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Author	Topic: 3DS Max question
Tailslide Pilot	posted 12-16- 08:16 PM I'm getting back into modelling after a long time away (last progs I used a lot were Lightwave and Imagine on the Amiga if you remember those !) Anyways dumb questions: How do I reorient a spline or mesh around it's center point? All of my objects have their axis way off to the side of the object when I select them. Also how do you line up points in two seperate splines so they line up horizontally or vertically to each other? TS IP: Logged
mposis Pilot	posted 12-16- 10:29 PM Tailslide, I also had a 3d program for the Amiga. I started to make a FW190 in it but did not finish. IP: Logged
Tailslide Pilot	posted 12-16- 10:46 PM Yup them were the good ole days.. My message wasn't too clear I'm having this trouble in 3d studio max on the PC I'm a newbie to 3d studio. Any suggestions? TS IP: Logged
FarmerJoe Pilot	posted 12-16- 11:10 PM Tailslide when you import the .obj file choose the option...center pivot point.. That's about all I can tell you to try, I am using 3dstudio max r3 so I don't think it would be like the one you are using =( sorry wish I could help you. take'd easy now FarmerJoe IP: Logged
Bryan Russell Pilot	posted 12-16- 11:42 PM You could have a look in the hierarchy part and use the pivot point controls. This might work when in MAX but if you import using OBJ (in the Maxr2.5 version anyway) it will just move the mesh to the position that it appears on the screen, inother word the centre of the mesh is way off to the left/right... Bummer Sounds like the MAX2OBJ stuff for Maxr3 may be better. The object position thing is a real pain in the arse when exporting the OBJ so an upgrade might be in order... FarmerJoe : does the pivot point thing apply to OBJ export as well in the r3.0 version? Bryan IP: Logged
JT Pilot	posted 12-17- 12:09 AM >Also how do you line up points in two seperate splines so they line up horizontally or vertically to each other? Click the "tools" menu at the top of the screen and select "Transform Type-In" from the menu. This will allow you to move, scale, or rotate whatever you select-- vertices, objects, faces, splines, etc-- numerically by entering values in the fields. The coordinates of things are also displayed in the Transform Type-In window. Depending on the situation, you can also use the 3d Snap Tool to snap objects together by certain verts, or snap verts to other verts, faces, edges, midpoints of edges, centers of faces, etc.... very handy. Make sure you configure the 3d snap for the situation, though. [This message has been edited by JT (edited 12-17-1999).] IP: Logged
FarmerJoe Pilot	posted 12-17- 01:04 AM Bryan: The pivot point is dead center of the object, and when you import the it you choose to have it dead center in the screen by choosing center pivot point. Now when you export, whatever the length away from the pivot point that the vertice is, then that's the way it is =) it is wonderful. I have one recommendation, you should figure out a way to export the lods in a way so that all the parts work off the center of the plane and not just the center of itself. That way we can easily find the positions of the dofs and origins and just type em in and make that process be sped up a little, it's just a recommendation man. Thanks! yall take'd easy now FarmerJoe http://members.xoom.com/sdoesbeauts IP: Logged
Tailslide Pilot	posted 12-17- 02:48 AM Great tips! I'm going to try them. I'm not imporing the objects, they are splines that I created. I want to align the tops of them but the axis is either in the center of each object or off to the side depending on what axis type I pick. The align tool seems based on the axis of the objects, when the axis is in the center and I align them the tops dont match up because they are different sizes. When I select minimum or maximum in the align too it doesn't seem to work either. On the old modellers I was used to, you could hold down the control key and drag the axis around to where you wanted it and the modeller would remember the axis location. Is there any ways to do this in 3dsmax? TS IP: Logged
FarmerJoe Pilot	posted 12-17- 02:52 AM Tailslide I think you can just drag the spline around and the axis, is the axis =) after all it is only using one origin. take'd easy now FarmerJoe http://members.xoom.com/sdoesbeauts IP: Logged
Bryan Russell Pilot	posted 12-17- 02:59 AM FarmerJoe : What I would like to do with the OPS file plugins is just create a model in MAX with all of the parts lined up in the right places and then import either the whole lot, or a single object so that it was centred around the pivot point defined in MAX. I don't know about the OBJ2MAX plugin for r3 but the r2.5 one doesn't export meshes centred around the pivot point (unless you explicitly move it to the world origin, which is a bit of a pain) and it has no information to tell the MAX import function where the actual pivot point is. If someone nows how to do it please let me know but I can't find anything This is one of the reasons the 3ds format is attractive, because it includes matrix information. The only problem with .3ds is I don't know how to get vertex normals out of it. (another ) Bryan IP: Logged
JG5Jerry Pilot	posted 12-17- 03:08 AM Go to the Heirarchy menu, click Pivot, then Affect Pivot Only, then click Center To Object. If it's point in a weird way, you can also select the Top viewport and then click on Align To World. HTH IP: Logged
Tailslide Pilot	posted 12-17- 03:12 AM Dragging the spline around won't line the two splines up exactly down to the last decimal, thats why I want to use the align tool. To me there's no difference between moving the axis of the object and moving all the points around the axis other than it's much easier to get things where you want by moving the axis and having the software take care of translating the coordinates or whatever it has to do. So I have to select the vertexes and move them all to where the axis is? how can I make it so the axis is precisely at the top center of my object? Or should I be saying "pivot point". TS ------------------ ________________________ TS Aircombat IP: Logged
Tailslide Pilot	posted 12-17- 03:13 AM Aha just saw your post! Thanks Jerry this was driving me nuts that sounds like it I'll give it a try ! TS IP: Logged
JG5Jerry Pilot	posted 12-17- 04:01 AM You do this at the object level, and not at the vertex level. Note that by following the tip I posted, you can also drag the pivot and also rotate it to any position you want. IP: Logged
Tailslide Pilot	posted 12-17- 04:12 AM Bryan have you looked at writing a Max script to accomplish what you are trying to do? Maybe you could hack it by encoding the pivot point coords in the object tags before they get sent to the exporter then extract them in OPStudio. TS IP: Logged
JG5Jerry Pilot	posted 12-17- 04:25 AM Bryan - AFAIK, the only way in which you could export a group of objects aorund a common pivot is to link (not attach) them together first. So, if you link all of your objects to the plane's fuselage, then it should work. Note that the fuselage's pivot point should be positioned where you want it first before you link any other objects. Then again, if the importer/export doesn't read this link info, this tip is scuppered ... IP: Logged
FarmerJoe Pilot	posted 12-18- 03:45 AM Bryan: I know it is alot easier said than done what I am getting ready to state but I know it is possible. You take your whole project and export the main lod i.e. the fuse since that is usually 0,0,0 in the world and then from there you have all the objects line up on that one. Do I make sense? Okay here's another way figure out a way to calculate the distance from 0,0,0 to the tail or the end of a wing, I opened up an .asc file and in there was a line [Translate::-17.3456] something like that, now i know you can use that because I believe that is the origin of that object if I am not mistaken? So if you can get ops to calculate all that out and export all the meshes at one time running through your little converter, then man you can increase production time like a mother. Like I said before, I can help you a little I do have programmin knowledge. ------------------ take'd easy now FarmerJoe [URL=http://members.xoom.com/sdoesbeauts]http://memebers.xoom.com/sdoesbeauts[/URL IP: Logged
JT Pilot	posted 12-18- 08:37 AM Farmer, How would you feel about writing us some Max plugins? pretty please? :-) IP: Logged
Bryan Russell Pilot	posted 12-18- 06:50 PM FarmerJoe:I think I understand what you're saying, but this needs some information from the OBJ file (or whatever) that has matrix or translation info in it. This way, either the objects are centred around the thier pivot point and use the matrix thing to position it in OPS, or the objects are in world co-ordsinates and use the matrix to translate them back to there pivot point. 3ds files have it but I need to figure out how to get smoothing fromt them. If you can whip up a MAX plugin that does something that would be great. Bryan IP: Logged
JT Pilot	posted 12-18- 08:22 PM Bryan, I'm probably off the mark here, but... are you saying that you can't get the vertex normals from 3ds files? The reason I ask is because I've never had to use smoothing in Max to smooth objects for SDOE. IP: Logged
Bryan Russell Pilot	posted 12-18- 10:28 PM I heard you mention that somewhere else. I definitly need vertex normals set the right way to get smoothing in SDOE. I know that when I was playing with my hurricane the smoothing I did in MAX (and consequently the vertex normals) definitly affected the model in SDOE. Maybe there's something if the normals are all 0 or something that SDOE will automatically smooth it, but I doubt it. I will need to look into this some more, I can't remember how the LODs imported with the 3ds plugin I did looked like shading wise, but I know the OBJ imports of the hurricane wing for example had the leading edge of the wing flat shaded, which was how it was shaded in MAX. Maybe the 3ds thing might work after all. The other option with the 3ds file is that I can calculate the vertex normals, depending on the shading group, as I can get at these. Can any MAX experts explain to me how shading groups are ment to work? Bryan IP: Logged
JT Pilot	posted 12-19- 10:52 AM 3ds files don't contain vertex normals? I never knew that. Say, why don't you post your questions at the 3ds Max forum, if you haven't already. Seems like there are a lot of very knowledgable people over there. http://support.ktx.com IP: Logged

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