GMAX backdrop question

[RIC_BARKER]

Hi there guys,

I've been playing (fighting?) with Gmax for a few days now, and I think I'm starting to understand what all those buttons mean...however, I have a problem.

The backdrops I'm using are High-res, but appear very blocky in the viewports when zoomed in. I've changed a few things, such as:

Use Low environment background: OFF
Match bitmap as close as possible: ON
Enable anti-aliasing: ON

Still I get blocks, I've tried the OpenGL and Direct3D drivers, but both have the same effect.

My backdrops are of the 1500x1000 pixel range, and are all 500DPI.

This really is hindering my progress with GMax, and I don't have this problem with FSDS2.

I don't think it's my system, I'm using a 2.4GHz P4/nVidia GF4 4600 Ti 128MB/512MB RAM. By my reckoning, in 24bit format, all 3 backdrops equal about 70MB, so I have plenty of video memory.

Any ideas about this?

[Alan]

Do you use your blueprints as backdrops or do you make a plane or box and apply the textures to this?

Alan

[RIC_BARKER]

Well, like in FSDS I use the 3-views as backdrops, that are placed in the background (as in the P-38 tutorial) but I find that these move around, and are difficult to keep centered. I remember seeing a video tutorial (at aerodynmika.com?) ages ago that showed a method of applying the 3-views as textures to 3 boxes, but I can't seem to trck down that tutorial anywhere, the link I have is dead. If anyone knows where I can find this tute, I'd love to know.

Ric B.

[Felix/FFDS]

And to think - it was Xeidos2's tutorial, inspired by a posting in Simviation ...

Ric, what are we to do with you?

http://www.freeflightdesign.com/tutorials/Gmaxbackgroundtutorial.zip

[RIC_BARKER]

Hi Felix,

As it happens, I have already got a copy of all the Gmax/FSDS tutorial hosten on your site, and very grateful I am too. My question here is not so much regarding the method of backdrop application, more the resulting (poor) resoloution of the images. Is there a way of applying a high-res backdrop, as Gmax seems to resample the image no matter which way you do it.

Ric, what are we to do with you?

Give me an SA80 and point me towards the desert.

[Alan]

If yo try to use the box or better yet just apply the bitmaop to a plane using the same demensions as the pixel size of your image,

eg make a plane,(make sure you set your units to be generic) and set the demensions of the plane to be lets say 1000 width by 200 height (use the pixel size of your backdrop) this is how alot of pros do it and it stops it from moving around.

make sure though that when in the move mode you right click the move button and enter o,o,o as the axis points, this will centre it to the grid for you, this is how I do it and I have my images at about the same rez as you and it works fine.

Hope this helps
Alan

[X_eidos2]

Sounds like you're doing all the right things.
Are you using Gmax version 1.2 or 1.1?

I've noticed there seems to be some changes in setting things up with version 1.2.

Have you tried the Heidi drivers for your video? Those work best for me.

You'll never get a super sharp image of the plans/texture (not when compared to a rendered image) - but at the image resolutions you mentioned- it should be clear enough to work from.

Can you post a screen shot of what things look like in your viewports?

Maybe you've already got it as good as it's going to get.

I recently set up a new model and noticed that the texture maps didn't look as sharp in version 1.2 as they had in version 1.1. I scanned my images at higher resolutions and discovered that you quickly reach a point where higher doesn't mean better. Alot has to do with the quality of the image that you're starting with.

If you have a paper copy of your three view plans - try enlarging the image using a photo copier - and then scan the larger image - instead of just bumping up the resolution of the original drawing.

[RIC_BARKER]

Hi X_eidos2,

Thanks for the tutorial!

I have tried the backdrops at various sizes/resoloutions, but all give very similar results. I have determines that the res of the backdrop images (in Gmax) is about 100x70 ish.

Ric B.

[RIC_BARKER]

Just a quick not to eveyone having this problem, I just found a new and excellent tutorial on this issue, with detailed instructions on driver configs and viewport settings. This has totally solved my problems!

here is the link http://www.onnovanbraam.com/index.php?main=tutorials&group=blueprint-setup

Thanks to those of you that helped me on this one!

Ric B.