Our ReVolt Pub

Hello everybody!
First to tell, I am kinda new to revolt modeling and have some problems...
I use Maya 2011, Windows 7 -- 64 bits. I want really much to learn modeling or at least repainting cars. I asked some friends from RV House and learned to repaint them from the textures. I simply convert the model of the car i want to repaint from .PRM to .3DS and load it into Photoshop CS5. Then I put the original texture and start editing it as looking the 3D model i loaded before and see the changes i make. After all, i just save the .BMP and i`m ready.
That`s OK, but in the modeling/editing cars i got a big problem.
What I actually do is open the model in ZModeler, export as .3DS file. As I`m not really good with 3DS Max i export again to .OBJ or .ASE and open with Maya 2011.
I edit it and export as .FBX(Universal AutoDesk Format, can be used as downloading a free plug-in from their website). After that I import to 3DS Max again and have 2 choices.
Choice1: Export as .3DS file and import to ZModeler, export to .PRM file
Choice2: Export as .ASE file and use ASE2PRM to convert it to Revolt file. Only problem is that the .PRM file is ONLY 4 bytes.
Next, I have to shade it so it won`t be transparent or invisible (only wheels are visible). Second bad problem is--When starting rvshade.exe after some seconds my computer shows a blue massage saying that windows stopped because of preventing an bad crash...

So my questions are:
1) Can I use maya and use my car/model in Re-Volt without bugging it;
2) Can I run rvshade.exe on Windows7, 64 bits properly.
*3) Please give me some hints or help so I can learn to do that. I`m really,really gonna do everything I must to learn making cars for my favorite racing game: Re-Volt.

Please help me if you can,
Anything will be helpful and thanks in advice!

To answer your questions first:

1) Yes. But I'm afraid I don't know how you should proceed as I only have experience with using Gmax. Consider sharing some screenshots with us so we can see what you are doing.

2) All tools in rvminis is 32-bit and should therefore work on Windows 7 64-bit. However, they are commandline based, so you have to use commando-prompt or something similar in order to use them.

3) Again I would love to, but I am afraid I don't know anything about maya. However, if you could provide some screenshots or perhaps upload the car in OBJ pr 3DS so we could have a look at it ourselves.

Good luck with the car!

Thank you urnemanden for the replay! I actually thought no one will reply this post as I saw how many people viewed it and did not replay

I actually tried to make another style of the 'Bandit' car (rc) and simply used transform controls to make it a little more race looking. I added a front spoiler and I think that it`s a kind of problem for maya. We actually made a Bandit racing model with burner94 from RV House. He`s our car maker there and I wanted to learn making cars like him. So I used his idea and his front spoiler -- switched to FACE option in Maya and selected the spoiler Bandit has. Separated it (The body and the spoiler are diffеrent objects now) and copied the spoiler object (by switching in Object mode). Then Used the transformation tool and made it smaller. Badly from Maya I can export to .MA (maya format) and .FBX (universal Autodesk format). I can export to other formats too but they are unknown for me.

Another problem for me is the UV Texturing - I know how to do that and im kinda newbie to 3D modeling anyway, but I can`t actually get it how do i have to UV Texture it. I mean i can texture each face, i can texture based on camera (up,down,left,right look) and much more ways.
If you know how to UV Texture Re-Volt cars please give me some advice


I will give MediaFire link to my car (.FBX and .MA format), texture (my repaint of the original one) and the wheels and stuff I will actually use from Bandit`s folder. I will upload both in .ZIP file and hope you will see if I have any problems/wrong things.
Car.ZIP --> http://www.mediafire.com/?w9jhlofgya55nn7

I didn`t actually use PRM2HUL (thank you jigebren for this nice tool) because I can`t generate a non-bugged, normal, valid .PRM file.
You can anyway get this tool at his website: http://jigebren.free.fr/jeux/pc/revolt/ ... ml#prm2hul

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Now for Maya, I will make a video of EVERYTHING I do as I think it will be the best choice . If you prefer screenshots i will make them not a video, it`s your choice. I will wait for you to replay before I make the video/screenshots so I will know which one of them i should choose. I will upload it to a website I will create (blank, just the video there) so you can all watch it. I dismiss youtube because want only people from Our Revolt Pub to see it

I will check this post like 10 times a day so will reply almost immediately

Re: UV Texturing
I use Gmax to do everything 3D. If you wish to do the same with Maya, I'll suggest you look at some tutorials if you have trouble with UV texturing. It sounds more to me though that you don't know what Re-Volt demands from your model, am I correct? I am not as technically into what Re-Volt supports as Jigebren or other members may be here in the pub is, but I can tell you what I know.

When it comes to cars, Re-Volt supports 1 square texture, in preferably a 256x256 resolution. You cannot map outside this square (in contrast to newer games), but you should be able to UV Texture the car using any method Maya or whatever program supports. I believe the UV coordinates can be compared to vertices and I am pretty sure that Maya handles these the exact same way as Blender, Gmax, 3ds max etc. does. I can't help you much more than that, but if you have any specific questions anyway don't hesitate to ask them here.

Re: Models
Sorry but with the current tools I have I cannot open FBX nor *.ma files. Does Maya support exporting in one of these formats? 3DS OBJ SKP STEP IGES DWG DXF 3DM

Related to video or screenshots, it's totally up to you. I don't mind as long as I can see what you are doing.

Yep, you are totally right
I think i really don`t know what revolt wants from my model in order to use it/play with it. I will upload a screen shot of what maya is capable of exporting in, hope it will be able to export to one of your formats. I wrote my first tutorial before some seconds, even as I`m really new to repainting and modeling cars. I am pretty good with Photoshop and so I am with repainting textures but I think I`m dead with modeling or editing car`s model. Anyway here`s the screen shot:

I have the bad feeling I can`t export to one of your formats but you will see.

So well.. I guess i should learn using GMax because I got some friends who are using it too. Already downloading it and going to watch much youtube videos about that.

See you soon (I hope) and thanks so much for helping me

Nope, it doesn't seem like it supports exporting to any of those formats I mentioned in my previous post. After doing some google for you though, it seems like there is a way to export to OBJ. Does that work for you?

3dbuzz.com wrote:window>setting/prefs>plugin manager>click on load (or auto load if you always want it to load when maya is launched) beside objExport.mll

(Source)

Re: Gmax
Remember that Gmax isn't your only option in this case. Gmax has it's advantages for example by being a freeware lite version of 3ds max, but it has not been updated in over 5 years. There is alternatives like Blender (which also is free) that might be more preferable. It all depends on what you want to do, I personally choosed Gmax because I at that time already knew the interface of 3ds max pretty well myself.

EDIT: As for tutorials I've made one myself related to UV Mapping and texturing in Gmax. You can find it here. This is basically the only difference there is between max and gmax, if you take into account of what Re-Volt actually supports. So IMO it's not worth it to pay thousands of dollars only because of that.

WoW urnemanden you rule the internet
Yes, the .obj export WORKS!!
I think this will be the start of getting Maya to work with revolt
As it exports to .OBJ now i`m pretty sure I will be able to convert to .PRM(Revolt file) with as an example -- ZModeler!
Here is the car as .OBJ format and hope you are gonna see if I have any problems:
http://www.mediafire.com/?4lmyxtkrs6hwkv3

Oh and I was suprised when I saw your tutorial -- GMax is like a FREE copy of 3ds max as I can see

Anyway for Maya, here is the actual square it shows you in UV Texture Editor and as in every tutorial I saw for now, they say map them in the square I marked you on the picture and not exceed it. Hope for revolt that square is the same




EDIT: I actually got both Maya 2011 and 3DS Max 2011 but prefer Maya because I think it`s simpler and easier to use than 3DS Max but I anyway know that 3DS Max is just born for this duty

Thanks for showing a picture of Maya, it looks like you are doing the right thing. Perhaps you should save the UVW Mapping to Zmodeler though - When I converted the mesh from OBJ to 3ds I lost the UV Mapping you already did so the following picture just have some basic UV using a cylinder as Gizmo.

I got a couple of errors from ase2prm which I fixed by applying a texture to the mesh and welding some vertexes (ase2prm said panic: vertex 109 isn't normal, but 0 dunno exactly what that means). Here is your mesh in Re-Volt (with a random texture):



I think you should be able to export it through Zmodeler as well. BurnRubr has made a nice FAQ here and Cat has also created a step-by-step tutorial of exporting a model to prm here. I don't know much about cars, but I'll be here and support you as well if needed and hopefully other people with more experience than I will jam in as well.

EDIT: Btw, I am sure the admins will be very happy if you could size the picture in your previous post down a bit to beneath 640 pixel.
EDIT 2: Burnrubr has also made a tutorial where section 4 should be in your interest.

I got a couple of errors from ase2prm which I fixed by applying a texture to the mesh and welding some vertexes (ase2prm said panic: vertex 109 isn't normal, but 0 dunno exactly what that means).

I got these errors too but could not understand how you fixed them
Also I didn`t UV map ANYTHING so maybe that`s why you lost the UV map when exporting to .3DS. I guess I will need some extra tutorials to understand these things.

Perhaps you should save the UVW Mapping to Zmodeler though

Couldn`t understand that too Really sorry that you just have to type so much to me, i`m really feeling bad about that...
You can just stop helping me if you want, i`m not forcing you to do that.

If you can please make some screen shots/tutorial of how you actually UV map this because I just can`t get it and no tutorials over the internet can help me

Also what do I have to do with my model in order to work with Re-Volt? And if you use the Bandit`s default texture is it going to work properly on this car model? If not how do I fix that?

Btw, I am sure the admins will be very happy if you could size the picture in your previous post down a bit to beneath 640 pixel.

Fixing it as soon as I can, thanks for telling me

Thanks again, i`m going to bed now so I will see your replay(if any) and replay to it tomorrow. Bye and Good night!

Victor @ ase2prm wrote:I got these errors too but could not understand how you fixed them.

Well, based on experiments I usually have a basic idea of what is wrong when I get specific error. That vertex error was new to me though and I didn't know what specifically is wrong with your mesh. Let's hope that someone with some inside knowledge of ase2prm is be able to help though.

Victor @ Zmodeler wrote:If you can please make some screen shots/tutorial of how you actually UV map this because I just can`t get it and no tutorials over the internet can help me

It has been a long time since I've used Zmodeler myself (never looked back after trying max/gmax), but there is a few guys here who I know has the knowledge to help you - let's hope they want to as well.

Victor @ models for Re-Volt wrote:Also what do I have to do with my model in order to work with Re-Volt?

This depends partly on the program you are using. If you are going to use Maya 100% then I cannot help you. If you are going to use Zmodeler, check out all the tutorials I linked to you in my previous post. They will show you how to proceed. Also, don't think you can get things right the first time, it might take some time since different situations sometimes requires different procedures. Anyway, here is a /limits of Re-Volt (approximately):

- If you look at the stock cars you will notice how low the amount of polygons used is. So stick around 2000 for a custom car and you should be good. Again I am not expert on cars so I can't say anything exact.

- Re-Volt supports transparency, but unfortunately not for cars (fully). Try avoid using transparent windows, make them opaque or use pure black (RGB:0 0 0) to make the windows 100% transparent.

- Re-Volt supports "ENV" better known as shininess that improves the look of your car a lot IMO. I don't know if ENV is applied by default, but I know there is a limit of polygons that can use it (see this) per car.

- Re-Volt supports vertex colors for both cars and tracks though Zmodeler doesn't unfortunately! I personally think this is one of the things that make the stock cars look great because the shadows makes them look "less flat" rendered. You can of course paint the shadows on the texture but it will leave you with less space for something else of course.

Victor wrote:And if you use the Bandit`s default texture is it going to work properly on this car model? If not how do I fix that?

Yes it will, I tried it and it works just fine. As soon as you have exported the prm from Zmodeler you can replace it with any car's body.prm to test it out yourself.

Hope you can figure this out.

PS: I am helping you because I want to, not because it is required of me, so don't worry about that.

Really thanks urnemanden for all the help!
I actually made a car in MAYA before 10 minutes and after a long exporting/importing and RV shading I finally did it!
It was hard for me but after your help i thought it out...

I actually got more interest in repainting now because created my first repaint today and liked it very much. Maybe i`m not so good at modeling anyway or guess it`s not so easy/fun for me as repainting(Photoshop) is.

See you soon, victorpsbg