CREATING GAME ART FOR 3D ENGINES- P3 potx

38 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines FIGURE 2.26 Using axial scaling to reshape the end of the protrusion. If you want to snap to particular points, the 3D snap tool is useful. Set your snaps by right-clicking the Snaps toggle. Select the check boxes you want to use, and close the dialog by clicking the X in the corner. In Figure 2.27, snaps are being set to Endpoint and Midpoint. FIGURE 2.27 Snaps are being set to Endpoint and Midpoint for speed and accuracy. If the Snaps toggle is active, your cursor should snap to whatever points you have it set to; just get into the Cut feature and feel around with the mouse for the snap, as shown in Figure 2.28. Make sure to turn the Snaps toggle off when you are finished, because this tool can make normal work difficult if it is kept on. Chapter 2 Low Poly Modeling 39 FIGURE 2.28 Using the 3D Snap tool to snap to midpoints of an edge. In Figure 2.29, notice how the new edge created in the previous figure was terminated by connecting it to two separate vertices. This potential T-junction has been “tied off,” so you should not have surprises when you convert this model to an Editable Mesh at the end of this process. FIGURE 2.29 Cuts are completed with no T-junctions to be found. After you have the basic edges in place, it is easy to add volume and shape to the model by moving them out a bit, as shown in Figure 2.30. This is most accurately done from an orthogonal view like front, right, left, or top. 40 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines FIGURE 2.30 Moving the new edges to add volume to the protrusion. Before this model is ready for unwrapping, it needs to be converted to an Editable Mesh. This significantly changes the look of the model, because each triangle be- comes more obvious. Triangles are not obvious on an Editable Mesh while selected; you have to click on the 3ds Max background, effectively deselecting the model, to see the triangles. It is a good idea to use the Arc Rotate tool to inspect the model from all sides to check the assumptions that Editable Mesh makes about where to put triangles. In Figure 2.31, the model has been converted into an Editable Mesh, and an inside edge is being turned using the Turn button, which is available when you are in Edge sub-object mode. First activate the Turn button, and then click the edge until you like the result. For clarity, two copies of the same protrusion are shown in this image. Edge number 1 has just been turned and used to look like edge number 2. The last step for this model is to convert it to an Editable Mesh and ensure that it still looks the way you want it to. Use the Arc Rotate tool to inspect the ways that triangles were formed, and turn any edges as necessary. In Figure 2.32, the power charger is ready to be unwrapped. Save the file as PowerCharger.max. A copy of this file with texturing applied is located on the companion CD-ROM. It is named Power- ChargerTextured.max, and it is located in Files\PowerCharger. ON THE CD Chapter 2 Low Poly Modeling 41 M ODELING A W EAPON To model our weapon, a plane is created in the front view and an image applied to it to use as a template. This template will serve as a guide while modeling. It’s always a good idea to have references when modeling, texturing, or animating. FIGURE 2.31 Turning an edge to further define the shape. FIGURE 2.32 The model in its finished state as an Editable Mesh. Creating a Template to Model By Reset Max and set units under Customize, Units Setup to metric. Create a plane in the front view with Length equal to 200 units and Width equal to 550 units. Set Length Segments to 1 and Width Segments to 1. Use the technique discussed in Chapter 1 to apply a custom material to the object. The template material is GunTemplate.jpg, found in Files\Raygun on the companion CD-ROM. In Figure 2.33, the Material Editor is being launched in order to apply the mate- rial to the plane. From this stage in the process, you can see that GunTemplate.jpg is 550 × 200 pixels. Knowing the width and height of the template image is useful, because if you can put that template on a plane that has the same aspect, or width- to-height ratio, the image will not stretch. There are a few different ways to make a template fit well on a plane, but setting the size of the plane to the size of the image (or some multiple of the image) keeps the aspect consistent and is the most straight- forward method to explain. 42 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines ON THE CD FIGURE 2.33 Creating a plane and applying a template to it to use as a guide for the model. If the material comes in on the plane upside down or sideways, you can either rotate the plane 90 or 180 degrees and adjust the height and width values of the plane accordingly, or you can apply a UVW Map modifier and rotate the gizmo for the map as necessary. Keep Snap Angle toggle turned on at all times so your rota- tions are exact. After you apply the material to the plane, freeze the plane so that you do not accidentally select it during the modeling process. Objects that are frozen cannot be selected. Chapter 2 Low Poly Modeling 43 What you really want here is for the plane to be frozen but the image to be vis- ible. To do this, select the plane and right-click it. From the right-click menu, select Properties. See Figure 2.34 for a screen shot of this dialog box. Check the Freeze box and uncheck the Show Frozen in Gray box. This allows this frozen object to retain its color and material visibility. If you end up freezing the plane and the image turns gray, right-click again, select Unfreeze All, and try the procedure again. FIGURE 2.34 Turning on Freeze, and turning off Show Frozen in Gray. Modeling with a Plane You have modeled with 3D primitives, but you can also model with a flat plane. After your material is successfully applied to the template plane, it is time to make another plane, which can be used to build the weapon. Create a plane, and make sure it is only one segment in each direction. Position it so that it lies over the stock of the gun. Although you will be modeling in the front view, go to the top view and move the modeling plane down so that it is in front of the template. You want the modeling plane to be in front of the template plane; ultimately, you will be looking through the modeling plane at the template plane and using the template plane as a guide. Activate and maximize the front view. Then convert the modeling plane to an Editable Poly. Right-click the Editable Poly and, from the right-click menu, select Properties to access the Properties dialog box. Click the See-Through check box to make it transparent (see Figure 2.35). You can also accomplish this using the hotkey Alt+X as a toggle for “x-ray” mode. Move the vertices so that they fit the stock of the gun. Get into Edge sub-object mode, select the right edge of the plane and, holding down the Shift key, move the edge toward the right. Continue this Shift+Move process, following the contours of the template as well as possible along the top vertices of the plane. Figure 2.36 shows this process. Notice that the Move gizmo is visible in the image. By clicking on the yellow XY plane of the gizmo, it is easy to create each new plane. Don’t worry about the lower vertices; they will be matched up later. Stop where the gun barrel starts; because the barrel is so cylindrical, you are better off using a cylinder to model it separately. 44 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines FIGURE 2.35 Convert the plane to an Editable Poly and set it to See-Through. FIGURE 2.36 With the edge of the Editable Poly selected, Shift+Move creates new polygons. In Figure 2.37, Vertex is the sub-object mode and vertices have been moved to match up with the lower points on the template. Notice that this template was de- signed so that the upper vertices line up with the lower vertices, and there are a planned number of segments of the gun. Having a plan makes plane-modeling go smoother. Also notice that some parts of the model are being ignored for now, and will be extruded later. Chapter 2 Low Poly Modeling 45 FIGURE 2.37 The vertices have been moved to conform to the template. When you have the basic shape, add edges as necessary for the wings on the butt of the gun. (See Figure 2.38 to locate these.) Figure 2.38 also shows how to copy the edges all around the gun to add some depth to it. You will need to change your view (Arc Rotate) before you do this so that you can see the Y axis of the Move gizmo. If you need to select additional edges, hold down the Ctrl key and continue to select edges. Clicking the same edge twice deselects it. When ready, simply Shift+Move along the Y axis, as shown in the figure. Just as with the health patch, the edges are copied, in effect creating a new group of polygons. FIGURE 2.38 Select only the outside edges of the Editable Poly, and then press Shift+Move. It is common to make a few mistakes when working with vertices and edges and end up with a mess, where the vertices and edges are no longer lying in the same plane. The next two figures demonstrate how to repair these misaligned vertices. As shown in Figure 2.39, the first step is to select all the vertices that you would like to have in a planar alignment. 46 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines FIGURE 2.39 If you have misaligned vertices, the first step is to select them. Figure 2.40 demonstrates what you should do with the selected vertices. Do not bother with this step unless you need to realign vertices that have somehow been moved out of alignment. The simplest way to get the selected vertices into alignment is to activate an orthogonal view that is flat to the plane you want the vertices to lie within. In Figure 2.40, this means activating the front view. Then, from the Edit Geometry rollout, click View Align. All selected vertices are then aligned with the active viewport. FIGURE 2.40 Activate the viewport that is planar to the vertices, and click View Align. Chapter 2 Low Poly Modeling 47 Move the edges and vertices as necessary to give the viewport form and volume. Try to avoid the areas that still need to be added to, where the grip is, and near the front of the gun. Figure 2.41 shows this stage of the modeling process. FIGURE 2.41 Adjusting the edges of the model to give it some form and volume. Adding Symmetry to Mirror and Weld Vertices Simultaneously Symmetry allows you to mirror a model so that it has two sides, while allowing you to weld the vertices of the two sides together. Select an edge (it doesn’t matter which edge, as long as it is somewhere along the seam of the model), and add a Symmetry modifier from the Modifier drop-down list. Figure 2.42 notes a good edge to use, as well as the settings that will likely work well for you to apply symmetry correctly. A common problem when using the symmetry feature is welding together more vertices than intended. Symmetry welds the vertices together if they are within the threshold setting. If you don’t take the time to inspect your model carefully as you are adding symmetry, you may have to go back at some point and do some time- consuming rework of your mesh. Setting the threshold too high is even more of a problem when modeling for the Torque Game Engine than otherwise; this is because for Torque, every unit is a meter. Max is unitless by default, yet most people model as though each unit were an inch. If you are designing a couch, 24 × 36 × 72 inches across, a threshold of 0.1 inch is about right; it is a small percentage of the overall size of the model. If you are designing a weapon that is 1 × 0.2 × 0.4 meters, a threshold of 0.1 meter is a large percentage of the overall size of the model. Whether you lower the threshold default on your Symmetry modifier or not, it is a good idea to inspect your model before ap- plying symmetry and moving on. [...]... One of these options is to directly manipulate the UVW gizmo that is a part of the UVW Map modifier 60 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines FIGURE 3.2 Turn off smoothing before you unwrap the model FIGURE 3.3 Applying a Cylindrical map to the cylinder Chapter 3 Unwrapping Game Art 61 Figure 3.4 displays alignment and fit options for the UVW map Although the Cylindrical map will work fine, this figure... intentionally left blank CHAPTER 3 UNWRAPPING GAME ART In This Chapter • • • • • Unwrapping the Oil Drum Unwrapping the Weapon Unwrapping the Ammo Box Unwrapping the Power Charger Unwrapping the Health Patch 57 58 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines U nwrapping is by no means absolutely necessary for putting a material on a model; the example in Chapter 1, “Introduction to 3ds Max,” demonstrates how to apply a... horizontally so that you can see the model in the viewport at the same time 62 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines The green lines you see in the dialog box are seams for the texture Just like a clothing designer has to have seams to get a flat material to fit onto a 3D person, when you unwrap a 3D object, you are flattening it out, forming seams The white lines are the edges between the different faces or... UVs for the cylinder walls Remember that for a selection window across part of an object to select that object, you must be in crossing mode, not window mode Right-click and select Break This breaks the selection set from anything it is attached to Now the UVs for the cylinder walls can be moved out of the way so you can concentrate on the top and bottom of the model 66 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines... Unwrapping Game Art 63 form tools for Move, Rotate, Scale, Freeform mode, and Mirror Note that the Move, Scale, and Mirror buttons have flyouts that provide further functionality Freeform mode is a tool that combines move, rotate, and scale, but this added functionality comes at a price, as the tool can take some getting used to It is suggested for now that you stick with the basic transform tools... shape of the gun and extrude 50 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines There is a lot going on in Figure 2.46 Two faces at the front of the gun, where the gun barrel will attach, were deleted Two edges were added, one on each side of the gun These edges bring the total number of edges to eight where the barrel will attach, which is perfect if you create an eight-sided barrel Creating these edges also created... be completely adequate for some models and situations, but it almost always results in a general kind of texture that doesn’t allow for details like edges of panels, rivets, eyes, wrinkles, and so forth For more compelling and precise textures, you need to unwrap the model Unwrapping is a means of flattening a 3D model so that you can paint on it It is like taking the skin off a 3D model and laying it... 3.7 The basic anatomy of the Edit UVs dialog box 64 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines If you look at Figure 3.8, you can see the cylindrical walls lie flat; they have become a little elongated, but that can be fixed An angled seam is running across the leftmost face, but that can be repaired One serious problem is that there is no way to account for the top and bottom of the cylinder FIGURE 3.8 What... barrel in the image Finally, set the number of segments to 8, so this gun barrel will match up to the gun body that is waiting for it Now that the lathe has been used to create our barrel, right-click the barrel and select Convert to Editable Poly 52 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines FIGURE 2.49 This lathed object took some adjusting via the menu at the right The first thing to deal with on this gun... work with the foundational geometry yet see the results of a Symmetry modifier that was added later The key to making this work is that the Show End Results On/Off toggle is toggled On 54 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines FIGURE 2.52 FIGURE 2.53 ON THE CD From the top view, select half of the polygons, delete, and resymmetry Move vertices on one side of the gun, and the other side stays in sync Symmetry . is the most straight- forward method to explain. 42 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines ON THE CD FIGURE 2.33 Creating a plane and applying a template to it to use as a guide for the model. If the. front, right, left, or top. 40 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines FIGURE 2.30 Moving the new edges to add volume to the protrusion. Before this model is ready for unwrapping, it needs to be converted. 38 Creating Game Art for 3D Engines FIGURE 2.26 Using axial scaling to reshape the end of the protrusion. If you want to snap to particular points, the 3D snap tool is useful.