Weird 3ds max export error, please help? ^^

[jeffadkins51]

First of all I'd like to say hello as I'm new to this community, I've browed for awhile but never registered until now.

Second of all I'd like to apologize if this is in the incorrect section, I looked around pretty thoroughly and I THINK it belongs here, but I'm new and probably wrong ^^

So here is my dillema: I've now spent countless hours over the last week tryin to figure out how to export my models from 3ds max to, well anything, preferably poser or bryce for example.

What I've done and what I want to do: Ok so I've successfully imported the model into 3ds max, it works great! But I want to create a signature or a wallpaper for example, and I know Bryce much better than 3ds max, so I've been trying to export the file out of 3ds max (had to start there because of weird file formats, I used the scripts I found here). The problem is whenever I export the materials don't export with it!

I either wind up with a completely gray model, or one with weird colors like all blue and red!?

When I render in 3ds max, it looks great, but when I export it loses the materials part I think.

It's a really weird error, I've tried exporting with almost every extension and a variety of different options.

I've tried opening all the exported files in a variety of programs, including Bryce, Poser, and Daz Studio. All of these programs get the same result, well except for daz studio because I can't even figure out how to import the model into it, it kind of does but it doesn't display it after it imports, weird program imo *shrug*

Anyways, I know this was a wall of text from a new guy who probably posted in the wrong place, but if anyone could help me out, I'd REALLY appreciate it! I have a lot of free time and would like to some day be able to truly join this community and contribute, but first I have to learn the basics, so if anyone can tell me how to properly export this thing out of 3ds max and retain the materials so that I don't have gray blobs, I'll love you forever!!!

Thanks in advance for reading and also for replying,
Jeff

 

[JackRCDF]

Lemme get this straight, you're trying to export a starcraft 2 model from 3d studio max into a format bryce supports?

First off make sure the materials are in a format bryce supports. I'm guessing it will at least support .tga and .png, so try one of those. I doubt it supports dds although I could be wrong. Once you've got those applied to the model, try export to obj or 3ds. Bryce can import both of those.

 

[jeffadkins51]

Lemme get this straight, you're trying to export a starcraft 2 model from 3d studio max into a format bryce supports?

First off make sure the materials are in a format bryce supports. I'm guessing it will at least support .tga and .png, so try one of those. I doubt it supports dds although I could be wrong. Once you've got those applied to the model, try export to obj or 3ds. Bryce can import both of those.

Yes sir, you have the right idea as far as what I'm trying to do!

Ok, so like I said I'm still a newb so I'm going to ask some silly questions here!

Ok first, how do I convert DDS files to TGA or PNG?

Second, once I convert them will I have to figure out how to reapply them to the model in 3ds studio, or if I leave them with the same base name and just change the extension, will it continue to load them automatically?

Third, does either obj or 3ds export the materials inside of the file, or will they be seperate? if they are seperate then I'm not sure how to apply them in bryce... there are like 6 different texture files, and in bryce when I open the object it's only 1 object, so I'm not sure how I'd go about applying like 6 different materials to one object. This is why I was hoping I could somehow save the materials with the file. I know it can be done because in the past I've imported plenty of objects into bryce that already had textures attached!

Fourth, I'm not entirely sure but it seems like 3ds max isn't exporting my entire model, it seems like when I load it into bryce it's only the very base structure without any of the nifty doodads, any ideas on this? Do I need to be doing something different to export the full model, or "scene"

 

[JackRCDF]

http://www.galaxywiki.net/DDS_(File_Format) lists some tools which can be used to work with dds. I personally use GIMP + the gimp dds plugin, open the dds in gimp, and save as tga or png.

You'll have to reapply them; happily, the process isn't too difficult. http://www.galaxywiki.net/How_to_make_StarCraft_II_Assets#Step_1 shows the process. For bryce you'll want to use Bitmap instead of Starcraft II Bitmap for the diffuse, specular, and emissive texture (I think), and Normal Map instead of StarCraft II Bitmap for the normal map.

The obj and the 3ds should store the file name but not the image itself in them. So, if you import the obj and the textures are in the same directory, you should be able to import successfully without reapplying the textures.

I'm guessing you need to select all the objects before exporting.

 

[jeffadkins51]

thank a ton for replying man, i'll go give it a shot and see how that works ^_^

update: installing adobe again so that I can use the plugin for dds, tried for awhile to get it to work with psp but after failing for awhile and looking at some articles i found via google, apparently photoshop plugins are no longer compatible with newer versions of psp such as x3

eh, ok yeah what I'm trying to do is weird and nobody really does it so no tutorials on what to do exactly, which is bad for a newb like me

I've decided to just give up on it for now, maybe I'll revisit it sometime

the slate material lab is way too complex, i can't figure out how to replace the dds textures with my bmp textures and make it work =/

i did however figure out something very interesting, if you delete the dds files in the maps folder, and replace them with bmp files you saved from photoshop, then rename the bmp extensions to dds, then it loads them and it works properly ^^ unfortunately it still doesn't export them so it does me no good lol, but it is a nifty trick to know i guess it may come in handy for something

i'll check back in a few days perhaps someone will have checked in and can answer a simple question: how do i save m3 files that you loaded into 3ds max to obj files that can be loaded into something other than 3ds max and yet retain the textures?

thanks for trying to help, i'll be back in a week or so to see if anyone has figured this out!

thanks,
jeff

 

[Statharas]

If i plan on making a Signature, I just pick a model, then Render in 1920x1080 or something, and save it as a .png :/

Then, I manipulate the image in Photoshop.