Annoying Max Trouble

[tradedaemon]

The first thing thats wierd, and it isn't really a problem, I hope, but in the first pic below on the left, theres a green line running diagonally down the picture, but not on the right.

Also I can't seem to select any faces when in Face mode. It normally changes to red whatever I select a face, but now it doesn't. Any help?

[lillypusher]

i think you're in view edges mode or whatever its called. try hitting ctrl + e and c what happens. hopefully this won't damage your hard disk.
question number 2 - F2. switches between seeing selected in red, and not seeing them in red.

[tradedaemon]

Well, for the first ctrl+e didn't do anything, but I did get rid of it be rightclicking the user name and selecting Edged Faces, so that did help.

And on two, I was actually meaning that the outline becomes red, but this works too. Thnks so much, I didn't want to have to reset again.

[Incitatus]

The first question about the lines : press f4

[tradedaemon]

Heres another thing that is bugging me. I think i'm just pressing a button to do it but can't figure out what. In the pic, i'm in vertex mode and when ever I select a vertex, the ones around it change color like its affected by it. Anyone help? Thnx

[kuman]

looks like you have soft selection turned on

what soft select allows you to do is move a vert and its surrounding verts based on a gradient of influence. you should see a sub menu of edit mesh or poly with soft selection options in it, you can turn it off there

good luck

-k

[tradedaemon]

Thnx So much. Yah Soft selection was unrolled out and I found out the whenever I did ctrl + s, it would activate it, with ctrl +s suppost to be my save key, so theres another mystery solved. Well, half way, see I have ctrl + S set on my Custom Ui for save, so what do I do to switchi it, because when ever I do ctrl + S it does Soft selection instead of Save. Thnxs again.

[modest]

i want to have a good modelling .
but it is very hard for me .

[lillypusher]

in max 4 u have a toggle to turn off using sub mode keyboard shortcuts(or something of the like). ior u could go through customize>>prefrences and u have it there. i'll check when i get home and let u know how on max 4.2.

[tradedaemon]

Found it, its the little key on the bottem of the status bar, but thnxs for pointing me in the right direction.

[tradedaemon]

Why is it that my lines always get tangled like in the picture below. And should I worry about them affecting me later, or do I just ignore them since I extrude and everything in my edit mesh, and fix in meshsmooth using vertex mode?

[tradedaemon]

In max, when i'm in edge mode, I try slecting something, but it doesn't display in red as an outline. Any help?

[modest]

hello
it is very good .

[tradedaemon]

Also, how would I turn off the dotted line that crosses the face. See Picture below.

[tradedaemon]

It seems the pic didn't show up above, here it is

[Net Admiral]

in display panel go to display properties rollout and check "Edges Only"
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[tradedaemon]

Do you know how to make the edge of an outline red when you select it?

[Net Admiral]

Press F4
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[tradedaemon]

That doesn't seem to affect outlining the edge sub object mode with red, just makes the whole wire frame white and not white. Any other help?

[Net Admiral]

Well I believe that this is the solution ...when u press F4 the outlines appear in white color so when u select one , it turns to red!! but make sure that the wanted viewport is selected... anyway check that pic:(perspective )
the first pic before pressing F4
the second after pressing F4
the third a selected edge with F4 pressed (notice the red color!!)
one more note : I noticed that u r trying to select edges in meshsmooth mode! so it is good to remember that u can only select the original edges in that mode -the yellow ones-!! (the original means the model without meshsmooth applied)
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[tradedaemon]

Well, i'm selecting in Editable mesh mode. And there seems to be a little indication that the line is selected in the first picture, but it only does this on the thinner white lines. It seems to decend from dark to light or something. Do you see what I mean. I think my colors may have got mixed up or changed.

[Net Admiral]

pretty weird as if there a duplication!! what is your display driver?? if it is opengl or direct 3D try to switch to software driver (Heidi)
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[tradedaemon]

Yah, it works! but oh no, the reference image is so bad! Decision Decision, to like the red or not to like the red.

All joking aside, thanks for helping, and I was hearing, on the Joan of Ark tutorial, that people were using editable poly instead of mesh. I would think this would be easier, without all the crossed faces. Do you know any problems that would be caused if you did the tutorial this way? Also, what got better with polys between 4.2 and 5 of max?

[Net Admiral]

Well editable-poly and editable-mesh are nearly similar except for some extra funtions for poly and a little differences in the definitions... in edit mesh .. a polygon consists of four vertices at least .where the face consists of three vertices .. but in edit poly a polygon could be consist of three vertices unlike the edit mesh..... and the face sub- object is replaced with border sub object which is pretty useful in certain cases.. so triangles is still existed in edit poly and I can't see any problem of using poly or mesh to make "Joan of Ark" tut except for some confusion !! and I expect that Discreet will break these two modifiers into one in the future releases...
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[tradedaemon]

What do you mean by confusion, and why is it that sub object poly mode has a hard time letting me cut, when i'm in polygon mode? I'm thinking theres a script for this, but not sure.

[Net Admiral]

I mean the Joan of Ark tut was made with edit mesh so using edit poly instead may confuse some users because of the different surface and buttons locations in Edit poly that is it!!

and about the long timed cut in edit poly you have mentioned, I think it is another weirdo thing in your software because it works normally for me!!
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[tradedaemon]

I see, thats kinda what I thought.

It's so evil. That damn arrow!!

Does it tell you the advantagese of poly vs mesh, and vs versa somewhere? And did they add anything new too these things in max 5? compared to 4.2?

[Net Admiral]

well according to my short trial I'm afraid that the whole advatages go to edit poly because of new levels of control which are not available in edit mesh such as "border sub-object" and chamfered extrusion... and I can not see any advantage for edit mesh over it, well except for that the people got used to it ... that's why I expect that Discreet is going to break them into one.... anyway check this thread to find that many users have the same opinion!!
http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4793&highlight=edit+poly
and check the links in that thread:
http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2601&highlight=edit+poly

And the difference between max4 & max5's edit poly was a little as far as I know... some workflow enhancements and Interactive Manipulation mode added which allows to see the result in the viewport before applying it!!
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[tradedaemon]

Ah okay, and I got the cut to work, while in border mode. I also read the posts, good info. Thnx for your input, and appearntly the work of searching. Thnx again.

On modelling, what would be the easiest and powerfullest way to model a thing, with reference pictures. I've seen the ones in Joan of Art, and the one where you take like a long box, and rap at around the leg of a reference. Any others?

[Net Admiral]

Here are the most common modeling methods and their uses:
- Poly modeling (nurms) : Suitable for everything especially cars and characters.
- Geometry tweaking (box modeling etc..) : suitable for characters, accessories, organics, and solids..
- spline modeling: great for solids, accessories, and perplexities...
- patch: similar to poly but it is not common as poly but it's smoothed deformation with low amount of points makes it great for making expressions..
NURBS: well great if you have a super computer and you do not know how to make it use its full performance!! :) I mean 3DSMAX nurbs because it is pretty heavy and difficult to deal with..... Well that method created to deal smoothly with non- uniform objects!! but working with it is a hell job in max and if you want to learn it just go to "rhino3D" ..
So as you can see the best modeling method depends on what are you trying to do and what r u familiar with ... if you are creating a car then Poly modeling would be the best way to get best results ... the same thing for modeling a character ... but also u could use standard geometries such as box to create characters ... while it is not ideal to do that with cars... but that does not mean you can not make cars from boxes ... so keep in mind that every method of these could be used to create anything and only your own skills could make this way easier or harder ...
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[tradedaemon]

Alright, i understand. Thnx for the again explination.

These are the last questions I have, i'm pretty sure, but if I have more i'll post them here.

.1 Is there a hide edge or invisible edge in edit poly mode? I'm not really sure there is, but just checking.

.2 You can switch between Edit Poly and Edit Mesh, so long as its' the only thing on the stack right, in being that it won't mesh up your model really?

[Net Admiral]

You are always welcome!! :)
for the first question you are right you can not hide edges!!
and for the second one you could only switch from edit poly to edit mesh in one stack (I mean without need to collapse your stack ) but no vice versa!!
When you select edit poly you have to collapse your satck !! which means the whole modifiers in your stack will be lost (of course without losing its effect!!)
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[tradedaemon]

So say I have my model with just a Edit poly, and a meshsmooth. I have meshsmooth at 1 smothness, but make it zero, and delete it. Then I rightclick my model, and select convert to Editable Mesh.
I hide an edge, then convert back to Editable Poly. I apply meshsmooth again.

Is this alright?

[Net Admiral]

If you just work with "convert to .." then there won't be a different between Edit mesh and edit poly because once you do that your stack will be collapsed!
When you are in edit poly mode open your modifier window and apply Edit-mesh to the stack that will allow you to switch between edit poly and edit mesh! Of course that may cause a side effects in certain cases but having that option icreases your chances to back and fix some errors.
For mesh smooth when you want to collapse your object and keep it in low-poly level you must delete any meshsmooth modifier applied, Just delete it and no need to set it at zero before.
And for hiding edges I do not know what the advatage you can get from hiding then collapsing .. you could the following instead: In edit- poly mode select the edges you want then press remove button.. that will give you the same effect when you hide some edges in edit mesh mode then collapsing it to edit poly!!
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[tradedaemon]

Ah I see. Thnxs for an easier way for me to do it. This should make it easier.

[tradedaemon]

Whats the modifier called that, when you move an object onto another object, one imprints onto another. EX: You have two objects, one is a sphere, and one is a cube. You apply this modifier, and the sphere pushes agaist the cube, to make a inprint of itself. I remember reading about this, but I forget the name. Any help?

I'll just from now on say thanks, so whenever this threed is new, and by my, then I have a question. But still sincer. So thanks in advance.

[Jyncus]

I think the modifier you're looking for tradedaemon is called "Boolean".
Create --> Geometry --> Compound Objects --> Boolean
(I hope thats right)

Once you apply the modifier, you can select between the "type" of interesection between the two objects - i.e. Union, Subtraction (A-B), Subtraction (B-A), Cut, etc.
info. (http://www.cglearn.com/tutorials/max3/07_boolean.html) :)

[Net Admiral]

You got it!:)
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[tradedaemon]

I'm having trouble visualizing how exactly cutting the mesh partially has an effect. I know it allows for you to make sharp cuts, but, what else does it do, becuase in some tutorials I've seen where the Mesh modeling was used, they only make partial cuts, instead of cutting around the entire model. Picture below kind of explains it. I know they do it a lot in the Joan of Ark tutorial.

Thnx in advance

[Net Admiral]

Well such kind of cuts is pretty useful to have a specified detail, In other words you cut mesh in a way that helps you to create the wanted detail ... but just cutting won't have that big effect!! the big effect of such cuts apprears in operations like chamfer extrude, bevel ..etc
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[tradedaemon]

Why is max's default lighting setup so bad. In the picture below on the upper right corner, it looks like the the bottem of the lower mesh has bomps, but in the lower half of the viewport, the entire things straight. Is there any way to change this so the it shows flat, because its really annoying, and is screwing up my visualization.

[Net Admiral]

mm I'm not sure if I understood you correctly but if you mean the dark blue around the selected vertics then It is not a bad light issue it is about "normals"(surfaces) and it happens when you close-up between two vertices/edges/faces/polys so you can notice that these two are so close or intersected which (may) affect your meshsmooth and this not a big deal if you want to make sure that threr is no error apply meshsmooth and watch.. so i do not recommend to work removing it because it is useful!! but if insist to .. then try to icrease self-illumination value of the mat!! or try smooth the faces into one group (select the dark faces with the ones around and scroll down to smooth groups and select a number (it may not work) the last way is to apply "edit normals" modifier(max5) to the selected faces and this is the most effective way but it takes time!!
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[daphone]

.. for a better viewport visualization try this:
viewport configuration -> default lighting (x) -> 2 lights (x)

[tradedaemon]

Thnx for above, it worked. Now that I started a new project, some things that weren't the before. First of all, in the left view, there is a wireframe covering the smaller mesh. Now the smaller mesh is my model, but the bigger is something else. When I resize with my scoll, it resizes it as well. The second problem is in the user and front views. The top and side facing me is missing, any help with it? Thnx in advance cause I know you give good advise.

[Net Admiral]

I think you forgot the picture:)
anyway for the top and front view case I think you need "force 2 side / 2 sided mat" option to be checked .. you could find that option in "viewport configuration" (force 2 side) and you have to check the same option in render popup window.
and you can find "2 sided mat" option in mat editor but you need a map applied.. well can't be sure until see the pic..
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[tradedaemon]

I thought I went back and fixed that, oh well lets try it again. I'm really tired right now so i'll try what ytou said tommarrow, get back to you then. But, it's probably right.

[tradedaemon]

Again, anfd ill see if you have a different thing to say after you see the picture, before I talk about it.

[tradedaemon]

Screw the picture, it seems I was extruding by edges for some reason. So there's no point in posting, since I wouldn't normally do it. Anyway, it seems I lost my option to extrude while holding down shift, it detatches either a face or border, depending on what mode i'm in. Know why this is? I mean, seeing that its the only reason I use mesh edit, it's not really a lost, I can just do my set keys for editable poly, but it is annoying when this stuff happens. It would be better to have the extrude shift command on Edit poly, can I switch it? I didn't seem to see it on the custom UI, but I could have overlooked it.