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Need help with three view

F

flightsimer

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us-pennsylvania
Well im attempting my first model and hope to be able to do alot of detailed models down the line with GA aircraft that are lacking in the FS world.

but, ive gotten to the point in gmax where i want to try and fool around with my first plane, but im finding that getting the 3-view into gmax is impossible for me. if tried going off of this http://www.simviation.com/gryphon/tutorials/gMax_03.htm but its not really helping me.

could anyone be kind enough to help me out here as its really making me mad that i cant get it so i can start. Ive been trying for the last 2 days with no success :confused: what sad is last night i was so excited to start that i was dreaming about possible techniques to use. lol i also tried getting help at projectopensky which ive been a long member of, but got none.

the aircraft im trying to model is the DHC-6-400, which there is none of yet for FS but im using the -300 diagram.

the three view im using is a larger version of this:http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/manatee/272/twin-otter.html

i have it split up into three and the top is set so the COG is centered, but i couldnt figure how exactly to center it for the straight and side view

thanks for any possible help, Tyler
 
That demonstrates the worst possible way to do backdrops.

What you need to do is to create a calibrated box on which to place your 3-view drawings.

The following zip file has an excellent tutorial on how to accomplish this:
http://www.flightsimonline.com/tutorials/backdrops.zip

I also highly recommend reading through Milton Schupe's most excellent tutorial series that will walk you through the entire modeling process from planning to seeing your masterpiece in the sim:

http://www.flightsimonline.com/C162/
 
ya, with windows player, im only getting audio. its just a black screen but the way hes talking is leading me to believe that there should also be video to go along with it.
 
i tried that just now and it went, but when finished it said there was an error and wasnt compatible with my windows version. then closed it and it said it installed. tried video, but still a no go. so right this moment, im downloading and will be installing version 11. let you guys know after its done.
 
Hey Tyler,

What I do and many others is;

* Open your 3view in a photo program, set canvas size to a pure square, like 1,000 pixels by 1,000 pixels, save
* Open program, create a flat polygon, create texture material with 3View, add material to polygon so you have the blueprint on it. Ensure your polygon is exactly square. (This is of PRIMARY importance. Pure square upon pure square).
* Measure the planes wingspan and adjust size of polygon accordingly
* Create a cube, create new texture, semi transparent, such as 50% opacity, attach material to cube.
* Move polygon out a distance. Turn on grid, adjust poly for left side, align wing cord with center of grid, left view
* Still in left view mode, take your semi transparent green cube and move its sides out to match the length and height off of the drawing. Remember, you are looking through the cude at the drawing.
* Now make a copy of the polygon with the 3View on it and turn, move to rear for the front view. Align the front view of the plane with the center of the Grid, and the top/bottom of the transparent cube. (By the way, I usually make my cubes a lime green color so they stand out from the drawings).
* Now stretch out the sides for the wingspan.
* Create two more polys for top and bottom views (if two are needed). Align in the same way, aligning the drawings polys with the cube.

When all is done, your plane 'alignment cube box' should be in line with all views, top, bottom, left, front, and rear if needed.

You do not have to cut up the 3View. You can hide the polys. You can see through the backs of the polys, so at left view, you look right through the right view. Wild how it works. The farther you move them away from center, the less distracting they are when working with them in 3D views, like perspective.

I hope that helps.



Bill
 
Thanks, Scott. It's been so long ago I'd forgotten about the TechSmith codecs... :(
 
ok, so i followed the tutorial and it worked perfectly... all but one side. no matter how i tried to fool with it, i still got this outcome.

i tried flipping the bitmap itself before even putting it in Gmax and also putting it on the "right" side of the box instead of "left". i also dont know why the nose is cut like that.

sad.jpg


any ideas?
 
What I would do is collapse the stack, go to polygon mode, select that nose offset poly, click on UVW Unwrap (add one) and click Edit and move/slide that map back so that its centered over the art. Recollapse as Editable Mesh or Poly.
 
In those rare instances where I create backdrop images-on-planes for gmax, I never bother with UVW mapping the plane itself.

First I will crop/resize my images in the paint program to a reasonable size, and note the pixel dimensions.

In gmax, In the appropriate viewport, I will create a plane with the same ratio as my images.

say I have a 256x1024 image, I'll create a 256 x 1024 (foot/meter) plane.

I will create a new standard material and open my viewport image into the diffuse slot, click "apply" and click on Bill's Box (blue checkered box) to have it show up.

One I have (however many) views set up, I will create the calibration box, scale the planes against the calibration box, move them into the desired locations so I can model, and freeze them in place (of course, making sure that the "show frozen in grey" is NOT clicked).

Come to think of it, the calibration box, viewport planes, and sundry reference bits and pieces could all be linked to a topmost parent part "references" which could be turned on/off as convenient (so yes, you would have your topmost nodes as "reference", "exterior", and "interior")...
 
lionheart said:
What I would do is collapse the stack, go to polygon mode, select that nose offset poly, click on UVW Unwrap (add one) and click Edit and move/slide that map back so that its centered over the art. Recollapse as Editable Mesh or Poly.
Click to expand...

While the UVW Editor is open, select all vertices and click the Mirror button on the Editor's tool bar to flip the image to the correct orientation.
 
n4gix said:
While the UVW Editor is open, select all vertices and click the Mirror button on the Editor's tool bar to flip the image to the correct orientation.
Click to expand...


Arrghh...

I didnt realise it was backwards, lol.. Only off center from the polygon.


Thanks Bill.
 
Well i got it fixed somehow, dont really know how though lol.

So once again, thats for all of your guys' help. will keep you posted with shots of my project once i really start it.
 
ok i posted this in another site, but im gonna copy and past it here too as i need the help fast. really need help on this



ok now on to my problem i created.

Im thinking this problem is just a file path error but im not 100% sure.

tonight i was going to my sister's and took my labtop with me to work on it. I copied my entire game pack folder for Gmax to a flash drive to transfer the file to my labtop.

now, when i opened the project up on my labtop, my three bitmaps for the 3-views were all black like this
error.jpg

now i thought that since the bitmaps were attached to an object, that they would stay with the file after saving, but i guess they didnt. so i just figured that that was my problem since the 3-views werent on either my flashdrive or labtop. so i continued to work on the tail, doing what i could without needing the views.

so i saved that file back on my flashdrive. when i came home, i opened up the file that had been on my desktop and it was normal. I plugged in my flash drive and then opened up the one i had worked on at my sisters and it was still black.
so... i was gonna try to copy that object over to the older one and continue normally. but i couldnt figure out how to.

after fooling around, i opened up another GMax and opened up the older one from my desktop again. this time its bitmap were also black. i fooled around trying to save them to see if that would work but it didnt. i opened up even older versions and they also were black. so something has happened to all of my files.

however i still have the very first one i opened up when i got home open and its still fine, but its the only one. i tried to save it also, but they saved versions were still black.

here is the message i get when i try to open up the files that have black bitmaps instead of the 3-views.
error_2.jpg


really need help on this since i dont want to loose anything. im also going to be leaving my computer running with the correct file open, until i get this fixed.
 
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