It occurs to me that there are probably quite a few people who would like to get into making 3d models for this game but are unsure of how to start. Now there is a good book that looks as though it covers just about everything you would ever want to know about gmax called "The GMAX Bible" (isbn 0-7645-3757-1). Unfortunately the very size of it (854 pages) makes it somewhat intimidating (and a bit hard to find any specific thing you might want to know).
Now I know that there are a number of tutorials out there but a lot of them are movies, great in theory but not very practical when you are trying to learn the basics (watch - pause - switch to gmax - try to do what you have been shown - switch back - repeat ad nauseam). I was wondering if someone would be willing to create a short series of illustrated (i.e. pictures not movies) tutorials that covered the basics. Such things as -
Create a cube
Adjust the dimensions of it
Texture it
Rotate it in any direction (without disturbing your previous work)
Stretch it in one or more directions
Make it into a more complex shape (e.g. round the corners off)
Doing this might get a few more people making models to import into the game. Anyway it's just a thought (and OK I want to know how to do the rotate thingy 
).
TR
Ummm... much of this has already been released and mentioned here Custom Content Tutorials and here Custom Content Tools.
One thing in particular to remember is that just because a specific tutorial might mention say 'creating a tile' does not mean that is all that it teaches. The basics are just that, 'The Basics' and apply against / to, ANYthing you wish to create.
Another thing to remember is that 3dsmax and Gmax are essentially the same thing, and more than 95% of any command mentioned in the various tutorials for 3dsmax WILL apply to Gmax as well. At least as far as tutorials posted in the above two links.
For blender and other apps of course, the actual methods are different, but the basic ideas would be applicable across the various programs as well, but you would have to interpret things a bit differently as each program may call a 'basic tool' by a different name, but the idea behind that tool / function would still apply to the various programs.
Edit: Ooohhh... another thing to remember is I know for sure that Gmax, and the educational (yet fully functional) versions of 3dsmax ALL come with 'basic' tutorials on creating things as well. ANY thing that teaches you how to create a box, cube, ball, whatever, will apply across the board to whatever it may be that you wish to learn how to do.
Now, as to the specifics on what needs to be done to get whatever it is you create into NWN, that is a different set of questions and answers, and will be different for each program and set of utils applied to that program for the import/export of the models. Textures are a different thing altogether and most of what you learn regarding creating a texture in whatever program you use to create it will also be applicable to any other graphics program that someone might mention around here as usable. For instance Gimp, Photoshop, Paint, etc, each accomplishes much of the same thing across the board. Photoshop being the most difficult to learn simply because it is so powerful, Gimp likely being middle of the road and Paint being the easiest, yet most useless of the mentioned graphical editors. Paint just doesn't have the power needed to accomplish most of what you may wish to do with models inside NWN.
Basically, what I am saying is that there will not likely be a single set of steps to accomplish the whole project and that also explains all of the possible answers. I know that in the links in my signature, there are multiple tutorials that I have created that cover using 3ds/Gmax for creating tiles, but the topics are split across multiple posts instead of being a single point, click and do type of thing. Also, ALL of the tutorials I have created use screenshots, and do NOT use movies or vids, as you are expected to have either 3dsmax or Gmax loaded, while also having the tutorial loaded in your browser so that you can easily switch back and forth to reference the steps and actually see how it applies in your given attempt at duplicating what I sought to explain.
Edit2: Just noticed that my original signature has been missing around here since I don't know when. I guess during all of the moves/switches/LOSSES caused by Bioware moving things around, the signature(s) keep getting lost or wiped out. Sorry, I only corrected it by giving a single link at the bottom now, to the basic forums where my various tutorials have been posted, you will have to dig around a bit there to find things.
Modifié par Bannor Bloodfist, 27 juin 2014 - 12:06 .
