Which 3d software is best suited for newcomer for whom

Hello friends,which is the best 3d software which has lots of tutorials&help for a beginner,newcomer,like me who is hooked to MSTS,in which i want to create my own items.,BUT I DO NOT HAVE ANY XPerience in creating 3d objects.
thank you in advance

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

RE: which 3d software is best suited for newcomer for w, FozzyBear, Aug-05-02, 07:06 AM, (1) RE: which 3d software is best suited for newcomer for w, IcyFire, Aug-05-02, 08:44 AM, (2) RE: which 3d software is best suited for newcomer for w, Hack, Aug-05-02, 08:58 AM, (3) RE: which 3d software is best suited for newcomer for w, camaro540, Aug-05-02, 09:18 AM, (4) RE: which 3d software is best suited for newcomer for w, Hack, Aug-05-02, 09:35 AM, (5) RE: which 3d software is best suited for newcomer for w, camaro540, Aug-06-02, 08:39 PM, (9) RE: which 3d software is best suited for newcomer for w, Main Lines, Aug-05-02, 08:17 PM, (6) RE: which 3d software is best suited for newcomer for w, Hack, Aug-05-02, 09:07 PM, (7) RE: which 3d software is best suited for newcomer for w, Main Lines, Aug-06-02, 01:15 PM, (8)

Conferences | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic

>Hello friends,which is the best 3d software which has lots
>of tutorials&help for a beginner,newcomer,like me who is
>hooked to MSTS,in which i want to create my own items.,BUT I
>DO NOT HAVE ANY XPerience in creating 3d objects.
>thank you in advance.You have three main choices. But before you ask a question in the forum try doing a search to see if it's been asked before! this one has been asked lots of times!!Choice1: 3D Studio Max...
Pros: very comprehensive, used by movie makers to produce models for major motion pictures and games studios for game models where there is no budget concern.
Cons: Costs $5000 US Dollars... and is a swine to learn.Choice2: Train Sim Modeller...
Pros: Cheap at around $40 to $50 USD.. Easy to start with. has a bsic exporter that converts your model for MSTS.
Cons: Has poor documentation although you will find a small number of tutorials on the web. some very severe limitiations in its capability and many modelers outgrow it quite quickly.Choice3: 3D Canvas... http://www.amabilis.com
Pros: Aagain about the same price as TSM so not expensive. Has a free version that you can try out, to see if you like it first. Has a large number of tutorials that detail almost all you need to know to build models for MSTS. Has a full exporter that litterally takes your model and makes it a fully working one in Train Simulator.
Cons: No serious ones that I know of.There is a fourth choice which is G-Max... but to be honest it's about as stable as a broomstick balanced on two ping pong balls in a draft. the only advantage it has is that it's free.You pays your money you takes your choice!!Personally I'd recommend 3DCanvas, the tutorials for MSTS are very good, and if you go to the Amabilis web site and grab the free version of it you can work your way through the free 4 Wheel Wagon Tutorial and come out the other end knowing all the basics you need to build MSTS Models. Once you're happy that you enjoyed building that model, you can upgrade to the LP or Pro version and the Train Sim Exporter is included in there.Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

speaking of gmax, Im curious as to what loco modelers use it, because i see most here use TSM
as for me and modeling, Lets just say I think a polygon is when your parrot flys away j/k but i am clueless at it

Shawn "IcyFire" Kenselaar
"...But in a way the Big Boy never left, It still offers the high tractive effort, In a articulated wheel configuration!"

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

I use gmax extensively - I also own both 3D Canvas and 3DS Max (both used for other things, and to create complex shapes for importing into gamx), but gamx is faster and does what I need without issues (not to mention is the only one of the 3 that uses industry standard nomenlecature). Sure it has some bugs, but once you know what these are, you can avoid them without gmax ever crashing. The last time I had a crash was shortly after 1.1 was released. Not a single crash since...I may post some of my "crash avoidance" tips for gmax later.All mentioned programs have their shortcomings and advantages. The fact that gmax is free becomes HUGE advantage when you wish to dabble before spending any $$.Cheers!
Marc - 3DTrains
http://www.3dtrains.com

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

>There is a fourth choice which is G-Max... but to be honest it's
>about as stable as a broomstick balanced on two ping pong balls in a
>draft. the only advantage it has is that it's free.I completely dis-agree with this. G-Max is as stable, if not more so
then any other on the market. It's a very complex program, and it's up
to the user to learn and understand the fundamentals.I agree with Marc on this issue. But believe me,
you will not learn to use this program over night.Patrick

More Then Just Trains
http://www.3dtrainstuff.com

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Hey Patrick - the car-pic in your avitar, is that the one you run at the track? Cheers!
Marc - 3DTrains
http://www.3dtrains.com

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

>Hey Patrick - the car-pic in your avitar, is that the one
>you run at the track? Hey MarcYup, thats the one we're working on for my wife to race. We should
be ready for some shake down runs in the next couple of weeks...Patrick

More Then Just Trains
http://www.3dtrainstuff.com

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Marc,I would be interested in your "crash avoidance" course. I built this caboose in gmax a while ago as an experiment but was never able to load it into the LOD manager without crashing gmax, so I set it aside. Larry

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Hi Larry,I don't recall having gmax crash when using the LOD manager - I'm wondering if there's something amiss in the model itself? As a test, you can try removing all textures (UVW Remove), but keep the mapping and ID's intact. Then apply a temporary texture - a Temp.ace that one color and 64 x 64. If all goes well, you can simply remove the Temp.ace and replace it with your caboose ACE file.The other item to check is for isolated vertices. gmax doesn't worry about broken polys or unwelded seams, but most trouble I've seen is when there's a stray vertice hanging in space, but you might only see a problem when trying to load in the sim.The major thing to avoid is saving the file with the LOD manager open, or at least limit the save only when you've added a single or multiple LOD for the first time.Another biggie, and one that can really do damage to the model, is monkeying with the heiarchy after the initial heiarchy's been added to the LOD manager. The plugin gets all out of whack and cause all sorts of trouble. Best to remove the whole thing from the LOD and then adjust the heirachy (adding subtracting).Finally, never try to close the Kuju plugin, nor should you close gmax using the 'X' in the top-right corner (both plugin related). The LOD manager can be minimized by double-clicking the plugin's header, and then return to state by clicking it again.There's a few more...I'll have to document a few more items. Just so we're clear, I'm running gmax 1.1 on WinXP, and have applied the interface as suggested by Chris Longhurst.Oh, and if you get the annoying "Failed to load audio streams" message, simply save the file (before doing anything else), and reopen (no need to close gmax) - This is caused when saving the file while the Kuju plugin is open - problem solved. BTW, lovely caboose! Cheers!
Marc - 3DTrains
http://www.3dtrains.com

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Thanks Marc, I'll give it another try. I'm also running gmax 1.1 on XP Home but, since I am not an old hand at Max, I have not implemented Chris' changes to the interface.I went ahead and removed isolated vertices but discovered that the last thing that I tried in desperation prior to shelving it (selecting the hierarchy and doing a convert to editable mesh) flattened everything so I now need to go back and re-group and re-link the model.Larry

Alert | IP

[ Home | MSTS Forum | MSTS FAQ | File Library ] Copyright © 2002 by Nels Anderson. All Rights Reserved.