John Giummarra Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Hello everyone, I am new to the 3ds mas and the forum. I have come with many questions regarding my design. I have already constructed a floor map of my city design where my story is taking place. I have purchased 3Ds Max with the intention of creating a full scale living breathing environment in which to place my characters and their encounters. I have successfully imported my layout into max and have begun construction buildings on the map using the vertex points as a guide to the location of each and every free standing structure. I have become somewhat overwhelmed with the scope of my project and was curious to know: 1. if there was a way to create the structures with more efficiency or quicker than the x, y , z boxes. 2. how can i create a surface for my city to sit on. 3. with structures i have already created how do i begin modeling them into the places that i can vision my characters interacting and plainly (living, working and playing in) If any one has any ideas or can offer any assistance i would greatly appreciate it. Thank you John I may be reached on AIM at johngiummarra or you may email me during business hours at jgiummarra@mettel.net and in the evenings at johngiummarra@verizon.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Giummarra Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 In case anyoe wants to see the scope of the project in which i have gotten my self into here is a link to my personal website. Thanks John http://www.xsquisitedesigns.com/LP.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando Lino Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 I'd use sketchup for modeling...This will allow you to create very quick building models...or you can create simple boxes and use a plug-in to create greeble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Giummarra Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 what is sketchup? Forgive me for not fully understanding what you are speaking of. create simple boxes and use a plug-in to create greeble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 1. if there was a way to create the structures with more efficiency or quicker than the x, y , z boxes. 2. how can i create a surface for my city to sit on. 3. with structures i have already created how do i begin modeling them into the places that i can vision my characters interacting and plainly (living, working and playing in) 1. The only way I can see you being able to populate a large city with hundreds of buildings is to create a library of say 50 different buildings and then randomly seed them into your model. By giving them different exterior maps you could make 50 different buildings look like hundreds of different structures. 2. Not sure what you mean by create a surface, are you talking about the environment that surrounds your city, or a foundation for it to rest on? 3. If you have already created structures for your city then they should already have details like doors, windows, stairs....right? You just need to customize each space with accessory items like plants and furniture, and fixtures. I think you need to explain your project a little more; I checked out your web site but couldn’t get it to work. What is the scope of you project, are you creating an animation or a series of stills? How much detail are you intending on showing, and how long do you have to do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Giummarra Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 Maxer Creating a library is an excellent idea i would be able to modify each of the seperate building types to fit the area on the map where they would reside. What i mean about creating a surface... The City i am designing is the setting for a lunar based colonization story and the surface would have to become the area of the moon where the colony would have begun. a. the ground cover that would surround the city. b. the sub-terrain that the foundation was placed on. c. and then of course the expanse of the universe surrounding the moon. I have only started to create basic structures (shappes of the building) I have not gone into detail as to the windows and doors and what not. This is where i begin to overwhelm myself. I have no place to begin. I do have an administrative building where i focused my attention is these types of designs. But yes i would need to go into the most minute detail of each and every room withing this enormous city. here is a rough start to my explaination of the project that is in html only .. you should be able to open it. I have no set time limit on my project it is more of a carrer change idea. if i can create it well than who knows.... John http://www.xsquisitedesigns.com/Mission-Holder.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Ok, so this is a game. Most games make extensive use of mapping to introduce detail into the environment. The reason they do this is because it is just to memory & processor intensive to create buildings with all that geometry. They rely on detailed maps to show the gamer the environment and they save the processing power for other things like lighting. If you goal is to create a city that is capable of holding 80,000 people and then create every building that was listed on your site I think your in for an extremely hard time. Even if you could model all of that I don't think there is a computer or game console in the world that could run it. How will this game be played, what kind of setup are you going to use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Giummarra Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 to be honest with you i am using the game part for my classes. and it will be simplified to a much more manageable level. Meaning that only one area would be of focus at any given time and there would only be one administrative player. My main goal is to create the city where the original story will take place and the game being more of a sequel to the story. As for being in for an extremely hard time i agree. i do however have the entire story written out from thought to finish as an outline and i have been digging into the events by re-organizing them to come to a better flow of the story. ...but i want a scale model to look at and be able to present the idea. My ideal goal would be film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Giummarra Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 the opening animation may be a better place for me to begin and hone my skils if you would like to view the idea for that. http://www.xsquisitedesigns.com/Launch%20sequence%20write%20up.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 Maxer What i mean about creating a surface... The City i am designing is the setting for a lunar based colonization story and the surface would have to become the area of the moon where the colony would have begun. a. the ground cover that would surround the city. b. the sub-terrain that the foundation was placed on. c. and then of course the expanse of the universe surrounding the moon. a. For the ground cover I would locate some detailed images of a particular part of the lunar surface and map that to a large ground plane. If you create a bump map or displacement map out of that image then you will be able to simulate the bumpiness of the landscape. Then you could just place some boulders and craters where you think they may go. b. not sure about the sub-terrain would need some more info. c. the environment around the moon is easy to simulate by again using a spherical map of the stars and mapping them to the inside of a sphere that has a normal modifier applied to it with the "flip normals" check box selected. This will allow you to map a bitmap to the inside of the sphere which surrounds you model, you can also position a smaller sphere inside this large sphere which can then have a map of earth applied to it. As for the creation of the rest of the buildings and what they should look like, not quite sure how to tackle that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Giummarra Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 this is great information man thank you. when i get home this evening i am going to take the map of the surface that i already have and just import it and try to replicate it. and the space and stars i do have pictures of these and of earth... Excellent ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fernando Lino Posted March 2, 2005 Share Posted March 2, 2005 there are a lot people using Sketchup for games and futuristic buildings and ships http://www.sketchup.com ...there is a trial versiona available. greeble plug-in for Max http://max.klanky.com/ this link will help you a lot!!!! http://www.schloerb.com/tutorial/greeblecity_1.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Giummarra Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 Thank you Fernando this will be a great help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Giummarra Posted March 2, 2005 Author Share Posted March 2, 2005 sketckup looks like a very usefull tool to have. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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