ground alignment problem

[mashiach]

hi guys im working on my 1 course project and im doing a small medival town. the terrain i made got some hills and bumps on it and i found it pretty hard to align the builduings i made so that they "sit" well on the ground - the align tool dosnt help muce as well and i dont want to "sink" my builduings in the ground i juess some of you had that problem b4 when they started and if you know any good solution ill be very happy to know about it.

[MrTom]

This is quite a general description of the problem you're having, at first glance the obvious solution is to just move them using the 'move' tool...........obviously this is not the answer you are looking for, but without a better description of the problem, or even better some screenshots, it's difficult to understand exactly what problem you are having.

What 'isn't' happening for you?
What methods have you already tried to solve the problem?

Give us as much detail as you can, that way we can give you a more helpful answer.

Regards.

[mashiach]

hi Mr Tom sorry for the long time it took me to reply been bit busy. iv submitted 2 pics of few of the buildings one from above ground and one from below. a bit of info about that plane - is made of 5933 polys and length 1666m/width 936m/hight 719 m-at top level. if you can i encounterd another annoying problem with that plane and that it i cannot manipulate it in the vertex sub object(all the other sub objects does work...) ty in advance for the reply

[MrTom]

Sorry mashiach, that doesn't really help.

Can you please upload the images via the 'Attachment' link, or better still upload the FULL SIZE image to an image host and replace the images with the correct code in your above post.

The BIGGER the image the better............and just a 'screen shot' will be enough.

To upload to an Image Hosting site follow THIS TUTORIAL.

Don't forget to add a full description of the problem you are having, and refer to the images you provide....this way we will ALL know exactly what your problem is and will be able to give you a more accurate answer.

To get a 'Screen Shot' simply press the 'Print Screen' key on your keyboard...this will COPY the entire screen to the clipboard. You can use MS 'Paint', (if you don't have any other image editing software), to then 'Paste' the contents of the clipboard into a new image. From here you can then 'Crop' the image to just the bits that you need, save it, and upload it to an image hosting site.

Any problems just get back to us.

IMAGE HOST TUTORIAL (in case you missed it)

Regards.

[mashiach]

dear mr Tom thx for the tip about the tip ... as i told im bit new to this world and those tips worth a lot iv submitted 2 images to the site and copied the links i hope it works ok. i hope its not too noobish question to ask but by taking 'screen shot' you mean saving renderd frame right? becuse i never did it b4 and i wonder if you meant something else...anyway thx a lot for your help.

[MrTom]

Hi mashiach,

We are all here to help those who have problems, we all started as a 'noob' at sometime and we always continue to learn, so don't think that you can't ask a question because YOU think it's wrong....ok?

A 'Screen shot' is nothing to do with MAX, it's a 'Windows' thing. Not sure about Mac users but the idea is that the WHOLE screen (even dual monitors) can be captured as an image....regardless of what is displayed on it at the time.......even your mouse cursor will be in the image.....it's an EXACT copy of the screen(s) at the time you hit the 'Print Screen' key on your keyboard.

Using this method is a very quick way to 'Save' an image of your work as you work on it. There are dedicated 'Screen Capture' programs but hitting the 'Print Screen' key is by far the easiest and quickest way. You do then have to 'Paste' this image into an image editing program....'MS Paint' is perfectly adequete if you don't have anything else.....and then 'Save' the image from there but it's very simple, very quick and does a pretty good job.

This has nothing to do with rendering in Max.

If you use Windows try this as an example:

1: Open the 'Control Panel' as you normally would.

2: Press the 'Print Screen' or 'Prt Scr' key on your keyboard....it's usually to the right of the F12 key.

Nothing will appear to have happened...but...the WHOLE screen (as an Image) will now be 'copied' to the 'clipboard'. You can check out the clipboard if you like to see if it's there or just continue.....

3. Open 'MS Paint' from the 'start' menu or from the control panel......either way just open it.

4. EITHER press 'Ctrl+v' or choose 'Paste' from the 'Edit' menu......

You should now have an Image of your Screen....complete with the 'Control Panel' in 'MS Paint' ready to be edited or just saved.

5. 'Save' the file to your hard drive just like any other image file.


Using 'Prt Scr' is extremely useful to show other members any 'settings' you may have in a Max project, (or any project for that matter)....as these can't be 'rendered' as such. It's also usefull to show other members your MAX Workspace....the viewports.....as YOU see them.....as a wireframe image as you see it when you work on it........are you getting the idea yet? If you have a problem with settings you grab a 'Screen Shot' of the settings window and upload to the forum......then WE can see your settings and see where problems may be.......members can also then reference back to the image so that everybody knows exactly what everyone else is on about......make sense?

So, after all that.......there isn't really a problem with your scene.......rendered from the top in a normal way it will be fine. What is happening here is that the 'Base' of the buildings and the 'Ground' are trying to occupy the same space in World Space. If you create a plane and then a box on top of it the bottom of the box will be at the same co-cords as the plane.........this is ok BUT.......

....Max uses calculations to determine where things are in relation to each other.....ie, coordinates. In the real world no two objects can occupy the same 'space'....they can be close but not exactly the same.....and it's the same for Max. Having this situation, (as your scene is now), means that when rendered Max will try to divide by 0 (Zero)........this is impossible.

Asking Max to do the impossible is not a good idea. In this situation it doesn't really matter as the 'Poly's' that make up the ground and the bottom of the building will not be seen, but if you had this situation with a transparent object then it certainly would not render correctly. Your objects here are (I would assume) solid, so the problem will not arrise.

The view from below is a good 'clue' that two or more 'poly's' are trying to occupy the same space.......the viewport can't work out which one should be in front of the other so 'flip-flops' between the two when you orbit the viewport.

A good practice to get into is to (using your scene as an example) raise the buildings or lower the ground.......NOW GO STEADY HERE!

When I say raise the buildings or lower the ground I am talking about the very smallest of moves.............so small that YOU won't see any difference...but to MAX it will be enough that it no longer has to divide by 0 (zero).......the funny thing going on underneath the ground plane will vanish and you may even find your render times come down too.

The easiest solution here would be to move the ground down.....by the smallest amount possible.......do this by zooming in on the ground and the building as far as you can go (using any view EXCEPT 'TOP' or 'PERSPECTIVE' or 'ORTHOGRAPHIC').......select the ground and then RIGHT CLICK the 'Move' icon in the tool bar.

This will open a small window with 6 boxes in it. Use the right hand side 'Y axis' box and click the small black DOWN arrow (spinner). This should move the ground down just enough to keep Max happy and also not be noticable by you......nor at render time either.

If the 'Y axis' is not the correct one, click the 'Back' (undo) arrow and try the 'X axis'......one of them will be correct.

Only 1 OR 2 clicks should be enough. (This depends on your 'scale' settings). Check underneath the ground and click until the buildings are no longer visible 'Through' the ground.

The 'Z axis' will move it toward you and you will not see any difference in the viewport.....but you shouldn't have to move it in this direction anyway so don't worry about it.

You don't really have a problem here, but as said before, it's good practice to be aware of and correct any geometry that may occupy the same 'World Space' as you create it..........and I can't stress enough that you only have to move them apart by the very SMALLEST amount........without zooming ALL the way in you shouldn't be able to see the difference.

Now, I'm going to have a coffee and rest my brain.

Regards.

[mashiach]

dear Mr Tom thx a lot for that detailed information it helps a lot.best regards.

[rpadc2002]

You may use the surfacer scripts i post below.

To create and compile the scripts, copy the text file below ( from macroscript to end scripts), then open your 3Dmax program. On main tab menu, go to Maxscripts then New scripts, past the whole text file you copy and save it to any filename you want.

To activate. Go again to Maxscripts then Run Scripts. browse down where the scripts file you created located. Then ok. Press to any toolbar then select customized. On you customized user Interface, go to Toolbar. On the right side press new and named it ( any name will do). then on the left side on category choose HowTo, then select MoveToSurfaceTool, drag it to the new toolbar you created.

To use the tools. select first the object you want to move on the surface then click on MoveToSurfaceToolbar then select the plainn or ground surface. This will automatically move the object to the plain wether it has a bumps or mounds or something. It will align the bottom surface of the object to the ground. Hope this help. if still anxious about this, buzz me up with a message... rpadc2002@yahoo.com

macroscript MoveToSurface category:"HowTo"

(

fn g_filter o = superclassof o == Geometryclass

fn find_intersection z_node node_to_z =

(

local testRay = ray node_to_z.pos [0,0,-1]

local nodeMaxZ = z_node.max.z

testRay.pos.z = nodeMaxZ + 0.0001 * abs nodeMaxZ

intersectRay z_node testRay

)

on isEnabled return selection.count > 0

on Execute do

(

target_mesh = pickObject message:"Pick Target Surface:" filter:g_filter

if isValidNode target_mesh then

(

undo"MoveToSurface"on

(

for i in selection do

(

int_point = find_intersection target_mesh i

if int_point != undefined then i.pos = int_point.pos

)--end i loop

)--end undo

)--end if

)--end execute

)--end script

[mashiach]

nice tool m8 its the first time i ever used script took me some time to get how to do it but i made it this tool align the object in it own place in the y constraint right? i tried placing object that was above one plain on other plain but he only moved him down in one axis hope im not wrong. btw it dosent give any angels and you have to watce the pivot location (if you messed with it).