Step 25
Following on from Part1, we've selected the upward facing rectangular polys on the top of the hexagonal axle, and the main axle poly.
Click 'Attach Polys'.
Select the verts along the edge where we want the fold to be. In this case we will do both sides at the same time, you should have 8 verts selected.
Click 'Weld Selected'.
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Step 26
Now let's attach those side hexagons to the main stem. Follow the same procedure as in the previous steps. Select the main axle stem and the two side hexagonal polys.
Click 'Attach Polys'.
Select the lowest verts at either end of the axle poly and on the
lowest edge of the hexagons at the left and right side as shownd.
Click 'Weld Selected'.
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Step 27
Now here's a bit of a cop out... it'd be really difficult (but not impossible) to attach the remaining two polys. The upright rectangles at either side of the axle stem. The reason why it's hard is because you can easily inadvertently weld vertices that would make the poly impossible to be unfold.
It doesn't matter, let's leave these polys as they are for now, they'll be the only ones out on their own so we'll know where they came from :)
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Step 28
Now here's a neat little trick... rather than repeat the attach/weld process on the additional rear axle stem, we can simple delete the rear axle's polys and replace them with a clone of the front axle that we've already prepared. In this case I've attached the polys to be deleted on the rear axle so it's easier to use MAX's Align command to position the clone in exactly the right spot. Clone the axle that we've prepared. |
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Step 29
Move or align the cloned axle to the correct position where the second axle is/was. Delete the duplicated polys on the rear axle. |
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Step 30
Nearly there... just the wheels left :) Hide everything but the treads of the wheels and freeze all but one wheel as shown.
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Step 31
As they stand, these wheel polys can't be unfolded because they are in a continuous loop i.e. there must be a split somewhere along the wheel so it can be laid flat... like cutting an elastic band and laying it out as a strip.
Focus on the bottom of the unfrozen wheel... the bottom is probably the best place for the seam. In MAX's 'Modify' rollout, select sub object 'polygon' level and select two adjacent faces on the wheel as shown. Note I have 'shade selected faces' on in my view configuration to make it easier to see.
A useful trick here is to create a MAX 'helper' next to the faces you select, this will ensure you don't lose track of which two you've selected. You can see the helper as the yellow cross.
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Step 32
Use MAX's 'detach' command to detach the selected faces as a new poly, use the default MAX name when prompted.
Now you have created your seam in the wheel but you don't want that detached poly separate from the rest of the wheel, so.... |
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Step 33
I'm sure you're beginning to see the pattern here...
Select the wheel polys and the separate strip poly.
Click 'Attach Polys'.
Select 4 verts either the left or the right side of the previously detached strip poly. Use the helper as a guide.
Click 'Weld Selected'.
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Step 34
As we did earlier with the two axle polys, you can clone the wheel thread that you've just prepared and replace the three remaining 'non-prepared' wheel treads. Don't forget to delete the original wheels. Use MAX's align command to exactly position the clone wheels. Note: You can clearly see the seam we created on each wheel.
Important Remember to remove the 'helper' you created earlier as this object can cause problems later on. |
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Step 35
Click 'Un-Hide All'. We now have all the polys on the truck prepared for unfolding and we are ready to progress with the skinning process.
Note: this is a good time to SAVE.
 
Click 'Select All' and 'Clone' to make a clone copy of your model for later use.
Note: As mentioned earlier, 'Clone' is the cut off point for making geometry changes to your model.
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Step 36
Click 'Unfold Polys' and ChilliSkinner will unfold all of the polys and lay them down flat all on top of each other. |
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Step 37
Click 'Optimise Polys' to automatically rotate the selected polys to their 'optimum' rotation. This will generally align them to MAX gridlines.
Click 'Arrange Polys'. ChilliSkinner arranges the polys in the shape of a square with no overlaps.
Take a moment to recognize the various polys that we grouped earlier and how they look unfolded... the vaguely '+' shapes are the axles... the four long rectangles are the wheel treads... etc.
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Step 38
We are now at the second point where it's often very useful to manually intervene in the skinning process. i.e. before attaching the flat polys.
Depending on the detail we require on the final skin, we now have the option to place certain polys on top of each other. For example do we want each individual wheel to be different or will they all be identical? In this case I want them identical, even down to inside and outside faces as this won't be noticed. So here I've aligned all
the circular wheel faces together and the wheel tread rectangles. Once aligned you can group them to make it easier to manipulate them.
I've also aligned and grouped the two axle polys and those four small rectangles again from the axles.
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The 39 Steps ;)
Now, whilst we mustn't make any changes to the geometry in terms of adding or deleting faces or vertices... we can manipulate these polys or groups of polys by scaling them, rotating them even stretching them etc. So to make better use of the texture bitmap's space (empty space=bad) I have scaled up the wheel faces and the wheel treads.
I then manually moved the polys around till I got a good fit.
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Step 40
Remember to 'ungroup' any grouped polys.
Click 'Attach Polys' to join them all together as one poly.
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Step 41
Now we are ready to apply UV coords. Click 'Apply Planar Map'.
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Step 42
Click 'Toggle Visible' to hide the flat polys and show the 3D clone polys that we made earlier.
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Step 43
Click 'Select All'.
We now need to attach the clone polys together as we did with the flat polys, so click 'Attach Polys' again.
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Step 44
Click 'Un-Hide All' and you should see the 3D Clone object and the 2D flat object.
Click 'Pick Source' and then select the flat 2D object in a MAX viewport i.e the green poly.
Click 'Pick Target' and then select the 3D object in the MAX viewport. i.e. the orange monster truck.
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Step 45
Click 'Morph' and the flat 2D object will be made 3D again.
Even though it looks like we have our original 3D box back, we still need to weld the vertices at each corner to make it a contiguous mesh again. Click 'Weld All' to do this.
You're done with ChilliSkinner!
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Step 46
Use Texporter or an equivalent to generate the initial bitmap skin. Save the bitmap.
Note that Texporter is generating this bitmap based on the UV coords that ChilliSkinner placed on your object.
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Step 47
In MAX's Material Editor, select a new material and at the bottom under it's 'Maps' rollout, check the 'Diffuse' checkbox and click the 'Map' button on the right of it Choose 'Bitmap' as the map type and browse and select the bitmap you just saved from the previous step. Now drag and drop the new material on top of your object.
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Step 48
Now you can paint your bitmap in Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or your favourite paint package to get it exactly as you want it.
I haven't had time to finish this one. |
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Step 49
<phew!> T H E E N D |
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| If you spot a mistake on this page or think something requires better explanation please email. |
