Following the guides of the gurus here, and because I'm so bored, I decide to post another race track modeling tutorial... this time using free tools like GMax ... This tutorial cover the basis for a track creation using the LOFT tool... let's start!
1.- Open GMax. this step is very important...
2.- You may experience a lil scary reaction to see those ugly interface colors... to avoid that, go to Customize > Customize User Interface > Colors tab and click on the Load... button at the bottom of the window. Select 'MaxColorsGrey.clr' and voil�... we have a 3dsMax clone... close that window
Drawing the path
3.- Press those buttons in that order:
4.- Draw the path you want... don't worry if you make a crap, you always can edit it later.
5.- With the path selected, click on those buttons in the following order to edit the bezier points:
6.- When you're happy with your path, name it as 'path'... (useful to select the objects in the list)
Drawing the section
7.- first we need to setup the grid distance to 1m. Right click on the 2.5D Snap button, click on the 'Home Grid' tab, and instert 1 m. in the 'Grid Spacing' field. Once you've adjusted the grid settings, turn on the 2.5D snapping function (see picture).
8.- Switch to the Front view and choose the Line tool again. Draw the section of the road, as you see in the picture. Name it as 'section'.
9.- Right click on the 2.5D Snap button again and setup the grid distance to 0,5 m. Select the section line and switch to vertex mode.
10.- Zoom in to cover only the 4 points in the middle of the line and select the 'Move' tool. Make the following adjustements:
11.- Now we need to re-locate the pivot center of the line to 0,0,0. Click on the 'Active Pivot Only' button and set it to 0 in the Z axis.
12.- Now, click on 'Active Pivot Only' and 2.5D snap button again to deactivate all stuff. Press Z to zoom extents.
Making the track!
13.- Ok... now we have all necessary parts. Use the 'Loft' tool to make the track. Click as shown in the picture:
14.- Select the path line, then click on the Loft button, then 'Get Shape' button, open the object list window and select 'section', then click on 'Pick'... as show in the picture.
15.- Don't worry if you see no changes... go to the 'Modify' Tab and expand all panels, then click on 'Flip Normals'.
16.- Now we have our first track!! Right-click on the 'perspective' label and check 'Edge Faces' to see how many polys will have our model. Currently it has an excesive number of polys, so let's reduce the poly count.
17.- In the 'Skin Parameters' panel, setup Shape steps= '0' and Path steps= '10'. Uncheck 'Adaptive path steps' and 'Banking'.
18.- Go to 'Utilities' tab and click on the 'Polygon Counter' button. My track has 3457 polys, so it's a good polycount.
19.- Ok, now we have a fully editable track. To make it funnier, let's edit the 'path' line objects, moving some points in the Z axis. Open the object list and select the 'path' object.
20.- Then, go to 'Modify' tab and switch to vertex mode. Click on 'Show vertex number' to see where are the points.
21.- Select the 'Move' tool and play moving some points in the Z axis until you get a decent track. Also, make all other necessary adjustements in X and Y axis...
22.- Congrats! Now you know how to use the 'Loft' tool to make your own race tracks
bonus: Texturing the track!
23.- I will use an old texture I had in my HD. Feel free to use your own one
24.- Click on 'gmax Material Editor' button and create a new standard material.
25.- Click on the diffuse map button and select a new bitmap for your material.
26.- Select the loft object (the track) and click on the 'Apply' button in the material window. Close that window.
27.- Now we need to adjust the UV mapping length. First, right-click again in the 'perspective' label to uncheck 'Edge faces' option. Expand the 'surface parameters' panel and set the 'Length repeat' = 30
30. Play with that setting until you're happy.
28.- I don't know exactly why I can't get a smooth surfaced loft... in 3dsMax there is no problem, so we need to make a backup of the original loft (for future editing) and work with a duplicate. Select the loft object and right-click > Convert to: > Convert to Editable Poly
29.- Now, in the 'Modify' tab, switch to 'Element' mode, select the whole track and clear all smoothing groups. Then, create a new smoothing group just clicking on any number.
30.- That's all... now you have your track ready for export to 3dRad.
This is my first tutorial. Hope you find it useful... and sorry for my english.
1.- Open GMax. this step is very important...
2.- You may experience a lil scary reaction to see those ugly interface colors... to avoid that, go to Customize > Customize User Interface > Colors tab and click on the Load... button at the bottom of the window. Select 'MaxColorsGrey.clr' and voil�... we have a 3dsMax clone... close that window
Drawing the path
3.- Press those buttons in that order:
4.- Draw the path you want... don't worry if you make a crap, you always can edit it later.
5.- With the path selected, click on those buttons in the following order to edit the bezier points:
6.- When you're happy with your path, name it as 'path'... (useful to select the objects in the list)
Drawing the section
7.- first we need to setup the grid distance to 1m. Right click on the 2.5D Snap button, click on the 'Home Grid' tab, and instert 1 m. in the 'Grid Spacing' field. Once you've adjusted the grid settings, turn on the 2.5D snapping function (see picture).
8.- Switch to the Front view and choose the Line tool again. Draw the section of the road, as you see in the picture. Name it as 'section'.
9.- Right click on the 2.5D Snap button again and setup the grid distance to 0,5 m. Select the section line and switch to vertex mode.
10.- Zoom in to cover only the 4 points in the middle of the line and select the 'Move' tool. Make the following adjustements:
11.- Now we need to re-locate the pivot center of the line to 0,0,0. Click on the 'Active Pivot Only' button and set it to 0 in the Z axis.
12.- Now, click on 'Active Pivot Only' and 2.5D snap button again to deactivate all stuff. Press Z to zoom extents.
Making the track!
13.- Ok... now we have all necessary parts. Use the 'Loft' tool to make the track. Click as shown in the picture:
14.- Select the path line, then click on the Loft button, then 'Get Shape' button, open the object list window and select 'section', then click on 'Pick'... as show in the picture.
15.- Don't worry if you see no changes... go to the 'Modify' Tab and expand all panels, then click on 'Flip Normals'.
16.- Now we have our first track!! Right-click on the 'perspective' label and check 'Edge Faces' to see how many polys will have our model. Currently it has an excesive number of polys, so let's reduce the poly count.
17.- In the 'Skin Parameters' panel, setup Shape steps= '0' and Path steps= '10'. Uncheck 'Adaptive path steps' and 'Banking'.
18.- Go to 'Utilities' tab and click on the 'Polygon Counter' button. My track has 3457 polys, so it's a good polycount.
19.- Ok, now we have a fully editable track. To make it funnier, let's edit the 'path' line objects, moving some points in the Z axis. Open the object list and select the 'path' object.
20.- Then, go to 'Modify' tab and switch to vertex mode. Click on 'Show vertex number' to see where are the points.
21.- Select the 'Move' tool and play moving some points in the Z axis until you get a decent track. Also, make all other necessary adjustements in X and Y axis...
22.- Congrats! Now you know how to use the 'Loft' tool to make your own race tracks
bonus: Texturing the track!
23.- I will use an old texture I had in my HD. Feel free to use your own one
24.- Click on 'gmax Material Editor' button and create a new standard material.
25.- Click on the diffuse map button and select a new bitmap for your material.
26.- Select the loft object (the track) and click on the 'Apply' button in the material window. Close that window.
27.- Now we need to adjust the UV mapping length. First, right-click again in the 'perspective' label to uncheck 'Edge faces' option. Expand the 'surface parameters' panel and set the 'Length repeat' = 30
30. Play with that setting until you're happy.
28.- I don't know exactly why I can't get a smooth surfaced loft... in 3dsMax there is no problem, so we need to make a backup of the original loft (for future editing) and work with a duplicate. Select the loft object and right-click > Convert to: > Convert to Editable Poly
29.- Now, in the 'Modify' tab, switch to 'Element' mode, select the whole track and clear all smoothing groups. Then, create a new smoothing group just clicking on any number.
30.- That's all... now you have your track ready for export to 3dRad.
This is my first tutorial. Hope you find it useful... and sorry for my english.
files.rar
This is a good tutorial, especially with the uvmapping along the road curve..
