My 3DSM modelling tutorial videos

[Razorwing]

For fun I decided to record a couple of short 3D Studio Max tutorial videos intended for newbies to modelling for Oblivion. Perhaps they can be of use to someone.

1. Simple Oblivion collision creation in 3D Studio Max
2. Multiple Oblivion collision creation in 3D Studio Max

[Darkness Eternal]

Thanks for posting those RW.

Would there be a chance you could upload those to Filefront in their original format? Youtube tends to make them really low rez. If we could download them, I personally run them on my laptop and watch the tutorials while I'm modelling

Either way, good job!!

~DE

[Razorwing]

Sure thing

1. Simple collision creation
2. Multiple collision creation

[Darkness Eternal]

Thanks RW !!

Ok, so I just watched your video. Very good job and very informative. But where do you get the "bhkrigidbody" modifier from in your modifier list? I only have the NifProps button I set up in the Utilities panel.

If I'm not mistaken, your modifier does the same thing, but you gotta let me know how I can get it into the modifier list like you have

~DE

[Razorwing]

Glad you liked them

Which version of the exporter do you have? The bhkRigidBody and -helper was only introduced after work on the exporter resumed in early summer this year. Go ahead and get the latest version from -here- and then you should have no trouble finding the tools I used.

[Darkness Eternal]

Hehe, thanks RW, I was indeed using an older max plugin. I just downloaded the latest version and looked over the version history.

I there any additional documentation on the newer functions? I'm sure I can figure them out, but it would be nice to have a reference. Also, are these new functions more efficient fps wise?

~DE

[Razorwing]

Originally posted by Darkness Eternal
Hehe, thanks RW, I was indeed using an older max plugin. I just downloaded the latest version and looked over the version history.

I there any additional documentation on the newer functions? I'm sure I can figure them out, but it would be nice to have a reference. Also, are these new functions more efficient fps wise?

~DE

I don't know of any documentation, but there's a bit of information on Niftools' forum, especially from SACarrow's tests.

Don't use the extended primitive capsule, it doesn't get translated properly. Use the bhkCapsule helper instead. You can use either a primitive sphere or a bhkSphere, both work equally well if I remember correctly though I always use the helper myself. I don't know if bhkCollProxy and NifFurniture do anything in the current version.

The new features are a major leap forward. If you need to set up twenty box collisions it's a breeze doing it from Max, whereas before it could take an hour or more doing it in Nifskope. For instance if you're making a bowl you probably want six slanted box collision rotated around the center of the object. Major pain doing that in Nifskope in the old days... but now, just make and position one box, center it's pivot to the model, clone it and rotate sixty degrees until the bowl sides are covered. You'll need to reset the pivot of a box to the XYZ position of the bottom polygon of afterward*, but still, it's an amazing timesaver.

As far as FPS go, spheres, capsules and boxes are the best. After that comes convex shapes**, and then bhkPackedNiTriStripsShape***. Lastly comes the familiar bhkNiTriStripsShape, which is a real FPS hog. At the absolute top of the pile however are Mopp shapes, which neither any of the exporters nor Nifskope can presently create. But in many cases the collision we can create in Max these days can be permanent; Bethesda used boxes for bowls for instance, and convex collision for many other clutter items, so our items can certainly be on technical par with theirs.

(* If you use box primitives, which I like to do. The bhkBox helper doesn't have that problem but then again it's harder to manipulate via pivot and a few other things, so for me in those cases it's easier to use primitives. If you don't center the pivot like I mentioned the primitive's position will become wrong.)

** However convex shapes are often the collision of choice for clutter items because they stride a golden path between optimization and quality havok behaviour. It's a bit tricky to use. It seems the vertices of a convex shape has to be at the edges. You can't make a curved surface for instance, the convex shape will smooth out the curve. But it'll become apparant as you use it. Don't forget to tick the Enable Optimize checkbox. Apart from that convex shapes are made like any other mesh and can certainly be a heavily optimized version of the real model.

*** bhkPackedNiTriStripsShape are created in Nifskope. Right-click on bhkNiTriStripsShape then choose "Havok > Pack Strips". It gives a significant performance boost. A word of caution though, when you pack collision it changes the material to stone and screws up arrow penetration. So if it's a hard surface, change the material from stone to the one it should be (if it shouldn't be stone, of course). If it's a soft surface like wood, consider using other collision instead.