UVW Mapping problem with 3-views

[Fnerg]

Milton, I've followed along with your 3-view calibration box video with my GMax open, and when we get to the point where you apply the texture, the shade of the box changes slightly, ( mine does not) and then click the little checkered blue and white box to show the texture, my texture does not show. It stays the default colour as when I created the box. Is there a setting I'm missing? Thanks.

[Milton Shupe]

Milton, I've followed along with your 3-view calibration box video with my GMax open, and when we get to the point where you apply the texture, the shade of the box changes slightly, ( mine does not) and then click the little checkered blue and white box to show the texture, my texture does not show. It stays the default colour as when I created the box. Is there a setting I'm missing? Thanks.

Not sure without screen shots or video of what you have.

Ensure your map is correct for the texture and object;
ensure that the poly was selected when you applied it;
ensure the bmp/jpeg is of the correct format and size;
if you cannot see it applies still, apply an Unwrap UVW to the stack, select Edit from the Parameters in the Rollout, and view how the map fits the texture. Adjust as necessary.

[Fnerg]

Ah yes! the right format. I forgot the .bmp has to be 256, 512, or 1024 and 8bit if I remember right. I'll try that and report back. Great to speak with you Milton, all the best to you good sir.:wavey:

[Fnerg]

Well, I was still not successful. What is the .bmp size and format supposed to be again? I've included here, my procedure in photos. I do appreciate your help. It's been 9 years since I've been in GMax lol

Doug

[Milton Shupe]

Hi Doug,

I cannot discern the issue from the screen shots provided.

To clarify texture sizes, gmax does not care; its that we have to conform to FS requirements for the textures so using powers of 2 sizes like 512, 1024, 2048, 4096 is what we do in gmax as well.

Also, in gmax, you may use bmps or jpegs or anything gmax accepts. When the model and texture data is exported, the texture suffix (bmp, jpeg, etc) is stripped and bmp is assumed for FS.

In your example, you show that you flipped the box polys in the process but the box polys do not appear flipped (facing inwards) in subsequent screen shots.

I am providing a link to a video of creating the calibration box and mapping it. It may help to review the steps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THT7XNmXbU4&feature=youtu.be

[hairyspin]

Doug, you click on the Flip button, but have you first selected any polys to flip? None will flip unless selected. The exact same problem with applying the UVW - if you don't select any polys in Poly Select, none will show the mapping you want.

Regardless of bitmap size, the order is



Create the material in the Material Editor using your bitmap. Back out by clicking on Go to Parent* (the up arrow next to the blue-and-white chequered box button.)
Now Apply the material to the box and it should turn grey.
Apply a Poly Select modifier to the box and in poly sub-object click on the poly you want to texture. F2 will toggle the red shading to show which poly(s) are selected.
Apply a UVW Mapping modifier to the box. The selected poly should show the texture (and the other polys will show a distorted version until they too have had Poly Select/UVW Mapping modifiers applied too. So if each face of the box is to show a different picture, there will be 6 Poly Select/UVW Mapping modifier pairs before you're done.


I haven't mentioned mapping size or orientation, since Milton goes into that in his own tutorials. Hope this helps.

* it's important to do this to avoid multi-materials being created when you don't want them

[Fnerg]

Thank you sir, for the detailed explanation. I will refer to this when I move forward. As is typical with this program, always one or two steps forward, one back. I redesigned some parts of my model, and have gone through and fixed up a lot. I was probably excited to have this finally done I stopped being finicky, and some parts where really not finished. To my liking anyway. I'm following through with the steps outlined in Milton's " Converting FS9 Gmax models to FSX 1&2". Thank you for that Milton. It's all new to me once again, but it's coming back to me. I'll be driving somewhere and remember something I used to do in Gmax. It's an "oh yeah" moment. Here's a screenshot from tonight. Big improvements coming for Firefly AS version 2 for FSX. Stay well friends.

[Fnerg]

Good day folks. I hope everyone is doing ok, staying safe and doing our best to not catch this virus. Wow..scary times indeed. I just wanted to jump back in here after trying many different suggestions to get my materials to show in GMax with no luck, I believe I am closer to solving my problem but I tried everything everyone suggested, and still had no luck.

I am using Windows 10 64bit. GMax is an old program. One thing that I did in the initial setup was in Customize/ Preference Settings/ Display Drivers - I chose OpenGL. After weeks of exploring 10 year old forums, it was a comment by HairySpin I saw which produced an encouraging result. "Direct3D works better in Windows 10". I switched drivers, and at first my materials appeared on objects finally!

But that only worked once on one face of a box. I then tried to map another face with a different view .bmp, and it just overwrote the previous material. I deleted the calibration box, and built another. Now not showing materials again. Switched drivers, OpenGL is still a no show to materials. Switched back. Now no show in Direct3D. >:(

It seems mapping is only possible in Direct3d but the quality is awful. The model lines are jagged, and the zoom causes all kinds of anomalies and view port garbage. OpenGL looks better, the model is perfectly smooth, but I can't map anything. I'm discouraged, and out of ideas. What am I missing? A driver? A method?

[Fnerg]

Sorry to have to be replying to my own concern, I guess this section doesn't get much traffic these days. Just to update, in case in the future someone comes looking for the same answers and finds this thread, it seems likely that GMax and Windows 10 64bit are only "sort of" compatible. If you are having the same problem as me with materials not appearing on your objects in GMax 1.2 when you've done all the steps correctly to make that so, then it's likely a driver related incompatibility with Windows 10 64bit and GMax. I'm not an expert or professional modeler, just a novice. I've done 1 GMax model from scratch using the Unlimited Export render method, and released it in 2011.

Take care, stay well

Doug Smith

[hairyspin]

Doug, I have Gmax on Windows 10 64-bit with an nVidia card like you and using the Direct3D driver and can assure you it's not a Windows problem. You're asking Gmax to map one bitmap to one face of a cube and another bitmap to another face. Unless you use a Multi-material, that's just not possible. The usual way of simplifying that is to Detach each side of the cube as a separate object, then each side can have a standard material different to the rest.

Forgive me if I don't illustrate what I'm talking about at the mo, despite lockdown I'm quite busy but will find some time to put together some details for you soon.

[hairyspin]

I am using Windows 10 64bit. GMax is an old program...

...It seems mapping is only possible in Direct3d but the quality is awful. The model lines are jagged, and the zoom causes all kinds of anomalies and view port garbage.

Gmax is an old program but surprisingly still works in Windows 10. There is a known problem with windows freezing, but this has mysteriously disappeared lately, so on with the show!

To begin with, check the many tips on setting up Gmax for modelling in the sticky thread (http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/73237-Getting-Started-With-Gmax) above. Post #10 is very important for displaying clear bitmaps.

Zooming in the Perspective view (key P) is prone to problems when the viewpoint gets too close, use User view instead (key U) and you can zoom in as close as you please.

[hairyspin]

This is frankly the biggest hurdle the beginning aircraft modeller faces – getting your 3-view drawings (in this case all 6 views) into Gmax for reference while building the model. Over the next umpteen posts, I hope the process might be clear enough to follow. A basic knowledge of navigating the Gmax views and panning your viewpoint around is assumed, as is making and placing simple objects.

You need good plans of your intended aircraft. The Tempest II in this walkthrough is based on A L Bentley's drawings and the finished model for CFS3 was uploaded to the library here a few years ago.

Your drawings need to be cropped tightly to wingtips, propellor spinner, rudder trailing edge. vertical stabiliser top and bottom of tyres – the extremities of the aircraft.

https://i.imgur.com/yn5FssU.jpg



Next you need a box made to the same sizes as your aircraft. The sides of this box will display the scale drawings of the model so that from the Left view in Gmax you'll see the left side drawing, from the Top view you'll see the top view drawing. The exception is front and back views: for reasons I'll not explain now, the front of the model is seen in Gmax's Back view, and the back of the model is seen in Gmax's Front view. This is something we just have to get used to, but please remember this: it's most important.


https://i.imgur.com/cHMc6py.jpg




The box needs turned inside out. First convert to Editable Mesh:–


https://i.imgur.com/qSBCVSn.jpg



Then:–

https://i.imgur.com/3XJA3Te.jpg



NOTE: If a polygon doesn't turn red when selecting it as shown, you need to turn Shade Selected on: toggle with F2

[hairyspin]

Having converted the box to Editable Poly after flipping it inside-out, you now need to separate the sides to individual objects:–


https://i.imgur.com/p7zEesa.jpg



NOTE: If a polygon doesn't turn red when selecting it as shown, you need to turn Shade Selected on: toggle with F2


That's the rear detached as Object01. Now continue with the other sides:–


https://i.imgur.com/y0NMDlm.jpg



Note we're panning the view around,not rotating the object!

https://i.imgur.com/VmtDQGY.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/lBZ7Ivk.jpg

[hairyspin]

https://i.imgur.com/VCtIqYw.jpg




We've now separated five of the sides from the original Box01 – there's no need to separate the last one (the bottom.)

The sides are still in position at the extremities of where the model will be built, which will be a nuisance. We instead move them away so they'll still line up in Left, Top, Front view etc, but be out of the way of modelling. So the top (Object05 here) is moved straight up, left (Object04 here) is moved further left, rear (Object01 here) is moved further back, etc. I change the colour of each side too so I don't mix them up in the meantime - this is optional.



https://i.imgur.com/Qzs5J3N.jpg



Be careful to use the options highlighted!!


https://i.imgur.com/dwwl6hf.jpg




https://i.imgur.com/RPOQmdO.jpg

[hairyspin]

You can see here how there's plenty space between the box sides now to build a model without them getting in the way.



https://i.imgur.com/SXuEJyo.jpg

[hairyspin]

The sides are now separate objects from one another. This means they can each have a different Gmax material, each can display a different bitmap.

For each side we must create a different material, so let's start with the front view of the proposed model.

In case you haven’t done this before, this is how to make a standard Gmax material:-


https://i.imgur.com/5mhO06v.jpg




Right, on with the show! Remember what I said about the front of the model being shown in Back view?



https://i.imgur.com/a1cFzsq.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/wC9Q1Op.jpg




https://i.imgur.com/tYrELTq.jpg

[hairyspin]

The bitmap is applied, now we have to make it display correctly. It must be mapped to Object01:–



https://i.imgur.com/chLbT8d.jpg




https://i.imgur.com/K4xRe7Q.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/4GKnOWz.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/7thJsoY.jpg

[hairyspin]

https://i.imgur.com/D5Z6qqL.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/lw79KFs.jpg




This is where all the care in cropping bitmap images and setting up the Box object to the exact size of the aircraft to be built pays off.

But that's just the front of the aircraft. There are five more views to do!

[hairyspin]

It's just the same steps again, with another new material, for the next side:–


https://i.imgur.com/09E5sBl.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/bRXxNJ5.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/tvAuHlY.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/AKjxAxz.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/GpdTBt8.jpg




Two done, four more to go.

[hairyspin]

The same process, with another new material for the right view bitmap:–



https://i.imgur.com/pbyi581.jpg




And again, with another new material, for the rear as shown in Front view (remember? this must be remembered!)


https://i.imgur.com/FP13O0d.jpg



Again, with another new material, for the underside in Bottom view:–


https://i.imgur.com/DmSn4xd.jpg




Oh footle, this one's upside down! The bitmap must be nose-down in Bottom view (and nose-up in Top view), so here's how to fix it – turn the mapping the other way up. Don't turn the object itself, that will put the finished result out of alignment with the other drawings!


https://i.imgur.com/qrS9aK9.jpg



If the image turns red when selecting the Gizmo, just toggle Shade Selected off with F2 to see the bitmap instead.
The Gizmo is a wonderful and essential feature of Gmax, you've met it already when moving the box sides. With it you can move, rotate or even scale objects. Mappings have a gizmo too, but the Transform Type-In box is the most precise way to rotate our mapping here:–



https://i.imgur.com/GPrWxIB.jpg



There's no problem with the last mapping for the Top view:–


https://i.imgur.com/2J2HSVI.jpg

[hairyspin]

https://i.imgur.com/Ejd83hD.jpg



I hope this helps, but please read through several times before asking questions. I've tried to cover the whole process and I'm bound to update some details sooner or later.

[hairyspin]

Once you get on to the model itself, you'll need to tackle mapping for the flight sim. There's an introductory tutorial series I made some years ago available on FSDeveloper which is free to download. There are resources for the series also available on the same page.

UVW Mapping in Gmax (https://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=UVW_Mapping_in_Gmax)

[Fnerg]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the help. I will digest this, and report back. Real life is interfering with my creative time right now. Gmax will be standing by. Stay well my friends.

Doug

[Fnerg]

Tom, thanks very much. I really appreciate your help here. Everything worked flawlessly. I was able to construct a calibration box, split it up and map it all with separate textures. However - only in Direct3D.
In OpenGL, which I'd rather be using because it looks much better in comparison, won't co operate.

I wish I could create in OpenGL as it just looks so much better. Everything is smooth and detailed. Not a jagged line anywhere. Zooming in and out looks great. But, textures don't display, and now there is residual junk left in the viewport when I zoom in and out, or open a sub panel. The debris stays on top of everything else, even outside of the program on the desktop - and the only way to rid of it is to exit Gmax and reopen.

Is there a way to get Direct3D to look like there is some sort of anti aliasing/ smoothing happening?, the jagged lines are really disappointing. The objects look " cartoonish" whereas with OpenGL, detail and shadows and great lighting, solid looking 3D models. Also, configuring the driver in preferences do not save when I close the dialogue box ( 1024/512 + 2 check boxes) default back to a lower quality selection, boxes unchecked. Any suggestions regarding that are most welcome, and thanks again for the detailed explanation. Moderators can edit out my flustered bits and make this a sticky for others to use in case they're looking for help with the same issues, this is golden info! Thanks Tom!

Safest Regards,

Doug

[hairyspin]

Doug, what you say about settings not sticking rings a bell. I'd like to know if you have Gmax installed in Program Files or Program Files (x86)? I have mine in C:\gmax.

Also after setting the Direct3D options, do you then shut down and restart Gmax?

[Fnerg]

Doug, what you say about settings not sticking rings a bell. I'd like to know if you have Gmax installed in Program Files or Program Files (x86)? I have mine in C:\gmax.

Also after setting the Direct3D options, do you then shut down and restart Gmax?


Hi Tom,

I have mine installed in C:\gmax like you. Yes, I shut down and restart Gmax. The driver sticks, just not any settings in the configuration.

Doug

[hairyspin]

Okay, go to your Gmax directory and find d3dgfx.ini there:–


https://i.imgur.com/t5L7MfT.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/GNcp82F.jpg




Once you save this the viewports should show the bitmaps in their full detail. It's also possible when you try to save it, you might get a rude message about the file being read-only — that would be a possible root of the problem.


That being the case, right-click on the file and select Properties. Untick the Read-only property:–


https://i.imgur.com/13ZwO3S.jpg






https://i.imgur.com/ruaR6Th.jpg

[Fnerg]

Brilliant! Looks fantastic now! Can't thank you enough good sir. :jump:

Doug