Problem with 3DS - my first steps!

[Chicky]

Ahh, how nice to have a program which is so easy to use and yet so powerful! Excellent!

Okay, so i'm learning 3ds max in prep for a degree in digital media that i will be taking next year.

But i'm having problems!

I've made a house, go me  But now editing polygons im having a problem using the camera in 'perspective' view. I've never had problems with this kinda of thing before but the camera seems to lock up when zooming in and out. For example if i zoom too far in the zoom will lock and i wont be able to zoom in/out anymore (sometimes if i keep scrolling back to zoom out eventually it will zoom out).

This is very annoying! I want to carry on creating my house but i can't do so untill i can get my head around this damn camera.

Any help would be much apreciated.

kind regards,

[ildu]

It's an old problem that's in pretty much all 3D programs. Basically there's an origin point, and the closer you zoom into this point, the less you can zoom. It's exponential, like an x² curve in math. It's very difficult for me to explain. All I know is, the problem has always been a scorn for me, too. But you learn to avoid it by experience, by using the other camera tools instead of just zoom and rotate.

Whenever I get it, I just open up the file again, so the perspective camera goes to it's default position. There is a camera default key, but I can't remember what it is. Plus, you can always go and default all the viewports from 'Viewports -> Layout'. Plus, whenever I start any new workfile, I always create two user cameras, one for simulating the final render camera position and the other for a more manouverable examining of objects, and I use those two cameras to model. Once you get used to using them, you don't even need the perspective view anymore.

[Chicky]

Ah okay, thanks. I guess i'll learn to get around it.

I can't believe some of the things people make in 3d, im struggling with simple flat surfaced walls and doors, i cant even imagine how a human face would be made.

[MrColossal]

That's weird, I've never had that problem...  what happens when you hit 'z' and try and zoom again?

are you using hot keys to zoom or the magnifying lens?

[Chicky]

I was using the scroll on my middle mouse button, Eric.

Ive found that if i use crtl+alt+middle mouse button to zoom then it has no limit whatsoever, which is strange. So i'm using that at the moment.

[Chicky]

Jesus, i'm trying to texture now and this is one hell of a struggle!

Trying to follow a tutorial about uv maps but it makes almost no sense, is there no, strait forward easy way of grabbing a map of the object and being able to import a texture to it?

[scotch]

Unfortunately not, mapping is one of the most mundane tasks you'll have to do as a modeller. There are lots of ways to flatten out a curved surface onto a plane, depending on what your priorities are (like with all the different globe -> map projections that exit). A computer can't tell how you would like to paint the model, which parts are logically connected in the painted skin, which parts you want to have more texture area, which parts of a surface it's worth distorting to keep things joined up and so on, so it can't do it automatically. The mapping tools have become a bit better than they were, but you still have to UV map manually for most complex models. The only good news is it doesn't take too long to learn... you get into a pattern of working pretty quickly and can zone out while doing it.

[ildu]

Select the model -> add a modifier for the uvs that best describes your texturing (plane, cube, sphere, diamond) -> add a UVWUnwrap modifier -> select whole model or separate faces on the model -> press EDIT in the UVWUnwrap modifier roll-out -> edit the texture coordinates as you like.

[InCreator]

Modifiers > UV Coordinates > UVW map
is basically all you need. (Until you learn to use unwrap UVW (I never did))

From there, you can set maps to face, box, cylinder, sphere... and this is also basically all you should need to texture stuff.
With actually awful texturing in all 3D programs (I've never seen any tech that really helps) it's not about finding the right tool but planning texturing correctly. Simple box mapping helps out in most cases, and if not, planar.

What I find extremely stupid about Max is that in material editor, there's a limit to material slots. But my single scene takes hundreds of materials and I need them all modifiable quickly. I wonder why they (discreet/autodesk) haven't gotten past this even if it's 9th installment already.

[MrColossal]

have you tried multi/subobject materials?

[CaptainBinky]

What I find extremely stupid about Max is that in material editor, there's a limit to material slots. But my single scene takes hundreds of materials and I need them all modifiable quickly. I wonder why they (discreet/autodesk) haven't gotten past this even if it's 9th installment already

I've never had a problem with this. Most materials are part of a multi/sub-object material and since you can pick materials easily enough from the scene using the Material/Map Browser, I usually end up with 10 or so active materials in the editor at any one time.

[ildu]

The material slots can be expanded. There's a button lets you see as many as you like. Plus, I'd suggest learning unwrapping from the very beginning, because that's what real skinning is all about. And anyways, you're gonna have to learn it sometime in the future, so why delay it. Of course, you usually don't need it for simple objects, but the EDIT function itself gives you the tools to fully customize your skinnings. For example, if you've got a rectangular prism with different sizes of faces and you want each face size to show a different image, you'll have to exceed the cube mapping to customize the skinning, unless the default parameters satisfy your demands.

[CaptainBinky]

The material slots can be expanded. There's a button lets you see as many as you like.

I'm not aware of any way to have more than the 24 slots you've got. You can switch the thumbnail size from 3x2 to 6x4 of course so you don't need to scroll, but that's about it. Or is this what you mean?

[InCreator]

I don't like multi-sub materials, because it's a hassle to disable reflection/bump etc for quick render or any other thing I wanted to do with my materials. Using instances make it a quick mess aswell. Of course, i'm using multimaps on some things when they're really needed.

Expand... possibilty?! Never seen. Simplest I've used is to clear whole material editor and use eyedropper to quickly put back materials I need to mod. But I want a full overview of my materials, often on recycle or merge some. 24 slots just doesn't cut it.
Or let me put it this way: out of all improvements on max, It's a crime to forget so tiny and easy one.

[CaptainBinky]

Why don't you just leave the Material/Map Browser Dialog open (and set to scene) - then you can drag and drop materials into your material editor any time you want to edit them? Then you can see every material in your scene in one go.