Hallo allemaal!
Ik ben bezig met een Salzburg scenery. Ik weet dat microsoft een scenery creating tutorial bijgevoegd heeft bij het Gmax pakket. Maar het probleem is dat ik geen textverwerker heb die echt goed met het document overweg kan. Ik heb alleen openoffice en die laat juist het stuk weg dat over de LODs gaat. Dus.. Zou iemand het beknopt voor mij uit willen leggen?
Alvast bedankt!
Maarten
Hoe kan je de LODs in Gmax voor de gebouwen maken???
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M_Dutchman
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M_Dutchman
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Arno
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Dit zou hem moeten zijn. Ik heb hem met OpenOffice ge-copy-pasted, dus ik kon ook niet helemaal zien of die alles is.
Creating the LODs
LODs are an important part of the scenery object. LOD means Level of Detail. When you get far away from an object, it becomes so small on screen that you really can’t make out most of the detail of the object. The LODs take advantage of this fact and use lower resolution versions of the model as it gets smaller onscreen. This increases performance of the object and creates much lower polygon counts at a distance.
Overview
Steps
The format for LODs is a dummy named the same as the filename, with each of the LODs linked to it. The LODs should all be named [filename]_LOD_[number] where [filename] is the name of the file minus the “.max†extension and the number is 0-100. LOD 100 is the highest resolution LOD which means it shows up when you are the closest to it. LOD 010 is the lowest resolution, which means it shows up when it is very far away.
Now we need to make a medium LOD for medium distances away.
1.On the Create tab, click on the Helpers button.
2.On the Helpers section of the Create tab click on the Dummy button.
3.In any of the four viewports, click and drag to create a dummy object. The size of the dummy does not matter.
4.Click on the Select and Move button. Then right-click on the Select and Move button. This will bring up the Move Transfom Type-In dialog. In the Move Transfom Type-In dialog, make sure that x,y and z in the Absolute:World section are all at 0.0. Change the properties to 0.0 if they are not already. This is important because the model will be placed in the world based on the position of this root node. If it is offset in Gmax, it will be offset in Flight Simulator.
5. In the Modify tab, the name of the dummy will appear in the Name box as “Dummy01â€. Select these words and change them to match the name of the file name minus the “.max†extension. If your file is named House.max, then name the dummy “Houseâ€.
6.Click the Select and Link button at the top of Gmax. This will allow you to set up a hierarchy so that the dummy is the parent of the object.
7.Click and hold on the house. Then drag the cursor toward the dummy object. As you drag, you will notice the cursor change. When the top part is grey, it means you won’t link to anything. When the top part shows a circle with a line through it, it means you can’t link to that object. When the cursor turns white, it means you can link to that object. Move the cursor around with the mouse button held down until you see the white cursor over the dummy object. When you release the mouse button in this state, the dummy object will flash white. This means you have successfully linked the house to the dummy object.
8.Click the Select Object button at the top of Gmax to get out of Select and Link mode.
9.Select the house. In the Modify tab, change the name of the house to be the name of the filename, followed by “_LOD_100â€. So if your file is named “Houseâ€, the house should be named “House_LOD_100â€.
10.Click the Select and Move button at the top of Gmax.
11.Click on the house to select it. To duplicate it for the next LOD, hold down the Shift key and then click on the house. This will bring up the Clone Options dialog.
12.In the Clone Options dialog, change the suffix of the name of the object from LOD_100 to LOD_050. You now have two copies of the house in your scene in the exact same place. You can see this by clicking on the Select By Name button at the top of Gmax. This will bring up the Select Objects dialog. Your dialog should look something like this:
13.Click on “House_LOD_050†so that it is highlighted, then press the Select button. This will select that object for you in the viewport. This is a handy tool to use when you have a lot of object overlapping.
14.In any viewport, right-click on the selected house. This will bring up the Quad Menu. Move the mouse over the Quad Menu until Hide Unselected is highlighted. Click on Hide Unselected. This will hide everything in the scene except for the 050 LOD of the house (since it was selected, it doesn’t get hidden). Now you can work on the 050 LOD without worrying about the 100 LOD or the dummy getting in the way. (If you want to view the other objects again, just right-click in the viewport and bring up the Quad Menu. Then select Unhide All to unhide everything.)
15.Select the House_LOD_050 and then go into Vertex mode in the Modify tab. In the Weld section in the Edit Geometry rollout, press the Target button. This will put you into Target Weld mode. (This allows you to select a vertex and then weld it to another vertex. This is a fast and intuitive way of reducing the polygons in your model. Because this is LOD_050, you want to reduce almost half of the polygons in the model. The best place to start is the small details like the fascia boards which won’t show up in the distance anyway.)
16.While in Target Weld mode, click on one of the lower corner vertices of the fascia boards of the house. Like this one:
17.While still in Target Weld mode, click and hold the vertex. Your cursor should be a set of move arrows. As you pass over vertices, it will turn into a white cross. If you let go while the cursor is a white cross, it will weld the selected vertex with the new vertex, making them one single vertex. Like this:
18.Go around the LOD_050 and weld all of the bottom vertices of the fascia to the top vertices of the fascia using the Target Weld. Do them one at a time and be careful not to weld the vertex to a vertex in the background of the scene. Your model should look like this:
Notice that you can barely tell the difference from the LOD_100 and the LOD_050 from a distance. However, you have just reduced the model by 22 polygons. This isn’t a huge amount and most video cards won’t even notice this difference on a single model. However, if you have a much higher polygon count on your model, like 1000 polygons, then reducing it %25 means 250 polygons. Apply that to 100 buildings in an airport and suddenly you’ve saved yourself 25,000 polygons in the mid distance.
19.Using the same techniques described above, duplicate your LOD_050 and name it House_LOD_010. Then use the Target Weld to reduce the LOD_010 to the minimum amount of polygons while still retaining its shape. My LOD_010 has 28 polygons and looks like this:
Note that you may have to adjust some of the UVW mapping after you reduce the number of polygons. Do this by using UVW Unwrap as before.
20.On the File menu, select Save.
Creating the LODs
LODs are an important part of the scenery object. LOD means Level of Detail. When you get far away from an object, it becomes so small on screen that you really can’t make out most of the detail of the object. The LODs take advantage of this fact and use lower resolution versions of the model as it gets smaller onscreen. This increases performance of the object and creates much lower polygon counts at a distance.
Overview
Steps
The format for LODs is a dummy named the same as the filename, with each of the LODs linked to it. The LODs should all be named [filename]_LOD_[number] where [filename] is the name of the file minus the “.max†extension and the number is 0-100. LOD 100 is the highest resolution LOD which means it shows up when you are the closest to it. LOD 010 is the lowest resolution, which means it shows up when it is very far away.
Now we need to make a medium LOD for medium distances away.
1.On the Create tab, click on the Helpers button.
2.On the Helpers section of the Create tab click on the Dummy button.
3.In any of the four viewports, click and drag to create a dummy object. The size of the dummy does not matter.
4.Click on the Select and Move button. Then right-click on the Select and Move button. This will bring up the Move Transfom Type-In dialog. In the Move Transfom Type-In dialog, make sure that x,y and z in the Absolute:World section are all at 0.0. Change the properties to 0.0 if they are not already. This is important because the model will be placed in the world based on the position of this root node. If it is offset in Gmax, it will be offset in Flight Simulator.
5. In the Modify tab, the name of the dummy will appear in the Name box as “Dummy01â€. Select these words and change them to match the name of the file name minus the “.max†extension. If your file is named House.max, then name the dummy “Houseâ€.
6.Click the Select and Link button at the top of Gmax. This will allow you to set up a hierarchy so that the dummy is the parent of the object.
7.Click and hold on the house. Then drag the cursor toward the dummy object. As you drag, you will notice the cursor change. When the top part is grey, it means you won’t link to anything. When the top part shows a circle with a line through it, it means you can’t link to that object. When the cursor turns white, it means you can link to that object. Move the cursor around with the mouse button held down until you see the white cursor over the dummy object. When you release the mouse button in this state, the dummy object will flash white. This means you have successfully linked the house to the dummy object.
8.Click the Select Object button at the top of Gmax to get out of Select and Link mode.
9.Select the house. In the Modify tab, change the name of the house to be the name of the filename, followed by “_LOD_100â€. So if your file is named “Houseâ€, the house should be named “House_LOD_100â€.
10.Click the Select and Move button at the top of Gmax.
11.Click on the house to select it. To duplicate it for the next LOD, hold down the Shift key and then click on the house. This will bring up the Clone Options dialog.
12.In the Clone Options dialog, change the suffix of the name of the object from LOD_100 to LOD_050. You now have two copies of the house in your scene in the exact same place. You can see this by clicking on the Select By Name button at the top of Gmax. This will bring up the Select Objects dialog. Your dialog should look something like this:
13.Click on “House_LOD_050†so that it is highlighted, then press the Select button. This will select that object for you in the viewport. This is a handy tool to use when you have a lot of object overlapping.
14.In any viewport, right-click on the selected house. This will bring up the Quad Menu. Move the mouse over the Quad Menu until Hide Unselected is highlighted. Click on Hide Unselected. This will hide everything in the scene except for the 050 LOD of the house (since it was selected, it doesn’t get hidden). Now you can work on the 050 LOD without worrying about the 100 LOD or the dummy getting in the way. (If you want to view the other objects again, just right-click in the viewport and bring up the Quad Menu. Then select Unhide All to unhide everything.)
15.Select the House_LOD_050 and then go into Vertex mode in the Modify tab. In the Weld section in the Edit Geometry rollout, press the Target button. This will put you into Target Weld mode. (This allows you to select a vertex and then weld it to another vertex. This is a fast and intuitive way of reducing the polygons in your model. Because this is LOD_050, you want to reduce almost half of the polygons in the model. The best place to start is the small details like the fascia boards which won’t show up in the distance anyway.)
16.While in Target Weld mode, click on one of the lower corner vertices of the fascia boards of the house. Like this one:
17.While still in Target Weld mode, click and hold the vertex. Your cursor should be a set of move arrows. As you pass over vertices, it will turn into a white cross. If you let go while the cursor is a white cross, it will weld the selected vertex with the new vertex, making them one single vertex. Like this:
18.Go around the LOD_050 and weld all of the bottom vertices of the fascia to the top vertices of the fascia using the Target Weld. Do them one at a time and be careful not to weld the vertex to a vertex in the background of the scene. Your model should look like this:
Notice that you can barely tell the difference from the LOD_100 and the LOD_050 from a distance. However, you have just reduced the model by 22 polygons. This isn’t a huge amount and most video cards won’t even notice this difference on a single model. However, if you have a much higher polygon count on your model, like 1000 polygons, then reducing it %25 means 250 polygons. Apply that to 100 buildings in an airport and suddenly you’ve saved yourself 25,000 polygons in the mid distance.
19.Using the same techniques described above, duplicate your LOD_050 and name it House_LOD_010. Then use the Target Weld to reduce the LOD_010 to the minimum amount of polygons while still retaining its shape. My LOD_010 has 28 polygons and looks like this:
Note that you may have to adjust some of the UVW mapping after you reduce the number of polygons. Do this by using UVW Unwrap as before.
20.On the File menu, select Save.
Arno
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M_Dutchman
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M_Dutchman
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Hallo Erikro!Erikro wrote:Waar vind ik die manual dan (heb zelf geen gmax) wil het best even doen als het niet teveel werk is.
Bedankt voor je aanbod, maar Arno heeft het al gekopieerd. En het zou een beetje te veel werk voor je zijn, want dan zou je eerst ook nog eens het 30mb grote Gmax pakket moeten downloaden!
Nog bedankt!
Maarten
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