*.gmt import

Many people asking if it's possible to import *.gmt into 3dsmax. It is possible and i will show you how:

First you have to download the gmt import plugin by zoli

http://rapidshare.com/files/381058001/importGMT2_by_zoli.rar.html

I remember it was available in the old RSC forum but since it's past i hope zoli have no problem for my upload of his great plugin.
The *.rar contains a readme how to install the plugin.
As soon as it's installed you can use the plugin in max:

My tip is to create a folder with the *.gmt's(and the textures they need) you want to edit in max. It needs sometimes hours to import a whole track!

Another important thing is the size of the import meshes. Go to "Customize"->"Units Setup" and click on "System Unit Setup" and use meters instead of inches. Otherwise the import will be very small!

The most materials without shaders are called after an import (Cube map bla bla bla). Just select a simple t1 shader and you can use this material again. Sometimes some normals are weired or destroyed on the mesh, but basically it's a great tool. It's highly recommended!

Hope it helps

If you have any questions or wishes, please mail me (moe16@hotmail.de) or comment here!

General Track Building Tutorial/Tipz 2

I've decided to show you in a video how to use boolean and extrude and what they do:


With boolean you can cut an object into another object. So you can easily create 3d windows or whatever you want. Extrude is also very helpful (especially on car editing) as you can see in this video i made the roof with extruce tool!

If you have any questions or whises, please mail me (moe16@hotmail.de) or comment here!

General Track Building Tutorial/Tipz

I've received 2 emails from people who want to know some steps for beginners. That's why i start now with some video "tutorials". I hope it helps somebody if they see how it goes in 3ds Max.


This track is just fantasy. First step is to create a simple line of the track layout. As you can see in the video i do it fast and not very clean. That's why you have to use "Bezier". With this great tool you can smooth the track very well.




Most rF tracks use ugly 2d fences (the poles on the textures). Do the poles 3d! You don't have to do it manually, just create a line and with the spacing tool, the pole will follow the line how you want it.
Note: You can also loft from this line the fence.

If you have any questions or whises, please mail me (moe16@hotmail.de) or comment here!

Map channels for better roads

In this tutorial you will learn how to work with map channel!

You see something like that:

on many tracks! You can see several materials for different road textures (in this pictures 3). The shaders (road_s or something like that) are totally destroyed and it looks ugly. Road (and gras) shaders should be very uniform.

Let's start with a look in the material editor:

You will find this section below the gmotor texture (where you load textures, set mip bias etc.) section.

Only use map channels with shaders like add or mul. As i mentioned in my "Good Quality - Good performance" tips, i only use specular map t1 on roads. So let's do map channel on specular shader! Set the map channel on 2 and scale the texture with the "Tiling" settings till it looks good. If you have another shader (like on bump specular map t1) set this map channel on 3!

Set the same tiling entries on every road material shader you have, then it will be very uniform.

Next step: Modifier List ->UVW Mapping. Don't worry, it will not destroy the whole mapping of the track, just set map channel on 2 (if you have more you have to do this again with 3).

Collapse and export and you will have a result like this:

2 textures on 2 materials with an very uniform shader texture!

Note: Usually i use it only on road and gras. If you have more objects (track01,02 etc.) you have to select them all and then to the step with uvw mapping and export them.

It's very hard to explain but i hope this tutorial will help you. If you have any questions about this tutorial mail me (moe16@hotmail.de) or ask in the comments!