[Vasudan Admiral]

I would try Max but as some people say "Poor people cannot model".

Wait, since when is that an excuse to not learn how to texture?

I'm not familier with Wings' capabilities, but if you can't uv map and apply textures in it, then learn Blender or Lithunwrap. Both are free, and although Lith doesn't have a tenth of the power of Blenders UV mapper and no model editing abilities at all, it's still a good UVing tool.

As for free 2d image making programs, I would recommend you look into The Gimp or Paint.NET.

[colecampbell666]

As for free 2d image making programs, I would recommend you look into The Gimp or Paint.NET.

Is vhat I zay!!

[Hades]

Well, I guess this is going to die...
Unless Oddgrim comes back and wants it...
I try for 10 minutes in Blender and I couldn't even learn how to select 2 objects at once...
Since I cannot UVmap I just will not model any more.

[colecampbell666]

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/BlenderDev/UvUnwrapping/Suzanne

[Vasudan Admiral]

There's no reason you can't learn to UV map if you have learned to model. I mean it's not like you can be born with modelling skills but not UV mapping skills - you just have to learn them. It was months before I even heard UV mapping mentioned when I began to model, and once I did try it out it took me quite a while to get the hang of it. You can't expect it to just pop into your head just like that!

And dude - 10 mins in any program is barely enough time to learn _anything_ about it. Let alone a program with an interface like blenders.
Blender has a very newbie unfriendly interface, but that's not to say it has a slow learning curve. It just looks scary when you first open it and go 'AAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!' at all the buttons.
There are some really good tutorials all over the place, and even some excellent video tutorials here: http://www.blender.org/tutorials-help/video-tutorials/getting-started/

Watch those and you'll get a feel for how the interface and various operations work, and from there you'll have a solid knowledge base you can expand on. It's 6 or 7 years since I started using blender, and I'm still amazed at the new functionality I continually find in it.

[colecampbell666]

I tried Blender, and I just didn't like the interface, even after 12 hours of learning. I tried Max, courtesy of my uncle (He is a 3D modeler, but is getting out of the trade) and after 8 or so hours, I am amazed at how easy it is for me compared to Blender. Some people just find different interfaces easier. But Hades, if you have only spent 10 minutes in Blender, that's not nearly enough time. Spend a good couple of hours, UV mapping is half of modeling.

Oh and VA, why do you write _this_ instead of [u]this[/u]?

[Vasudan Admiral]

Heh, I tried 3ds for days doing tuts and the like. Though not nearly as cumbersome as TS, it just never felt right. Then I found that blender was able to do most of the things I was trying to do in max anyway.
(and also I hated the modifier stack, though I can see how it'd be good for animating)

And if you underline something it looks like a link. Doing _this_ I reckon is a stronger emphasis than just this.

[colecampbell666]

Is Max too much for modeling? I know it'll do it fine, but it seems more keyed to animation, as most of the tutorial book I've been reading has been about animation. What features does Max have over Blender speaking strictly in FS modeling? Max takes up a lot of HD space on my already shrinking (dying) drive, and I don't know why, but Blender looks more appealing. I don't plan on pursuing a career track in modeling, and if at all possible, I'd like to use Blender rather than Max. what I want to know is: Will I lose any functionality?

[Polpolion]

For goodness' sake, use lvlshot and take pictures of something other than a crazy close up of one portion of the ship...

[Hades]

Guys my computer has viruses and spyware and I have no idea how that happened.
So I might not be able to finish these ships in the near future.


Hades signing off.

[colecampbell666]

Downloading movies, music, pr0n, illegal wares. Pick yer poison.

[Hades]

Ok I did none of that stuff.
Ok it is getting resolved.
I have two programs blocking and scanning my computer.
Maybe this tragic story is not so tragic as all.

[colecampbell666]

What have you/your parents/siblings downloaded? I don't mean those things, I mean anything.

[Vasudan Admiral]

Is Max too much for modeling? I know it'll do it fine, but it seems more keyed to animation, as most of the tutorial book I've been reading has been about animation. What features does Max have over Blender speaking strictly in FS modeling? Max takes up a lot of HD space on my already shrinking (dying) drive, and I don't know why, but Blender looks more appealing. I don't plan on pursuing a career track in modeling, and if at all possible, I'd like to use Blender rather than Max. what I want to know is: Will I lose any functionality?

Difficult question to answer there. I can only fairly answer it based on what I'm familier with in blender.
Blender certainly wins the HD space game though - latest one is about 20-25mb. I even have a copy of the folder on my flash memory stick, so I can run blender on any computer with a graphics card. It's quite handy, and the small overall footprint makes backing up a pinch - another thing that would be important on a failing HDD.

As for features..... hmm. There might be some features max has that would make certain parts of ship modelling a bit easier in max, but I honestly have no idea what they would be. Ie, I've never gone 'I wish blender had feature X from max'. Blender has a very powerful mesh editor in terms of flexability, efficiency and feature set, and DaBrain & Water recently pointed out that there's a sculpting mode as well, which is going to prove invaluable for non-human ship models and normal map making.

Beyond that, there's a great UV editor with auto-unwrap abilities (something that would have been oh-so-handy for me while I was using lith) that you can control by making specific edges into 'seams', and as I'm only now looking into, a really powerful set of rendering tools including the ability to bake ambient occlusion into a texture (you know that cool clay render shading look the star wars mod uses a lot?) that can then be applied to a texture map as a kind of ambience control layer.

Finally, I know I sound worse than a salesman, but here's what I've been experimenting with recently:
(Click the pics for 2 brief videos)




Edit: Gah! Sorry Hades - I seem to be accidentally attempting to hijack your thread.

[Scooby_Doo]

Max is sorta like MS Word... Theres a lot of stuff included with it, but for us, a lot isn't really needed (animation, nurb modelling, character animation, reactor)  And like Word, theres also something new to find. Rendering and baking with max is also very easy and quite powerful (also can be quite time consuming. ala mental ray) UVmapping can be done using a combination of uv map and uv unwrapping.  (Map is for simple planar, cylinder, box styles) and unwrapping also for exact vertex manipulation.

For ambient occlusion, just add a skylight, set the advanced lighting to light tracer and render.

[Hades]

Guns on my favorite ship I have made my self, and a new transport that isn't a flying paper ship.
EDIT:I wonder if I am the only 12 year old who can model and not suck at it...
I might get a resin print of this, or the HTL Orion.

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[Polpolion]

It's looking good, but IMHO it needs more bulkiness at the back. ()

Have you tried POFing at all yet? Are you good at it? I could use some Modelers for my project, or at the very least people who can POF. For some reason, I don't have the relativly little amount of ability required to POF, or modeling ability past any level where fighters have the same amount of polys as cap ships.

[Hades]

I can convert (I hope) but I will not try to POF unless I can get it UVmaped and textured...
EDIT:Its over 7k polys and I need to stop because its not triangulated and when it is it will be more than x2 the polys...

[Hades]

Can any one find a UVmaping and texturing tutorial for blender?

[Hades]

Its not in game and firing upon another ship!
Jk of course.

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