What part modelling software are you using?

[CaptainSlug]

Milkshape is what I'm currently using.

I'm actually surprised that this rather old and cheap software I bought years ago was updated with a COLLADA exporter. It doesn't have an importer though, so I have to keep an editable copy in .ms3d format to make changes.

[Jack]

;D

I thought nobody else used milkshape. It's a great program.

[spacep00se2]

softimage / mod tool

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?id=13571257&siteID=123112

[best4bond]

I had used Milkshape for a few years, But now i just got 3ds Max.

[Darrknox]

3ds Max

Maya

Soft Image

Milkshake

Wings3D

Blender

All great 3D programs. The only I haven't seen work is Cinema 4D

[esd]

Cinema 4D, with Blender as an exporter.

[HarvesteR]

Wow, I remember MilkShape, I had my first modelling experiences with it, making meshes for The Sims

Good to know it still works!

I myself use 3Ds Max here, but there are some team members who prefer Maya.

As long as it can export to OBJ or DAE, anything goes

What usually DOESN'T work are NURBS-based modelling programs, like Rhino. They don't deal with the mesh directly, so there's always some trouble when they have to export to a mesh format.

Cheers

[esd]

As long as it can export to OBJ or DAE, anything goes

Not quite... KSP seems to have issues with programs that export these formats in a solid text-block (at least that's the only denominator I've spotted), rather than spacing it out on lines. Cinema4D's .dae and .obj exports refuse to work in the game, which is why I'm using Blender as a converter.

[Dani-Sang]

Not quite... KSP seems to have issues with programs that export these formats in a solid text-block (at least that's the only denominator I've spotted), rather than spacing it out on lines. Cinema4D's .dae and .obj exports refuse to work in the game, which is why I'm using Blender as a converter.

Thx for the tip, was just playing in C4D and noticed this problem.

[laserpanda]

3ds Max 2011.

I still haven't managed to get anything in-game yet.

It either hangs at the loading screen, or starts without my model.

[lucek]

Anyone know how I could get a workable file from auto-desk inventor 10? I'm not really all that good with 3d modelers but I have actual training in auto cad and inventor.

[Darrknox]

Anyone know how I could get a workable file from auto-desk inventor 10? I'm not really all that good with 3d modelers but I have actual training in auto cad and inventor.

Inventor is for CAD. It's made for rapid prototyping, not for making game ready assets. Not sure if it would work. I'd try blender.

[lucek]

Inventor is for CAD. It's made for rapid prototyping, not for making game ready assets. Not sure if it would work. I'd try blender.

I know it's just I got a copy and I'm pretty good with it. Like I said I've actually got training on it. A semester of a 3 year engineering program dedicated to the software.

[Darrknox]

I know it's just I got a copy and I'm pretty good with it. Like I said I've actually got training on it. A semester of a 3 year engineering program dedicated to the software.

I'm sure you are, I'm just saying compared to other software it doesn't take optimization and topology into it's management. But if you do make something, it can probably be exported via DAE like everything else.

[elitewolverine]

i use blender.

I have max and maya but i usually only use them for 'conversion' in projects that require the use of those tools...

If your broke, you will not find a better application than blender for free. You get modeling/animation/game engine/rendering all in one, and its a standalone folder, meaning you can put it on a thumb drive and use it anywhere...no installing on the other pcs needed.

[Darrknox]

You could just torrent Autodesk products. I don't know anyone who's bought theirs. The learning curve is also drastically less than Blender's.

[elitewolverine]

You could just torrent Autodesk products. I don't know anyone who's bought theirs. The learning curve is also drastically less than Blender's.

how is learning to model in blender any different in automax?

For modeling like this you will need just a few keys...and they are all lableled with commensense shortcuts right out of the box...

rotate? r, extrude? e, scale? s, grab? g

And nearly all the tools you will probably ever use are right at the left hand on the keyboard...

Left hand keyboard-right hand mouse...

I often wonder if the people that tell noobs into modeling that blender is somehow hard to learn, fired up the program went i dont know what to do and quite. Then fired up max thought hey this is a paid for pro tool, spent hours looking at vids (especially their texture and uv system), and taught themselves the program...

And just so anyone thinking the keys are different, the new 2.5 blender has key mapping that you can change on the fly to mimic maya's keys (confusing for me though)

[Capt'n Skunky]

You could just torrent Autodesk products. I don't know anyone who's bought theirs. The learning curve is also drastically less than Blender's.

You aren't suggesting our members do anything illegal now Darrknox, are you? k:o

Arrr!

Capt'n Skunky

[Darrknox]

You aren't suggesting our members do anything illegal now Darrknox, are you? k:o

Arrr!

Capt'n Skunky

I'm suggesting they take a test spin before they conclude price is non negotiable.

how is learning to model in blender any different in automax?

For modeling like this you will need just a few keys...and they are all lableled with commensense shortcuts right out of the box...

rotate? r, extrude? e, scale? s, grab? g

And nearly all the tools you will probably ever use are right at the left hand on the keyboard...

Left hand keyboard-right hand mouse...

I often wonder if the people that tell noobs into modeling that blender is somehow hard to learn, fired up the program went i dont know what to do and quite. Then fired up max thought hey this is a paid for pro tool, spent hours looking at vids (especially their texture and uv system), and taught themselves the program...

And just so anyone thinking the keys are different, the new 2.5 blender has key mapping that you can change on the fly to mimic maya's keys (confusing for me though)

All those shortcuts are QWE, and other such letters that are right next to each other to make modeling generally faster. And for modeling, you generally need more than keys. You'll want to bridge, cap, cut, assing smoothing groups; keys are just a way to speed up somethings to get to the manual labor a bit faster, but they don't solve everything. I'm saying in that respect, Autodesk's command panel and ribbons speed up the process in a way underutilized by blender.

Every program has it's learning time, of course. And I'll guarantee that an even amount of people that don't like Blender have both tried it and not. I did, and being an avid Max user, I found the interface unspecific, the keys haphazard, and a ridiculous layout for the command panel etc.

And don't quite know what your point was about after you said ' fired up max.'

I'm trying to interject that you can't knock Autodesk just because Blender is free. It's been the golden standard for a long time, and rightly so.

[nivvydaskrl]

how is learning to model in blender any different in automax?

For modeling like this you will need just a few keys...and they are all lableled with commensense shortcuts right out of the box...

rotate? r, extrude? e, scale? s, grab? g

And nearly all the tools you will probably ever use are right at the left hand on the keyboard...

Left hand keyboard-right hand mouse...

I often wonder if the people that tell noobs into modeling that blender is somehow hard to learn, fired up the program went i dont know what to do and quite. Then fired up max thought hey this is a paid for pro tool, spent hours looking at vids (especially their texture and uv system), and taught themselves the program...

And just so anyone thinking the keys are different, the new 2.5 blender has key mapping that you can change on the fly to mimic maya's keys (confusing for me though)

Well, considering as I've tried to follow the directions on the wiki and I've accomplished nothing more than wasting my time with Blender...

I made the model just fine with materials and textures, make another mesh and name it node collider, set the scale to 1 meter, convert from quads to tris, export to DAE, pop it into KSP...and get array out of bound errors and wind up with it mixing my custom part with another part half-and-half.

If there were something else out there for free, I'd give it a try, but I'm not sure what there is available.

[CaptainSlug]

I made the model just fine with materials and textures, make another mesh and name it node collider, set the scale to 1 meter, convert from quads to tris, export to DAE, pop it into KSP...and get array out of bound errors and wind up with it mixing my custom part with another part half-and-half.

That sounds like you're not using unique folder, part, mesh, and texture names for your new part. If the name is conflicting with an existing Part resource you will get blending.

It's really best to preview your parts in the part lab to ensure importation was successful and the basics like orientation, scale, and CFG are correct. It will announce most basic issues.

[nivvydaskrl]

Hrm. The texture name was shared with something else. I'll look into this part lab of which you speak.

[Samo]

I'm pretty sure I already know the answer to this but is there any 3rd party programs that allow me to convert solidworks files into usable part files?

[DoctorEvo]

how is learning to model in blender any different in automax?

For modeling like this you will need just a few keys...and they are all lableled with commensense shortcuts right out of the box...

rotate? r, extrude? e, scale? s, grab? g

And nearly all the tools you will probably ever use are right at the left hand on the keyboard...

Left hand keyboard-right hand mouse...

I often wonder if the people that tell noobs into modeling that blender is somehow hard to learn, fired up the program went i dont know what to do and quite. Then fired up max thought hey this is a paid for pro tool, spent hours looking at vids (especially their texture and uv system), and taught themselves the program...

And just so anyone thinking the keys are different, the new 2.5 blender has key mapping that you can change on the fly to mimic maya's keys (confusing for me though)

Well, all I know is that I tried to figure out that friggin' interface and couldn't get anywhere without hitting a brick wall. Sure, I managed to take a sphere and kinda stretch it into a deflated blob of an engine nozzle, but then I couldn't figure out how to do things like... add more nodes to expand my mesh and form a combustion chamber, or to form a set of nodes into a radially-symmetric form after diverging, or EVEN FRIGGIN' UNDO A MISTAKE. And now, the fact that I'm on a MacBook seemed to aggravate things, seeing how I have no MMB and have to use my num-pad to look around, and that half the supposed keyboard commands didn't work (including said undo shortcut). And THEN I found out that Blender 2.5 and onward was supposed to be the version with the NEW AND IMPROVED INTERFACE. My response was quite predictable:

Then I downloaded Google SketchUp 8 and life got a million times better. I could now build the thing EXACTLY the way I wanted - structuring the general outline from a few 2D jigs, placing nodes EXACTLY where I wanted them instead of having to stretch them from some arbitrarily-generated primitive, connecting nodes where and when I wanted, deleting or hiding faces at my own whim so that I may work unobstructed behind them, going up to the toolbar for most things and to a conventional menu for more advanced features... and in no time at all, I'd made myself a glorious reproduction of the Atlas V's RD-180:

So, yeah. I know I can export it as .dae, but the issue is I don't know much of what to do beyond that. I don't know how to go about making a separate collision mesh and tagging it as node_collider, and I don't know how to go about UV mapping or texturing. But I'm way closer than I was when I was trying to navigate Blender's labyrinthian excuse for an interface.

[jgjiscool]

Recently I've started using Anim8or. And sculptris. Neither of them are particularly good...