in practice castle: modeling - textures - render

[J-Designs]

here's a screenshot of the checker map after uv mapping

as you can see, it's all messed up on the side, especially at the intersection point with the other wall



P.S. don't pay too much attention to the other materials

[DAKLOL]

did you select all the faces? make sure ignore backfaces is off. and did you use cylindrical mapping?

[J-Designs]

Originally Posted by DAKLOL

did you select all the faces? make sure ignore backfaces is off. and did you use cylindrical mapping?

yes i selected the object just like the tutorial, and set the UVW map to cylindrical, and still it screws up,, no matter how much I play with the settings

[bigmaya]

Great tutorial , thx you for the work u do

[Deathbliss]

First of all I want to start by saying, "THANK YOU!!!" for making this tutorial. I know it must taken a lot of hard work. I've been looking for something like this FOREVER. It seems that tutorials covering gothic/medieval architecture are all but non-existent anymore. So once again, thank you!

HOWEVER there are some issues I would like to address. First off is the low hum in your recording. I have been able to remove it use Audacity and a High Pass filter, but this is something you should deal with on your end. I HIGHLY RECOMMED you purchase and use a headset mic, plugged into your mic input. I can vouch for the quality of Logitech as this is what I use, but I'll bet thee are a few other high quality brands out there. Use any Noise Reduction and Amplification settings you have available, and try not to be sitting next to anything which is extremely loud when you are recording. If your computer sounds like a Boeing 747 then you should probably move it somewhere away from the range of your recording. But the combination of a good soundcard and headset will be the most help. I got my Logitech headset with UT 2004 Collector's Edition. It provides awesomely clear recordings with little or no background noise. If you're trying my tutorials you will hear that puppy in action! The main thing to remember is to listen to your work when you are finished. If there is excessive noise then you should scrap the recording, and do it over. If you can follow along with it and understand what the speaker is saying without trouble THEN your tutorial is ready for release.

Of next most importance is your instructions. There were some times I couldn't even follow your mouse cursor, and other times you were using shortcuts which you did not announce. You should always prepare for the n00b modeler. Take a few seconds to pause on each button and setting you use. If you use a shortcut, say the key combinations each time. Basically if someone brand new to Max can follow your tutorial and make what you're telling them to make then you have done your job. Your aim may be for a more advanced audience, but your instructions should always be crystal clear, easy to follow, and easy to understand irregardless.

Finally I have some modeling advice for when you did the crenellations on the tower. Hopefully I have attached a kind of storyboard picture that shows an easy way to meet things together - much easier than what you used for the top of your tower. It may not be the most ideal style for a medieval castle but I slopped it together just to illustrate my point, and I hope it's clear. Basically you just have to make some small mental calculations. In my example I have wall segments that are 32 units (I have the grid at 16 and 8 respectively) in depth. So I know that I need to pull the top, outmost vertices on each end out 32 units, and the ones in the middle 16. Delete unwanted faces, weld, and Walla! You're done!

That covers everything or now. I will be back with more feedback as I continue through the tutorials.
- Deathbliss

[Jelmer]

thanks for the advice, for the newest tutorials such as this one i am actually using a logitech microphone, but am aware of the background noise though.
What would be the best way to get rid of it, i'm not sure if a sound card would change anything, my computer certainly isn't noisy, only when rendering sometimes the fan speeds up as CPU usage increases, but not really during those tutorial recordings.

I'll also look into using Audacity and a High Pass filter, i happen to have the software on here but never thought of using it to remove the noise, are there any specific settings i should use?

One thing i was looking for was a small application which shows the actual buttons i press inside the video, i saw it once watching a video tutorial form 3d palace, but i haven't found anything like that unfortunately...

Thanks for the advice!

[Mr-e]

Hey Jelmer, can't you ask Cris at 3D-Palace for that utility? I saw this thread overthere: http://www.3d-palace.com/forum/showt...p?t=664&page=4

[Jelmer]

i think i tried contacting him a while back but he didn't reply, i'll ask him again and see if i get a message from him..

[Deathbliss]

I don't know of the app of which you speak. I use CamStudio which you can get here:
http://www.camstudio.org/

I'm still experimenting with the video codecs, but I have it narrowed down to Xvid 1.1.0 (still need to test 1.1.2) and H.264.

Audio-wise I'm lost - so far MPEG Layer-3 is all that works.

So you used a Logitech microphone for your latest recordings? Where do you have it placed exactly in relation to you and your computer? I think that placement is key in regular mics, and that's why I recommend mic headsets because you never have to worry about it

I will try to publish a video tutorial on creating video tutorials sometime in the next few days. Maybe it'll help folks out.

Oh and to remove the noise from your recordings here's what I do:

#1. Get Virtual Dub Mod:
http://virtualdubmod.sourceforge.net/

#2. Get Audacity:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

3. Open up a video in VDM, go to STREAMS/STREAM LIST, and SAVE AS WAV.

4. Name your file, and save.

5. Close VDM, Start up Audacity, and load the file you just saved (FILE/OPEN).

6. Once loaded click the I button (top-left) - it'll say SELECTION TOOL if you hold the mouse cursor over it.

7. Go to the track, and to the far left until the little cursor stops being a pointing finger. Drag all the way to the other end - this selects your track.

8. Go to EFFECT/GLAME HIGHPASS/ and drag the top bar there until it says 399 or 400 something in it, then press OK.

9. Go to EFFECT/BASS BOOST and set to taste - default is fine. This removes some of the tinnyness.

10. Go to EFFECT/AMPLIFY and drag the top bar to 3 or 4. You will also have to check the box next to CLIPPING. This increases the volume of the recording.

11. Normalize if you want.

12. Go to FILE/EXPORT AS WAV, name and save it.

13. In VDM, go to STREAMS, click DISABLE, then ADD. Select your wave file.

14. Go to VIDEO/DIRECT STREAM COPY.

15. Go to FILE/SAVE AS, name and save.

You're done! Of course I know nothing about any of these audio things beyond some very basic stuff, so this method is not the best and you may want to use different settings for some items. Experimentation is the key!
- Deathbliss

[Deathbliss]

It's just what you've been waiting for - MORE ANNOYING FEEDBACK! This time I also have a question...

QUESTION: How do you add vertices to an Editable Poly? I see you do this a lot and it would be a nice addition to my toolset if I knew how to do this.

Feedback-wise I have included another storyboard which I have attached to this post. Basically imagine the ugly green cube in the first picture is your castle wall. Instead of using Boolean Subtract, (the very phrase makes me shudder in horror) you can simply design a spline. I roughed out one with a bit of an arch to it. Then you just add an Extrude Modifier to extrude it. You can always go back to the Line Subobject and add more vertices for detail wherever you like. Once you're done just collapse and convert to Editable Poly. Takes just as long as the OTHER method, but is as you can see it's FAR superior!

The only other thing is you can also use Quick Slice on selected polys on your mesh, in the Polygon Subobject mode. I've never had any issues with this, and that kind of thing would work fine for cutting out a chunk of the castle wall. I WOULD NOT attempt to use it for cutting out the gateway, but for SLICING a part of an object off it is usually an excellent choice.

You guessed it - more to come later!
Deathbliss