looking for an addon teacher / mentor

[Baz 0]

Hi I am new to making addons, i'm looking for a person who can help teach me to make addons from scratch... Show me the ropes to 3d modeling and importation into Arma 2 game engine.

For my first project I wish to make USMC IFAV and US Army FMTV family.

[PuFu 4600]

Hey Baz,

First of all, while all this might seem simple it's not. At least not for what you want to try and model as your own project, which requires some precision, and from what i can tell (correct me if i am wrong), you haven't modeled anything so far, not even a lot simpler stuff.

My suggestion here would be to aim a lot lower for your first project. You'll have a lot higher chances to finish the project and port it in the game that way. Hell, even a wall with a working door might give you some headaches.

Secondly, no one can teach you how to model, You got to do it yourself. Practice makes perfect. Plus there are tons of free tutorials on the web from simple modelling to more advance technics.

On this note, you haven't said what software you plan on using. The modelling tools are similar no matter, true, but are not alike though.

So while a lot of guys here will be able to help you out, i doubt anyone will hold your hand and teach you all you'll have to learn..

Good Luck!

[Baz 0]

Well, I have 3ds max and thats what I have used for past games... like GTA SA. Guess the question is what is a good 3d program to use to create models from scratch and import into the game. I personally do not like the user interface of O2 and so I would like to use it as least as possible.

[PuFu 4600]

Well, I have 3ds max and thats what I have used for past games... like GTA SA.

That changes things a lot since you have previous experience with models for games (lowpoly, subD modelling). Just model the way you was modeling for GTA SA then. It is the same for all DX games.

Poly/vertex limit is 32k for A2.

Guess the question is what is a good 3d program to use to create models from scratch and import into the game.

well, i am using 3ds max myself, so i am pretty sure it works.

I personally do not like the user interface of O2 and so I would like to use it as least as possible.

Neither do I.

You can use SA 3dsmax plugin/script so you can do most of the work outside O2 (although you will eventually need to work a bit in O2 nevertheless).

[soul_assassin 1750]

Poly/vertex limit is 32k for A2

Stop telling people that :p, noone except BIS has been successful in stuffing such a high poly model in one p3d. I personally start getting "Too Many Verts" error in bulldozer around 15000~17000 depending on the smoothing. :)

[PuFu 4600]

Stop telling people that :p, noone except BIS has been successful in stuffing such a high poly model in one p3d. I personally start getting "Too Many Verts" error in bulldozer around 15000~17000 depending on the smoothing. :)

hmmm, will post again here, let me try smth.

while that is true with buldozer, it works ingame :D

Edited November 19, 2010 by PuFu

[Baz 0]

I have a Mercedes benz model already in O2 that works ingame, how do I get that into 3ds max so I can edit it to be a USMC IFAV then export it into the game and get it working. I'm going for an unarmed version first, then I will be attaching weapons to it.

I need to make some parts / components from scratch and edit already existing ones.

And yes, I have permission to use the original MB 290 model

[PuFu 4600]

open in O2, export as 3ds, import from MAX.

You have to recheck normals, and duplicated faces

[Baz 0]

Ummmm how exactly do I do that? Do I need to use the arma2 3ds plugin that soul assassin made

what about all the lods and memory points and named selections?

[soul_assassin 1750]

I would really really advise against using my tools to learn modding. They are designed to help people who already have some experience and I must say you will probably have more trouble with them then you would like.

[Baz 0]

Do you think that perhaps I can lean on your shoulders and learn the ropes so to speak, I have always been interested in making stuff for BIS games and the complexities and intricacies. I have all these things in my mind I want to make and knowing how to model is 1/4th the overall battle. And my ultimate goal is to create high quality almost BIS like content for the community and bring my own imagination based upon reality into the game.

If someone can help me do that, allow me to learn almost as tho I were an apprentice to a master modeler and addon creator. I am eager and willing to learn but I need it explained and demonstrated to me in a way I can understand.

[PuFu 4600]

I still don't understand what you need to be explained. I guess it is not the modeling part.

Back to your question about the export.

You can export from O2 in 3ds format. If you want each LOD to be exported, you need it to export each of it as a 3ds. (although i don't see why, since you will most likely do animations inside O2). Forget about selections and memory points for now.

Once you got your mesh in 3ds max, start modeling/twealing it.

Bear in mind that the UV Layout is kept for you in for the exported file.

Once you got it done, you can use prooptimizer (but not only) to make the other LODs out of your main mesh (a combination of manual tweaking and max modifiers is the best go for you).

Ten you export is as OBJ, and bring it back in O2. All the animations, selections and whatever else are explained in existing O2 tutorials. A1 MLODs also helps here.

[x3kj 1247]

You can export from O2 in 3ds format.

How?

The version i loaded a couple of weeks ago can import .3ds and .obj and save as .p3d Nothing else.

[[frl]myke 14]

How?

The version i loaded a couple of weeks ago can import .3ds and .obj and save as .p3d Nothing else.

Odd, my version has a "Export" function right below the "Import" function in the menu. Where did you downloaded it?

[x3kj 1247]

Iirc from the link in BIS-wiki.

That way it's really tedious to judge the correct size relation of something (if you don't want to model in O2 of course).

Edited November 20, 2010 by Fennek

[NZXSHADOWS 0]

Small tip: have a good playlist ready of your favorite songs.

[PuFu 4600]

How?

The version i loaded a couple of weeks ago can import .3ds and .obj and save as .p3d Nothing else.

From here: http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/BI_Tools_2

(note that BI tools 2 is compatible with A2, OA etc, while BI tools 1 is compatible with ArmA1

[x3kj 1247]

(note that BI tools 2 is compatible with A2, OA etc, while BI tools 1 is compatible with ArmA1

i had Oxygen 2 PE, that's for sure

... just reinstalled the complete toolkit and fortunately it works now. thx.