I used a program called Deep Exploration and 3DS Max to convert them. 3DS Max to save in 3DS format and then Deep Exploration to convert them out into Truspace. Truespace was doing strange things to the 3DS files before I did that. No clue why. Truespace had been acting wonky for me lately anyway. Probably the programs way of making me feel bad for not using it.
Yo- SB here. 8^D I have Deep Exploration's baby brother, 3D Exploration. It does an o.k. job... but sure does leave a lot to be desired. I too have Truespace, but am trying to make the move to Blender. So, if WW gives the o.k., we'll have to do some swapping. WAL
sure, convert away all you like.. i don't really care what anyone does with these cos most of them are so old and sucky kicky, the hosting thing would be great, we should encourage others to submit models and conversions as well, it'd be a great resource
Surprisingly enough, I've never known an actual max user who saved models in 3ds format. I know they must exist because you see the files everywhere on forums and such, but everyone I know who works in max saved as .max scene files. As to model submissions, I think that's a great idea... I don't know if I'd submit any of my existing ones, though, as most aren't completed But I do have a few older ones I wouldn't mind posting. They're nothing terribly great, though.
From stuff I've gleaned from the net in the past, .3DS files usually seem to be models built in really old versions of MAX, even 3D Studio; as such, bringing them into newer programs sometimes tends to warp meshes or even throw vertices waaaay out of position. Especially stuff with half-a-ton of booleans... And yep, I always save my stuff as scene files. Likewise, an excellent idea; look at sites like www.scifi-meshes.com, where people actively make models available for others to play with - some of the results are damned impressive, to say the least.
There used to be a Transformers modellers site called the Construction Site that had those. It has since gone by the wayside though. I'd love to submit mine but mine are ALL Truespace. I'm not sure how well those would convert, and not all of mine are that good. If anyone wants the converted meshes let me know. I think I can upload a few here and there, or e-mail them. There was also a few meshes that didn't convert well either way. I can post a list when I get home.
I'll take some converted meshes. It'll be interesting to see if anyone throws in some meshes for others to use. When I passed the 3D Assembly on to KnightStreak, one of the reasons was because the site wasn't quite becoming what I was hoping for. One of those things was a downloadable mesh / model section like Scifi-meshes or the now gone Star Wars Modeling Alliance. It seems that after pouring all their blood, sweat and tears into a model nobody was willing to simply give it away for someone else to use. But that's exactly what has to happen if we want to see more fan made animations, fan fics, etc. We can't all rely on Draven or who-ever alone to supply us with entertainment. WAL
I'm one of those people who never really finishes anything he starts. I admit it. There are only a handful of my own meshes I wouldn't share, but like I said, I'm not that great at it. Anyway, I promised a list of what I did get converted to Truespace and a 3DS file so here goes: Action Master Prime - Truck and Robot mode Ark Blurr Fort Max Golden Disk Grimlock Hot Rod - car and bot Megatron Megatron - tank Megatron - Beast Wars Rex Menasor Metroplex - (and I have him in city mode in Truespace as well - usign it as a bas for proportions for my own mesh) Machine Wars Prime Optimus Prime Rodimus - Vehicle and robot Star Convoy Sunstreaker Ultra Magnus Vector Sigma War Within Prime These are the ones that I got into 3DS but I have to "re-arrange" in Truespace due to conversion issues: Arcee Devastator Menasor - Dead End and Breakdown The others weewoo had psoted I'm going to have to really mess with to convert so unless you really have your heart set on them, don't expect them. I will take bribes though. If you want any of these let me know by PM and we can work out how you want me to post/deliver them. I'll have to hijack my website to host them though. I don't have room for all of them, at least I don't think I do. Yeah. And Stuff.
when I quit college, I deleted everything that I'd ported over to Maya, sorry I really, really hated that program.. it's almost solely responsible for me doing barely any 3D for almost two years - I wouldnt let myself use Max, because I didn't want to slip into old habits when I was supposed to be using Maya, yet Maya made everything a chore and bled the fun right out of 3D..
where and when did you go to school, weewoo? I went to SCAD from 2001-2005. wow, the way you feel about Maya is exactly how I felt about Max (though in all honesty, when it came to modeling in general, I think that Modo followed by Lightwave are the best possible programs, particularly for curve/spline modeling). I felt that Max was too clunky to move around in and was way too redundant with poor execution of certain tool sets (yeah it could be that I was biased after having used Maya for a year, but I mean, when I went from Lightwave to Maya, I was able to get it in a month or two where as soon as my Max class finished I went immediately back to Maya). That said, Maya really does have some idiotic things like not having certain dedicated tool sets (like an Inset Tool, extruding kind of works if you extrude inwards, but it still doesn't work all that well), and the worst thing are those damn NURBS curves when patching and then this rebuild surfaces nonsense. Didn't have any of that crap in Lightwave AND all the polies matched up when patching curves.
really?! which Maya did you use last? I'm currently in a 3D animation accelerated class (2 years in 6 months OUCH!) and I am using Maya, and it's wonderful!
i went to a sydney college, starting in mid 2004, and due to finish this year. i quit last may, because i knew more than they were teaching. they didn't really go too far in depth with things, so while i was learning maya basics just fine, i knew how to do things that were a whole lot more advanced.. it was really quite frustrating to try to do things i take for granted in max, and be limited by the fact I was using maya and certain tools didnt even EXIST. everything became an issue of 'now how do i get the same result out of this program' rather than just simply CREATING, and gah. not fun at all, and totally not worth the college fees if i wasnt learning any new 3d theory.. at least i got something out of the traditional animation section of the course one of the things that bugged me most about maya was the bajillion popup windows. you cant just click to make something happen, it has to popup, you select your option, THEN it happens. that, and the amount of keyboard entry needed. the little number boxes with the up and down arrows beside almost all of the value based tools in max make life SO easy. i'm obsessive about precision and often use vertex snap to make objects that exactly fit to each other.. that wasnt an option in maya. everything gets made at the origin, then you have to move it, align it by eye.. gah. i had to just let go and accept the fact that things would not be exact.. maya isnt all bad though, i've had to use blender for a few things this week, and gah. it's the most confusing, counter-intuitive and painful to use program i've ever seen max has none of those problems, and just has everything where you'd assume it would be. move/rotate/scale/link/undo/mateditor/etc, commonly used stuff all along the top. animation bar down the bottom. all the controls you need for navigating viewports in a handy little area in the bottom corner. a tabbed sidebar that shows everything you need to either create objects, edit meshes, edit animation controllers and pivots, right there on the other side. all the necessary tools for things are all grouped together conveniently.. *shushes*
i know but you cant drag sides of a cylinder to snap to points on a sphere so it aligns perfectly, in one step as you create it, etc..
You lost me... but I dont use maya to model... I use it for sinister things, like making games, so I just went crosseyed.
