Trees

but in max the tree is in the correct orientation... in rF2 it is hanging from the sky... not a nice thing to have to have trees upside down in the model generating software... Ethone can you explain what you mean by using the mirror and or UVW Mapping to fix this issue. cheers

 

Yep, mirror the whole object or the mapping vertically until it looks right in both 3ds max and when exported. I've only dabbled with the new billboard tree shader but when I set up my trees they consistently ended up with the the wrong side up in 3ds max 2011.

In essence (and this might not matter at all for you Simon) when I draw a plane in any view the vertices are numbered wrong. I guess this is a new "feature" of 3ds max 2011. They're always top-right-to-bottom-left triangulated.

 

ethone...

I am using 2010 and my numbering of vertexes in a plane goes TL = 3, TR=4, BL=1, BR = 2.
the triangulation was modified TL to BR (3 to 2)
and according to "staff" think it was luc, the baseline is the important on vertex 1 -> 2
my issue is that without the alpha vertex number being changed to make the bill board move, it appears in max the correct way and also exported... as soon as i change the alpha vertex number to 90 (as directed for no real reason but no default) the tree pops upside down.

I have tried the mirroring and remapping but cannot seem to get that to work either.

Is this actually an issue with the billboarding (alpha vertex related)?

 

also (and yes i checked my units) the tree seems to be 50% of the size that I have it in max... this is when Alpha Vertex = 90 but not when they are set to 100...

also the tree doesn't sit in the correct x y position when alpha vertex = 90 but is in the correct x y position when Alpha Vertex = 100...
no other changes made when exporting the "tree"...

 

Simon, I'm only guessing here but have you perhaps not set up the pivot correctly with the buttons at the bottom of the Screen-Aligned Quads section of the Instance tab?

Could you perhaps post the .max file with just the tree that's causing you issues?

 

View attachment 1626

this is the max file... this is as close as I have got. Note that with the Alpha Vertex set=90, the tree is 50% of the size it is when alpha Vertex set to 100...

note that the tree should be placed at the centre of the V letter... (from plan view point of view)
with the AlphaVertex=90 it isn't at this position.

(ethone, i have tried the other different pivot options, but obviously bottom is the one to use for this.)
Max 2010 in use. Windows 7 64bit

 

does anyone have a video showing how to set this up in max from start to finish im lost and more confused than ever i looked at joesville section and i have not been able to figure this out

 

i followed what i could of the tutorial and guess what the tree just disappeared lol i added the gmt its in there but its like the tree is not there

in game it gone weird can someone make a quick video maybe showing what the settings are how to set it up

 

I wrote up a short tutorial for the two of you: http://www.trackcreation.net/devdiary/?p=282

My first guess with billboards that don't show up would be that the normals need to be flipped. To test, set vertex alpha back to 100 and see if the object appears. If it does, the object only disappears when billboarding is enabled and that's usually the case when the normals face the wrong way which with billboarding will mean the object will always be facing away from the camera.

Hope it helps, if it doesn't just shout.

 

boy did that help yes thank you so very much

 

ok question on the trees when i created the trees they work turn now as there suppose too but the shadows are the shape of the plane square i dont see leaves or shadows of the leaves what do i need to do to get those showing ??

 

Mark the gmt as a shadow caster and select textured.

 

ok ill give that a try and see what happens ty

 

ok tried and marked as texture but still getting the plane image square showing up not the shadows of the trees im using the t1 stamped vertex i think that is right going to experiment and see if i can get this figured out

 

The shadow caster settings are not saved to the .gmt but to the .scn.
So you need to re-generate the .scn file for the change to take effect.

 

ok ill give this a try

 

trees are now ready woo hoo shadows work thank you everyone for all the help

 

i have another question in the way of vertex numbering on the tree billboards this is 3ds max related the vertex numbering is there a command to turn on the vertex numbers too see if there right