Newest EDM Model Tools

[SkateZilla]

This is the Result of:

-Deleting the Diffuse Layer from the Bort Material

-Clearing the Specular Layer from the Bort Material

-Assign Alpha Transparency

-Drop Opacity to 80% to allow some specular to show through.

 

This may be the best way for this model, as it has no where near the vertices the BST F-86 has when comparing the UVW Overlays between the 2 models, and I think cutting the polys is creating errant vertices and messing up the smoothing groups.

 

 

Edited September 17, 2016 by SkateZilla

[SkateZilla]

Skate, this is where I had difficulty. The solution that worked for me is a bit time consuming though.

 

1. I made the cuts, but did not separate.

 

2. I applied a Normal modifier, selected all the normal and made them explicit.

 

3. Made 3 copies of the object.

 

4. (one object at a time) delete polies around the bort number section.

--- 1st object delete bort number area.

---2nd object, delete all polies but 001

---** 010

---** 100

 

It's important not to detach the section, but delete the polies around them.

 

For export, go to the settings and check/select "mark def off"

 

I'll give that a shot tomorrow, if it works, great, but the method I'm using now is so far the least trouble, and I can hide/Un-hide the -E/-F/-G Airframe groups and the bort meshes will still be there.

 

But Yeah, I Detached them puppies, But as Soon as I made the cut is when the smoothing went crazy.

[SkateZilla]

So I Finished using the method I started, Just got some Aliasing on the Numbers.

 

I saved all the Cut boxes, so I can Re-Import Meshes before I cut them and re-cut, I Might try next weekend to cut and do it the way you did, and hopefully that solves the aliasing problem.

 

I still need to place cut boxes for the Australian RAAF Markings Anyway.

[Morkva_55]

Why did you cut out plates for board numbers? Decal plate can be easily placed on to any mesh by

or geometry projection script. Edited September 19, 2016 by Morkva_55

[SkateZilla]

Cause I'm Just Weird.. lol,

 

No, But if you want to use Composite Textures (ie Layer 1 is the Diffuse, 2 is Decal, 3 is Damage, etc etc), you have to Cut the Bort Meshes Out, and Adjust the UV Map for Channel 2 etc)

 

The only issue with the method I did was Aliasing on the numbers., and 111 looks like 1 1 1, but I'll just add a bit of V Shift to keyframe 1 to bring the 100 and 001 in closer.

Edited September 19, 2016 by SkateZilla

[Morkva_55]

Cause I'm Just Weird.. lol,

 

No, But if you want to use Composite Textures (ie Layer 1 is the Diffuse, 2 is Decal, 3 is Damage, etc etc), you have to Cut the Bort Meshes Out, and Adjust the UV Map for Channel 2 etc)

 

I'm understood, thank you!

[SkateZilla]

Skate, this is where I had difficulty. The solution that worked for me is a bit time consuming though.

 

1. I made the cuts, but did not separate.

 

2. I applied a Normal modifier, selected all the normal and made them explicit.

 

3. Made 3 copies of the object.

 

4. (one object at a time) delete polies around the bort number section.

--- 1st object delete bort number area.

---2nd object, delete all polies but 001

---** 010

---** 100

 

It's important not to detach the section, but delete the polies around them.

 

For export, go to the settings and check/select "mark def off"

 

 

I did go back and try this, but for some reason, Immediately after making the cuts everything smoothing wise is messed up,

 

even after trying the above, likely due to editing a poly that wasnt meant to be cut.

 

 

I'm going to try other things this weekend possibly,

-Different Cutting methods, see which one preserves smoothing the best. (Boolean, Pro Boolean, Procutter, Edit Poly/Cut, etc etc)

-I also tried doing the cuts w/ all smoothing groups disabled first.

-Use modifier to increase polycount some to make cuts more localized in terms of effecting normals/smoothing.

Edited September 29, 2016 by SkateZilla

[SkateZilla]

I'm getting errors with the latest edm tools, 116871 program cannot start because physfs.dll is missing, specified module cannot be found etc.

 

Do I need additional files ?

 

I notice it installs files for nevada, + normandy, is the latest version for 3rd party devs only ?

 

I rolled back to 115645, no problems there.

 

Its not always the best thing to install the latest versions.

 

They are compiled daily, but the newer versions may need additional libraries that arent public yet.

[SkateZilla]

Bravo, welcome to the club! :D

 

(Old video. Since we went EFM, LEFs and wing flex have been separated.)

 

Just a Lil Update on Wing-Flex, Vapor and Borts, for the Super Bug.

 

Bort Meshes:

I did get the Bort meshes done, just not using composite textures due to smoothing corruption (Might not be a issue if I increase the quads, it's on my list of things to try on a separate saved max file).

 

So the External now has borts on the Nose, Wings, Vertical Stabilizers for USN/USA,

Also has RAAF Location Borts for RAAF F/A-18Fs, as well as Bort Animations Assigned to the last 3 Numbers of the BuNos, (w/ Textures Off set, so numbers will appear random and not match the Aircraft Number, also, the 100 and 001's were given a 2nd shift for the 1 keyframes, so 111 doesn't look like 1 1 1 ). For Progress And Development the Borts are in their own Max Scene, and I simply save the file and import the bort groups to the main scene.

 

Possibly some new screenshots this weekend once I get new build ready.

 

 

As for Wing Flex...

Oh, My Lordy, One day Progress is great, the next I find many issues, lol.

 

Slowly Practicing and Progressing on Setting it up w/ Multiple Parts on the Wings, and Optimizing it so it looks presentable.

 

On the bright site, for fun I added a little bi of flex to the vertical stabilizers as well, and tested their shift in High G Pulls, etc... Looks very nice.. and is easier due to less control surfaces to re-animate, and only needing a few dummy boxes for lights etc.

 

I'm actually looking for a previously posted F-18 Cockpit Video that showed the Vertical Stabs during High G Pulls etc, cant Seem to Find it, it was HD and F/A-18E w/ a decent FoV that showed the Stab flex nicely,

I've based the flex off of what I've seen so far in Cockpit Videos (most being 240p) of F/A-18C Displays from USN and Finland I think.

 

 

Vapor:

The LERX Vapor Fade is Working great, still being tweaked, Also integrating a volumetric fading vapor onto the wings to replace the flat texture shift, maybe tweaking the flat texture to work w/ the volumetric meshes, other wise, still in progress.

Edited October 18, 2016 by SkateZilla

[dali]

hey Skate, great news. Could you tell us more about the mechanism behind LERX Vapor? What are the triggers for it?

[Blaze]

hey Skate, great news. Could you tell us more about the mechanism behind LERX Vapor? What are the triggers for it?

 

The wing flex trigger.

[indiadamjones]

Bort Numbers

 

Here are my notes for Bort animations in blog format. Morkova_55 very nice technique for projecting the numbers. I used something more rudimentary, but I like your technique.

 

https://www.megabotix.com/dcs/dcs-world-bort-number-animations-3ds/

[SkateZilla]

Here are my notes for Bort animations in blog format. Morkova_55 very nice technique for projecting the numbers. I used something more rudimentary, but I like your technique.

 

https://www.megabotix.com/dcs/dcs-world-bort-number-animations-3ds/

 

Pretty Much I did Pro-Boolean, and Made the BORT Meshes separate on top of the aircraft mesh, instead of just having a Composite Texture on a Single mesh.

[Alphazulu]

Can anyone explain to me why when I download the EDM plugin that says it works for 3DS Max 2008+ and shows 2008 in the screen shots for the install now only has 2010 and 2014 as options?

 

http://en.wiki.eagle.ru/wiki/EDM_plugin#EDM_Export_Toolbar

 

Thanks,

[luckybob9]

Can anyone explain to me why when I download the EDM plugin that says it works for 3DS Max 2008+ and shows 2008 in the screen shots for the install now only has 2010 and 2014 as options?

 

http://en.wiki.eagle.ru/wiki/EDM_plugin#EDM_Export_Toolbar

 

Thanks,

That tutorial was probably created when plugins for Max 2008 were available. I don't think Max 2008 has been supported for over a year now

[SkateZilla]

The wing flex trigger.

 

The AI uses the Wing Flex Trigger, however when I use Support Cockpit to test animations I use a Custom Script.

 

if there was a way for the AI to use custom scripts I'd be happy, because I'd be able to define Surface Deflections based off the real DFCS, as well as other items instead of hot linking them to other animations.

[SkateZilla]

So.. Since Day 1 I've had this issue on and off, and when I think it's "off", it's really still there just hidden.

(IF I open a specific file before, it seems to hide most of the problem, but it still exists and is rather annoying.)

 

So, This Image:

 

 

I've tried everything, clearing normals, quadifymesh, mesh smooth, etc etc,

 

none of them fix the problem, they just make it bigger or smaller.

 

The issue is, the smoothing, no matter what I do, aside from making the entire spine mesh it's own smoothing group, that one vertex always seems to make that one spot look corrupted.

 

I've also gone as far as edit poly and adding an extra cut, which eliminates it but confines it to the lower group of polygons.

 

 

 

Even after the cut you can clearly see the bottom row of polys inheriting the brightness from the LERX and Flat area instead of matching the spine, despite the spine and LERX being in the same smoothing group.

 

Any Suggestions?

 

Also If I cut any lower than what I did, the original size fo the problem returns as the poly will inherit the LERX lighting despite being part of the Spine.

 

 

The next thing I try again is basic 3 groups, and do it all manually this time,

So Spin = Group 1

LERX/Wing Root = Group 2

Then Highlight the 1st Row of each and make group 3, then hide those polys and put the details in their groups as well.

 

But If I can some how tell that one Vertex to Inherit Lighting differently then it would resolve the problem completely.

Edited October 28, 2016 by SkateZilla

[joey45]

Is it like that without the texture layer?

[SkateZilla]

Is it like that without the texture layer?

 

yes, If I remove all textres the light spot remains, and it's on both sides of the spine, and related to the single vertex where the spine meets the LERX Surface

 

The weird part is if I open a specific max file first (an older project), then open this one, the error in the exported smoothing groups is less pronounce with the lighted area in the shadows.

 

But I'd rather fix it then having to open a old max file then the project file just to make it less apparent.

 

I'm pretty sure moving the vertex also effects the size,

 

Like the smoothing group is inherting light from the wrong edge or something., I've also deleted those polygons and then re-created them and the problem remains.

Edited October 28, 2016 by SkateZilla

[karambiatos]

Can you give us a good screenshot of the area, with visible edges?

 

To me it either looks like a normals issue on that vertex, double vertices, a smoothing group strangeness.

 

Also try resetting xform, just for the hell of it and convert to editable poly.

 

Honestly, the best thing to do is upload that part of the model (just those few polygons) that gives you the error, so that we can have a look at it.

[SkateZilla]

Can you give us a good screenshot of the area, with visible edges?

 

To me it either looks like a normals issue on that vertex, double vertices, a smoothing group strangeness.

 

Also try resetting xform, just for the hell of it and convert to editable poly.

 

Honestly, the best thing to do is upload that part of the model (just those few polygons) that gives you the error, so that we can have a look at it.

 

Cannot share MAX File at this time,

 

But I've Tried Resetting XForm, Deleting Poly and Re-Creating, Etc etc,

 

I think since that Vertex or Edge is inheriting light from the edge below it on the wing is the problem,

 

I might have to make more cuts and re-do smoothing groups again manually.

[SkateZilla]

I think I've narrowed it down to Crossing Over Normals, I can adjust the normals for that edge/face, and see the spot fix itself in 3DS with hardware lighting and shading enabled and positioning a light source so it shows,

 

But exporting keeps the same spot in model viewer (gotta check exporter normals settings)

[Blaze]

Latest Modelviewer in 1.5.5 OB has a bunch of new keyboard shortcuts switching between different view modes.

 

Shading modes:
F1 - standard
F2 - wireframe
F3 - albedo
F4 - normals
F5 - roughness
F6 - metallic
F7 - emissive
F8 - material errors
F9 - albedo balance

Common:
Ctrl-O - load model
Ctrl-C - show connectors dialog
Ctrl-L - show liveries dialog
Ctrl-Shift-R - reload shaders

 

Looks like prep work for 2.5 and the new shaders/lighting system. Wondering how much work will be needed to re-work model textures.

[joey45]

From my limited knowledge albedo is related to PBR.

[SkateZilla]

From my limited knowledge albedo is related to PBR.

 

Albedo is similar to Diffuse, it's a Base map without Light though, so no Ambient Occlusion or Shadowing should be baked on to the Texture

 

Roughness and Metallic are also part of PBR.

 

There are several videos for PBR Rendering on Youtube..