So, I was playing at my favorite server yesterday and the admin wants me to make a model for them. This model is suppose to be a glass cube that can hold some marines to act as a ready room (on maps that don't actually have built-in ready rooms). However, I have no idea where to start. I got Milkshape but this thing makes no sense and isn't helping me whatsoever. Could someone please tell me what I need to do? I have always wanted to learn how to make some models for games, and this would be a decent way to start. Please help, I would appreciate it very, very much.
Side Note: I want to physically make this model myself but some guidelines would be good.
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Unknown Worlds Forums > Natural Selection > Natural Selection Creation > NS Customization > Customization Help and Troubleshooting
I really, really need some help here. I can't understand any of those tutorials. I have no clue where to begin, what I need to do or anything at all. I can't even make a hollow cube without messing up. Each side is never the same because scaling the boxes never makes them come out the same as the others.
EDIT: Also, I am really shocked at the lack of help on this section of the forums. There are other threads here too that haven't even recieved a single reply.
EDIT: Also, I am really shocked at the lack of help on this section of the forums. There are other threads here too that haven't even recieved a single reply.
The reason noone is replying is quite likely because you seem to have blatantly ignored the NEED A TUTORIAL? sticky at the top of this forum.
I already saw that. I don't learn well from tutorials though, trust me. I would prefer more of a "hands-on" approach from a forum (by this I mean, live help from other people). I went to that polycount.com tutorial but all they talked about was skinning player models. I don't know the first thing about modelling so one of those bunched up tutorials won't help me. I only want to know how to make a simple, glass cube (I found out it's not suppose to be a ready room recently). It should be half the size of the room on co_faceoff where the armorey is located (the one you get to by welding the door).
Okay.. this is what I have so far. I don't know how big it will look in Natural Selection though. I also have no clue if it even works. To make the situation worse, I don't know how to "compile" it or whatever it is that I need to do. Could someone please help me?
Compile:
1) Add a bone to the model, most likely in the lower middle
2) Assign all vertexes to that bone
3) Get a "blank" .qc file and modify it to fit your desires
4) Compile
@3) If you want it simple, go to your model's directory and create a new .txt file. Now copy and paste
1) Add a bone to the model, most likely in the lower middle
2) Assign all vertexes to that bone
3) Get a "blank" .qc file and modify it to fit your desires
4) Compile
@3) If you want it simple, go to your model's directory and create a new .txt file. Now copy and paste
| QUOTE |
| $modelname "box.mdl" $cd ".\" $cdtexture ".\" $scale 1.0 $cliptotextures $bbox 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 $cbox 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 $eyeposition 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 $body "studio" "ref" $sequence "idle" "idle" fps 30 |
into it, save it, now rename the .txt to .qc .
Then make sure that your reference smd is called "ref.smd" and the sequence "idle.smd". Then you can compile it via the .qc you created (if everything is in the same directory, that is.
Problems compiling? Here are some of the most common errors:
1) You didn't assign a material/ a blank material with no bmp to one of the groups, or at worse to all of them. Always apply materials on all groups or it can't be compiled.
2) The .bmp isn't in 256 colour mode. You can change that via a picture editing program, like GIMP.
3) .smd's named falsely
4) You messed up teh reference/sequence .smd's. To create working ref/seq smd's follow this:
a) Create a Joint in the lower side of the box, in the middle of the side.
b) Go to the Joints tab, select the joint, select all vertices, hit Assign
c) Go to animation mode and limit the animation cycle to 1 or 2 frames (You won't need more as long as there is no movement in the model)
d) Go to File/export/half life smd , name it "ref.smd", compile as reference.
e) Go to File/export/half life smd , name it "idle.smd", compile as sequence.
+"A glass cube used as ready room"?
WTH? If you talk about it being used in a ready room it is OK, but AS a ready room would much more demand a mapper, not a modeller O_o
Alright, but the way I have it now.. it can hold at least two or three marines, right? Here is what it looks like now (the texture isn't showing up though for some reason.). I'd also like to ask how I can get rid of the seperate blocks from showing in the glass. I want the cube to be solid, not showing all of the ridges and everything.
EDIT: Oh yeah. the admin has that ent mod on the server, he wants to use that entitiy for something. I asked him if he wanted it for a ready room (just to make sure) a few days ago and he said no. I was confused, because I was positive he wanted it for that. However, I hope it can fit at least two or three marines at it's current size.
EDIT2: I can't believe I forgot to say this, thanks for the help!
EDIT: Oh yeah. the admin has that ent mod on the server, he wants to use that entitiy for something. I asked him if he wanted it for a ready room (just to make sure) a few days ago and he said no. I was confused, because I was positive he wanted it for that. However, I hope it can fit at least two or three marines at it's current size.
EDIT2: I can't believe I forgot to say this, thanks for the help!
The size doesn't really matter in ms3d, you can still use the $scale command in the .qc to resize it in the compiling process.
Oh, and I'd like to help you more, but unfortunately you seem to use ms3d 1.7.x because I cannot open it. Could you please zip up the reference smd and attach it so I can have a look?
Oh, and for glass cubes I suggest to make the walls thinner.
Oh, and I'd like to help you more, but unfortunately you seem to use ms3d 1.7.x because I cannot open it. Could you please zip up the reference smd and attach it so I can have a look?
Oh, and for glass cubes I suggest to make the walls thinner.
| QUOTE |
| the texture isn't showing up though for some reason |
Right click into the 3D window, select "Textured"
| QUOTE |
| I'd also like to ask how I can get rid of the seperate blocks from showing in the glass. |
You created the cubes in a wrong way. Have a look at this sketch:
And now here I got a step-by-step instruction on how to create that structure.
1) Create a box
2) Select that box (the faces of it, not only the vertexes!), and hit CTRL+D. You won't see a difference but you just dublicated that box!
3) Do not unselect it! Instead, just switch to the "Scale" option and change all 3 axis' values to about 0.95. Then hit the "Scale" button right next to these boxes again and again until the inner box has the correct size.
4) While still having the faces selected, hit "CTRL+SHIFT+F", followed by a "CTRL+M". The first command turned the faces around, so that the inner box' walls face inwards and are visible from the inside. The second command updated the smoothing according to welded vertexes and the smoothing groups, but that is not important right now, as you only have 2 boxes.
5) After the "CTRL+M", if the smoothing gets somehow corrupted (you will notice strange "shadows" on the formerly bald faces in the 3D window) just select all vertexes of both boxes and hit "CTRL+SHIFT+W". This unwelds the vertexes, and another "CTRL+M" will show the bald sides again.
This is only a quick fix and not suitable for more complex models. As a start, you may try to assign the boxes' sides that are connected to DIFFERENT smoothing groups, this will fix the smoothing as well.
Don't forget "CTRL+M" when assigning faces to a new group. here are plenty of smoothing group tutorials out there which are easy to understand, so you better try to read them because even thes best model can be ruined by miserable smoothing.
6) Now you have 2 boxes inside each other, and the visable edges are reduces to a minimum. If you want the model to be open to one side, do the following:
7) Select all faces on one side of the 2 boxes, let's say the faces facing upwards on the upper ends of the boxes. To select only them, just select all faces but then deselect all the other faces by doing a "Shift+R-Click" select on the vertexes on the other end.
8) Delete those faces! Now the 2 boxes will be open to one end, but you can see into the gap between the walls! Oh noes! So let's hurry to
9) The creation of a good looking opening.
10) First off, select the vertexes of the inner box that are closest to the opening. Now, go to the "Move" tab and deselect the X and the Z axis. This requires that you created the opening at the top of the boxes!
Having only the Y axis selected will elimate any strange placement of vertexes because you can only move them into one direction. This is a very important element of ms3d! Get used to it
11) Pull the vertexes you selected up, until they are at the height of the outer box' top vertexes. Make sure that the gap is as small as possible, or you will lose the square-sided character of teh outer box!
12) Now select the outer box' top vertexes AS WELL and hit "CTRL+SHIFT-Y", which will equal those vertexes' Y level and create a 100% perfect plaing surface.
13) Not select the box' LOWER vertexes and hit "CTRL+H", which will hide the, ("CTRL+SHIFT-H" unhides everything btw). Being unable to select thos vertexes is important for the next step.
14) Go to a 2D window with "Top View". Now, use the "Face" tool to select those vertexes and to close the "gap" between the boxes.
15) You create faces by clicking on 3 vertexes after each other. The face created will face TOWARDS the point of view you created them in when you selected them in COUNTER-CLOCKWISE order. Backwards=Clockwise. Keep that in mind!
16) Fill up the gaps. Done!
Steps 7) - 12)
Steps 13) - 16)
Attachment: Example model created this way. Be sure to check out the smoothing groups!
The walls I have made are thinner I think. This is the current cube I have made. I tried to download your zip but it says it is invalid or corrupt. Can you please tell me if that current cube is "straight" on all sides, and if it looks much better? Also, I am still not 100% sure that if will fit two or three marines.
EDIT: By the way, this is the one that I made earlier, I haven't made the one from your instructions just yet.
EDIT2: Oh yeah, I don't need an opening for the box by the way. I'm starting to wonder if the admin want's it as a jail cell!
EDIT: By the way, this is the one that I made earlier, I haven't made the one from your instructions just yet.
EDIT2: Oh yeah, I don't need an opening for the box by the way. I'm starting to wonder if the admin want's it as a jail cell!
Your zip tool seems to be outdated o.O
Here, try this. And try to use sketch1 to rebuild teh cube (Just create 2 boxes inside each other, reverse the inner one's faces.
Here, try this. And try to use sketch1 to rebuild teh cube (Just create 2 boxes inside each other, reverse the inner one's faces.
"This is not a valid MS3D file format!" is what happens when I try to load the file you just placed. Then it says "Error reading MS3D file:" and my documents and everything. So, here is the current version I have as of now. Tell me what you think! I am also considering making different textures for each side of the glass cube.
Oh yeah, whenever I try to load my cube model it says "Error loading texture ".\Glass Test2.JPG": could not open file [1290].
Error downloading material: "Material01"
" on the message window. Then I have to put the texture on again to see how it looks. Am I forgetting something?
Oh yeah, whenever I try to load my cube model it says "Error loading texture ".\Glass Test2.JPG": could not open file [1290].
Error downloading material: "Material01"
" on the message window. Then I have to put the texture on again to see how it looks. Am I forgetting something?
I'd suggest removing spaces fromfile names used by milkshape, I had a similar problem some time ago with my compiler
And it is looking much better now.
If you want to find out how big it is compared to a rine, then decompile the soldier.mdl and import the marine_ref.smd (But WITHOUT the skeleton/Bones!) and then scale the boxes to your desire ^^
Oh, btw, where did you get that texture you use for the glass effect? Could you post please post it?
And it is looking much better now.
If you want to find out how big it is compared to a rine, then decompile the soldier.mdl and import the marine_ref.smd (But WITHOUT the skeleton/Bones!) and then scale the boxes to your desire ^^
Oh, btw, where did you get that texture you use for the glass effect? Could you post please post it?
I have encountered a few problems. The first one is, when I take my camera and take it inside the box I can't see through it. I am wondering if that is just because I am in Milkshape, or if it will be that way when it is in the game, too. The other problem is I don't know if I can select just one side of the box and apply a texture to just that box.
Thank you so much for the help and I hope you will be able to continue helping me with this if I need it!
EDIT: The glass effect shown in the picture above me is the normal texture with the Emissive value set all the way to the left. However, the glass I am currently using (but may change) is this file.
Thank you so much for the help and I hope you will be able to continue helping me with this if I need it!
EDIT: The glass effect shown in the picture above me is the normal texture with the Emissive value set all the way to the left. However, the glass I am currently using (but may change) is this file.
To apply a different texture to another surface you ahve to regroup that surface and assign a new material on it.
Ingame it will most likely be look-throug, but I think some strange smoothing error bugs will occur because the HL enginge still has troubles with transparency on models
Ingame it will most likely be look-throug, but I think some strange smoothing error bugs will occur because the HL enginge still has troubles with transparency on models
Previously I had placed the valve_skeleton model that came with Milkshape inside the box to test it. I think I deleted it afterwards though. Did that glitch the model?
Ugh, I am stuck once again. I want to compile the model and this is what I did. I created a text file, I named it Cube11. Then, I put this information in:
$modelname "Cube11.mdl"
$cd ".\"
$cdtexture ".\"
$scale 1.0
$cliptotextures
$bbox 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
$cbox 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
$eyeposition 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
$body "studio" "ref"
$sequence "idle" "idle" fps 30
Now, after this I saved it. I renamed it to Cube11.qc, opened up Milkshape and went to Tools/Half-Life/Compile QC File... and it didn't show up on the Open screen. What the heck did I do wrong? Could someone please assist me here?
$modelname "Cube11.mdl"
$cd ".\"
$cdtexture ".\"
$scale 1.0
$cliptotextures
$bbox 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
$cbox 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
$eyeposition 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
$body "studio" "ref"
$sequence "idle" "idle" fps 30
Now, after this I saved it. I renamed it to Cube11.qc, opened up Milkshape and went to Tools/Half-Life/Compile QC File... and it didn't show up on the Open screen. What the heck did I do wrong? Could someone please assist me here?
Don't use the Milkshape Compiler. Having a seperate exe that you can associate to .qc's adn .mdl's to compile/decompile via the right-click-menu is much easier.
Speaking of that, I zipped up the tools I use for you, the names should be self explanatory. I also added an icon you can use for the .qc filetype, so it is easier to spot in between the other files.
About the skeleton, well, just don't import a skeleton. Have one single bone in the middle of the boxes which all vertexes are assigned to. Then decompile the soldier.mdl and import the marine_ref.smd WITHOUT the skeleton (you can select that when importing the .smd) and scale the boxes appropriately.
One more note about the compiler/decompiler:
You have to associate them to the respective file types (compiler to .qc , decompiler to .mdl), but do not make the the primary program to open them with. For .mdls set it up like this:
1) OPEN -> jHLMV
2 Decompile -> Decompiler.exe
For .qcs:
1) EDIT -> Notepad ot Wordpad or any other simply text editor.
2) Compile -> Compiler.exe
And yet another note:
I'd suggest creating .bat files for each .exe and to add a "pause" command to them, so it looks like this:
Speaking of that, I zipped up the tools I use for you, the names should be self explanatory. I also added an icon you can use for the .qc filetype, so it is easier to spot in between the other files.
About the skeleton, well, just don't import a skeleton. Have one single bone in the middle of the boxes which all vertexes are assigned to. Then decompile the soldier.mdl and import the marine_ref.smd WITHOUT the skeleton (you can select that when importing the .smd) and scale the boxes appropriately.
One more note about the compiler/decompiler:
You have to associate them to the respective file types (compiler to .qc , decompiler to .mdl), but do not make the the primary program to open them with. For .mdls set it up like this:
1) OPEN -> jHLMV
2 Decompile -> Decompiler.exe
For .qcs:
1) EDIT -> Notepad ot Wordpad or any other simply text editor.
2) Compile -> Compiler.exe
And yet another note:
I'd suggest creating .bat files for each .exe and to add a "pause" command to them, so it looks like this:
| QUOTE |
| (Path to the folder you have the .exe's in)\Compiler.exe %1 pause |
This will leave the window open which the .exe's open up, even after the compiling/decompiling process is done. This way you can check for errors which you otherwise wouldn't notice because of the short time they are displayed.
I smell hitbox errors ahoy 
The mapper can redifine the hitboxes. Anyway, if you want to create the hitboxes yourself you need to create a central joint, then create joints in EVERY side of the box (in the middle of the "gap" between the 2 boxes"), make sure that each joint is connected to the central joint.
Then you have to edit the .qc to manually include the hitbox coordinates, which is kinda trial&error, but if you got one side right you have the right co-ords for the other sides as well because you can just switch the axis.
:EDIT: rofl, just noticed with all teh crap I wrote in here this thead might be good for almost every beginning modeller o_O
Then you have to edit the .qc to manually include the hitbox coordinates, which is kinda trial&error, but if you got one side right you have the right co-ords for the other sides as well because you can just switch the axis.
:EDIT: rofl, just noticed with all teh crap I wrote in here this thead might be good for almost every beginning modeller o_O
Ugh.. I sent the Milkshape file to the admin. He said he would try to learn how to compile it himself and do it. He doesn't know about the hit boxes most likely (I never put the hit boxes in) and I am getting a headache now trying to think of what to do. Could someone from the forum compile the Milkshape file AND place the correct hit boxes?
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