Gromlok Landar

Hello Linden Labs, I did put a process credit request through about 10 minutes before the un-scheduled maintenance began. I was playing No Devil when on the 6th game after the Process Credit request was submitted on my Account Dashboard that I got the internal Server error when attempting to spend lindens, then my lindens went from a high amount to -1 which I know isn't right. I figured I'd logout and back on again and then it said logging in and that's it. Afterwards, I got a "there is a new Second Life Update" so I downloaded it and installed the latest and greatest. Not sure if any of this will help. Thanks Pat

Actually Medhue that did make sense. I number my models as I'm designing them to show a progression as well as make sure if I made a really bad error, I can revert back to a previous numbered model and make adjustments there. Seems saving as an OBJ makes perfect sense. We all have our methods of course, this I will have to give it a try and experience it for myself. Thanks for ALL the information Kwakkelde and Medhue. Greatly appreciated. Kudos once again to the both of you. Terminology has always been a problem when trying to explain something. Pat

Okay so here's the scoop, seems we're not fully resolved on the sides on the 3d model BUT, when I changed from checker in the sub-material to bitmap, I collapsed the stack and yes it went from 5000+ triangles to 1800 triangles roughly, this also reduced the land impact from 14 to 4 in world. When I took the script you gave me and put it in the 3d model, it still came up with 8 sides BUT once I applied the textures to the model via the various 4 main faces and then logged out, I logged back in and the textures on the faces didnt change. they remained constant. You know, I can live with this but I do want to know whats causing the double faces eventually. Is it the fact that my 3ds Max 2013 is a student version and I'm not allowed PU's as in Patch Updates because it is a student version ? We know that the FBX plug-in made a big difference and the sub-material made another difference. Oh and the error I got on the previous top of the page was only a warning and that's it. It didn't alter my 3d model design in the least. That's what the forums on several sites all say and even the 3ds Max readme says its only a warning. Changing the design from apply poly mod to mesh mod resolves this warning but the triangulates would double creating unnecessary polygons. Did any of that make sense Kwakkelde ? Pat P.S. OH WAIT. The faces are numbered correctly now for each of the faces, there's no doubling on the faces anymore. Does that mean its resolved ? The script still says it's 8 faces on the 3d model. ODD.

So Medhue, when you export as OBJ file, did you collapse the stack of your modifiers on the right side where it was converted to poly or mesh and the UVW Unwrap etc included in the 3d model before exporting ? Pat

So basically go back into the Material Editor, change the sub-material from checker to bitmap in the multi-sub object, export as Dae then import into the metaverse and I'll put the script that you mentioned to see how many faces the model has, it should then say 4 which should solve the problem. Regarding the diffuse, in one of my long posts above, I took a snapshot of the diffuse section in the Material Editor, I'll put the diffuse picture here to show you exactly what I did: Notice the Diffuse below Ambient, to the right it has a blue box signifying the mutli-sub object color coding then to the right of that is a letter M, I can only figure that it stands for Map, selecting that box brings up the sub-material, pic below for that: to the right of Map#4 is the Bitmap box that if clicked, brings up a long menu from bitmap to checker etc. That is where I select bitmap then it goes to my hard drive as I can browse through my textures and select one to use for that area of the Map, did I do that right atleast ? Pat

Kwakkelde, now you see what I have been fighting... for so long with multi sub object in 3ds Max. oh crap, that means that the extra 4 faces on the 3d model are coming from the diffuse part, if you go back to my previous long pictured post, it shows default, map and another all in the same one. That's gotta be what's causing it, its the diffuse. You said when your turn off 1-4 which are the diffuse ones, everything is fine ? Pat

Medhue, can you explain why you export it as an OBJ file and how you can see if something is wrong if your doing multi sub object please ? Pat

OH here's something Kwakkelde, I took a snapshot of an error I got when I tried to export as dae file after I collapsed the stack The Texture export incompatibility is the 4 materials, I used checker instead of bitmap when I stitch and weld edges and vertices in the UV Editor. I'm going to look up that error and see what it is, I have never seen it before Pat

Hey Kwakkelde, I sent you a pm back. QUOTE: "Are you sure they didn't say: "export as fbx, then convert to dae (with the stand alone tool)" ? That's what plenty of Max and Maya users do." no..no..they made it perfectly clear, export as fbx, then export as dae file with the 3ds Max application but collapse stack before exporting as fbx. I didnt notice a different between collapsing stack and not collapsing stack. QUOTE: "The .max isn't in the import menu, you can use "merge" instead. (or "replace" to update it, or even use "reference" so you can work on that piece separately" Well Well Well, merge, can't say I ever used that but now that I think of it, that does sound right to do, I'll try it. Back to designing I go. Hope to talk to you soon, lemme know what ya find, I know I'm not perfect but only perfect intentions Pat

If you want Kwakkelde, I can e-mail the file to you or add you to skype and file transfer it that way. Whichever you prefer, I know some dont feel comfortable giving out their e-mail addy, atleast with Skype, you add someone, you can remove them off your friends list afterwards as well. Now the file is saved as a .max file, I'm told by other 3d modellers in the 3ds Max group in SL that its best to convert to collapse the stack, convert to FBX then export as dae file to import in worlds. If I make 10 3d models for one scene, I save each one as a separate .max file, do what I need to do to each 3d piece in each .max file then re-import them back into the scene as FBX. Here's a pic of what importer extensions are available for me: It seems .max isn't one of them. I found FBX to be close to perfect when importing into a scene minus any glitches I get. Let me collapse the stack and simply export just as .dae to see if that helps or even solves the problem. Let me know how you want the file Kwakkelde, thanks. Pat

Hey Kwakkelde, It's ok, atleast I am seeing the results and its tasting really good right now. So let's start: QUOTE:"Did you check the number of sides in 3ds Max before exporting (like the picture below)? Make sure you selected all polygons of the model." Yes I have, I even took a snapshot of it below: Now in the Material Editor, When I select from one of the 4 Material ID's within the Multi-Sub Object, it goes to where I can select Diffuse So I select Diffuse and this is where it goes to So now in the bottom picture, the Material and Map are now assigned to Material ID 1 Could that be where it's doubling up on the faces ? The Material and map ? Instead of using Checker as a material, I used bitmap and used a texture on the picture below: QUOTE:"Alternatively, you could open the statistics (Just hit 7), right click the little plus in the upper left of the viewport, select "Viewport Configuration", go to the "Statistics" tab and select "Total + Selection". That way you can see if the polygons you selected by selecting by ID matches the total amount of polygons of the object." Yes the picture below shows that the polygon count matches exactly: I'm using Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 FBX Plug-in version: 2013.3 Release (197930) ( this is the one I recently downloaded that resolved issues we had discussed) That FBX File is imported into my scene, Cant use dae to import, converts the file to TRX. Pat

Im wondering about something Kwakkelde, theres still 8 sides to that 3d model when there should be only 4, is it possible that somehow it doubled the amount of sides when I multi sub objected the 3d model design ? Reason why I'm inquiring is this: when I log out and log back in world, the entire carpet is red, the moment I edit the design, the gray appears in the carpet. Quite odd actually. Pat P.S. I found 3 faces that are apparently not in use in the 3d model design, I set them to 100% transparent but I can't seem to find the last face. Perhaps by setting those 4 extra faces to transparency, it could resolve the problem. Like you said, a glitch or bug. P.S 2 - Found the 4th face, set it to transparency, doesn't seem to resolve the problem, looks like I will have no choice but to go back into 3ds Max and see where the problem is by divide and conquer.

Here's 4 pics I took of the interior design to show how much of a difference this made: Enjoy and Thanks a massive bunch to all who were involved. Pat

The only reason why I export as FBX is I can import easier into a scene in fbx format, dae apparently causes some problems and converts the 3d model to trx into the scene. This has been an ongoing problem for about a year now Kwakkelde, I gave kudo's big time in this thread. Many Many Many thanks. Pat P.S. I'll post pictures of the design in a second.

I noticed on the Autodesk website that there is a newer version of the fbx, I have downloaded it and installed the newest version and used "web update" to verify I have the latest version. Now I'm wondering about dae to see if it's up to date. Newest FBX version for 32 bit Autodesk 3ds Max is: FBX Plug-in version: 2013.3 Release (197930) I'm going to test this out again. Pat P.S. Forget about exporting .dae, didn't realize it uses the FBX plug-in. P.S 2 - With the new FBX plug-in, it shows that I still have 8 faces on the 3d model. SWEET JESUS H, IT BLOODY WELL WORKED, I exported the design as fbx then exported as dae, imported in world, began applying the textures and it worked perfectly, literally perfectly. It had nothing to do with what I did, its what I didn't do, I didnt update the fbx plug-in. Also it turns out that the land impact on my designs are lower with this fbx plug-in than the previous version I was using. OH MY GAWD. IT'S LAWL time, LOLOLOL Pat

Alright, I noticed my second and third material ID in the multi sub object was "Red Carpet" and "Grey Carpet" respectively, I changed it by adding an underscore between the words Red Carpet and Grey Carpet. My FBX plug-in is: FBX Plug-in version: 2013.1 Release (180734) I am using 3ds Max 2013 Hope this helps and Kwakkelde, Your getting one helluva Kudo's on this one Pat

[09:51] Base of Bridge Design NEW 2: I have 8 sides. How the heck can it have 8 sides when there are only 4 Material ID's set ? and even though it has 8 sides, I still can use multiple textures and colors Frustrating but I'm extremely patient. Thanks Kwakkelde P.S. What now ? lol

the script comes back with an error: default { state_entry() { integer numOfSides = llGetNumberOfSides(); llSay( "I have " + (string)numOfSides + " sides.", <1,1,1>, 1 ); } } (5 , 8) Function llSay takes 2 parameters, 3 given Pat

Alright Medhue, QUOTE "I think you are just not selecting the face inside SL. So, you click the Select Face option, then click the area where the face is on the model. Then you can apply the texture to that face, and then click the next face you want to change and apply that 1, and so on." I selected the face in edit but when I apply even a simple color, it colors the whole base of the bridge, not a specific material id that I have setup. QUOTE "Oh, and good job making your way through all that!" Thanks, I self taught myself 3ds Max, this multi-sub object is the only thing stopping me from creating designs better and faster. Multi sub object within 3ds Max works perfectly fine, no problems but the moment it has to be exported and imported into a metaverse, all hell breaks loose. Now I did notice something in 3ds Max that I have never noticed before and not a single Tutorial mentions anything about it, but there's a "Material ID Channel" per Material in the Material Editor Window. Let me show you what I mean: The Picture below depicted with the yellow circle shows a Material ID Channel. In this picture, it shows Material ID Channels from 0 to 15, I have never seen this before, I'm wondering if this is also required to ensure a different texture can be applied to various parts of the 3d Model. Im going to run a test on this design to see if that will help me solve this ongoing problem once and for all. Feel free to jump in anytime, it just seems I am missing a step in this process to succeed. Thanks for everyone's response, the terminology is what other 3ds Max users that I know use, so my bad for adopting it. We all have our quirk's I suppose. This one is mine. Pat

Quote "I'm not quite sure what you mean by "applying the UV map" and "replacing the UV map". A UV Map is a texture, it consists of certains faces on a 3d model that once imported in world can be applied in the edit menu under the texture tab to place it as a texture in SL. Whatever faces are on that UV Map when the 3d model was uv unwrapped, those faces will be applied to the 3d model. Quote "All UV maps are already applied before you render the templates." UV maps are only applied if the 3d model has been uv unwrapped from the modifier menu tab in 3ds Max. If the 3d model wasn't UV unwrapped, once the 3d model is imported in world (SL), applying a texture to it would look stretched. Quote "You can export the model as it is when you render those. In SL the four ID's should translate into face 0,1,2 and 3. You can apply your textures (or with the way you made the UV map a single texture) in SL." Exactly but when I apply my TEXTURES, I can only apply ONE UV Map, do I choose "select face" from the edit menu in SL when editing the 3d model to select the 4 faces that translate to 0,1,2,3 as you said to apply a different texture to each ??? Quote "If you want the UV templates to show in 3ds max, just assign the rendered templates to the four corresponding diffuse map slots." Didn't the pictures above taken from 3ds Max demonstrate that the UV Templates are assigned to the corresponding diffuse map slots ? Quote "Anyway, do you mean "assigning the UV template as a texture" when you say "applying the UV map ?" Yes that is exactly what I mean, since the UV Template is imported into SL, its basically an image which consists of faces from the 3d model previously rendered in 3ds Max and that UV Template is specific to only that 3d model. Quote "If that's the case, aren't you assigning them to the same ID? You still need 4 ID's for the templates, or for your final textures." Once again, don't the pictures above show that there are 4 Material ID's assigned to 4 UV Templates for the 3d Model and materials assigned to each Material ID under diffuse ? I'm gonna understand and learn this one way or another, it's a growing pain and the one thing left for me to make better 3d Model designs in SL. Thanks for your patience Kwakkelde. I await a response from yourself or anyone else. Pat

Kwakkelde, I got the multi-sub object part working however when I go to apply multiple maps to the design, it removes the previous one I put on. You can apply multiple uv maps to one 3d model can't you ? If that stands true, then how do you apply them, I have 4 uv maps that are each separately rendered from the Main UV map to texture them in photoshop. I have taken the liberty of taking several pictures to show how I achieved multi-sub object. So theres the base of the bridge design above ^ in 3ds Max. Below is the Multi-sub object setup with material id's assigned and materials as well as naming convention. Above is the entire UV Map showing the bridge in a 2d Map Below shows the material id's on the UV Map Editor: Below I have selected Material id 1, as you can see, only the faces for Mat 1 is displayed in the editor: Below is Material ID 2 selected from the UV Map Editor displaying only the faces for the 2d Map of that Material ID: You get the idea that there are 2 other UV Maps for Material ID's 3 & 4. Now I went into the editor under the Tools tab and selected Render UVW Template for Material ID 1: And I did the same for each Material ID in the UV Editor to render the remaining UVW Templates for Mat ID 2,3,4 and once that is done, I took each into photoshop and textured them. When I apply the first UV Map which is Mat ID 1, it applies properly, when I go to apply the 2nd UV Map, it removes the first UV Map and replaces it with the 2nd UV Map and so forth, it will not allow me to place all 4 UV Map's. I selected edit the 3d Model in world, click on the texture tab, open my inventory separately and click and drag it to the texture window in the texture tab of the edit window in world. What am I missing here ? Pat

Hey Kwakkelde, (god I hope I got that right) I setup the materials for the multi sub object, uv mapped both material id's for the 3d model separately as per the 2nd option given, tested it thoroughly in 3ds Max in the uv map editor, swapped between material id 1 and 2, each id showed only what was selected for each map, import in world, only allows me to apply one texture to the 3d model instead of 2. Any solutions ? Suggestions ? Pat

Perfect, that answers all my questions about Multi Sub Object Material Id's on a single 3d model, greatly appreciated and definitely kudos for taking the time to answer them. Grom

Does it automatically place the uv map in 2d when the material id is selected on a multi sub object ? or do I have to highlight it in some way on the actual 3d model then unfold mapping ? Sorry for all the questions but better to be safe than sorry. Grom

Thanks for the reply, so if I choose the latter of the two options, when I select material id #1 for example, only that id will appear in the uv map box then I can stitch/weld the vertices and edges ? Grom