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CyphusBlue
CyphusBlue
Join Date 02/2006
+3

A little help with model editing

April 25, 2008 8:50:01 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I have the demo of 3ds max. I have the mesh importer. I was able to import a mesh. However, the mesh seems to lose any the materials as the model is all one color in the preview. If I attempt to export it says the model has no materials. I tried to give it some default materials but it crashed Sins.

All I really want to do is play with the scaling and angles of existing ships. Are there any tutorials or step-by-step instructions? I found the one for XSI but that assumes there's a working model. There does not seem to be a .mesh importer for XSI. I've never used 3ds Max so any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks!
modding
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CyphusBlue
TFL BigBANGtheory
Join Date 02/2007
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Reply #1 April 26, 2008 2:51:19 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
The 3dsmax maxscript post best explains how to do this, it does require a bit of max experience to follow and it is not a step-by-step guide but it is the closest thing you are after.

In your case the key points are:

When you import a model you do lose the materials and therefore have to re-assign them in the materials editor according to the instructions in the topic, look closely at his screenshot example.

You need to assign materials within the SoaSE texture folder, not materials that come with Max (though you could convert them to dds and copy them there).

There is no XSI importer tool in the public domain that I am aware of.

v2.0a of the tool has problems for a lot of people so if it doesn't work properly you're not the only one.
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CyphusBlue
CyphusBlue
Join Date 02/2006
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Reply #2 April 26, 2008 4:35:59 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Thanks. That helped a bunch. Looks like it was 2.0a that was causing issues. The last 1.x version worked for the materials. I now have a model with the right textures in Sins...

Next issue:

The model has dummy points in 3ds Max. (At this point I'm just scaling FrigateTechLight). When I export either the dummy points aren't being used, or more likely, are not getting exported. I enabled materials, points, and mesh in the plugin for export. The exporter does not let you export with everything selected. Do I have to recreate all the dummy points? If so, will cloning them work? Is there some other option to link the model with the points? The points are already named exhaust, weapon-0, etc and they do appear to be dummy points but I have zero experience with 3ds max so I could be wrong.

Any further help is again greatly appreciated.
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CyphusBlue
i Nert
Join Date 12/2007
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Reply #3 April 26, 2008 4:54:03 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Did you link the dummies to the model? Select all the dummies, then click the button and drag from the dummies to the mesh. Mesh should blink if done correctly.
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CyphusBlue
CyphusBlue
Join Date 02/2006
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Reply #4 April 27, 2008 12:15:18 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I didn't even see that button. Everything works. Thanks TFL BigBANGtheory and i Nert.
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