Meshing Basics

[WhamettNuht]

Hey Guys,


For a while i've been wanting to learn how to mesh from scratch using programs such as 3D Studio Max (I've been told I have a strength in meshing) however I'm not too particuarlly sure where to start, so I was wondering if there was any tutorials lying around that I could use?


Also, (Sure that there wont be, but might aswell ask) does anyone know if there are any plugins that work with GMFs for Milkshape 3d? I use Milkshape for a lot of my Sims 3 stuff, and is my favoured meshing programme. (If there are plugins available for that, then might aswell). Even so, does anyone know how to convert between say .GMF and .OBJ for example? (Might have to add stuff like AP's ect. in Notepad++, but it would still be a massive help).


Thanks guys for any help! :)


-Wham

[Trovaner]

As far as tutorials go, there is this one and this one.

Your latter questions can be answered by the following:

Not GMF files but you can convert ASE files from most major 3D modeling programs. In most cases, it is easier just to do it all in a text editor.

You can add a new GMF importer/exporter to the 3D editor of your choice but that requires an understanding of the manual method of editing.

[WhamettNuht]

Thanks for the tutorials! :) Now to have a struggle with them haha :P


And as for the latter part, (really nooby I know) but how would one convert an ase file? Google has not provided much help so far :3
And also, how would one find a GMF Importer/Exporter? Thanks very much for the help :)


While I'm here aswell, to save opening up a new thread, would anyone happen to know which compilers/decompilers work best with arenas? The ones I currently have (Serge's ones from his signature) don't appear to work with a lot of arenas or offer very limited results (Most of the time I just get a looooot of windows about 'Was expecting '...' but found '...' instead'?). Sorry if my questions are lacking certain information or intellegance, but I'm really willing to learn haha :P


-Wham

[Trovaner]

And as for the latter part, (really nooby I know) but how would one convert an ase file? Google has not provided much help so far :3

The format used by GMF files is based off of the same format used by ASE files. You can copy and paste quite a bit of the information from the ASE file into a GMF file with very little alterations.

And also, how would one find a GMF Importer/Exporter? Thanks very much for the help :)

I'm sorry, I worded that poorly. I meant that you can write a plugin for the 3D modeller of your choice that can import/export GMF files.

While I'm here aswell, to save opening up a new thread, would anyone happen to know which compilers/decompilers work best with arenas?

Serge's GMF compiler and decompiler are the best. Here is a description that I gave back in 2010:

I don't think I have Dummy's old compiler but I'm definitely able to use both Dummy's newer compiler and FB slightly updated version on my XP computer. Dummy's compiler can be found in the download section of both GTM and RFSHQ while FB's compiler can be found on the beetlebros site (both compilers are based on the latter mentioned compiler in your quote). Also since we're on the topic of GMF compilers, there is also Serge/Megabyte's compiler (before the new compilers that everyone is familiar with) which is based on Dummy's compiler and supports Point to Point constraints (the only compiler besides Serge's new compilers that does) but unfortunately it doesn't support everything that FB's compiler does. Basically its a giant mess that Serge's newer compilers have tried and for the most part fixed.

While I'm here aswell, to save opening up a new thread, would anyone happen to know which compilers/decompilers work best with arenas? The ones I currently have (Serge's ones from his signature) don't appear to work with a lot of arenas or offer very limited results (Most of the time I just get a looooot of windows about 'Was expecting '...' but found '...' instead'?).

Either you made a minor mistake in the counting or format of things or you haven't been fixing an error caused by the decompiler. The decompiler ouputs "*USE FAR ATTENUATION" in lights but the compiler requires it to be "*USE FAR ATTENUATION =" (so you have to replace them manually before recompiling). The only arena that I recall that can't be (de)compiled in RA2 is the Mars Base Arena because it is too big for it to handle.

[WhamettNuht]

I see! Thank you soo much, that is massive help to all questions! haha :D


I shall have to try finding a method for switching between ase and gmf for myself, and may pass my knowledge on should I be successful.


As for writing the plugin, something like that would be beyond my skill or knowledge, so I shall leave it for the time being haha!


And ahh I see, hopefully I should know what to do now in such situations, so thank you :)