Ugly shadows on my meshes

[legacy-Ghost Enigma]

I think, and don't quote me on this, that the problem lies in the form of lighting the engine uses. (Vertex lighting.) Basically, the larger the number of vertices, ergo polygons, your object will have the more accurately it will be lit. You can always tessellate your object, but this isn't feasible in many situations. Another options is to create a shadow map, but that can be a pain in the *** for things you want to be able to use in many situations.

Long story short there is no perfect way of doing things, a lot of it is trial and error.

[legacy-chipV2]

Originally posted by NiTrOcALyPsE
That's not an option; I don't have several hundred dollars to spend on 3DS Max.

don't i wish, "hundreds"!

off by a factor of ten, unfortunately

[legacy-NiTrOcALyPsE]

Originally posted by ultramegaporn
get 3ds max !!!
its easy to use and you can weld,triangulate,import export,uvw map,unwrap,texture bake, or render or whateva BS you want with it .....its better than any educational edition freeware ****:bulb:

That's not an option; I don't have several hundred dollars to spend on 3DS Max.

[legacy-LOVE-FEST]

Maya's ActorX plugin works really well.

I saw Logan from 3dbuzz do a demo at Siggraph late last year, using the ActorX plugin for Maya. He created his geometry, textured it, and brought it all into UED via the ActorX plugin. They were very impressed with it--but they hadn't tried a piece with smoothed edges (equiv being smoothing groups in Max).

ActorX requires a licensed version of either Maya and Max to use the plugin. So, you can't use the ActorX plugin, without owning a licensed version of the progam[s]

[legacy-ultramegaporn]

get 3ds max !!!
its easy to use and you can weld,triangulate,import export,uvw map,unwrap,texture bake, or render or whateva BS you want with it .....its better than any educational edition freeware ****:bulb:

[legacy-LOVE-FEST]

mmmm maybe.

But if you turn up ambient glow, rely less on UED lighting, or make it unlit altogether, you might be able to avoid it completely.

I'd have to test his problem to see if I could find a solution.

Also, go to UnrealTechnolgy.com forum and ask them. They have some experts that can help. Search out mr.slackpants too. He's expeirienced

[legacy-NiTrOcALyPsE]

I have yet to learn maya so the following question may be wrong, but will I get the same lighting problems as Salem78 if I use lightmaps on my imported meshes?

[legacy-Gusher]

I want to point out that there's another 3d modeler with strong community support anod best of all it's free! This 3d modeler is inspired by Mirai and Nendo which are very expensive......

It's called Wings3d and the good news is that someone just made a Lightwave export plugin for it. (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...gs_plugins.htm) ..

http://pub161.ezboard.com/fnendowing...picID=69.topic

http://www.wings3d.com/

[legacy-chipV2]

Maya PLE isn't **** -- it works exactly as advertised, as a learning tool for the full Maya. it was never intended as a game-production-only version ala gmax.

the unEditor.mll plugin, which was not produced by Alias and is not a part of the standard PLE download, is the weak link in the exports from Maya 4 PLE.

keep the criticism where it belongs.

[legacy-Salem78]

Originally posted by LOVE-FEST
The term is "merge" in Maya, and "Weld" in Max.

Oh I see, yes I usually merge vertices but in this case all vertices are already merged.

Originally posted by chipV2
even after following all suggestions, this model will probably still look like **** because Maya 4 PLE models lose all hard/soft edge info when exported to UEd -- everything gets smoothed. note the lack of a hard edge on the sides of the slab. hopefully this will be fixed in future unEditor.mll plugin versions, but that remains to be seen.

Yes, I wrote another thread about hard/soft egdes, couldn't get my meshes with hard egdes. MayaPLE is really ****:down:

Originally posted by DraZtiK
Or you can try LightWave.
http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums...readid=325899&

I'm trying Lightwave now and have read your tutorial and have saved and imported it into Ued....seems to work fine, Thanks!:up:

[legacy-Gusher]

Originally posted by DraZtiK
Sorry Gusher...I'm not dissing 3DMax cause I use it too. but but but...you don't need to buy anything or use any other programs to create and import DIRECTLY into unrealed.


Also its easy to get around the vert limit if your meshes are truly large by just breaking the mesh up a tad before importing. anyway 400 points will go far...and I post this to help mappers, not push anything.:up: Again I like max too!

I almost forgot......http://www.milkshape3d.com is another alternative........it can export to lightwave format......and can export to PSK........also imports huge listed popular 3d formats.....

it's very cheap proggy...$25.00

www.unwrap3d.com is a must have!.......it's the ultimate tool for skinners and prefabbers........ $39.00


with those 2 cheap tools you will have all the power needed for making static meshes......

Most important of all is that I hope the plugin for Maya PLE gets fixed......that's priority....I'm sure they will

[legacy-LOVE-FEST]

The term is "merge" in Maya, and "Weld" in Max.

To "merge" vertices, go to "Edit Polygons > Merge Vertices"

The goal is to make clean triangulated meshes. sometimes you need to merge verts and then delete them so you don't have mannifold triangulated polys all over your meshes, that don't need to be there.

Also, I would rebuild your surfaces, using the clean up tool. And then merge any unwanted verts, to reduce your poly count.

Try this (sometimes in differing order):

1. Merge Verts: First make sure all verts are properly merged.

Select your object, right click on it, select "vetex", left moust click, or marquee select over the verts in question; Edit Polygons > Merge Vertices; then if desired, delete those unwanted verts.

2. Delete unwanted edges:

right click on your object. select "edge" (now in sub object mode), select your edges (mulitple use shift + left moust select; delete edges.

3. Clean Up your meshes: Go to "Polygons > Cleanup" (read up on this in the help files).

Done

[legacy-DraZtiK]

Sorry Gusher...I'm not dissing 3DMax cause I use it too. but but but...you don't need to buy anything or use any other programs to create and import DIRECTLY into unrealed.


Also its easy to get around the vert limit if your meshes are truly large by just breaking the mesh up a tad before importing. anyway 400 points will go far...and I post this to help mappers, not push anything.:up: Again I like max too!

[legacy-Gusher]

Originally posted by DraZtiK
Or you can try LightWave.


http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums...readid=325899&

But but but...........

QUote
The LightWave 3D Discovery Edition is a fully functioning version of LightWave where objects can be saved with up to 400 points, and renders are subtly watermarked.
unquote


Gmax is not limited and has no watermarks..........all you need is th9e md3 export script addon and Unwrap3d........

[legacy-DraZtiK]

Or you can try LightWave.


http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums...readid=325899&