After about 2 weeks straight of trying to import models into MED and WED, the best I can do is import the models without textures. I've read through many tutorials, and the results are never as smooth on my end.

I'm using Animation Master v.15.0 to make my models, and while the models themselves can import correctly into MED and eventually WED, textures are always the problem.

Here are many different problems I come across:

PROBLEM 1:
1. Export as Direct X model with textures
2. Import into MED
3. Export as mdl
4. Import into WED
5. WED crashes when building level during the "Tesselating Surfaces" process

PROBLEM 2:
1. Export as 3DS model with textures
2. Import into MED
3. Export as mdl
4. Import into WED
5. Builds level fine, but neither the preview nor the running game shows textures correctly, if at all.

PROBLEM 3:
1. Export an mdl file directly out of Animation master
2. Try to import into WED
3. "File open Error" says a WED error pop-up.

I'm assuming that I'm doing something wrong - some sort of rule of exporting textures that I must be overlooking. Are there any tips on putting textures on my models before exporting/importing them into the WED?

Thank you guys for your time!

~Love, hazel

Problem 2:

- Power of two <----- Very important! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_of_two
- I use for the textures .bmp for see correctly.

I don't know Animation Master.
What are the formats that you choose for saving or exporting?
Only .x and .3ds?
.mdl probably not the same .mdl as that of A7.

What sort of models do you export: animated characters, objects, or levels?

Hiya.

With AM, you will need to do two things:

(1) Get the .obj exporter or the .x exporter from somewhere and hope it works...good luck with hunting those down.

(2) Use only "1-edge" when making your models. That is, each 'edge' between control points is straight. Otherwise you will get a VERY heavy model in terms of number of polygons EXTREMELY fast.

My final suggestion? Jump off the Hash railroad as soon as possible. The software, while it may be capable of a great many things (indeed, it's animation capabilities can easily compete with Maya, MotionBuilder, XSI, etc. for character animation, IMHO), suffers from an indomitable stubbornness of the company. The just do *not* see how much better their software would be if they just made it easier to work with other's.

Try Blender (www.blender.org) or Wings3D (www.wings3d.com), maybe trueSpace (www.caligari.com) if you want free. If you want more reliable support, etc., perhaps Lightwave (which I've been using for a year or so now). Maya, 3DS MAX and XSI (*cry*...I LOVED my XSI!), are excellent...and crazy expensive (thousands and thousands of $$$).

Good luck with AM!

[Edit] PS: I just remembered, go try the demo of Hexagon and see if it works decently on your system. If it does...BUY IT! You will not be dissapointed for it's modeling capabilities! ( http://www.daz3d.com/i/software/hexagon?_m=d ).

Thank you all for your quick replies!

First of all, I'm exporting/importing characters at the moment.

Thanks for the suggestion as well, Paul. I'm interested in using Blender, but it looks really complicated. Since I'm not sure if I want to go ahead and re-model everything, would it be possible in theory to just export the very basics of a model I made in AM, import them into a better program, add the textures there, and then export it into GameStudio?

Hiya.

In theory...yeah, you could do that in AM. But...the time it takes to model a 'basic' character in AM would simply take longer than to get a finished model than one in created in another poly-based modeler, IMHO. AM will 'convert' to whatever resolution you specify...but it doesn't care about edge loops or other poly distribution. So, when you do get it into poly's, you'd have to spend a lot of time just re-editing it anyway (wasting all the time you may have saved...maybe). And it would save you one step of conversion.

Blender is very powerful, but also very non-standard (currently). However, with version 2.5, the GUI and hotkeys can be redone so as to behave like your favorite app (re: Maya, Lightwave, XSI, Cinema4D, 3DS MAX, etc.). Alas, 2.5 is still in beta, and some things just don't work very well (or so I've heard). Once 2.5 becomes more stable and people start to create "Other App GUI" add-ons, I may find myself using Blender...but for now, I use Hexagon and Lightwave.

Actually, I spent the last few months modelling a bunch of characters, so I if saving time is what I'm worried about, then would it be better to try the import/export thing instead?

Thanks a bunch for the help, btw. I'll try out Blender first and then move to Hexagon or Lightwave if I end up in any trouble.

I'm just making music for my game while I try figuring this out, lol.

Yeah, I would second hopping off of Animation Master.

You might want to consider MilkShape as well. There are other affordable animation packages out there. Just reseach.

I've used a program called Ultimate Unwrap to clean up max exports. You might want to try AM to Ultimate Uwrap to Med. UU was made for texture coordinate appication; however, it serves well as a file converter.

Hiya.

I'm gonna second that recommendation of UltimateUnwrap3D. I've been a customer of theirs for years. I would guess that I use it as a file converter about 70% of the time, and 30% of the time to do actual UV'ing. However, with the latest update to ZBrush and the enhanced "UV Master" for it, I"m going to be doing a lot of playing around in that! So my UU3D ratio may get changed to 99/1...

PS: For animation there is a decent little animation program out there called Fragmotion ( www.fragmosoft.com ). I hear a lot of folks use it for 'file conversion' as well...plus you can animate in it. I'll probably pick it up one day...if for nothing else other than to support a 'little fish in a big pond'. I like the idea of people being able to get into video game creation (and/or asset creation for them), for relatively cheap.

Sorry for the late reply. I went ahead and purchased Ultimate Unwrap 3D Pro.

Now I'm almost sure that it has something to do with what I'm doing wrong in MED or something. You see, everything shows up fine in Ultimate Unwrap 3D - all of the textures are there and stuff. It's just that when I export that and try importing it into MED, none of the textures are there anymore.

Since you all have pleasant experiences with UU, I doubt it's the program itself. Ugh, this is frustrating.