So I've never really been able to watch the show when it's broadcast; I'm just in that demographic of NA viewers that can never be up early enough to watch it. (I'm in California, your show is on long before I'm awake)
However, the bits and pieces I have seen have been amazingly helpful. When I get the time, I'll watch them all to learn more about 3DS Max. Really what you've got here shows the complete work flow from conception to implementation, which most tutorials never get in to. It's very practical information, something you'll be hard pressed to find anywhere else as well. Keep it up!
I'd also like to suggest a topic for a future show, something I've been trying to figure out on my own lately. A lot of us are using models from WoW in our maps now, but not to the full extent at which we could. One big problem I'm facing right now is Exporting the various buildings from WoW using WoW Model Viewer for use in my maps. Here's the issue:
WMV's m3 exporter was set up to convert .m2 files to .m3. This is fine for most things, such as characters, npcs, monsters and doodads.
Buildings (Such as Inns, Barracks, Towers) on the other hand, are .wmo files. These can only be exported as Lightwave 3D .lwo or Wavefront Object .obj, and thus require the extra step of material conversion in 3DS Max before they can be exported for use in SC2. This is where I'm currently stuck.
Now let's get down to using these in-game. Simplest thing would be to use them as a structure model. Preferably though, I would like to see them used for RPG's. One thing I'm sure people would love to learn is how to create structures units can enter and walk around in. Let's use an example you could possibly cover in your show. Say you've got an Inn from WoW imported and Scaled in SC2 to be large enough for a single Ghost or similar unit could walk through the door, using a close-up top-down camera (such as in the dungeon crawler campaign maps). Solution: on entering a region (placed under the structure), the model for the Inn changes to another variation clipping away the upper floor and roof, allowing you to see inside. There could be other ways to achieve this same effect, and I would leave that up to you to decide upon.
Let me know if this is possible. I understand it could be far more complex on the modeling side, but that's about how much I understand modeling at the moment.
So I've never really been able to watch the show when it's broadcast; I'm just in that demographic of NA viewers that can never be up early enough to watch it. (I'm in California, your show is on long before I'm awake)
However, the bits and pieces I have seen have been amazingly helpful. When I get the time, I'll watch them all to learn more about 3DS Max. Really what you've got here shows the complete work flow from conception to implementation, which most tutorials never get in to. It's very practical information, something you'll be hard pressed to find anywhere else as well. Keep it up!
I'd also like to suggest a topic for a future show, something I've been trying to figure out on my own lately. A lot of us are using models from WoW in our maps now, but not to the full extent at which we could. One big problem I'm facing right now is Exporting the various buildings from WoW using WoW Model Viewer for use in my maps. Here's the issue:
WMV's m3 exporter was set up to convert .m2 files to .m3. This is fine for most things, such as characters, npcs, monsters and doodads.
Buildings (Such as Inns, Barracks, Towers) on the other hand, are .wmo files. These can only be exported as Lightwave 3D .lwo or Wavefront Object .obj, and thus require the extra step of material conversion in 3DS Max before they can be exported for use in SC2. This is where I'm currently stuck.
Now let's get down to using these in-game. Simplest thing would be to use them as a structure model. Preferably though, I would like to see them used for RPG's. One thing I'm sure people would love to learn is how to create structures units can enter and walk around in. Let's use an example you could possibly cover in your show. Say you've got an Inn from WoW imported and Scaled in SC2 to be large enough for a single Ghost or similar unit could walk through the door, using a close-up top-down camera (such as in the dungeon crawler campaign maps). Solution: on entering a region (placed under the structure), the model for the Inn changes to another variation clipping away the upper floor and roof, allowing you to see inside. There could be other ways to achieve this same effect, and I would leave that up to you to decide upon.
Let me know if this is possible. I understand it could be far more complex on the modeling side, but that's about how much I understand modeling at the moment.
Thanks again for doing the show!