Solaris Class Starship MKII goto the end of page six to read a MAJOR update.

[flarespire]

the old one isnt needed anymore, i redid the mesh, and if its in the new mesh, how the hell can you tell from a picture?

[Kirk]

Because there are many apparent errors. How can you not tell? The underside of the saucer, nacelles, and the deflector are full of them. And the edge of the saucer is edgy to the point of not even being smoothed.

[flarespire]

ill send you a link to the mesh, it might just be that the image when saved cam out quite distorted...(ill attach it in a .zip file)

[Kirk]

It's not the image

[flarespire]

if you mean the torp tube on the back its like that for a reason, i had to model it and puts it mostly inside the hull so i got the desired effect

if you can give this a fix id appretiate it, or at least an explanation on what errors you find/found....

[Kirk]

Here you are!

[CyAn1d3]

ill take a look at the mesh if you want real quick

[flarespire]

oh thats not an error, that just the way my program(metasequoia of metaseq.net) its actually fine(i looked at it in 3dsMax 9 and it was all fine...

[Dalek]

oh thats not an error, that just the way my program(metasequoia of metaseq.net) its actually fine(i looked at it in 3dsMax 9 and it was all fine...

I beg to differ.

[flarespire]

i did have to do a little fine tuning to the mesh so if you can just finalize the mesh and make it without any errors tha would be great.

[Locke]

Looks to me like smoothing problems combined with vertex alignment issues (around the top of the saucer, etc) as well as either colocated vertices or no smoothing groups (around the edges of the saucer).  Totally fixable, no reasons to worry.  A little coaching and fixing should help you get those on track.

[flarespire]

yeah, im gonna have a look through the 3ds max tutorials tonight, in the mean while could one of you guys have a go at fixing this, i have a feeling it'll be along time before i get smoothing groups figured out...

[Locke]

yeah, im gonna have a look through the 3ds max tutorials tonight, in the mean while could one of you guys have a go at fixing this, i have a feeling it'll be along time before i get smoothing groups figured out...

Smoothing groups are really VERY simple.  Choose which polygons you want to look smoothed together (for instance, the ones around the rim of the saucer) and go to the smoothing groups section.  Now, you can click the "Autosmooth" function, but that might lead to edges you want pronounced being smoothed out.  So click on one of the dozens of numbered buttons in the smoothing groups section.  It really doesn't matter which one, so long as it isn't one being used by any adjacent polys.  That way, you can use either "2" or "34" for a smoothing group: it won't matter since they're all actually the same.  I'll take a few screenshots after work tonight to show you what I mean.  But try meddling with them yourself.  In fact, open a new document and create a sphere or cylinder, then change smoothing groups a few times and see what you find.

[flarespire]

so basically(because mx qrouped the saucer, nacells ect) i just select that and use the auto smooth function and thats it?, hmm i was just about to look this up aswell, ill give it a quick go a send what i get to to you guys to see if its worked or not.
and i really apretiate all the help im getting here, i always threw off doing ships because they seemed too damn hard, but now its quite easy.

[flarespire]

ok i used the auto smooth and it looks like it has been smoothed, but im sending the file to make sure it has with no errors(attached)

[JimmyB76]

one thing is that you wont learn to do things on your own by asking other people to fix things up for you...
that is the very essential core of modding everyone goes through - the painstaking process of learning details by doing them again and again and again and again...  you wont get far by doing things 80% and then handing off the last 20% of "touching up" to someone else...

instead of handing over an unfinished product and asking someone to fix errors, ask how to go about fixing them and then do it on your own...
youll gain alot of insight and experience that way and it will only serve to strengthen your skills...

that, and when you do finish a project for release, you cant necessarily only put your name on it if someone else put work into it (even if they only did 20% of the work)...

[flarespire]

jimmy, i have hardly any experience in 3ds max, i just wanted to make sure there were no errors by asking someone who knows how max works and knows what to look for, once i get to learn how to use max 9 then ill be doing around 90% (only thing i may not be able to do is texture it because of my laptop being an Rtard with TGA files and "keeping them how they were designed to be...)

[JimmyB76]

jimmy, i have hardly any experience in 3ds max, i just wanted to make sure there were no errors by asking someone who knows how max works and knows what to look for, once i get to learn how to use max 9 then ill be doing around 90% (only thing i may not be able to do is texture it because of my laptop being an Rtard with TGA files and "keeping them how they were designed to be...)

i understand...  perhaps i misunderstood, i thought in your earlier posts you were asking someone to fix the errors for you rather than point them out to you and describe how to fix them so youre able to learn...

[flarespire]

thats ok jimmy i understand you misunderstood, im not very good and saying what i mean....

[Kirk]

Apply an STL Check on the model, then check "Check" down the bottom. That will check for for a wide array of mesh errors and highlight them on the model and you'll see a count down the bottom. Just keep eliminating errors till they're gone. You can narrow the check to certain kinds of errors with the other check boxes.