G-Max Help for a G-Max Newbie

[Stormtropper]

Ok, I just got G-Max, and I do realize my tie fighter is too big, 77mb in a gmax file, so I thought about making it less pieces by uniting different solids, any one know how?

[Felix/FFDS]

That won't help.  It's possibly too big because of too many polygons. Attaching parts doesn't lower the "size".

[Stormtropper]

Wouldn't uniting 2 solids that share a face cut back on the polygons?

Right now I have 50+ different solids, I'm thinking to make it less than 15

[Stormtropper]

Oh yeah, what I mean by uniting solids is to make 2 or more solids into one.

[Sterk]

77mb?Yeah-really,really big,how did you make it?
How many faces your model has?
Just wondering...

[Felix/FFDS]

Wouldn't uniting 2 solids that share a face cut back on the polygons?

Right now I have 50+ different solids, I'm thinking to make it less than 15

Yes, but you have to be careful HOW you do it.

If you simply "attach" one to the other, you don't lose any points, or faces.

If you do a boolean operation, where you make a union, then yes, you "cut out" the faces and points common to the two joined parts.

More often, though, careful planning of the part is better.  Remember, in FS you're striking a compromise between ultra detail (many polygons) and what can reasonably be seen.

A quick example: Take a smoothed out 16-sided cylinder and a 32-sided cylinder.  Yes, you can make out a detail difference.  But, can you really make out the difference between a 24-sided cylinder and a 32-sided cylinder; or between a 32-sided cylinder and a 64-sided cylinder?


I'm of the minimalist philosophy - detail where needed, fool the eye where I can get away with it.

[Stormtropper]

Well, its got 89 different solids, 1,745,071 polygons, and its made in CADKEY.

And forget about this, I'm just going to keep the .3ds version of this, I managed to package it and its only 20.1 mb, and upload it and hope someone can finish it.

[Stormtropper]

If you do a boolean operation, where you make a union, then yes, you "cut out" the faces and points common to the two joined parts.

Yeah, but how do you do the boolean operation? If you help me maybe I can get some preview pics on how it will look in fs.

[Felix/FFDS]

Yeah, but how do you do the boolean operation? If you help me maybe I can get some preview pics on how it will look in fs.

http://www.freeflightdesign.com/tips/gM ... indows.htm

For the quick and dirty on Boolean, this "tip" (a glaring cull from Simviation) will do.  While the tip shows how to cut out windows, the process is the same except that to join two parts you would choose the "UNION" instead of the "subtraction" operation.

[Stormtropper]

Thanks Felix, really needed to know where that button was.


P.S. I'm not new to CAD programs, just new to Gmax, don't know where buttons are.

[Stormtropper]

Oh yeah, BTW is there a way to boolean unite everything at the same time?

[Felix/FFDS]

Oh yeah, BTW is there a way to boolean unite everything at the same time?

Not that I've found out.

[Stormtropper]

Not that I've found out.

Oh well, I will just go back in CADKEY and united everything and then export it as a .3ds again.

[flyflyflyaway]

check the tutorials (download them if you havent) im pretty sure the first one explains that....