Bitten by the scenery bug...again.

[paiken]

Following the Dog Island and Block Island threads here, I seem to have been bitten by that durned scenery making bug again. Dusted off my copy of the gmax bible and fired up my rusty old memory banks. Currently working on an airport somewhere out west. I have about 40 buildings to model (egad...what have I bitten off?), so the final product will be some months down the road, but here's the terminal building along with a photo of the real thing. No textures yet...I want to get as many of the models built before I tackle the UVW maps:isadizzy:

9175791758

Patrick

[Gdavis101]

Really dumb question, but what program is that are you using?

[paiken]

Sorry, I cut off the top of the screen when cropping...it's gmax. I've spent the last few days re-learning everything I knew 5 years ago, and learning some new things as well. It really is a very powerful tool for creating 3D objects, and the learning curve can be a real bear. Fortunately I have the gmax Bible on hand and the many useful tutorials available at FSDeveloper.

Here's another angle on the terminal building...
91759

[rdaniell]

Looking good! Glad you decided to get back into the game. The more the merrier.

RD

[paiken]

Just a couple of fiddle-y bits left to tackle on the terminal. I need to figure out adding transparent textures for the long glass wall, but otherwise I'm pretty satisfied with the whole thing.
9177791778

[MCDesigns]

Just a couple of fiddle-y bits left to tackle on the terminal. I need to figure out adding transparent textures for the long glass wall, but otherwise I'm pretty satisfied with the whole thing.
9177791778

Nice work! easiest way for the transparent parts are just assign a new texture with alpha to it, then load the exported MDL into ModelconverterX and hit "set default transparent" button at the bottom, works well. I have found that the reason you assign it a new texture is it helps with the drawing order so the objects behind the glass display properly.

[paiken]

Nice work! easiest way for the transparent parts are just assign a new texture with alpha to it, then load the exported MDL into ModelconverterX and hit "set default transparent" button at the bottom, works well. I have found that the reason you assign it a new texture is it helps with the drawing order so the objects behind the glass display properly.

Thanks Michael, I'll give that a try. I've never worked with transparent textures before, so I wasn't exactly sure where/how to get started on that particular step.

[paiken]

Another hangar nearly complete. Here's a couple of shots.
9204492046

[MCDesigns]

Nice modeling. You say complete, got any textured shots as modeling is only 50%+ of the time spent on it, LOL.

[Francois]

Nice modeling. You say complete, got any textured shots as modeling is only 50%+ of the time spent on it, LOL.

For me, personally, I think RE-texturing takes up the most time. I am never satisfied with how the first two or three attempts look and have to go back and do it all over again. Very time consuming indeed!

[rdaniell]

For me, personally, I think RE-texturing takes up the most time. I am never satisfied with how the first two or three attempts look and have to go back and do it all over again. Very time consuming indeed!

I agree with you Francois. Problem is sometimes I wind up with the very first attempt being the one I finally decide to use...

RD

[paiken]

I found during my first go-around with modeling that texturing took up much more time than I had anticipated. That's the main reason I'm building the models first...at least in sections of the airport, before I tackle the textures. I have the textures I used originally (5 years ago) when I was working with Kevin on the original Scottsdale airport, but I was never really satisfied with my original work. My plan is to model 5 or 6 buildings/hangars and then work on the textures before moving on to the next area. I anticipate having to create around 30 to 40 buildings/hangars to fully represent KSDL, so I'll have plenty of practice modeling and texturing.

[paiken]

926349263592636
Been busy in real life, but I managed to get the first hangar textures drawn and applied to the model. A bit of fine tuning to do, but I'm overall pleased with the results.