created new model. define geosets?

[Stumpfies]

hi everyone!

i´m using 3ds max 5 with art tools and created a completely new model.
i tried to animate the alpha of certain geosets using geoset animation manager of magos model editor, just to hide several model parts within an animation. my problem is, that my model seems randomly scattered on these geosets. one part of the model isn´t even in a geoset...

how do i control which polies are in which geoset?

thx for any help!

 

[Tarrasque]

yeah that bugs me too, Magos assigns (aparently) random names to geosets.

But since you have 3dsmax 5 why dont you animate the alpha there? You go to Graphic Editors, open the Dope Sheet, select the material(inside scene materials), expand it, then in extended parameters theres something called Opacity, left click and Assign a Linear Float controller. And thats it now you can add keys(inside the dope sheet) telling the texture to be invincible or not at any time you want.

edit: if you do things this way you will need to add 100 opacity keys at the beginning of all the animations that are not invicible, for invicible just change it to 0 opacity.

 

[Stumpfies]

thx, that should work. ill give it a try.

 

[Tarrasque]

Ok. Heres some reference from a model Im working on, just in case.

 

[Stumpfies]

that worked great. thx, really!

is there a way to do that (hiding/unhiding) with blizpart-emitters within 3ds max, too?

 

[Tarrasque]

For emitters you can add a visibility track. Its like using Opacity but for me it does weird things when used with the main model so I try to use visibility only with particles.

You open the Track view, select the particle object, then at the menu theres an option "Track", inside that theres "Visibility Track", you have to select Add from that menu. Then a visibility track will be added to that object. You have to expand the object if its not already expanded and select the Visibility track you just created. Right click and Assign an on/off controller. And thats it, you can now add visibility keys to that object, see the picture Im posting, in it I have a visibility key at 0, that turns off the visibility until frame 1302, where the particle can be seen for a while and then goes invisible again intermittently.

 

[xXm0RpH3usXx]

heck, you can even set up a 3dsmax particle system and then bake it using various scripts from scriptspot.com for example to convert it into simple floating meshes...

never seen anyone use this technique but its a lot more versatile!