a2bo.th.jpg (http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=revrobot200905a2bo.jpg)

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/3384/revrobot2009053pn.th.png (http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image=revrobot2009053pn.png)

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/6803/mastersword11bymaikynisute8va.th.jpg (http://img50.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mastersword11bymaikynisute8va.jpg)

http://img322.imageshack.us/img322/5655/rewallbymaikeldebakker2cq.th.jpg (http://img322.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rewallbymaikeldebakker2cq.jpg)

http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/9250/gamecuberood10247ks.th.png (http://img314.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gamecuberood10247ks.png)

please forgive me. this is old worck of mine.

[Colin]

IMAGES
Some of that stuff is hot. Great work. Liking the pokemon images the best.

I've updated my building a little. Thought it had to be done for this Thursday, but it's actually Friday. Got a hell of a lot to do still.

Prob get two or three more buildings done, then got to put in the road and integrate some 2d photo elements realistically.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/Barca_test_render_CR-1.jpg

Lamp posts have some smoothing problems it seems on the bends. Oh well. :hmm:

I also think the building looks a little too clean. Mite be able to rectify that later.

[kellett03]

sorry if this screws up

with the character in the final pic, i rigged her up to biped and made a small animation, and when i get time i'll texture her

[Colin]

sorry if this screws up

with the character in the final pic, i rigged her up to biped and made a small animation, and when i get time i'll texture her
Smooth that characters body out. Could really do with it......and nice hair!

I've kinda finished my street scene. There's a few things I'm not happy with, but deadlines are deadlines. Wish I had more time to work on it.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/high_res_final.jpg

[Haver]

Good work Colin.

I like the papers on the street and the grime on the grey brick.

[Colin]

Good work Colin.

I like the papers on the street and the grime on the grey brick.
Cheers.

Yep, the papers stopped a lot of the concrete from just looking boring. I've actually just changed the image from what it was like before and added a few more into the road and added a photo element at the back which was part of the brief to include.

I feel I should of added more to the building further away out of the two though. Just doesn't seem busy enough nearer the top of it.

Enjoyed creating this though, even if over the last two days I've not had any note-worthy sleep.

[Sarka]

Cad-damn, your all so good. I've just gotten into Blender, made a few simple things and I just made a wolf:

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/5952/picture1jo0.png

Sure it's pretty crappy and head didn't go well when I SubSurfed it, but I'm happy with it. Better than my bull on page 5... Good God!

[Stefkov]

Colin that street it really good.

Sarka are you using some tutorials for these, or just learning as you go along?

[Cube]

Colin, How about trying to add bump maps to everything. Just simple things like:

- Noise Bump Map for road
- Get the brick texture, put noise over the actual bricks, then make the rest black.

Should add a lot more detail with minimum effort.

[Colin]

Cheers for the comments.

Cube - I did originally have a noise map added to the bricks of one of the buildings, and it looked decent, but I never considered adding one to the road.

The assignment has been handed in now, but I most likely still will play around with it and see if I can improve it a little, so I will add noise to the road and the building possibly.

Majority of textures have got bump maps on them already, including the road, it's just a lot of the finer details cannot be seen in the texturing unless the render was zoomed in.

[daftada]

Colin: Little tip for you (and others) when making textures for yellow lines etc on roads. You can make them look a little worn by using the clone tool (in PS or PSP) and a scatter brush to take away the edges of the lines. Gives them a nice worn look. You can also use the same technique to add grime effects onto the wall textures (just use a couple of muddy brown colours, with low opacity).


EDIT: Found an old example on one of my uni projects.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/daftada/camera1.jpg

[kellett03]

a couple of renders i've been working on.

the cave didn't really look good when darker and the house is a work in progress.

edit: daftada loving that street pic, nice modeling skills

[daftada]

a couple of renders i've been working on.

the cave didn't really look good when darker and the house is a work in progress.

edit: daftada loving that street pic, nice modeling skills


Thanks muchly, that was from about 5-6 years ago though. :)

Really like your house model and the Cave is looking good too. Are they just private projects? What software are you using?

[kellett03]

Thanks muchly, that was from about 5-6 years ago though. :)

Really like your house model and the Cave is looking good too. Are they just private projects? What software are you using?

yea just private projects, just trying to create something that looks cool.

using 3ds max 8 for about a year now. started with blender but the interface was a trouble to understand so i switched to 3ds max, user friendly.

[Cube]

Click images for DeviantART page.

http://photos-329.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v66/4/66/61111907/n61111907_31874329_8215.jpg (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/47507539/)
http://photos-209.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v55/4/66/61111907/n61111907_31385209_1031.jpg (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/44057864/)
http://photos-208.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v55/4/66/61111907/n61111907_31385208_771.jpg (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/44234426/)
http://photos-204.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v55/4/66/61111907/n61111907_31385204_9692.jpg (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/42330397/)
http://photos-359.ak.facebook.com/ip002/v55/4/66/61111907/n61111907_31398359_6859.jpg (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/44336915/)


Just a few things I've made in 3DS max (background images not mine. Sovereign is a modified CG Sovereign)

[daftada]

Nice artwork Cube! Did you use displacement maps for the landscapes?

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

This is a dust sprite from the movie Totoro by Ghibli studio's

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/2807/ferrypp3.jpg

here is one with arms

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/9310/ferry2avi6.jpg
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/2800/ferry2blr4.jpg

this is Totoro from that same movie.
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5138/totoro1agy7.jpg
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/7563/totoro1bnj0.jpg

And here is my char for the game.

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/3940/nisutemascotegv8.jpg

i still want to make some changes so this isnt the final vertion

http://img460.imageshack.us/img460/346/nisutemascoteajw0.jpg

here is a pretty wall paper:

http://nisute.com/img_nisute/screenshots/MascoteNGDT.jpg

ps i am worcking on a game at this monent and if you think you have what it takes to join our devolipment team please mail or pm me!

[Colin]

Latest work:- The Great Court (London)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/Great_Court_render_final.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/great_court_centre_high_res.jpg

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

that is pretty naice man!! great work

[Stefkov]

Colin thats some awesome work.

Maiky-NiSuTe...those fur effects look amazing. Can I ask, it might have been asked before, but where did you guys get your programs from/what do you use?

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

i use 3d studio max 8. and i got it from school

[Stefkov]

How much did it cost you? I guess you got it discounted because you bought it from school.

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

It was includet in my study costs (but i guess it would be +/- 800,- euro)

[Stefkov]

800 euro is about £500, thats not bad. I'm sure its a £1000 when I was checking their website.
Thanks for that. Maybe I can get it when I do my course at Uni.

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

yeah you might ^.^i shure hope so for you

[Cube]

800 euro is about £500, thats not bad. I'm sure its a £1000 when I was checking their website.
Thanks for that. Maybe I can get it when I do my course at Uni.

A 2-year license for students is around £100. I have Max 7, was a copy my boss couldn't sell, so he let me have it.

[Colin]

Cheers for the comments on my latest piece. I rendered out a video as well, as it was required in the assignment brief.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVBXltjXjXk

Not to happy with it though, as I think the camera movement could have been much better than what it is. I rushed implementing the camera though and the keyframes, as deadline was looming.

Maiky-NiSuTe - I've only ever attempted fur/hair once, and that was applying it to a model for the characters hair as practice. I'm loving your first image with the dust sprite, as the fur looks brilliant and well lit to show it off well. The second character looks a bit odd though, and I think it's the patches of white that are affecting it...........I don't know if that's strictly design or just something that can be improved though.

And anyone still unsure about programs and all that, then there's links to trial versions on the first page of this thread.........or you can acquire it your own way (the way we're not supposed to speak of).

I think I'm going to go back to The Great Court and sort out a lot of things I didn't have time to finish, but it's mainly the texturing that needs doing and some more modelling work in places.

[kellett03]

colin- the great court is amazing, great modeling

not much, just messing around with texturing- bump, cellular, noise maps

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

that is a nice movie mate only to bad that thanks to the movie you can see some small mistakes (a normal persone would not see this ^.-) why dont you use some cool maps and use advance lightning to extent the efects ?

[ZeldaFreak]

I was wondering could you get a job with a company doing modelling, and all that jazz - if you were self taught and you actually had a portfolio.

Just been playing around with blender today - I know its not the industry standard but still, I could always teach my self that when I purchase the software.

Any thoughts?

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

i honestly dont know but i hope they look at talent more than paper work. if you know what i meen.

if not:

Discover our talent.

Okay, it’s that time again. We’ve been gaming for a long time now and we’ve seen things come and go. For sure we’ve seen the arcades come and go, seen the split up between the videogame consoles and the computer games. We’ve also seen platform games go 3D and adventure games go online. And now I even seen games go double screened and reacting on voice command. (I really like that.) So now we got reality graphics, voiced controlled dog poo running on our 50 inch plasma screens in high definition 3d sound.Great, just what I didn’t need. It looks like there isn’t much inspiration left with the developers. But hey all they ask is educated people, people who are top 3D programmers and high rank programmers. But are they still looking for true talent? Nope. nothing for talent. I guess there forgetting how some top guns started in the games industry. Not because there highly qualified scholars. Nope. They had talent. You know talent is rare to find but good diplomas are easier to find. And there is where it has gone terribly wrong.

You can teach most people how to work with 3D graphics and you even can teach them how to program. But you can’t teach people how to get talent.
And that’s a fact. Look most of us have been playing games for a long while now. And even some of us have great ideas for to make a great game. Some even have loads of talent. And like me they want to work in the gaming industry. But what is wrong with us?

Well let me in light you. We do not have enough money to get our selves a good education. I, and probably so many like me, know how to draw or program. Some of us even know to write great stories that would make a fabulous game.

So, I went to a games developer and I wanted to tell them what my ideas where. And guess what. I had to tell them everything but they didn’t want to sign anything. Witch means they can steal my ideas. So I turned away. Leaving my idea in my own grey matter.

Even worse, when I told them I wanted to work for them. They told me that I won’t stand a chance for I have no diploma’s. So it seems they can judge a talented person by his or hers diploma’s. All forgetting that Shigeru Miyamoto and so many others in those days didn’t have any diploma’s at all. The only thing they had was talent. And this makes me wonder, does any one look for talent at all? Doesn’t it occur that the magic in the better games is the work off talent and not skills? Sure skills are important but skills are something you can learn. And you can’t learn talent.

All I can hope for now is that a developer will read this column and he or she will open there eyes for the world of talent. And for those developers who are looking for talent. Start looking here.NiSuTe Europe is a group off very talented people.

Let fantasy guide you’re life in the word of videogames. So we can explore new worlds full of wonders and adventure.

With kind regarts, Maikel de Bakker

[ZeldaFreak]

Does anyone know where I can buy 3d Studio max, even if its a student edition from the uk. You can pm me if you want

[Cube]

Does anyone know where I can buy 3d Studio max, even if its a student edition from the uk. You can pm me if you want

3DS Max 9 Student Edition (2 Year) - £99.99 (http://www.saversoftware.co.uk/details-1183.htm)

[ZeldaFreak]

Ok can you buy the full version from uk shops

[Cube]

Ok can you buy the full version from uk shops

Not many places in the UK seem to sell it. here (http://www.onevideo.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=55) is one of the two sites (according to froogle) that sell the full version in the UK. £2,557.98.

[zaraki]

Anyone know of any easy beginner tutorials for 3ds max 9?
The ones i find are a mess with half assed explanations.

[Colin]

Anyone know of any easy beginner tutorials for 3ds max 9?
The ones i find are a mess with half assed explanations.
Not sure if you'll come back to this thread, as your reply was a while ago, but check out this link below. I found it really helpful as it includes videos with voice-over covering what's being shown. Few lessons to be learnt there.

http://forums.ego-farms.com/index.php?topic=78.0

Also check out the CGtalk.com 3DSmax board, as there's a sub-forum there that id dedicated to tutorials (although a lot of the links are broken these days).
-------

My latest assignment we were given was to practice making a basic character mesh, and getting used to using edge loops properly. Result is below. (non smoothed, then smoothed model).

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/non_smoothed_wire.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/smoothed_character_model.jpg

Over Easter break we've got to create a basic model of our own character from our own concepts, and then when we come back we'll be taking it into Z Brush and sculpting it to above 1M polys. Looking forward to it.

[kellett03]

nice work colin, character is nicely modeled

i've been very slack (school) but we need more art posted

[Jamba]

Just finishing off an assignment. I'll post stuff once i finish

[Stefkov]

After recently seeing what Blender (http://www.blender.org/features-gallery/gallery/images) can do, it has made me want to try and learn it even more.
I used to think Blender was one of those free crappy ones, that simplistic yet good looking images could be made. But looking at those that people have done... :O

[Colin]

Thread resurrect......nice one guys.

kellett - Did that model a while ago now, was just edge looping practice which we were set for characters.

Just finished up our final assignments today (finally), and one was another character assignment. There was the option of Zbrushing up a normal map and then applying it, but I kind of got lazy, and didn't have much time left.

My character is below. Managed to unwrap and texture it between the hours of 4am and 9am this morning. Was my first proper character unwrap as well, so fairly pleased with the rushed result. I screwed up the unwrap on the head, so that's why its got no texture there.....although may sort it at some point. Still not had any sleep yet. :hmm:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/render_still.jpg

Jamba - You're at Tees right? You know a dude called Ashley at all? Think I mentioned him to ya before.....although not 100% sure on what part of the Tees course he is on.

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

why dont you give him some hair?

[Jamba]

Might have some hair on the texture for the head but by the looks of it, its a bald ogre... errr, thing.

Here's a render of oneof the 2000 poly models that I've been doing.

[Jamba]

Hmmmm only lettiing me post one at a time. Well lets see now...


Ok so the jet looks rubbish but I can't be arsed with lighting is properly right now. And feel the wrath of my Bell 430 helicopter! Can you say "Hind D"?

[Colin]

why dont you give him some hair?
He's staying bald I'm afraid as that just suits him a lot better. Plus Max hair is a no go when you're doing anything to game related......if I had done any I would of used a load of planes on the head with individual textures and alphas.

I ended up texturing the head, but doesn't really add too much to what's shown above, so I won't post another image at all.

Jamba - Got some good stuff there. How long time wise are some of them models taking to just model geometry wise, as I'm just wondering?


Summers here, so will be working on little bits and pieces......although mostly environmental stuff and getting my texturing and unwrapping skills up.



Worn down burger bar.


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/worn_down_burger_bar.jpg

Really am quite pleased with the result of what I've got there. It's not finished, but I've kinda screwed up my .psd file, so texturing is becoming a bit of a mess..............so will be leaving it as it is now. Poly count is around 900.

[Twozzok]

Was that Great Court thing modelled off the British Museum? It's pretty good :)

I like the Ogre thing aswell, it's awesome.

[Colin]

Was that Great Court thing modelled off the British Museum? It's pretty good :)

I like the Ogre thing aswell, it's awesome.
Yes, the Great Court is what it at the British Museum.

I've got the layout plans for the Great Court if anyone really wants them, including the glass roof, but to really get everything down to an accurate level you'll need to go up there yourself and get some reference photos I'd say.

And cheers for the comment on the Ogre thing. :hehe:

[Jamba]

Just looked back a few pages and saw the Great Court, nice work Colin. I take it the roof is flat and textured with alpha to make it transparent?

[Marshmellow]

All of a sudden 3D modeling has interested me. Whats a good program for a noob? And whats a good program for pros? (For later use) Thanks!

[Jamba]

Id say 3ds MAX. I started on Maya and its not very n00b friendly. Max has a very large tutorial and forum support group surrounding it and its really good for modelling which is the first thing that you will do.

[Colin]

Just looked back a few pages and saw the Great Court, nice work Colin. I take it the roof is flat and textured with alpha to make it transparent?
Soz I didn't get back to you about this.

IIRC I made the roof from having the roof plan, and looking over the top of it. Then from there I traced over where the lines were with the line tool, and then applied a lattice modifier to it. To make it dome like, I think I made a torus and put that where the top of the building is and where the roof would of connected to it, and then constrained the centre of the roof object to that.

Tbh though, you're right, just doing it with an alpha would have got a decent result as well.

[Jamba]

Yay! Sorry I havent really done texturing yet and have only just fully understood recently what the alpha channel is. My programming friends tell me that you can play with alpha for fun things.

Like in multiplayer games when you need a team to be a colour, you colour them with alpha and then use code to say "alpha = team colour". And hey presto!

Im gonna be doing a lot of work over the summer. Tryin to do a model a week and a tutorial a week. I want them to be textured too but ill need to learn the ins and outs of that first.

[i_speel_good]

I'm ok at modelling, but I suck at UVW Mapping.

[Ramar]

Anyone know any good sites where I can get some decent free textures for some 3D modelling. Obviously I could just google, but someone might know of some decent libraries. A person's advice is better than a search engines.

[Emasher]

What program are you using?

[Cube]

It really depends on what type of textures you want

[Ramar]

I'm using 3DS Max.

Just basic materials, wood, glass, metal, grass, water. Just a few decent basic textures.

[Cube]

I got some from here (http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:vI2nkpvoczYJ:www.3dkingdom.org/index.php%3Fname%3DNews%26file%3Darticle%26sid%3D6 65+site:3dkingdom.org+Material+PAck&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=uk) (their site is down, so I've used Google's saved page). I think they worked with max 9.

[Wesley]

Really 3D Studio Max has it's own basic set of textures...

But anyway, one's not to question.

http://www.filterforge.com/filters/

[Cube]

Really 3D Studio Max has it's own basic set of textures...

But anyway, one's not to question.

http://www.filterforge.com/filters/

That site is awesome!

[Ramar]

Cheers lads.

[Wesley]

That site is awesome!

Aye it's a favourite of mine. You learn how to use them unlike the one's you simply import. Helps you learn more about textures. Even though materials and textures is my most hated part of 3D digital modelling.

And no problem, man.

[Emasher]

We ought to have an official thread for 3D modeling/animation.

[Cube]

We ought to have an official thread for 3D modeling/animation.

We Do (http://www.n-europe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=638)

[Emasher]

Thats a few pages down though. Maybe a mod should just make this the official one.

here's a little movie I made earlier today

click here (http://www.nintenreport.com/media/flameguy.mov)

[Wesley]

What ever happened to the active 3D modelling and animation group we had here at NE.

[Emasher]

Alot of people do 3D modeling for a course in school and then stop when they finish the corse. I'll probably be the same unless I can get a copy of cinema 4D which is possible because of connections I have.

I've added a castle and a river of Lava to the above video now but haven't been able to render it.

Here's a few other renders of mine.

abstract fireworkish thing (cell shaded) (http://www.nintenreport.com/media/metasplosion.mov)


http://www.nintenreport.com/images/Lightsaber 1.jpg
http://www.nintenreport.com/images/Lightsaber 2.jpg
http://www.nintenreport.com/images/Lightsaber 3.jpg

[Wesley]

Is this at secondary school?

Anyone here do digital modelling and animation at Uni?

[Emasher]

Yes its high school. We're using version 6 of cinema 4d so thats why my stuff looks pretty bad. Plus those were some of my earlier projects.

I actually got the highest mark in the course for term 1 (100%)

Can anyone find me a cinema 4D tutorial that will work with version 6 that involves a large modeling project?

[Wesley]

If you're looking for a tutorial that centralises on modelling, then don't worry too much about the version of the program the tutorial was created for. Because the differences between the actual modelling part of each program doesn't change too much, especially you're regular poly-modelling.

[Emasher]

In cinema 4D alot of stuff has changed since version 6 though including many modleing things. Its not just basic modleing it should use many of the programs more advanced modleing features.

See the assignment was to either build a haunted house from a certain tutorial or we could find another tutorial that was equaly advanced and use that. Then we had to add to the model on our own and animate it.

Here's another one I've done.

http://www.nintenreport.com/images/sink.jpg

[Wesley]

That's pretty good EMasher, I wish I had the chance to do 3D modelling at secondary/high school. Didn't even have the chance to do it at A Level (college level) where I went. I've had to wait until Uni before I can do it. Although I have been doing some work in my spare time. I will post something in the next couple of days.

[Wesley]

So I said I would post something and so I have. Haven't done any 3D work for about 2 years, although I still kept an interest. I'm going onto university to do computer animation so I have started again during my gap year.

Model was copied from something I bought from Turkey earlier this year.

The first render doesn't.. look right, looks stretched and something went wrong with that render.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v671/Mackinder/BassMan5.jpg

So I rendered it a different way so it didn't look blurred and stretched, but, as I knew I would, some of the "bits" didn't look smooth. The shoulder and the legs for instance.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v671/Mackinder/BassMan4.jpg

Both "problems" are too pointless to try and fix seeing as they don't actually need fixing... anyway, I'll put some materials and texture on it and do a proper render.

[Colin]

Anyone know any good sites where I can get some decent free textures for some 3D modelling. Obviously I could just google, but someone might know of some decent libraries. A person's advice is better than a search engines.
Most of you should find these two sites useful. Best free texture resources on the net. After these two you'll be paying for better ones (which I'm considering doing soon for Semester B at Uni).

http://www.cgtextures.com
http://www.mayang.com/textures

Both of these are limited per day on the amount you can download.

This is what I've been working on recently. It's an assignment which we were meant to base around archways.............there's some major screw ups on it, like the scale of the stairs to everything else, and also the different architecture styles between the walls and the grey archway itself. But I've decided to leave it now, and just hand it in.

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/730/finaljz0.th.jpg (http://img413.imageshack.us/my.php?image=finaljz0.jpg)

[Wesley]

That's pretty good, man. What course do you do and where?

Please post more stuff in this thread because it's a bit dead.

Anyway, here is a better picture of my model, any criticisms or comments?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v671/Mackinder/BassManModel.png

Also, I got into Bradford University today to study Computer Animation. :yay:

[Emasher]

Only problem with it is that the shadow doesn't continue onto the wall.

[Wesley]

Oh no no.. you miss understand. It's just the model. I haven't actually got a wall. It's not a floor to speak of either.

It's just the model without any textures or materials to ensure the model itself looks right before going onto anything else.

[Emasher]

oh. I get it now. You probably mentioned this above somewhere but what software are you using?

[Wesley]

Good old Blender.

[Jamba]

Just got my blog up, been working my ass off over the past term on lots of things. I'll lots to post up over the Christmas break when I finally get them all textured. Check it out:

http://metaboliccreations.blogspot.com/

Also Colin, that environment is looking sick-good. I hate you... Did you make those textures yourself? You might wanna give a little more UV space to everything on your steps, cos they are looking a little stretched out and blurry.

I've got an assignment to do which needs tile textures pretty much well everywhere and I'm not too sure about how to start it. Mind if I run it by you a little later?

[Wesley]

The character animation on your videos are really good!

[Jamba]

Cheers Wes! Means a lot seriously. Took some blood and tears. And to think that I did the animation for parts 3 and 4 in 3 days... Ah well. That's what the industry is gonna be like.

[Wesley]

No problem! The rigging is obviously top notch and the animation flows really well and looks very natural.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v671/Mackinder/Body2.png

I think the textures need to be a bit more dirty... less clear reflection on itself and have actual grime, especially on the golden colour parts.

The metal base needs to have some sort of muck or stain because it looks all too flat and perfect. Might change the wood on the base a little too...

Coming along nice though, normally don't have the patients to do textures and materials, but I guess that's changed. Just a shame I have work in the morning because I would like to carry on doing this until the early hours.

I got some good ideas for the backing of this from Blender Artist. So I'm looking forward to creating some cool stuff with this idea.

[blender]

Good old Blender...

i concur.

[Colin]

That's pretty good, man. What course do you do and where?

Please post more stuff in this thread because it's a bit dead.

Also, I got into Bradford University today to study Computer Animation. :yay:
Cheers. I'm currently studying at Hertfordshire University, now in my 2nd year on the 3D Games Art course which comes under the Digital Animation degrees there. The course I feel has kind of gone downhill since I've started back this year though, as we lost quite an important lecturer because he wanted to go back and work industry instead of teaching. And yes, I will try and post more in this thread when I've got the time or anything new to show...........just was under the impression that 3d had really died around here after quite a few people were into it for a while. Always good to see someone new starting it up, as it really does take patience and that extra dedication.

Congrats also on getting into Bradford. I can't say I know too much about the course there, but the day you get into a Uni (if it's your top choice that is) won't be forgotten..............my advice, get absolutely rat arsed and enjoy life for the 1st year, meeting loads of new people and just about passing the year 'grades wise' without failing......then in the 2nd & 3rd year knuckle down, as you'll have to accept any social life you want you just won't have the time for, especially when doing animation

Good old Blender.
I'd also have to recommend you drop Blender and move onto something more industry useful. I know it's a great piece of software and still can pretty much do everything, but considering you've also got into a Uni course now which I'm guessing you're set on doing, then it would be extremely beneficial to jump onto what ever software they use on the course there. Having that extra time with the program before starting the course will put you ahead of the majority of the class, and lecturers will have more time for you knowing you have some idea as to what you're talking about. So yeh, if you're set on Bradford, then find out what software they use and get hold of an educational version or a trial. I do like what you've created so far though, and the second image you posted up shows loads of improvement over the first. Keep going I say and finish it up to where you're happy with it.

Just got my blog up, been working my ass off over the past term on lots of things. I'll lots to post up over the Christmas break when I finally get them all textured. Check it out:
http://metaboliccreations.blogspot.com/
Looked through your renders and thought they were excellent. I personally can't stand animation, and I've got an assignment due in when I get back at the start of January. Great work though, and I have may have to ask you about certain things when I tackle the assignment in the next two weeks or so. We haven't got to render out a movie like that, but we have to make a load of short animations that would be suitable for a game environment. Talking walk cycle, run cycle, death animations and picking up a box. I'll post the full list up though soon, as there are a few things I'm uncertain about (my own fault for not attending some animation lectures), so some tips would be appreciated.

Also Colin, that environment is looking sick-good. I hate you... Did you make those textures yourself? You might wanna give a little more UV space to everything on your steps, cos they are looking a little stretched out and blurry.
Cheers for feedback, and yes, I know about the stairs........loads of people have told me to sort them, but I can't be arsed to go back and fix them now, as I created them in such a long manor that'll take to long to sort. I originally made a high poly version of the steps with loads of separate concrete tiles. Then I made a low poly mesh, and applied a projection modifier to that object, and made sure the cage was overlapping all the high poly geometry that I wanted included in the texture bake.

The problem with the stretching was that on the sides of the steps I didn't apply the grass/mud texture properly, so it's become a washed out mess. The tops of the stairs don't look all that bad though. Next time I'll probably avoid the highpoly/low poly to 'render to texture' way of doing things when making stairs.

The textures were all made myself, but then again I use that term loosely, as there's always someone/somewhere which you've taken the original high res photos from and then edited..........most of the textures came from the two texture website links I posted in my previous post.

I've got an assignment to do which needs tile textures pretty much well everywhere and I'm not too sure about how to start it. Mind if I run it by you a little later?
Yeh, let me know in this thread when you want to understand how to create tiling textures. It's dead easy really, and there's quite a few tutorials out there on how to do it. (I'm guessing you want to know how to make them tile effectively without having loads of seams and repetition?)

[Jamba]

Yeh, let me know in this thread when you want to understand how to create tiling textures. It's dead easy really, and there's quite a few tutorials out there on how to do it. (I'm guessing you want to know how to make them tile effectively without having loads of seams and repetition?)

Well I'm pretty confident on making something good and tileable in PS but its the mapping that I'm not sure I can get my head around. In fact mapping is becoming my real bug-bearer. I proabably need to play around with it but from what I can tell, I'll be maping them so that the edges of a road will all use an "edge" type tile and the center, a "center" type tarmac tile. I think my problem will be how to get the texture to fit each poly and also get their orientation right. I know how to do these generally but this is gonna be a large environment and would appreciate any tips on how to do it quickly.

It will probably make a lot more sense when I post the actual brief.

Feel free to ask me any animation questions. You are using Max right? Also will you be using any rigged characters?

[Emasher]

Unfortunately I will be done 3D modeling at the end of january as the corse switches to 2D graphics.

Unless I am able to get a copy of cinema 4D which is possible as I have some connections.

[Colin]

Jamba - Yeh, using Max. The character and rigging is already done to my knowledge......and it's just a case of downloading the max scene file and then animating.

The brief as to what needs doing is pretty much below.

Exercises for Assessment

1. Walk (front and side) + walk on the spot (front and side)
2. Run (front and side) + run on the spot (front and side)
3. Standing jump (front and side)
4. Karate Kick - rotoscoped
5. Push a box
6. Pick up a Ball
7. Climb and dive (with discrete squash and Stretch)
8. 3 X Idles
9. 3 X Firing Positions
10. 2 X dyings
11. Lip synch with facial emotions

• To be done in one max file framed with notes
• rig doesn’t matter.
• Lighting does
• Shadows on floor
• must have plain background and no distracting horizon lines
• plain or fixed camera


Road texturing? Well I'd first of all lay out my polys for the road. The best way in my mind to texture a road is to use a Multi/Sub-Object material.

So you'll need to assign material ID's for the polygons on the road, then the actual whole road object would have that one Multi/Sub-Object material assigned to it........and inside the Multi/Sub-Object material you'll have many textures with different ID's, then the polygons on that object will be referencing them ID's.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/passivereactions/material_ids.jpg

Hope that image kind of helps, and I'm guessing you're using max (soz forgot).

[Wesley]

So I finished up my Bass Model because I was fed up of looking at it. Finished it ages ago but... well, forgot about it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v671/Mackinder/Bass_Final_02_01_07_Edit.png

I'll start using Max from now on... so a few tutorials later I can start to create something. Dunno what...

[Emasher]

That's awesome.

[Jamba]

Road texturing? Well I'd first of all lay out my polys for the road. The best way in my mind to texture a road is to use a Multi/Sub-Object material.

So you'll need to assign material ID's for the polygons on the road, then the actual whole road object would have that one Multi/Sub-Object material assigned to it........and inside the Multi/Sub-Object material you'll have many textures with different ID's, then the polygons on that object will be referencing them ID's.

Yeah that was the plan but I'm not sure how to approach it from a modelling point of view to keep the polys quite uniform and have a nice grid across it. Also, how do you control the orientation on the polys. Would I have to go around turning each and every tile?!

[darkcloud]

Ok, recently I've only been looking at code and so I've had no time for 3D modelling..... I will however be starting something soon and I'll give updates on that here.... Oh and I have an unfinished work of a pier which I could show you when I get on my PC.....

Main reason for this post is to have some kind of commitment to what I'm about to start. lol

[Emasher]

I've got a few more things done now, unfortunately my 3D class ends on friday.

[Jamba]

Right, here's the character I've been working on. First one that I've ever done and it's been a little bugger!

http://s235.photobucket.com/albums/ee247/blockmonster/?action=view&current=revolveloop.flv

Comments welcome.

[Wesley]

For your first character that's really good!

I think the overall minus of it though would be that it's a little thin. The head seems a little squashed, but it's mostly the nose. Apart from that it is looking pretty good! Keep us updated!

[Llama Juice]

Haha, I didn't expect to find talent like this on one of these forums. Bravo guys. I'd post some of my gear, but I still have to post like another ten times before links are allowed... *sigh*

[Wesley]

Yay! Someone else to liven up the thread!

I'm doing one last thing in Blender and then I'm going to start using Maya as Colin suggested.

[Emasher]

I tried blender at one point. It was like chinese compared to Cinema 4D though and in the end I wasn't able to use it.

[Llama Juice]

haha Yay!

I personally have been learning Maya recently, I've been teaching myself 3DS max for several years now though.

Some of my stuff can be seen at my website..

www . llamajuice.com

I had to kill the link... *sigh*

[Emasher]

Why did you have to kill the link.

Did you actually create a 3D game or did you just add in the cross-hair ect.

[Llama Juice]

You can't post links when you have less than fifteen posts :S

You are only allowed to post URLs to other sites after you have made 15 posts or more.

and, those are maps for the game Halo Custom Edition. I just created the actual level geometry, tagged it and threw it into the game.

I've been learning a little bit of NURBS modeling... made an Xbox 360 controller last month...

http://www.llamajuice.com/school/fs/X3601.jpg

I only got about seven hours into that model before I had to turn it in.

[Wesley]

So do you do some sort of course at college or something? You mention on your site about enrolling.

I tried blender at one point. It was like chinese compared to Cinema 4D though and in the end I wasn't able to use it.

Yeah it's all a bit backwards at times... once you get the hang of it it's really good though.

[Llama Juice]

Yea, I attend Full Sail now. That's why I started learning Maya, they teach Maya there.

I'm going for the Computer Animation degree :P

[Wesley]

Ah that's awesome man! How you finding it? I'm going to be starting a Computer Animation degree at Bradford University in September - I'm pretty over-the-moon about it (http://www.n-europe.com/forum/showpost.php?p=676541&postcount=184).

[Eenuh]

Seeing as I'll be having a very basic 3D class again this semester, I might post some stuff (if we actually end up doing anything decent that is). Anyone heard of the program Amapi before? Cause that's what we're using but I'd never heard of it before.

[Llama Juice]

I've heard of it, but that's about the extent of my knowledge in it.

Full Sail is a ridiculous school. It's highly accelerated so like courses end up lasting only a month. That means... a lot of work needs to go in outside of school.

But... that also means that I get done with school in a total of 23 months :P

I don't know why I even really posted the name of the school, I'm an American, so it's silly to expect you to know it.

The school itself is crazy awesome though. We don't have duel monitors, but we do have all that other jazz you were going on about. Also, The Daily Buzz actually uses my school to broadcast their news stuff... kinda weird... but... ehh lol

[Wesley]

I was checking out the website and the place looks really good. It seems to take the whole business of it all very serious and is dedicated. Which is what you want, obviously. I'm jealous!

[Llama Juice]

It is crazy serious... After only using Maya for 3 months I was able to make this!

http://www.llamajuice.com/school/fs/taxi.jpg

Yea, I didn't realize how small the render was until just a few minutes ago... and I don't feel like re rendering it now haha.

Also, all I did on that was shade/light it. No modeling was done by me.

[sagat]

Blender is not bad; best of all it is free...lol i think if you start on blender you can easily work your way up on many programs as modelling techniques are similar. There are many tutorials out there and i used to use Blender in 2004 but stopped because i felt limited in my abilities and when i cried for help on the forums, i was sometimes shut down.

Those great modellers shuold check out the Peugeot design contest where if successful, you win Euro's and get your work displayed at the Frankfurt Motorshow (you may even get to work with Peugeot design team)

My dream careers in life was: car design and game design. Sadly i won't be able to realise these ambitions as my modelling is finsihed know..lol

Don't give up moddelling guys

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

It is crazy serious... After only using Maya for 3 months I was able to make this!

http://www.llamajuice.com/school/fs/taxi.jpg

Yea, I didn't realize how small the render was until just a few minutes ago... and I don't feel like re rendering it now haha.

Also, all I did on that was shade/light it. No modeling was done by me.

great work!! : peace:

[Chuck]

Check it - 9 hours of work with ArchiCAD, 3D Studio Max and Photoshop

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f331/burgess_ra/exterior.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f331/burgess_ra/Interior.jpg

[Llama Juice]

I'd say that stuff looks like it could be more high poly... (sharp edges on the corners of walls... and the couch looks weird...)

but overall very impressive... and even more so for only 9 hours of work

What kinda irks me though is that... since you don't have an environment outside the windows look funny. Atleast throw an image plane behind those windows... something that has like a backyard or something in it.

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

good jobe!

[Wesley]

That's really good, especially for the time! Well done there, man!

[Chuck]

Thanks guys:)

[Caris]

Looks meh to me.

[Kirkatronics]

Check it - 9 hours of work with ArchiCAD, 3D Studio Max and Photoshop

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f331/burgess_ra/exterior.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f331/burgess_ra/Interior.jpgGreat work, only problem i see is there arent any lights.
Did you design the furniture or was that premade?

[Jamba]

Done some more work on my animation character, hopefully will be able to show you those animations fairly soon. Rigging is a bastard and it makes me want to kill lots of folk very, very nastily but its coming along.

And yeah, i know shes not very well textured or modelled but she'll do for what she's for.

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee247/blockmonster/Animation/texturedrender2.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee247/blockmonster/Animation/texturedrender3.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee247/blockmonster/Animation/texturedrender4.jpg

[Maiky-NiSuTe]

i was busy with mine to. but i never finished it

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/1328/neuroperevrobot190905akc9.jpg

[Wesley]

I'm having a problem in 3D Studio Max 2008. When you refine and connect vertexs in a spline, if you click on an exsisting vertex it will ask if you want to refine or connect... basically, I when through loads of those and finally decided to click the option I wanted and "Do not show this message again." Now I need the OTHER option and I don't know how to get back to it.

Totally stuck. :(

[Llama Juice]

Delete your preferences file :D

Here's something for a silly quick project I'm working on...

http://www.llamajuice.com/ce/NES/dk3.jpg

That's running in Halo Custom Edition in that picture by the way.

Also... for that project...
http://www.llamajuice.com/renders/controller.jpg

http://www.llamajuice.com/renders/controller2.jpg
(fixed the Dpad in this one)

I'm also going to be using my NES cartridges that I showed earlier... I'm probably going to use my older carts.. just clean em up a bit.... or just remodel it and make them pretty :D

http://llamajuice.com/renders/NES11.jpg

[Wesley]

That's looking pretty sweet man. What's it all going to come to though... interesting.

I just restarted it, the option only lasts a session.