3ds/gmax Model Hierarchy Collection (56k Warning)

[Rooster3D]

Ok so how might the lower-poly lod for the wheels and treads affect translation and rotation and bones? Would I have to set it up again for lod1, as I did for lod0? I suspect that anything lower in polycount than lod1 would not need to have the complex setup for tank wheels and tracks.

[mschoeldgen[Xww2]]

If you plan to use bones on the higher lods, you have to re-create them. The same goes for animation. Set it from scratch using the tank wizard.

[Rooster3D]

Do you think lod1 is close enough to use bones, or will anyone even notice the tracks flexing?

[mschoeldgen[Xww2]]

There's no general rule for this, its all dependent on the detail of the model and the chosen lod distances. If you e.g. decide that you'd need the lod1 in a distance of 15 (meters) , the tracks will probably look bad without bones. On the other side, if the lod is switched in a distance of 70 meters , nobody will probably notice.

[Rooster3D]

ok on this tank I've been working on, I think the hierarchy is set up properly, but when I go to export, I get nothing. I mean it doesn't create the .con file, it doesn't give me any error messages either. When it is finished attempting to export, it automatically selects the geom1>lod1>main__PCO, which also has a skin modifier, like the lod0. It must be a clue.

EDIT: Now I've tried to delete the entire lod1 hierarchy and saved separately. This time, it automatically selects the lod0 PCO. I'm almost completely sure it's not a hierarchy issue. I'll post the problem elsewhere.

Edited March 21, 2007 by Rooster3D

[mschoeldgen[Xww2]]

Getting nothing after export points to the 'You have high map channels' problem. If you already were able to pinpoint the offending mesh, select it and use the 'Channel Info...' (found in the Tools menu) to examine the mesh for higher map channels. A BundledMesh should only have map 1 occupied. Clear out all higher map channels (2 to 9) by selecting the according line and pressing 'Clear' .

If you weren't able to find the offending mesh, just select them all and then open the channel window. With a bit of patience and scrolling through the channel info you should find the little tacker....

As you are exporting a tank, you shouldn't clear out the channel 0 (vc) . This contains the Vertex Colors used for UV Animation. UV Animation error yield a 'TBM' error while exporting.

[Granddrake]

Don't mean to be off-subject, but how about adding the hierarchy of a stationary gun, like the TOW and HJ8?

[mschoeldgen[Xww2]]

Refer to the PAK40 hierarchy, this is probably what you want. A stationary gun on a rotating base.

After creation, you should probably switch off 'hasMobilePhysics' in the tweak file.

These hierarchies all come from our own mod (ww2 theme), thats why there isn't any modern warfare in it.

Edited May 2, 2007 by mschoeldgen[Xww2]

[mschoeldgen[Xww2]]

Updated soldier hierachy and explanation for it in first post.

Edited September 15, 2007 by mschoeldgen[Xww2]

[mschoeldgen[Xww2]]

Added 1P weapon animation export hierarchy

[josh_sg1]

Thats the most complicated model making ive ever seen.

I dont even have the right gmax.

[mschoeldgen[Xww2]]

Ow, i never claimed that to be an sunday school Doing animations is and will always be a complicated thing and the scene reflects that. E.g. FarCry models where nearly as complicated plus they where unstructured. I prefer the structured approach of BF2

Edited February 13, 2008 by mschoeldgen[Xww2]

[Xdevice]

err... where do the tank tracks come in that heirarchy ?

[mschoeldgen[Xww2]]

Tank tracks are not in a seperate mesh but a part of the main body mesh. Read my tank tutorial to gather more knowledge about tanks and their specialities:

http://bfeditor.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=9656

[izrabf2]

Awesome tut mscho

Sorry for dumb question but, are col0, col1, col2, and col3 geometries?

Thanks

[mschoeldgen[Xww2]]

Yes. col0 to col3 are the collisionmeshes for the object and are geometries (editable meshes ). col0 is responsible for collisions with projectiles, col1 handles collisions with other objects and the terrain and col2 is for collisions with soldiers .

col3 is a special collisionmesh ( really no collision at all and its not needed on any vehicles ) which is only used when a static object is 'navmeshed' (prepared for the bots' pathfinding ) to help navmesh.exe .

[mschoeldgen[Xww2]]

Updated first post:

fixed sniper rifle hierachy , added projectile & particle hierachy.

[tonnie15]

is there a mounted weapon hierachy laying around.. we have a MAG 58 that we want to export and put onto the blackhawk and some MG emplacements

[Rhino]

is there a mounted weapon hierachy laying around.. we have a MAG 58 that we want to export and put onto the blackhawk and some MG emplacements

Here is my old deployable 50cal:

And here is my QJC-88 (and only it without the shield etc) which is the new Chinese MG ontop of the WZ551A in .86

Keep in mind since this goes onto the WZ551A the WZ551A has all the rotational bundles etc, this is just the MG so if your putting a MG onto a blackhawk it would most likley be like this.

[Guedoe]

what about, shells or tracers? Any special Hierarchies for them?

[mschoeldgen[Xww2]]

What kind of shells?

If you mean 'shells' as in 'shellejection' effects you should export your geometry as a 'Particle' and add it as template in your shellejection effect.

Shells for shooting should be exported as 'Projectile' as seen on the torpedo hierachy.

Tracer effects use particles, too.

Edited July 16, 2009 by mschoeldgen[Xww2]

[etg]

Hello

I have only done modelling for 7 days now and I have gone bored with static objects and wanted to do a simple car, but before I pull all the hair of my head in frustration, because of all of the errors and mistakes I am going to make, I want to know the following:

What is the lod's used for.

Are lod1 and above necessary for the functioning of my model/car?

Thanks in advance.

[[BGF]Tha Godfather]

LOD means level of detail, the actual meshes of your car. You don't need any lods but lod0 (lodx = name of your mesh, the lod thingy is just a helper, lods must be connected to it) to make the car work properly. But it doesn't make any sense to render all the details of the car when it's half a mile away or something. That's where the additional lods come in handy, so lod1, lod2, etc.

Dice suggests:

Number of vehicle LOD steps and reduction in poly count.

LOD0 100%

LOD1 40%

LOD2 15%

LOD3 2-4%

I always reduce 40% - 60% on each lod if possible. Lods also don't make sense when your model is kinda low-poly, so has about 300-500 polygons. When you add lods to those, you rather decrease the performance as the engine has to load all lods and its textures, mip-maps and so on. The BF2/2142 engine can push lots of polys but don't like big textures.

But be careful: You can't just use multires on your lod1 and 2 or players with slow computers will complain about it because:

Graphic settings high (I think it was the geometry setting): lod0 will be shown when standing in front of the vehicle.

medium settings: lod1 will be shown when standing in front of the vehicle.

low settings: lod2 will be shown when standing in front of the vehicle.

If lod1 and/or 2 don't exist, the game always shows lod0.

You can adjust the lod distance for each lod in the editor (geom) or tweak file.

[etg]

Thank you very much.

And thanks for the VERY fast reply

[marius1986]

hi all.

i make my battlefield 2 mod,and was necessary to change skinnedmesh of AT kit, instead of one part to add other, and during this work ran into the problem of "swimming" kit on the soldier body.I work in 3dsmax 9 with poe tool for battlefield 2.

did nobody meet nothing of the kind?

sorry for my bad english))

http://i.imgur.com/5Ds4wbi.png

http://i.imgur.com/tFIBBqr.png

http://i.imgur.com/XzDa4Pf.png

http://i.imgur.com/gGgd54q.png

http://i.imgur.com/7ZO2TpK.png