3DSMAX texturing problems

[roger-wilco-66]

Hi!

I've been using GMAX now for a longer time with good results and switched to 3dsmax 2012 some time ago. Now I ran into problems that give me almost the fits.
I wanted to create a coconut tree log revetment (aircraft revetment) with some simple cylindrical objects for the logs and some other primitive parts.

The problem is, in 3dsmax the object looks great after texturing, but when checking the mdl in MCX the texture mapping is off. It seems like the texture map (1024) is 2048 in height. On the horizontal scale the position is OK, but on the vertical the positions are shifted downwards.
In the ivw-unrap editor everything seems fine.

Do I miss a step here? Must the size of a texture map be defined seperatly somewhere?

Cheers and sorry for bothering,
Mark

 

[lionheart]

Hey Mark,

Are you applying a Plannar to the objects like you would in Gmax? If so, which type of Plannar? Cylinder type of flat, regular Plannar?

 

[Tejal Bernardo]

Maybe the texture is not a square ? I think I have had problems with that

 

[roger-wilco-66]

Hi,

thanks for the replies. The texture is 1024 square dxt5 with alphachannel (I set it up with photoshop / dxtbmp).
My workflow is

- uvw map cylinder wall as cylindrical object
- unrwap to adjust the texture vertices
- collapse the modifier stack.

I map the caps the ends of the cylinder seperatly.

I have to check if I am using the right material, but I'm not sure if that could cause the problem.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[lionheart]

Mark,

If you are making this in Max, you need to use the FSX Material. Do you have the FSX Gamepack system working on Max?

 

[roger-wilco-66]

Yes, p3d aces tools are installed, it worked like like a charm earlier and compiles.
I'm stumped. I'll check if I can find a good tutorial about 3dsmax texturing for p3d / fsx .
I must have done something right previously without knowing it.

I must admit that I shun the material complex in 3dsmax a bit, it's way more complicated than GMAX. But that attitude is of no use in the long run, of course.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[bob5568]

No need to collapse the stack, makes it hard to edit without adding any value.

 

[lionheart]

Mark,

First, try this. Export and view in FS/P3 and see if the same scaling issue is going on. It 'might' be that MCX could be viewing it wrong? (Just a theory since this is not a plane and is a scenery object).

Also, clear the scale 'before' you attempt another export. It also sounds like this could be a scaling issue.

There should be no reason that this is exporting 'perfectly' and in-sim, its looking wrong. My thoughts are scale.

Do you know how to reset the scale on parts?



Bill

 

[roger-wilco-66]

Thanks for your help! By clear the scale, do you mean reset xform? I tried that already.
I'll check the mdl in p3d!

Cheers,
Mark

 

[roger-wilco-66]

OK. I checked it and MCX displayed it exactly like it is rendered in P3D. With the scaling error.

Here's how it shows (note the end caps which show a part of the texture map which is not where the uvw mappping sits, as well as the half green palm logs):

This is how it looks in 3dsmax:

This is the uvm mapping:

Cheers,
Mark

 

[hairyspin]

Reset XForm after mapping is not going to help, map after Reset.

 

[Kai503]

Might it be possible that you haven't flipped the texture vertically when saving it to DDS?

Kai

 

[roger-wilco-66]

OMG. I'm ashamed and embarrassed, Kai is right. Why didn't I think of this.
I flipped it and all is fine!

Now I go and eat a huge humble pie, thanks for your help all,

Mark

 

[Kai503]

Ach was, Hauptsache es funktioniert jetzt.

I think, I have tried every single method how to make a texture not to show up correctly in FSX. The best one was a 1024 x 1023 pixel texture. It took me like forever to figure that out..

Btw. The Nvidia plugin has a checkbox "flip texture vertically when saving" (or something like that). So you don't have to think about it when saving to dds.

Grüsse aus Finnland,
Kai

 

[n4gix]

Btw. The Nvidia plugin has a checkbox "flip texture vertically when saving" (or something like that). So you don't have to think about it when saving to dds.

...which it (the nVidia DDS plugin) didn't used to have...

I had to replace my dev machine due to a sudden death of the primary hard drive. When I installed Photoshop CS, I quite naturally downloaded and installed the nVidia plugin...

I didn't notice the new "autoflip" option at first, so was completely thrown for a loop when suddenly every DDS file I saved was upside down (because I'd manually "flipped vertically" as I'd been doing for years...

...but even more puzzling to me was loading a DDS file and -again- manually flipping it vertically, making changes, then resaving it as DDS things kept going pear-shaped in the sim...

GAH! It took me nearly a full week to finally notice that new option, but by then I had created a real mess of one project's DDS files!

 

[Kai503]

...

LOL, I can imagine that..

It was for me a bit similar. I think, it was when I changed from XP to Win7. But it was unchecked by default, so I didn't notice anything. I continued flipping and saving manually for a couple of month (or more than half a year) until I saw it and thought "Hmm, what is actually that one...?"

Kai

 

[bob5568]

Funny, I've always saved my photoshop image as psd, and used ACES imagetool to convert to dds. It does the flip internally.

 

[Tejal Bernardo]

Everytime I use Dxtbmp to convert for any reason a texture I always forget the flip thing. fortunatly I know quickly where is the wrong part.

 

[lionheart]

Another happy ending. Yayyy!


For future reference, to reset scale, select Hierarchy tab on right hand control panel, select Scale/Reset Scale near the bottom.



Bill