Gmax Calibration box help needed

[SKLYF 0]

:( I have been trying now for three days to figure out the method to add the clibration box. Maybe I am completely braindead.I have downloaded the C-162 tutorial, with the backdrop video. No success. I manage the video tutorial to about 60%. As soon as I start the material editor, what I see on my screen is totally different to what the tutorial shows. We both use Gmax 1.2. I can not go further than here because I am not familiar with the material editor to add the image. I have tried, but get nowhere.I have tried the way by drawing in a bitmap as the background and that works, similar than Blender or FSDS, but as soon as I draw in a box with the aircraft dimensions, the popo hits the fan. Apart from getting an error message on how many memory I am going to use for every pixel the mouse move, I can not manage to size the pic and the box to equal size. I have a problem here: I can not spend six hours to size the pic. In FSDS it takes a few minutes.I have also tried the way of the tutorial Creating a Calibration Box by Milton Shupe from the page http://www.flightsimonline.com/gmax/calbox.htm, but I don't get very far. I have managed to draw the calibration box, have detached the six sides. The tutorial then says 8. Now map each and ensure that the uvw map equals the dimensions of the 3-view to be applied. Here I don't manage to get the picture on the side.I am not taking the short route by just asking. I have tried but I don't get it right. I don't want to give in so quickly.I have even bought a Gmax Training video, called Developing Background Box, from FSAlphaDesignGroup at the address of http://www.fsalpha.com/home.shtml, for $6.00. They advertised that you can contact them if you don't get the download link within 30 minutes. After 24 hours I am still waiting.My options are now pointing to this forum for assistance.(The problem with Gmax is that it is rather different from Blender, FSDS, Wings, Carrera, and PunchCad that I am working with or have worked with. No wonder the newbie get imtimidated so quickly and go for FSDS. The build in tutorials is not very hot, but it get you going very quickly.

[tgibson 11]

Avoid backdrops - they are more trouble than they are worth.You will need to learn how to map textures onto an object, so you might as well start with the calibration box. :)Here is part of my "Texturing a building" tutorial that might help. Note that the texture image should usually be a 24 bit BMP file (i.e. millions of colors). Where the tutorial says building or wall, you should use your calibration box instead:8. Save this as a 24 bit (millions of colors) BMP file. If you want to get fancy with layers and such you can save it as a PSD file, but for buildings I usually don't get that fancy. Save it in the same folder that contains your GMAX file, or wherever you like.9. In GMAX, choose a view of the largest side of the building (I usually start with the front side) and select that object. Get this into the selected viewport so you are seeing that side of the building without distortion (Left, Front, etc.). I.e. you are facing that front side.10. Open the Material Editor (red ball) and click New. Choose Standard.11. In the Maps section, click on Diffuse Color. Double click the Bitmap square.12. Browse to where you saved your texture, and select it.13. Click the little blue and white box next to the Name.14. Click the Apply button. The building should change color. Close the Material Editor.15. Select UVW Map from the Modifier List.16. Click the View Align, Fit, and Bitmap Fit buttons in that order. Select your texture and click Open.17. Select Unwrap UVW from the Modifier List. Click the Edit button.18. Click on the cube at the lower right corner of the window that appears, to resize your object. You will see your wall outline and the texture underneath that.19. Click on the 4 headed arrow at the top left of the Unwrap window (Move). Then drag your mouse across the entire object. All the nodes will turn red.20. Select the Uniform Scale button of the Unwrap window. Now put your mouse on one node and drag. The wall will change size. Make it about the same size as the wall on your texture. If you make it much larger or smaller, click the cube again to adjust your zoom.21. Click on the Move button again (in the Unwrap window) and put your mouse on a node. Drag the entire wall so it lines up with your wall texture. You can view this in the Perspective view, if you have the wall visible there, or make the view you are using Smooth + Highlights.22. Use the solid view in the normal viewports to make sure that your wall looks just like you want it to. Repeat using the Move and Uniform Scale until perfect. I map these so a little bit of the texture remains *outside* the wall on all sides. This avoids mipmapping errors when in FS, often leading to off color edges. (Does not apply to a calibration box.) When done close the Unwrap window with the red X.Hope this helps,

Edited February 17, 2012 by tgibson

[SKLYF 0]

Tom,Thanks.Now it make sense.I have mapped one wall and it worked.I had to play around with the four points in the unwrap window, itill I got the whole image in and now it projects perfectly on the wall. From here onwards I can work. Thanks a million.One question:After I started the Material editor, New, I have three choices: Standard, Multi-Material and FlightsimX. What is the FlightsimX for? Reflective image for a final part?

[SKLYF 0]

Together with the backdrop tutorial video of the C-162 tutorial I am making progress, but if I manage to coat the bottom with a texture jpg, it also changes the existing one when I put a new texture to one of the sides. The tutorial of the above mentioned shows how they do it, but still I am battling. Four more hours wasted. I'll get it.

[n4gix 4,947]

One question:After I started the Material editor, New, I have three choices: Standard, Multi-Material and FlightsimX. What is the FlightsimX for? Reflective image for a final part?

For FSX, always choose FlightsimX for your Material. It has special entries specifically required by FSX.For FS9. always choose Standard for your Material.Multi-Material can be used for both FS9 and FSX. This type allows for multiple sub-Materials, which themselves may be either Standard or FlightsimX type Materials.Don't concern yourself with M-M at this time. They are useful only in those rare cases where you need more than one bitmap for a single object. This should never happen when you're working on scenery! :(

[SKLYF 0]

OK,At last I have solved the mystery by doing it over and over and over and.....After I have drawn the box, I have added a Edit Mesh above the box in the Modify box, gone to poly and added a bitmap to the bottom side.Here I got stuck.Then I fugured out that I had to add another Edit mesh above the UVW Mapping in the Modify Hierarchy. I selected the side and repeated the process. I have managed to add a bitmap but I could not manage to rectify it with the UVH Mapping or even the Unwrap. Here I got stuck again.Then I figured it out that to change the bitmap is to click on the Y Alignment and then fit. Now it is working.My biggest problem was the hierarchy: UVW Mapping Edit Mesh UVW Mapping Edit Mesh UVW Mapping Edit Mesh UVW Mapping Edit Mesh BoxYou must read it from the bottom, upwards and not downwards like in some other programs. You have to highlight the upper UVH Mapping entry when you add the next Edit Mesh entryNow it is completely making sense. It was totally Greek no me but now it is so simple. A bit different from Blender, Punchcad, Poser and FSDS but the principles are there.It Is true what they say: Repeat enough, and you will later find it easy.Thanks for your assistance to guide me to the right direction. Now I can run through the introductory tutorials and then to the proper C-162 tutorial. What a tense Sunday afternoon to spend.

[n4gix 4,947]

Just to be on the "safe side," use either Select Mesh or Select Poly instead of their more (potentially destructive) counterparts, Edit Mesh or Edit Poly...As for the stack direction, to me Max's and GMax's "bottom up" paradigm seems to me to be more intuitive than other program's "top down" paradigm......since we are essentially "building a cake and layering things on top of each other." :Nerd:On the other hand, since I began 3d modeling with GMax and later "upgraded" to Max8, then Max9, I had no preconceptions or prior experiences to "get in my way," so perhaps that's part of why the logic seems more intuitive to me. :(

[SKLYF 0]

Actually I find it easier now. I have previously tried Gmax and got nowhere. I have tried Blender as well with no success too. Then I bought three video tutorials from Cartoonsmart and after that I started to get along with Blender. I have tried also several 3d CAD packages until I bought Punchcad Pro 7. It was not difficult to pick it up and easy enough to figure out most of the design problems with that. My engineer drawings get along quite well. I can see what I am planning before I start up my lathe.FSDS I found very easy to learn. You also are in the position to design good stuff but the program is not so powerful as Gmax or other 3d programs like Blender. You have to do most stuff with just basic tools where the full 3D suites have more options. However I am a big mouth now so only time will learn. I am going to try. But I must say it makes more sense now. I have read in another post that Gmax is actually 3DS Max 4. I just hope that they will make a later version of Gmax (3DS Max 6 or in the near future. I am even willing to pay for it. It appears to me that Autodesk is slowly starting to cater for the lower budget customer as well. They are now far advanced with their 123 Program. I can just hope they will further Gmax as well. Even if they only update it to run for further versions of Windows as well.

[tgibson 11]

For the low (i.e. simple) end of the freeware market most people are now using Google Sketchup. Easy to use, and makes objects for FS.http://www.calclassic.com/sketchup_tutorial.htmHope this helps,

[SKLYF 0]

Interesting. I think FSDS will still be my favorite for scenery objects should I ever decide to make some. Maybe for a bush landing strip's building or so.However my interest is really in Aircraft. I am now working through the tutorials that came with Gmax. Not too bad. I got stuck for days with the Calibration Box, but that is now sorted out. Gmax really rocks. So much more powerful than FSDS. I am going to keep playing until I master the program. There are so much more possibilities.

Edited February 20, 2012 by SKLYF