Is there anyone that is able to help a complete noob learn how to use 3ds max? I have tried for about two weeks now and still cant even get my initial line looking good…
The best way to learn fas is looking the Youtube Automation tutorials, looking every step and listening.
Feel free to PM me supraman with any questions you may have. 
But yeah the best way to start out soecifically for modelling things for Automation is to look at Daffy’s tutorial on making grilles. Try making a few simple grilles, and go from there.
I have watched all of the tutorials the problem I am having is that they dont really explain what it is they are selection and what the selected tool does. For me this leaves me wildy guessing and trying to follow what they select and hoping I get a similar result.
What would be nice is if someone could make a step by step write up of a start to finish Grill that would have pictures, or just to do a better video that better explains what is actually going on. Dont get me wrong , for someone who has even a little knowledge of 3ds max I am sure the current tutorials make loads of sense and even from the current ones I have learned a few new things but I am still struggling and feel like I am missing a step or not doing something I should be.
A few of the things I feel that should be covered are things like how to set a proper reference image. Now this was something that was described in the grill tutorial but even with my speakers maxed out I could barely hear a word they were saying. Whenever I make my plane to drop image into I then cannot figure out how to lock the zoom/pan option and whenever I zoom in the grid changes as well.
my next issue is that when I go to create the line around my grill I cannot seem to get it smooth at all, I am also using bezier and bezier corner like showed in the videos.
as for wizzys way of making grills, I have tried it but find it even more difficult then using the lines
I have never made it farther then this so Currently that is all the issues I am having. hope someone can help me out on this because Id love to add some stuff and help contribute.
[quote=“supraman”]I have watched all of the tutorials the problem I am having is that they dont really explain what it is they are selection and what the selected tool does. For me this leaves me wildy guessing and trying to follow what they select and hoping I get a similar result.
What would be nice is if someone could make a step by step write up of a start to finish Grill that would have pictures, or just to do a better video that better explains what is actually going on. Dont get me wrong , for someone who has even a little knowledge of 3ds max I am sure the current tutorials make loads of sense and even from the current ones I have learned a few new things but I am still struggling and feel like I am missing a step or not doing something I should be.
A few of the things I feel that should be covered are things like how to set a proper reference image. Now this was something that was described in the grill tutorial but even with my speakers maxed out I could barely hear a word they were saying. Whenever I make my plane to drop image into I then cannot figure out how to lock the zoom/pan option and whenever I zoom in the grid changes as well.
my next issue is that when I go to create the line around my grill I cannot seem to get it smooth at all, I am also using bezier and bezier corner like showed in the videos.
as for wizzys way of making grills, I have tried it but find it even more difficult then using the lines
I have never made it farther then this so Currently that is all the issues I am having. hope someone can help me out on this because Id love to add some stuff and help contribute.[/quote]
I totally understand. The turtorials are great, don’t get me wrong, BUT they are above the head of novice 3DS users, especially if they have no background in 3D modelling. I took a class way back in highschool in graphic design and that didn’t prepare me one bit for making a car in 3DS (refer to failed attempt at a A-team Van thread). The terminology used/tools and all of the technical aspects are very hard to follow if you don’t even know what they mean.
3DS seems pretty complicated, to me at least
The Automation modding tutorials are aimed at people who already have an understanding of 3ds max, as if I was trying to teach 3ds max at the same time they’d be about 20hrs long.
To start learning 3ds max, I would suggest going through some of the tutorials in the 3ds max help file, they’re actually really quite good.
There are also a lot of good beginner 3ds max tutorials around the place online, although I’m not aware of a specific set of them to recommend.
I would 2nd that, building the helmet and fighter plane from the tutorials gave me a good grounding in the basics of using 3dsmax
Sorry daffy I in no way was trying to offend you if I did, it was like I thought they were directed for those who already had some knowledge in 3ds max. I will definitely look into these help files as I am really interested in learning.
Thank you felgen I will definitely check out your link as any help in learning the program is very welcomed, and weasel I have already watched wizzys way o things but I was having a harder time with it but maybe this new link will make some sense of it
Ok so I think I figured out one of my problems with making a good line. Before I used many points thinking it would give me more areas to edit and and shape how I wanted it to, however I am now finding that less is more in this situation. Is this actually the case?
For splines? Yeah, usually the less points you use the easier it will be to keep it all under control. Only add extra points when you really need them, otherwise things get a bit messy.
For most grilles and vents, for an instance, a cage shaped like a deformed 2x2 grid (which means 9 points) is absolutely enough. (sometimes, even less points might be needed, sometimes a bit more, but still not too many of them)
yea when making a spline, before when going around a corner I would put like 4-5 points and I could never get it looking smooth. Now I am using only 2-3 and it is working Waaay nicer.
once I get these lines ready I will be able to weld them together but I am not quite sure on how to weld them. So if possible is there an easy explination on how to do that?
also once I get it to the point were it actually looks like something I will post pictures of it
this is what I am currently working on, please tell me if you have any suggestions or tips please
i1360.photobucket.com/albums/r645/fishfordays/rx8_zps81e22323.png
i1360.photobucket.com/albums/r645/fishfordays/2_zpsbdd51722.png
edited at 1:25 am mountain time.
i1360.photobucket.com/albums/r645/fishfordays/3_zps7d5a1751.png
i1360.photobucket.com/albums/r645/fishfordays/4_zps4e1700b3.png
Edited again @ 2:02am mountain time.
so here is an issue I have now gotten stuck on, after being happy with what you see I then selected everything and welded it together. I then went into modifiers and selected surface like daffy says to in his video, however I got a much different result and cannot figure out what is going on… here is what I got after selecting surface modifier.
i1360.photobucket.com/albums/r645/fishfordays/5_zpse8bc09a2.png
thanks guys!
Looks great!
Only move the right end points to x=0 (or 0 in the horizontal axis).
thanks VMO, any tips on what I could do to fix my issue on the last pic? and how do I move them to zero? I know I need to select them but what do I do after that?
Well, I cannot see any issue here. It’s supposed to look flat at the beginning. Unless you mean it’s not blue (in which case you need to assign the grilles material to it.). Or that some edges are not the way they were before (I can’t really see that due to edged faces option being off), in which case your grille is too small, and everything needs to be scaled up a bit.
Now, how to move points to x to 0: You select each of the centerline points, look for the X coordinate at the bottom of the window and right-click on the up/down arrows for each of them.
Also, it will help if you turn on edged faces (F4 I believe) so that you can see how the mesh is looking.
Ah thank you Pleb maybe that is why it looks different to me. I will try this as soon as I get home.