LODs
G'Day to all
My name is Stuart and I have been working on ship designs for CFS2 using GMax.
At the moment I have been doing some Japanese Destroyers but I have run into a possible problem.
They have a lot of 25mm AA guns that take up a lot of poly's, and as small targets, they do not need too many poly's.
The obvious solution is why use them, however, they do make up the ships armament, however effective hat may be.
I thought about set them up in LOD's so thay can be 'invisible' at distances over 1000m (or so) but I do not know how to do this.
I have GMax 2004 and there is no obvious LOD 'button' as there is in other GMax modules.
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers
Stuart
Stuart!!!
Welcome back my friend.
so do you want the quick and dirty approach or the longer (tough not by much) version.
Take your Kako, that was the first ship we worked on so I'll start with that.
All of the parts that you currently have add this after each name; "_LOD_100" (no quotations)
an example would be the Hull. name it Hull_LOD_100. do the same for all of the parts you currently have.
On the right side where you have the tabs for Create, Modify and so on, select create.
next click the little button that says helpers. we will now make a dummy box. size doesn't matter. just make it big enough to work with.
now you will need to make sure it is zeroed out. make sure the "X", "Y" and "Z" values are at zero.
next name the box Kako_LOD_100.
you should now have all of your parts with the "_LOD_100" extension and a box named Kako_LOD_100. what we want to do now is link all of the parts to the box. how i do it is to select the box and hide it then select all of the parts and unhide the box.
the top bar, under the menu bar, you should have the arrow in yellow/orange selected. next to that on the left are 2 buttons select the one with the 2 little boxes and chains.
now on the right side of the arrow is an arrow with lines. select that check the bock that says display subtree. and click on the Kako_LOD_100. this should take all of the parts and link it to the Kako_LOD_100 box. to test it select the box and move it. all of the parts should move with it. if not undo the move and try again.
by the looks of the model you already know how to link parts. so this is just a refresher.
now you can take and make the next model. you can give the next parts "_LOD_080" or if you want more LODs you can use "_LOD_90" if you want less use "_LOD_075". depending on how much detail you want you can do 080, 060, 040, 010.
As you make more LODs you can go very simple on the modeling and polys. remove the parts that are not needed. make it boxier. so on and so on. at LOD_010. you can go very simple with maybe the hull as a box and the top as a box as well.
you will have to texture them. so either map the sections with the same textures or make a basic one for the smaller LODs. just remember to make sure everything will match up at a distance and transition smoothly. I would use textures and not just materials as any repaints won't match.
after you have made all of the models and named them the correct LOD level you will merge all of them together.
Oh Here is something you will want to do. LOD_100 material start with 00 or 01 in the names of the material. when you do the material for LOD_080 and so on you something like 20 or 50 to start. so if you start with 00 and end at 10 start the next LOD with 20. Do you follow what I'm talking about?
That is so when you merge your models you don't mess up the materials or and mapping on them.
After all of the models are merged you just compile it as normal.
If you need examples I can send you some of the models I've made. If you need more help contact Allen. he is the one that taught me. You can also ask Robert John or the B24Guy. Robert might be busy so if you don't hear back right away don't worry.
You should still have my email. I'll drop you a message so you have it.
Thats is as simple as I can make it. Allen or one of the others might be able to clarify things if you need it.
Take care my friend.
Till Later,
John
