posted 01-19- 11:05 AM               

I was wondering about this because there's away to reduce the # of textures used and still have an object look decent.

The trick is to map the texture at an angle of 30 to the x, y, and z axis. Some times it just needs a little tweeking. This works fairly well when doing things like applying camoflauge to a tank. I wouldn't recommend it for the planes though

posted 01-19- 11:21 AM               

You can map textures anyway your 3d editor supports. For AC3D this means we can "project" at any angle and map each polygon any way we want. For better 3d editors such as 3dsmax you can even wrap textures around cylinders of spheres, etc.

What texture mapping does is assign each vertex of the mesh a position on the texture graphic(s). The game renderer then fills in between these locations with the texture. So the job of the 3d editor is to assign the texture coordinates to each vertex when you texture map. Any clever tool could be created to facilitate this process... and clever texturing does indeed save texture memory and make things look better - and can also help let other people update the skins easier as well

posted 01-20- 03:59 AM               

Actually, I understand the different mappings used in 3D programs.

That's why I asked about the ability of using a texture that was not a coplanar map in , as you've corrected me, Open Plane (I get so used to seeing OPS thrown around I forget it doesn't stand for Open Plane). This is just a trick for less critical objects that can make them look decent, but save on system resources. For example, as long as all I want to do is texture a tank without unit markings, I can texture the entire tank with 2 textures. The body would use a projected planar map at the suggested settings and the bogies wheels and tread could all be done with one texture using what is usually considered a problem with parallel maps.

Just so you don't think I'm new to 3D - I 've been using 3D programs since Turbo silver came out for the Amiga in 1987 (that long? doesn't seem like it . I then graduated to Imagine, Aladdin4D, and Lightwave. I finally picked up Real3D which used b-spines and solid geometry for modelling and have been using it since 1995.

Problem now is, I use the new version Realsoft4D, which is a true NURBS modeler with booleans and all the other neat stuff (you can even animate the booleans). The reason this is a problem when using polys is twofold.
1) Polygonal modelling is like using a crayon compared to a airbrush once you've gotten used to NURBS, and
2) the polygon import/export has some MAJOR bugs that need to be worked out. This was why I couldn't assist with the He-111.

This sucks cause Realsoft4D does subdivision surface modelling like Maya for complex objects, so wings & other parts would be really easy to create.

Kind of frustrating cuz I have to go out and find a poly modeller I like now if I want to do a plane.

posted 01-20- 10:39 AM               

I am glad that there is someone else here who can answer questions- I learned all I know at this forum... mostly from JT early on, and Bryan, TS, Hippie, and now ArgonV

And don't take my over-pedantic response to your question as me being all full of myself or anything (not that I think you thought that) - I just want to be as clear as possible because you never know where confusion can start... it seems like we have allot of people at this forum who can answer a question in amazing clearity - I think this helps other people who are just "looking in" on the posts as well.

posted 01-20- 12:01 PM               

I didn't take it that way, but I thought- if you type as (un)fast as I do, I'd save you some typing time trying to explain 3D stuff outside of ops and Open Plane.

I hasn't thought of this, but I may be able to export the project as an obj file.

Here's one tip for you, and I think it may have been posted before. When yo create pieces for an object like a wing do this. Go to the scaling tool and numerically change the sizealong the axis the pieces butt against each other. Make it some ridiculously small number. Let's say the length is 100, change it to 100.01. What this does is prevent the visual "glitch" where you can see the seam between the two objects (at certain angles)because the rendering engine engine creates a 1 pixel wide gap. If both objects end on the same coordinate, it can be interpreted as neither occupying the coordinate.