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3ds Max Best Practices


DanielRavenNest Noe
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This is to restart the topic from the old forum system. The previous topic can be found here:

 

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Mesh/Mesh-Best-Practices-3DS-Max/m-p/182832/message-uid/182832#U182832

 

Please post tips for using Autodesk 3ds Max for making Second Life "Mesh" 3D models.here. but also refer to the

SL Wiki 3ds Max Page for additional information, and update that page if you have better information.

 

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I have had very few problems exporting meshes from Max directly to .dae files. I use the built-in AutoDesk Collada exporter, since the OpenCollada and FeelingSoftware exporters each have one problem or another (such as screwed up uv mapping). The built-in exporter doesn't properly export the textures, which have to be uploaded and applied manually in-world, but other than that it works fine with pretty much default settings

 

 

The only setting I had to change in 3D Studio Max 2011 withthe collada exporter was that the "Up" Axis is Z

Oh and switch the measuring units to "meters" to get more accurate sizes going from Max to SL.

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  • 2 months later...

Hi All

I'm going to make rigged male cloth using MAX_SLAV tool for initial bone template creation.
I read topic mentioned in the first post, but it includes a lot of  information "in progress" and unfortunately for new users like me it's a bit tricky to "filter" final information. So I still have some questions.
Could someone who already successfully exported rigged cloth post some sort of "summary" on the base of my questions. Think it'll be very helpful not for me only but for all developers which just start to use rigged  mesh export feature.

Questions:

1. 3ds Max unit settings.
What system unit settings should be used in the scene for export to SL? Meters? Or this is not important and I can set units in the FBX Collada export plug-in?

2. MAX_SLAV settings
- What scale factor I should use for skeleton creation if I prepare scene for future export? =1?
- What avatar preset I should use if I'm going to make male cloths? Should it be one of male presets which better match my mesh shape or it should be Default Linden Lab Female anyway?

3. In scene.
- Model creates by MAX_SLAV rotated by Z axis (in the Front View I see Right side of the model) - is this correct rotation for export?
- Modifiers in the list for body parts have custom names -- "Skin" renamed to "Skin Joint" and "Unwrap UVW" renamed to "UV Map". Is this important or not? Should I use modifiers with the same names when I will skin cloths parts?
- Should I use some default names for cloths parts and materials for them or this is not important for SL?
- What type of material I should use and which material settings in Max (Diffuse, Specular, Glossiness etc) recognized by SL and affect object look there?

4. Mesh export
- What objects in scene I should select for export - all bones + cloths object(s) or cloths object(s) only?
- Can I export multiply objects at once or I should export them one-by-one
- What settings I should use in the FBX (as Collada) export plug-in?
-- Geometry > Convert Deforming Dummies to Bones = ON  (?)
-- Advanced > Units = Meters (?)
-- Advanced > Axis = Z-up (?)
-- Advanced > Collada > Triangulate = ?
-- Advanced > Collada > Single Matrix = ?

I asked a lot of question but even answers on some of them will be very helpful :)

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  • 3 months later...

Set system units to metric (either meters or cm work).  The exported Collada file will have a scale multiplier to say what one model unit is in meters (which is what SL uses internally), so cm scaled models will end up the correct size.

Since this thread got started, I have added a lot of notes on the 3ds Max SL wiki page .  Since mesh is out of beta and more or less stable, if something is not covered well enough there, we should work on improving the page.  I think that will be one of the primary places people will look for information.

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  • 2 months later...

The Collada Exporter in 3DsMax 2012 seems to be working fine for me without the need to mess with the FBX converter.

There is still the problem with textures needing to be uploaded seperately but it's not a big deal.

As long as you have the UV Map baked in, the textures should show up just fine on your model when applied through SL.

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