FS9 and Max7

[skyflirt]

Hi !

How can I export my project to .mdl or .X from 3DMax7 ? I want to convert it for FS9 only.

[Alejandro Rhodes]

Is right inside the FSX-SDK reading material ,you have to apply few things from the instructions ,

Or in the case of Makemdl9 (FS9) airplanes ,you need a special plugin to export in *.X then drop this X file onto makemdl9 and convert from X to mdl , Notice that eventhough both FSX-SDK and FS9-SDK expports in *.X this are diferent formats and are totaly diferent things..

[skyflirt]

Ok, thanks ! Plugin is working now ( I found Panda and DirectX plugin also). But I have a problem with MakeMDL.exe : when I convert X file to mdl the error log says :

Processing...
ERROR: found scale animation (part_name)
Error!
Error!

I have the same error message with all parts... what's the solution?

[Fr. Bill]

Select each part, the apply Hierarchy/Scale/Reset to remove the Scale Animation.

[Alejandro Rhodes]

Like Bill Saids , RESET/SCALE...RESET/SCALE That was like a song of all designers back in the good old FS2002/FS2004'SDKs ..

Remember when you clone a part and you need an opositte side of this part , NEVER ,DO NOT to or use mirrow in the control panel ,USE like in gmax the one is in the modifier list..

and reset scale all animated parts...

Good Luck

Alex

[skyflirt]

Yes I tried Reset...but nothing changed...

[Alejandro Rhodes]

You need to configure the pandasoft other wise wont work
mesh definition, but careful there is a plugin that does not work is for 6 & 7 (It ask about the framescale animations that wont work) ,you have to make sure you picked the right one, for max 6 and 7, the one that won't ask you anything about framescales..

and make sure you  set the tabs of the pandasoft like this

optimize,

materials,

include animation,

geometric,

mesh normals,

mapping coordinates,

vertex colors,

in animation tab:

position rotate and scale keys,

sampling rate at 30 frames,

keyframes instead of 3dsmax ticks,

include animation options,

open and linear positions,

in x file settings tab:

text,

sub frame hierarchy,

left handed axis,

[HarvesteR]

there is also the proper way of resetting scale on models... (i've had his problem countless times until i picked up the best way of doing it)

you need to have your hierarchy set up so it'll work... meaning all parts must be linked to an 'exterior' node (dummy) and child parts (such as gears or flaps) linked to their parents (wings or fuselage) and so on...

then all you need do is select your top-node (exterior dummy) and hit PgDown, that will select everything below the top node in the hierarchy... then hit Reset Scale... then PgDown again to select the lower level again and Reset Scale again... keep doing that PgDown - Reset thing until you reach the bottom level of the hierarchy (when no new parts are being selected)

that's it!! you just reset the whole model for scale... this method is best because it keeps all animations working (if you reset scale on an animated part that's linked to a parent part, nasty things will happen... and i do mean nasty!!)

also, make sure there are no scale keys set in the timeline... Max uses a color code thing to differentiate keyframe types... red is for position, blue is for rotation (i think) and green is for scale (gray is for vertex or parameter animation) so i recommend you select all your parts at once and take a look at that timeline... see if you can spot any scale keys, if so... delete them (be careful deleting keyframes because the animation will be frozen at the current frame you're on when you delete it... so make sure you're on frame 0)... 3DMax by default makes key for all 3 transforms... so you need to create your keys only when needed (right click the timeline cursor, a popup will err pop up )

i hope this helps... i can't even count how many times i had this problem... luckily now i have my 30 years special effects experience... (oh wait... that might not be me )

Cheers

HarvesteR... 3DMaxBuster (if only...  ::) )