Simple Gmax texturing tutorial video

[Bill Womack 7]

Hi everyone,I was trying to help a friend who was new to Gmax texture some simple buildings over the weekend, and after attempting to write down the texturing process, it occurred to me that it might be easier to show it visually. I've just uploaded the first of my video tutorials to my site at http://www.antelopesimworks.com/tutorials/...g-texturing.wmv if you're interested. This is NOT for people who already have a handle on texturing in Gmax, but is designed for newbies who haven't quite put all the pieces together yet.thanks,

[scott967 62]

Thanks Bill -- that's why I stick to terrain rather than modeling!!! but this seems like a pretty good tutorial. do you do this for a living?scott s..

[Bill Womack 7]

Thanks, Scott. You know, if you had asked me a year ago if I did this for a living I would have scoffed. But now? Uh, yeah, I guess I do. The transition from hobbyist to professional sneaks up on you sometimes like that ;-).

[Guest VirtualNavy]

Wow excellent work Bill! I never have used the id's before so this was sure helpful for us.Thanks much for the work you put into this and we will see ya at the next convention!:-wave James D. SmithC-in-C Virtual Navy

[Guest bob5568]

Nice one Bill...I texture upside down to you....isn't that a kick.you use material IDs to keep the uvm organized, and use the uvmap to compose your texture.I compose the texture using the imagry at hand, and use a planar map, with uvw edit activity to marry the map to the image.Both work...Not sure if I'd like your way better...guess I'll have to try it.Best,Bob Bernstein

[Bill Womack 7]

That poor cat just keeps getting skinned in different ways! Good point, Bob. In fact, there are about as many ways to approach a problem in Gmax as there are modelers willing to try. I'll have to look at your way as well. I think most of us are always on the lookout for a more streamlined workflow.EDIT: I thought for a minute about what you were saying, Bob, and realized that I do it your way as well. This tutorial was a simple one for people new to Gmax, but I find that if I have good source photos, I often use them as a guide for modeling using the technique you outlined. I'll have to cover that at some point in a tut as well.

[arno 1]

Hi Bill,Very nice tutorial. Always nice to see how other designers do it :). I might even be able to learn something from this, as I never use the IDs myself. Also I don't use the UVW Map and the Unwrap together like you do here. But this might be a nice approach to remember for some situations.As Bob already indicated as well, I usually design my texture first. But that might also be because from experience I now know what kind of textures I can easily map on a certain geometry. Once I have the texture I just drag and drop it onto my geometry (I guess I am too lazy to create the material like you showed) and then map it till it is where I want it.But as well all know of course, there are probably one hundred ways to do something in GMax and all lead to the result we want :).

[Guest bfac]

You couldn't have made it any simpler Bill, that is one tutorial that I will be refering to from now on. I can't believe it is that simple to create texture maps. Thank you.Dave.

[jonpatch 1]

Great tutorial, Bill. Your silken voice is of course just one more highlight. I too use Arno/Bob's method, but it's cool to see a different spin on this.A note for folks just starting: be cautious about mapping right to the edge of the area of interest on your texture if you are going to use mipmaps (which you likely will), you may get some flickering as soon as you move away from the object some distance. Better to have your mapping a couple of pixels away from the edge to avoid this. The greater the colour contrast at the edge of the area of interest, the more important this is.Bill I can't wait to see what other goodies you come up with . . .Jon

[Guest rbrown3rd]

Thanks Bill. I never would have figured that out from a written document. Your smooth presentation really simplifies the process and teases that simplicity out of the complex Gmax interface. If I had a whole set of those from beginning, creating an object, to the end, texturing and placing in scenery, I might consider doing some Gmax work but for now, like Scott, I will stick to terrain scenery. Great job.Bob Brown

[Gridley 257]

Love it -THANKS!(And thanks to JoeW for sending me the link to this thread!)

[Bill Womack 7]

Thanks Bob, and everyone else too. The reaction has been so positive that I might be on to something. I'll try my hand at some more of these. I agree, by the way, that sometimes a visual demonstration is worth many printed books in a topic. For people who learn best visually, there's no substitute, and I am definitely one of those. By the way, I would be deeply indebted to anyone who understands terrain design if they could do something like this. I swear, every time I try and work with mesh terrain, I get so turned around in the labrynth of techno-babble that I end up giving it up in frustration. Anyone? Please?:-)thanks,

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Very nice, Bill. Many thanks for this.Perhaps you would consider adding this reference to the Beginner's Guide at the top of the forum. Many people, not just beginners, would be very happy to see the video presentation, and putting it there ensures that the link does not get lost in the forum history.We did reference your Avsim paper as well, but perhaps you could also provide the link to your web site.By the way, I notice that this video is not yet listed on your site.Best regards.Luis