[Vertigo 7]

Firstly, i guess, with 3ds max, do I need to apply the sub divide modifier before I export? or does max handle triangulating objects automatically? (and if sub dividing isnt want I need to do, then what do i needa do?)

if the answer to the above question is yes, do I need to do that before I UV map?

also is there anything quirky about max that I needa be aware of? like any inverted normals... just anything me and my noobness could miss that would make life miserable for me.

[Black Wolf]

Max autotriangulates everything, you can't export without triangulating.

[Vertigo 7]

so that means all the crap that got triangulated when they were boolean joined... i can de triangulate it so i can UV map more better??? 

[Black Wolf]

You can detriangulate and make more sensible tris, but it'll always export triangulated.

[Vertigo 7]

oh thats just fine i just love that I can remove some of these triangulated edges so I can UV map a whole lot easier. I've already knocked off damn near 300 faces just cleanin this mess up

[Col. Fishguts]

You do realise that quads are just a prettier visualization in your 3d modelling app? Ingame, everything is triangulated.

[Vertigo 7]

oh yeah i know. I didn't manually triangulate anything on this model. When i boolean joined some objects together, some parts of them got triangulated and it just makes a mess of UV mapping.

[Col. Fishguts]

Ah yes, I know what you mean. Sometimes it will automatically select a quad spanning over the joined edge, and it get's annoying to select the right group of polies.

[Vertigo 7]

I do gotta say tho I love max's ability to unwrap. It's just so damn simple I might actually make a full time hobby of this 

[Black Wolf]

Really? I got so annoyed with Max's UVing that I swore I'd never use it again and have been on Lithunwrap ever since.

[Vertigo 7]

Well... maybe I just didn't understand LU but in max, for example, if i select all of the faces on the top part of the saucer of this ship to uv map, i can hide the rest of the faces, flatten them and they come out perfectly circular and scaled to each other. I never could do that with LU. It just seems so much easier to me.

[Col. Fishguts]

Really? I got so annoyed with Max's UVing that I swore I'd never use it again and have been on Lithunwrap ever since.

I used Lith for years, until somebody gave me a crash course in the 3dsMax unwrapper, which I use since then. The main advantage for me was the ability to planar map a group of faces to the average normal of those faces, which is extremely useful (and AFAIK is impossible in Lith)

[Vertigo 7]

ooo can i have a crash course in max UV mapping? 

[Col. Fishguts]

Well, I got mine from DaBrain via ICQ . There are quite good tutorials available on the net though. Google is your friend.

[Vertigo 7]

  fine, be that way!  srsly tho, ive been doin a learn as i go thing here and its going quite well. I dont think i'll have any problems UV mapping. The snag i'm gonna have is making the textures I have 0 artistic capability. I'll end up making this ship look like a deformed Christmas tree

[Hellstryker]

fine, be that way!  srsly tho, ive been doin a learn as i go thing here and its going quite well. I dont think i'll have any problems UV mapping. The snag i'm gonna have is making the textures I have 0 artistic capability. I'll end up making this ship look like a deformed Christmas tree

Modeling is an art. 

[Vertigo 7]

lol well i can play connect the dots when the lines are already drawn its the fill in the blank parts i have problems with