Locking the background texture?

[smellyjelly 0]

First off, I just started messing around a few days ago, so keep in mind I'm a novice.

I'm just wondering if there is a way to lock the background picture, because not being able to is giving me several problems.

1. When zooming in the image stays the same size. Moving the screen with alt+right click will cause the image to suddenly zoom in, but this is still a minor annoyance.

2. When saving and then loading the model, the image is gone. Is there any way to easily line everything back up?

3. Just now, I was getting ready to make a model using two images. I finished setting up the front view and was messing with the left when I accidently clicked on the front view again, and messed up the image. I hadn't done any work, thankfully, but I'm kind of worried now that something so simple could ruind my project.

Any help would be appreciated.

Oh yea, are there any advanced tutorials? I skimmed through a few of these, which made things look simple, but I don't think they explain how to add lights, windows, damage textures, optics, ect.

Also, does O2 support decals? I'm not sure if that's what they're called in this program, but in Hammer, (a program for other games), decals were basically little images I can place freely where ever I want. The actual textures were placed on brushes so decals were useful for irregular stuff like scratches to help add variety.

[Linker Split 0]

point2:

to have the image displayied again as you fitted to the screen, select the face you textured, then click Ctrl+B

it's the function Background from face

[jtec 0]

For 2 and 3....

I tend to stick a Plane (Create plane) in the area of the texture when it is stretched. That way after you save the work and come back to it another day you can stretch the texture again to that same size using that plane as a guide. Im sure there are other ways but this is quite a simple way of doing it.

Look at the BIS models that come with the pack you can download, you will see you need proxies for the lights, you might be able to use the standard BIS textures for the windows ect (as long as you comment it in your readme)

Are you using o2 for actual texture work as well as uvunwrapping seems to be getting a few people confused at the current moment but my advice to you is not to overcomplecate the model as when it comes to uvwrapping you will notice how hard it is to do it. Will maybe release a real basic video for the basics of uvunwrapping. If i get that nice thing called time. Good luck my friend and hope to see your model in these forums soon!

[smellyjelly 0]

Ok, so can I put down a plane, texture it, and then press Ctrl+B to get it back?

I haven't really thought about how I'm going to texture this though. This is all a complete learning experience for me, although I'm trying to make my model high enough quality for release. Thanks for the support.  

I'm having another problem though. I made a side mirror for my car, but I'm not sure if it looks good. So I decide to try and fill the faces in to make the shape clearer, but for some reason, the faces aren't showing up.

I sure it's not inside out because usually the edges/outline would appear, plus both sides show nothing. It doesn't matter whether I select 3 or 4 points, because either way nothing is showing up.

I tried a few points with my car though, and it works perfectly.

Oh yea, how do I check the number of points and stuff I have?

[jtec 0]

No. Basically you have a linedrawing that is setup how you want it right? that line drawing has a outline box in black right? Now create a plain the same size of that outline box and you will always have a guide to how big your linedrawing should be.

There is a red triangle with a finger pointing on it, this tool basically selects a face or set of faces (Hold ctrl and right click for more then one face selection) if a face is within that area you think you placed it then it will show up in red outline.

Number of points and faces is displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Hope this helps a lil.

[Jackal326 1182]

No.  Basically you have a linedrawing that is setup how you want it right?  that line drawing has a outline box in black right?  Now create a plain the same size of that outline box and you will always have a guide to how big your linedrawing should be.

Alternatively, just apply the texture to that background face, and just reload it (doesn't require you to manually re-drag the texture box). Mainly just a time-saving measure.

[jtec 0]

And there i have just learnt another way of doing it also lol! Cheers

[smellyjelly 0]

I'm about halfway finished constructing my model so far, but it's really lumpy. To check how it will look finished I want to export it into Arma, but I'm not sure how.

I'm guessing I need to use the BinPBO tool, so I tried simply filling out the directory, but when I click "Pack" an error comes up saying "Project is not subfolder in source path". It looks like an easy fix, but I just can't figure it out. Can anyone help me?

Are there any requirements that need to be met before I can convert it?

EDIT: I downloaded PBO Tool v1.01, but even though it was made for OFP, it seems so still convert stuff into PBO format.

So I made a folder and added my P3d model, plus a config I downloaded, (which was also also meant for OFP), and used the PBO Tool to make those a PBO file. However, even though I put it in with my addons, I can not find it ingame.

I guess the problem could lie in the config or tool I used, as they weren't made for Arma. Can anyone tell me where I can find a standard Arma vehicle config, or help me with the Arma PBO tool? Or at least help me find my model in-game.

[max power 21]

bulldozer will give you what it looks like in arma.

Giving us a view of your wireframe would help with crits. Firstly, though, I would model the caprice as a caprice and the tack on the lights as a model. You should try to build hard surface models as they are constructed in real life within reason.

[smellyjelly 0]

The wireframes, as you requested:

I'm kind of nervous because it looks very messy.

One spot I'm having issues with is the corner above the headlight. It's kind of hard to see even in bulldozer so that's why I wanted to import my model ingame. Also, the shading looks bad and I wanted to see if that's how it'll look in Arma.

I'm still working on the front and back though, because I want to round it off a bit.

[nephilim 0]

it will look the same in arma as in bulldozer

bulldozer is an ingame viewer..

anyway

the model has some pretty bad edgeflow.

to be a bit of a prick it basically has none.

and thats why you get weird lightnings.

you just insert verts here and there and conect them to polys.

thats no good.

some parts are good cause they define the shape well

but few verts aheads its all screwed.

let me give you an advice. start over again

try to model everything in quads first. follow the cars shape

once you have the shape optimize it

i know its hard cause youre new.

but trust me itll look more decent

http://www.virtual-mechanix.com/images/Saleen.jpg

a good example for a low poly car.

mainly quads and tris where needed to terminate edges/verts/polys.

notice the uniform density of the mesh.

in comparison yours is just a wild bunch of edges that looks like a stoned spider tried to make a web.

anyway

dont give up

cheers

[smellyjelly 0]

OK, I kind of see what I have to fix. The roof looks decent though, do I have to do that over?

[max power 21]

To expand on what Nephlim is saying, meshflow of of the model is, at the end of the day, totally meaningless, because the game engine converts everything to tris anyways; and the model, I assume, is not being subdivided, nor deforming.

What meshflow does is help you figure out what;s going on. In the pic of the saleen there, all of those quads follow the form of the model in ways that are very easy for you and I to comprehend. It looks clean, organized, and purposeful. The reason why you're having vertex shading funniness is because of the way that your polies are arranged. There are 2 reasons why this might be happening: Poligons are being triangulated in a really awkward way where one edge of a triangle is very close to the hypotenuse, or there is lumpiness in the actual mesh. It would be possible to get rid of that by adding detail or changing the way your edges are set up... but how do you do that? How do you figure out what the problem is when it's hard to see how the poligons are related to each other? It would be much easier for you to see the form if you had the poles arranged in a grid-like pattern. Then you can see all the deviations and lumps, and there is a very low probability that you'll have that squished face problem.

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OK, I kind of see what I have to fix. The roof looks decent though, do I have to do that over?

I wouldn't if you find O2 easy to use in terms of tweaking the mesh. It seems you have a decent shape going on. Just eliminate the triangles and continue edgeloops from one side to the other and front to back. For instance, where the wheel wells are, you have many triangles that come to a point on the hood. If you can continue those edges to the other wheel well, like you have on the trunk, it will be easier for you to figure out the form of what you have, and therefore fix any lumps you have in there. If you have edgeloops that are all mangled up, consider selecting a bunch of vertexes on them and scaling them in on 1 axis only. That will line them up in a striaght line on that one axis, allowing you to worry about getting the rest of the shape right.

In terms of flow, the roof needs help too. If you're going to have good flow on the model, you may as well have good flow over the whole thing!

[smellyjelly 0]

Don't worry, you guys haven't scared me off yet.  

I redid the whole inside and here are the results. I'm going to continue to tweak and check it for a few days, (maybe), if you guys think there are no major problems.

There is still some strange shaded spots, especially around the wheels, but it's not quite as obvious as before. I tried my best to get rid of them though. How visible will the be ingame?

Also, I'm having a small problem where planes made of four points will disappear when viewed from a certain angle. I haven't encountered this in bulldozer though, and I assume that's because the engine turns those into "tris".