Car and Track Editing Info

[fredizzimo]

In case you missed it plugins for making cars and tracks are now available.

There are two sets, the plugins made by me(fredizzimo), and the plugins made by BugBear. You can download them both, including guides how to use them from www.nogripracing.com. But note that there are some differences that I will explain here.

Here's a "cheatsheet" with the differences between the plugins.

ZModeler support - only my plugins has zmodeler support, so if you like to use that you are stuck with those. Both plugins support 3dsmax.

Importing - Again only my plugins let you import models. Unfortunately the materials are not compatible. Mine and BugBear's plugins handles them differently at the moment, it will be corrected later though.

Tracks - Only the BugBear plugins support exporting of tracks. My 3dsmax plugins support importing of the basic mesh data for the tracks, but there are some incompatibilities with the format the BugBear exporter wants, so you can't use them directly without modifying. And the same thing about the materials too.

Export of custom models, like driver.bmf. Only the Bugbear plugins support that. There's no single bmf exporter included in my plugins.

Import/export a complete car, with all bmf's that's needed for the car(model.bmf, wipers.bmf, collision.bmf) Only my plugins support that, with BugBear's plugins you have to do it in multiple steps.

Tools for displaying/hiding various hi-detail car, lo-detail car, crashed car and so on. Only my plugin has those.

Bugs.... unfortunately there's a bug in my plugins, both the zmodeler and max version, so the models doesn't export correctly. This will be fixed though, and in most cases the cars still work.

So, if you are using zmodeler the choice is easy, but for max it isn't... Well actually it is - install them both. Yes, they can co-exist easilly without any problems If you need importing use the functions that my plugins offer, and modify the materials. For exporting, use the BugBear plugins(due to the bug in my plugins). For hiding/showing use my plugin.

Ok, hope things got clearer with this thread. I unsticked the other car editing thread, because it contained old info.

And remember to read the guides carefully before posting any questions, both the guides that comes with my plugin, and the BugBear guides. Even if you only use the zmodeler version, as the BugBear guide might say something I have forgot, and the otherway.

[fredizzimo]

There's a bug in both the Max and Zmodeler plugin I made...

As the title says there's a bug... that makes the wipers.bmf crash. The other models are affected in the same way, but strangely enough they don't crash. I will try to fix this, but I have been very busy lately, so I can't give a definite date for the fix.

But basically that bug makes the files much bigger, than they should, sometimes the size is nearly the twice. This might have a negative affect on the performance of the game too, but not as much, as it inserts some ghost vertices. Vertices that are not used by any polygon. The polygon count stays the same, so the effect is not that big.

But what I can't see at the moment is why wipers.bmf makes the game crash, but the other meshes not. Maybe there's some maximal number of vertices limit for the wipers or something...

For newbies to Zmodeller:

Ryan Trevisol has written an excellent tutorial here:

http://ryan.racesimcentral.com/articles/zmod.php

or here:

http://www.zmodeler2.com/index.php?mode=dl&ID=4

[Rallyfan]

Thanks MudSnow! i've been trying to learn to use the z-modeler for a while now,and thi is exactly what i needed

For Zmodeller:
The normals control the direction that light reflects off the body. Everything must have normals or it will be black. When I use the normals tuner, I almost always use "calculate = 100%" and "current" and "project" at 0%. On a flat surface the normals will be at 90* to the surface, and otherwise they are always halfway between the surface angles. This is most natural. If you have surfaces that meet at a sharp angle, such as on fender flares, a good idea is to choose all the faces on one surface (on faces level) and "create/objects/detach" and then "create/objects/unite". This will break the vertices on sharp edges, without breaking the vertices on the same surface. There is another way to break and unite vertices without using "detach" but it is much more difficult. The Ferrari is a good example of this. All the scoops and sharp angles have 2 vertices overlapping at the sharp edges, one on each surface. Usually you should never unite vertices unless they are in a smooth surface, not on an edge. (Unless you weld and break again to align the vertices to eliminate a gap.)

The other way to break vertices on the edge is to use the "modify/break" command on vertex level. Then you must unite the vertices on faces of the same surface. To do this, select the faces that share a vertex on faces level. It will be easier to do this if you hide all the faces behind the ones you are working on (using "display/hide"), such as on the other half of the body. Switch back to vertex level and deselect all the other vertices that you do not want to unite. Then go to "create/unite" and click on the vertices.

Sometimes when mapping, it helps to use "display/hide" to hide the faces you are not mapping. This can make it easier to select the faces you want. To unhide, use "unhide" and click in the window while on faces or vertex level.

To load an image (blueprint or photo) into the background of Zmodeller, click on the square in the top left corner of the window. A menu will pop up. The image should be converted to bmp or tga format first.

To adjust an image to fit your model, press the image control button shown in this pic. To move, hold the right mouse button and drag; to zoom, hold the left mouse button and drag.

Turn the button off when you are done.

[Roger]

Try this link, it should help anyone making textures from scratch :wave:

http://www.cardesignnews.com/studio/tutorials/index.php

Mapping a new car in Zmodeller.



In between steps 1 and 2, after you have selected the faces, open material editor and assign the correct material to the faces, such as "#body_dust". Now go to "Surface\mapping\Reset UV"

Click on the selected faces.

Now go to "Surface\mapping\Assign UV"

Click on the selected faces.

Now go to the top left corner of a view box, and select view "UV Mapper"

You will see a new object made of the faces that you selected. You will also see in the background, the texture that you are mapping to.

Next....

After you have mapped all faces, paint your body.tga with your design.

When you are creating a new car, and you wish to create a new hood and trunk from scratch:

You must be on the vertices levels of an object to create new vertices.

So I suggest my favorite method.
This method will ensure a correct fit to the body with no gap.

:delete the old hood and trunk
:make two copies of the new body, name one hood, and one trunk
:select the new hood and switch to vertices level
:use the vertices of the opening in the body as the edge of the hood
:create/faces/strip to create the hood attached to the copy of the body
:move the new vertices to the correct positions
:delete the vertices of the copy of the body which you do not need as the new hood
:finally, move the pivot to the position of the hinge

:repeat for trunk

Regarding pivots in Zmodeler 1.07:

[RTS013]

I have written a little something about how make cars. Some bits are detailed and others are more general but it should cover everything from scratch to playable in game.

You find it at my site http://rts013.tk

[Pero_Grozni]

Superb guide RTS013 -Really great for all sorts of car creators-begginers and veterans.

[Roger]

Great guide RTS013.......

[Rallyfan]

Originally Posted by RTS013

I have written a little something about how make cars. Some bits are detailed and others are more general but it should cover everything from scratch to playable in game.

You find it at my site http://rts013.tk

Maybe i can finish my Lada samara after all, when i have free time, thanks RTS013!

[MAD-MINI]

Hi need some help in making a car Im building in z-mod and have made the two sides of the car, How can I select both sides to join them at the front ect. Probably a newbie question. I wil upload screenshots later if you want them.

[RTS013]

Originally Posted by MAD-MINI

Hi need some help in making a car Im building in z-mod and have made the two sides of the car, How can I select both sides to join them at the front ect. Probably a newbie question. I wil upload screenshots later if you want them.

First you need to be in object mode so you can select the both halves in any view (but not perspective). Then use Create/Objects/UniteSelected in the tools. Click on one of the halves. They are now joined into one object. Then switch to vertex mode and "open" the car body object by clicking it. Now select two vertices at the time (one from the left half and one from the right) and join them with the same UniteSelect tool. Work your way all the way around the middle line of the car.

[MAD-MINI]

Thanks! :party:

[Roger]

I just found this thread in rFactor forum @ RSC

Some GREAT tips..........worth reading right through to the end

http://forum.rscnet.org/showthread.p...highlight=loft

[Boomel]

" deformation model has invalid vertex count " That's what I get when I try to play RT with exported car.. What's wrong?? I use fredizzimo Zmod filters and it import and export well So what's wrong??:confused::

[Pero_Grozni]

The Body_crash model has to have the exact same amount of vertices and pollys as the Body_hi and Body_Lod has.
Best sollution for a quick fix to check things out is to just make a copy of the Body_hi and name it as the Body_Crash and than export.
Should be OK than.

BTW: The body names I wrote could not be quite correct as it has been a long time since I was last messing with RT modeling

[mfonseca]

The plugins for 3DStudio runs in what version?
I had the 3DStudio Viz 4.2, the 3DStudioMax 6.0 and the 3DStudioMax 8.0 and i can´t run none of the plugins (neither Fredizzimo neither Bugbear).

[kiplali]

Taken from the Bugbear plugin release

You will need:

3D Studio Max 4/5 (Note: not tested for Max 5 but it should accept older plugins too)

I believe it does work in Max 5 but don't know about later versions.


Re

" deformation model has invalid vertex count "

Only the Body and Body_crash have to be identical.

Kiplali