[Pilot Of The US]

I need some help. As far as i know, to get multipart turrets autogened in PCS you attach a light to the base, and attach a light to the end of each barrel. But if i use modelview, do i still have to attach lights?

Im not sure, because in the "turret" section of modelview, it asks you to provide an object for: associated submodel and a rotational submodel (what are you supposed to select here).

As long as im able to get the base and barrels converted as submodels i should not need lights, right?

[Nuke]

you need lights to terminate the hierarchy, however with single part turrets you can use the light to autogen the firing point(s). you have to name the light something that i cant remember off the top of my head, check bob's siggy for that info.

[Pilot Of The US]

yeah, but thats for PCS not modelview (im taking about the FP lights).

And does it matter where the light that terminates the heiarchy is? (does it have to be in the center of the turret base?)

[Nuke]

i ususally just put the thing where i want it to fire from, ive not used the modelview converter so i really dont know. i didnt even know modelview supported autogen.

[Pilot Of The US]

umm, modelview does not support autogen.

im just wondering if i still need to follow the rules like with PCS autogen (FP lights). I know that you need hiearchy termination lights in modelview. The problem is ive spent all my time setting up the FP lights, but i forgot i needed to scale my model, and lights in TS do not move durring scaling, they do when moving/rotating. So the lights stay in the same place and the model moves.

Im using modelview so i need infomation about having/using and the nessecity of FP lights IN modelview not PCS.

[Roanoke]

Not sure about the details, but modelview can be a little buggy when it comes to these things anyway. May be better to go back to .cob and sort the lights in TS.

[Bobboau]

use

P
C
S

.

[Pilot Of The US]

i cant.
it hangs forever, when im trying to convert my model. modelview does it within 30 secs.
Im only using modelview to get the cob into pof. Ill use PCS to set docking and paths up.

I just need help with answering questions concerning the steps needed in TS, to get turrets working in modelview.

@Roanoke - yeah id better just set the lights using the pcs tutorial, coz in modelview can only specify the normals, not which point the fire will originate from. If the normal does specify the firing point, then it doesnt allow multiple firing points for multipart turrets.

[Nuke]

i usually just model at any scale i want to and then use the conversion factor for scaling. truespace tends to give me of trouble when modeling small objects, like details on fighters. things dont render properly when zoomed in real close unless you use wireframe mode. which is a huge distraction sometimes.

[Pilot Of The US]

Well i do all my modeling in 3dmax, then i export into TS. Thats where the hiearchy, lights and textures get set. And my model is a crusier, so i havent really had any problems with TS. The only thing is that when use the scale tool, the lights dont move with the model (probably because you cant modify local lights).

So im just goning to scale it properly then re-aline all the lights.

The only thing i want to know is, do you follow the same rules for "lighting" (using local lights to designate 'Firing Points') when you're using modelview, than you do when using PCS?

As far as i know you, every subobject needs a light, but for the multipart turrets, i dont know if i still need to attach a light to the end of each barrel (Turret01-fp01, Turret01-fp02, Turret01-fp03).

[Pilot Of The US]

ok, people. While i was examining the orion model (cant beleive i didnt spot this before) I discovered that you can manually add firing points in modelview.  Problem Solved!

Why didnt someone tell me this before. I know i was asking if you need FP points but someone could've said that "you have to have them for autogen, but if you leave them out you can manualy insert them in".

Of course I still need the basic lights to designate subojects.

This means i dont need to have FP lights in TS, and will help reduce the setback with scaling.

[Roanoke]

You really need to get PCS working. Either reinstall PCS or fix the issues with your model. ModelView may work this time, but you'll have no end of problems in the future.

[Pilot Of The US]

You really need to get PCS working. Either reinstall PCS or fix the issues with your model.

Well ive tried to fix PCS to no avail. I dont really know how to fix my model (first time model).  Someone really needs to add a "status" indicator so when you're importing models you can see what PCS is doing. Or make it so that the render window turns into a status window and when it's finished it goes back to a render window (you should still be able to access the convertion log via menu). Just a suggestion

ModelView may work this time, but you'll have no end of problems in the future.

Well im really not planning to make anymore models, since ive had a go at it. And my model really are horrible (just simple modified boxes)

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Pilot Of The US
Well i do all my modeling in 3dmax, then i export into TS. Thats where the hiearchy, lights and textures get set. And my model is a crusier, so i havent really had any problems with TS. The only thing is that when use the scale tool, the lights dont move with the model (probably because you cant modify local lights).

Have you tried Styxxs' plugin?  I use it instead of *hack, spit* Truespittle and PCS nowadays, for me it works perfectly.

[Pilot Of The US]

Hmmm. Well i would if i could. The plugin refuses to load in max4.2

And ive got a problem, it corrupt saves. Right after i save it and try to open it, it gives an error about failure with opening the file.

So now i use max2.5. Ive found out that max6 needs winXP which i dont have. (should try max5, i guess. Does that need winXP?).

[Roanoke]

Originally posted by Pilot Of The US
Well im really not planning to make anymore models, since ive had a go at it. And my model really are horrible (just simple modified boxes)

Even the most complex, uber high poly mesh starts life as a box or plane.

[Pilot Of The US]

yeah but the problem is, when i make models, they still look like boxes after im finished with it

And i seem to rackup a whole lotta polys just by making about a dozen boxes

[Nuke]

hey does pcs support autogen gunpoints? not for turrets but for primary and secondary weapons. if it does im completely ignorant as to  what naming convention to se on naming my lights

[Pilot Of The US]

Since my main problem is solved, i just need to know one more thing. Do the hiearchy termination lights (not FP lights) have to be in a certain position?

Do these lights have to be near or in the centre of the turret (or the base of the turret for multiparts) as shown in Kara's turreting tutorial?

[Roanoke]

Don't think so, but it doesn't hurt to keep everything neat.