Looking for a modeler teacher.

If you get Gmax (it’s free) then you can download a good tutorial package which teaches pretty much everything from model creation to texturing.

Ozed

Yes I agree with oZed, GMax is better and has several export formats that you can use to import into MilkShape to convert to .cmp files easily.

GMax download:
http://www.turbosquid.com/gmax

Simple tutorial:
http://the-starport.net/modules/wfdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=5&lid=536

Alternatively there is Blender, which is even better, and Bryce which I was told once is also very good… but they don’t have many export formats I think, so it may be difficult to import into MilkShape? Does anyone know for sure?

You will still need MilkShape and one of its .cmp exporters to convert to .cmp format…

Unless anyone here can write an exporter for GMax or one of the other free modellers or better still 3DS Max?

i actually work exclusively in Wings for low-poly modeling. Its nice and intuitive, though it’s UV system takes some getting used to. It doesnt have all the nice features of a better program, like 3ds max, but you can work just fine in it. and for most Freelancer mods, you dont need more than 5-10k polys on a ship.

Blender can export in .obj which is accepted by milkshape. Here is where gmax and all the bits that goes with it can be downloaded, including textures and a tutorial (the one I was talking about).

Ozed.

coming to shareware i use metasequoia (glad btw that someone else knows it over here ;)), which is good for hitboxing but also for models with several hundreds of polygons. it starts lagging a bit if you display vertices, lines and faces but therefore it supports models with even around a million. lightwave has similar characteristics though it is not the same easy to use therefore you have more possibilites and as i searched for resources it is just on one level with 3ds max and just an ace in planning of thn’s and systems. haven’t got too deeply in modelling with it yet but if i look on done models it seems to be quite a good quality standard modeling program.

DANGER!

I just had to reformat and restore my laptop after looking for metasequoia.

I went to the main site:
www.metaseq.net/english/

And this one:
(metasequoia).(downloadsoftware4free).(com) - I put it like this in parentheses so you won’t be linked to it!

DON’T GO TO THIS ONE!!
There is a “BLOCK IT” link at the top of the page. I clicked that but went back to metasequoia’s tab to read the info on mtasequoia first.

In the meantime, while I was reading, from this second site I picked up the XP Security Tool 2010 trojan!!

This nasty thing did the following:-

1. Installed itself and commenced issuing floods of false Virus Warnings!!

2. Disabled Task Manager so I could not terminate it.

3. Disabled Regedit so I could not look for its trail in my registry.

4. Disabled Control Panel’s Add-Remove Programs so I could not look for and uninstall it.

5. Blocked Firefox starting, giving a false virus scan screen telling me to install it or continue unprotected. Clicking on Continue unprotected allows Firefox to start.

6. Incessantly brings up false Virus warning screens and a screen looking like Windows Security Centre telling me to register/install XP Security Tool 2010, and other scary virus balloons from the system tray.

7. Clicking on the Register button on one of its screens tried to take me to windowspc-care.com - my internet was disabled by then.

I was lucky because I use Sysimage and I have a clean install image too, so my restore took only 20 minutes after I found I was completely unable to cure it.

Here’s how you can do that too:-
http://forums.seriouszone.com/showthread.php?55706

Here’s a fix tip on the myantispyware site that I just found, long after the event:-
http://www.myantispyware.com/2010/03/16/how-to-remove-xp-security-tool-2010/

How do we tell the software website they have a trojan and are transmitting it to visitors?

How do we report his website windowspc-care.com, and how do we stop this SOAB from breathing our air? :-x

gmax is pretty much a restricted 3dsmax. It lacks rendering and a few other advanced features. And unless you plan on doing SERIOUS mid poly work, or really involved low poly work, its really unnecessary. Wings works just fine. If you wanna talk about Wings and what you can do with it, PM me and we can talk

Anubis, would you write a brief tutorial on how to make a basic model and export it?

That would be the best for everyone to get started. I had a look for acouple of hours a couple of years ago, but I got stuck and since I was in a hurry to do work I left it and went back to MilkShape.

fairly good for a first run. I can see some things you’ll wanna clean up, namely the cockpit. dont leave it so open like that, it’ll map weird with all the vertices left unresolved.

another thing you’ll want to learn about in wings is the autosmooth function. it places constraints on edges to keep them hardened. hit tab when you open your model to see it without any constraints, and then try selecting the whole model with the object selector, right click, go to autosmooth options, and select the min angle (default is 60). it will make some edges orange. hit tab again to see the difference. (you can harden select edges by going to edge selection and using the hardness function. These also serve as cut markers for the AutoUV in Wings, so its nice to plot out how you want to map it on the model)

there are numerous b5 models out in mods like tng and rebalance. theyre not too accurate but enough for getting pimped up for use in a TC

Alucard wrote:
Here’s a first try, nothing great but learning.

I wish my first ships was this cool, but mine was ok, but I never left it alone and it got cooler the more I worked with it.

if i remember right a highly detailed model of a station from the babylon5 series is stored over at scifi3d.com. you would need to splice it to get all of the detail into the game or to reduce the details texturing whatever gets lost but you think is necessary.

Nightstalker has one in his mod, rotating parts and everything, think that’s where he got his from