Im new to 3D Max and these forums :)

[CactusJack]

May I suggest smoke tinted windows? Don't allow the viewer to look inside...and no one will critic you about it. Most of the CG cars that I've seen have tinted windows....

As far as books, I have every single books for MAX since 3DStudio R4 DOS. There are alot of good books, yet there is alot of crap!!! Depending on what you want to focus on would determine the book you should fork out the money for.

If you want to get into character modeling, might I suggest "Modeling a Character in 3DS Max", by Paul Steed. Cover has a sexy chic on it. The book is a great addition to my library, the entire book is one big tutorial on creating the girl on the cover, from modeling to texturing. Tons of pictures! Yea...I already new these fundamentals of modeling, but being a PT MAX instructor (work in game developement FT) it was good to see something finally hit the shelves for the newbies that would excel them at a higher pace than usual.

So...figure what your focus for the week is then...pick your book.

[Chor]

i am new to modeling and this forum..my first post....i have a quick question....
do you guys do those modeling with a MOUSE??....

[CactusJack]

Uh...yea, a mouse is usually used...I hope I am not understanding the question...because I will look very stupid...

However, while I was E3 2001, I saw a demo of a guy modeling in MAX using this virtual glove type of thing...just like you see in the movies, y'know touching nothing but getting the program to work...yea,...uh just like in the movie "Lost in Space" when the kid was in that holographic robot controlling the "real" one...uh something like that. Don't remember exactly what it was called, but it was a very cool demo...used it for gaming too!

Hehe...I was babbling...:bounce:

[Chor]

so um, you make a box or something..they turn them into polygons, and use the mouse to move each polygon in position??
how long that will take?

[Chris]

ages. :)

[CactusJack]

uh.....:annoyed:

[Chor]

is that the techique? or is there a shortcut?

[Theta]

that's pretty much it..what did you expect, wave a magic cg wand and *poof* you have a model?

[Chris]

The only shortcut I know of is if you happen to be working on a job for 'TeapotWorld'..... :shrug:

[CactusJack]

Chris...nice avatar...hehe...either thats damn funny or its really late:D

[ManInScaryMask]

Originally posted by ^Chor
i am new to modeling and this forum..my first post....i have a quick question....
do you guys do those modeling with a MOUSE??....

Nope. Normally we use a potato on a string here, but whatever floats your boat... :D

I've used a WACOM for some things, and if you've got PaintMod or similar plugin (allows you to paint the mesh's height, etc.) it's pretty spiffy.

I've heard that SpaceMouse does a good job, but you have to know how to use it. Sometimes regular trackballs or those MS ones with the thumb or pointer-finger versions do just as well. Don't have to use a mouse, it's all in what you're comfortable with.

BUT! If you have a 2-button mouse and need to be able to arc-rotate without using that stupid gizmo, check this one out...

http://www.h4.dion.ne.jp/~box3d/mctrl.gup

*found on http://www.maxplugins.de*

[Chor]

Originally posted by Theta
that's pretty much it..what did you expect, wave a magic cg wand and *poof* you have a model?


i am a noob, no need to flame or diss me man... i am completely new to modeling, so i dont want to waste 6k of cash on a 700mb data......just trying to get more basic knowlegde...like:
model half the thing, and cut half, and mirror it and shit...? ....
.......
.... ............ .......
................ ... .. .. ......

[CactusJack]

I'm sure we didn't try intentionally to "flame or diss" ya...:shame:

Its just your question was, and still is very unclear to what you are actually asking:surprised

When you said, "do you guys do those modeling with a MOUSE??....". It threw me a bit. Maybe your keyboard is screwed up or you are just not sure how to ask what you want to ask.:D

We are all here to assist each other:buttrock:

If you were to ask, "How would you go about modeling a mouse?", I am sure that in itself could start a whole new thread as there are several different and/or prefered ways to go about modeling.:thumbsup:

[Chris]

Sorry ^Chor, your post struck me as funny too :) no animosity tho...

If I were you & wanted to try my hand at modelling (if your looking at buying Max in the future) would be to download GMax from discreet. Its free & has quite a similar toolset, modelling wise, to Max. It doesnt render & has some other limitations, but it should be good enough to run through a few modelling tutorials on. In answer to your question, people do model with a mouse. You then move around & divide up polygons ( and the edges of polygons & the vertices that make them up) until you have your model. There are a lot of tools that make this workflow easier, but rather than trying to learn too much all at once, you would be better off learning the basics. When you run into specific problems, post them & someone can give you a specific answer... :)

[Chor]

ok thanks chris. heres my question.
what plugins do you all uses? what they do? free? where to DL?

[CactusJack]

I use a combination of everything:bounce: ,commericial and free plugins...scripts too! A great place to get free scripts would be...http://www.scriptspot.com, and for plugins,...go to http://max3d.3dluvr.com. These places have everything...that is, if you are using MAX. You should be able to find descriptions on the site. Commercial plugins that I use are...Afterburn, Pyrocluster (both create realistic clouds, smoke, fire, etc.), Seascape (water effects), and Particle Studio.

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.