First steps in Arma modelling-addon making

After a couple of years of Arma gaming, now Arma 2, using someone else addon i finally decided to download the BI tool suite and try to make my own :)

I started 2 days ago reading this nice tutorial for OFP http://ofp.gamepark.cz/_hosted/brsseb/tutorials/lesson3/lesson3_d.htm and watching these amazing video tutorials made by Gnat ( really, great work ) http://www.ofpec.com/tutorials/index.php?action=view&id=211 almost fool-proof ( including me :D ) that i suggest to anyone that might be interested in doing " something " but think that is difficult and don't even start learning (like me until 2 days ago ).

To cut it short here is what i did yesterday after reading the first tutorial

Ok it's probably not like the real counterpart so let's say that is "something that looks like a USP" :p it took 3 hours to get there, 138 points and 276 tris ( i read somewhere that triangles are better for some reason )

This morning i started a new model

the m224 in it's handheld version with m8 platebase (Ok my model is a mix of chunked cylinders and boxes and is a LOT easier to do than the static version with sightunit, bipod and such )

Than i though " cool let's texture it " checked the forum and found some infos about UV mapping procedure, especially one from scubaman3d, with a six step procedure, but after 2 hours trying to unwrap the model correctly, fighting with buldozer that crashes and gives me errors, i'm kinda lost. I've already read a lot about UV ( enough to learn that is a pain in the .. and now i can confirm it )

I need some help learning how to do it and i will surely need more help later when i'll try to make thing work in game etc...

I've uploaded the p3d files so if anyone want to check it, modifying it and such can do it,

http://depositfiles.com/files/mvtwnrv16 USP

http://depositfiles.com/files/h55s8ul0n M224

I would suggest you drop the idea to unwrap (-> uv) your models in O2. It is generally known that the unwrap tools in O2 aren't that super. It is only good for planar mapping.

Since you are still starting to learn that part, i would suggest you witch to a more professional program. Personally i use Modo, but there are a lot of other programs that do the same. I use modo as it includes the option to bake ambient maps, normal maps and some good manual model reducing tools.

Since it supports .obj and .fbx files they work hand in hand.

Don't let a new program scare you, it will pay off in time.

Making models in O2 isn't a problem and i personally still use O2 as my main 3d model making program. So no problem with that ;) .

I quickly check the handgun.

- Some parts (like the sights) are inverted. A good indication of something beeing inverted it to select the part and check the normals of the points. Make sure the 'show normals' button is ON though. On each point it will draw a blue line. That line should be facing outwards, if not your face is inverted. Simply press W to reverse a face/part.

- As for the triangle polys (tris). Well, if i model i tend to keep my faces/wire as clean as possible so i keep them in poly shape (4 point face). When it comes to non-planar/non-linear (non-flat) faces it is advised to manually convert the face into two tris faces, so you can decide what is the best sub-edge position is. Because if you auto-convert your mesh ( / key) it will often screw it.

I noticed there where a few faces on your model that had bad sub-edges (-> very small-long faces where it should be better to have the sub-edge the other diagonal).

You can always fix that later (even if mapped) by selection two faces and use the 'turn edge tool'. Simply use the tool and press on the inner closed edge to swap direction.

Last thingy new modelers tend not to know is the use of smooth and hard edges. Atm your model has all edges smooth, witch doesn't look right. Use the U (sharp) and I (smooth) keys to adjust the edge values. The technic is a bit of hard to explain as it depends on your model, but you should be able to find some tutorials on that on the forum.

All i can think of atm.

Main thing is, learn, practice, learn, practice...

I wrote a looong post before this but when i pressed submit it asked me to login -.- so i'll be shorter this time

Thanks Dasquade for the answer, a few thing,

I didn't understand this part

I noticed there where a few faces on your model that had bad sub-edges (-> very small-long faces where it should be better to have the sub-edge the other diagonal).

If i'm correct the faces you are referring to are the long ones on the slide of the gun, if so:

a) Why is bad to having this very long small faces?

b) What is a sub-edges? XD I'm not a english native speaker so i may miss something.

c) how should i correct it?

d) Seems i can't find the "turn edge tool" you mentioned, where is located?

Thanks for the tip on the normal, i used F5 to calculate them automatically but it seems that it doesn't work so well, i had problems with faces disappearing and didn't know that was the cause until now.

I was aware about the Sharp/Smooth edges and how i can switch them, just i don't have a clue on what it change for the model after you apply the texture ( i didn't get that far yet :D modelling noob here ) and for me the sharp edges looked a bit "blocky" with the solid faces fill, so i left everything on smooth. I might need some advice on what should be better to have sharp and what smooth, if you get what i mean, ( if i can look at some examples it would be great )

For the Unwrap part, yeah maybe i'll try to learn on Blender ( seems like a good and FREE program, modo is a bit pricy for me ) if anyone have a better program to suggest let me know, however regarless the program used i might need some info on the unwrap, UV or whatsoever as a whole, as i have just a vague idea on "what the heck is that ":D Of course i'll be searching tutorials and info myself, but any info you guys can share, link to tutorial, explanation, or a few tip will be MUCH apreciate :)

1. With bad sub-edges (probebly not the correct term anyway), i meant an edge that splits a normal poly (4 point face) into a tris (3 point face).

Here is an example of one in your model:

Note that the blue marked edge defines one face very small in witdh compaired to his lenght. If you had splited that original (?) poly along his other diaginal as shown with the green edge, the two faces would be more or less equal in dimentions. There for the normals of that face will be more 'relaxed'. Depending on how 'correct/accurate' (in depth i mean) this can affect the outcome of the lightning of those faces alot.

Also note the 'turn edge' tool marked. Like said, select those two faces that share a wrong sub-edge, select the turn edge tool and press with the cursor on the wrong edge. It should flip the edge without effecting the UV.

In case you don't need to worry about the UV (like in your case atm, no UV yet). You can always delete the two faces and drawn them individually. Also you can select all 4 point and press F6 (make poly), press / to trianglate. If the subedge is wrong, then you need to flip the face (W) before trianglating it, trianglate it and flip it again.

Like with many things, there are many ways to come to a final result.

An other mistake in your model:

Make sure you have closed shapes. This isn't always needed as often one can work with open shapes. This is what is called (optimize your model) -> Same geo but no effect on end result. An good example of optimizing is when you work with cilinders. Note the difference in numbers, something where it all turns around in gamemodels (well, polycount is one of the factors).

Small info: Note the darker/thicker red marked edges, that are sharp edges, where the softer red edges are smooth edges. When you define an edge as sharp, it will actually split the edge and so create two new points. So it is very important you give proper lightning values (U - I) to your mesh! Note the example only covers a small item, consider the impact on a full model.

Last an quick photoshop example on what edges in your model should be sharp (red marked lines). Offcourse i could be wrong (check your reference material) and often it is an artist impression.

Got it now thanks :)

I checked and fixed normals, closed the shapes on the trigger area and the sights, played a bit with sharp and smooth edges but seems i can't really get this UV mapped :confused: i even tryed with the classic cube with planar mapping, still even the cube, don't know the exact term, "doesn't get UVmapped" i'm probably doing something wrong loading the texture or something like that, i tryed in o2, then in blender with a very well written tutorial but seems that i'm more dumb than i though :p