I looked at the new 3D World magazine that includes the free gmax full version modelling program. It appears to be a lesser version of 3ds Max more geared for gamers. Has anyone tried it out yet? Would it be usable as a modeller for someone who wants to make props for Poser or other 3D programs?

I thini GMAX has a "non standard" extension for its meshes so it wont import into other apps. But I think I read somewhere that you can use another program(Milkshape maybe??) to convert to a regular format.

It is a good way to learn how 3D MAX works and some modeling skills. Game Manufacturera who "opt-in" to Discreet can produce a game pack for their game and you can then modify it. Alias/Wavefront is doing a "MAYA Lite" as well and this should be available next month. As was gone with gmax, the "Maya Lite" will have a non standard extension and not all functions will be present. Good way to learn MAYA skill sets as well.

I made a tutorial that shows how to use gmax for making conforming clothing for Poser.

You can pick it up here:

http://home.att.net/~pmorris57/media/Clothing_Tutorial.zip

Joat Mon

The 50+ megabyte gmax download was included on the cover disc of a recent issue of PC Gamer, also. It doesn't include the Quake 3 export plugin, however, so you have to visit the discreet website to pick it up.

I got it from Computer Arts mag myself. I haven't gotten too deep into yet, but it seems pretty damn cool. Just download and install the Tempest game pack so that you can export in .md3, then use Milkshape to convert that to .obj and you're all set. Also, you can get MaxScripts that allow you to import into Gmax, as well. Check out: http://www.gmaxsupport.com http://gmax.digitalarenas.com They have the scripts, as well as articles, tutorials, and forums focused exclusively on Gmax. I even ordered the 3DS Max 4 Bible from Amazon.com, should be here Monday. I can't wait:) By the way, if you're looking for a great free modeler, you should hit the Amapi forum and ask if there's still somewhere to download Amapi 4.15. It's a bit twitchy, but it's pretty powerful if you take the time to learn it. Joat Mon: Your tutorial looked interesting the one time I got to read it, but the damn thing's so big it kept crashing my computer almost every time I tried to open it. Could you possibly go back and split it up into several smaller pages?

Thanks everybody for your responses. I'm sure I'll be asking some more about details once I get it going.

x2000 Your wish is my command (this time). It (the tutorial) is now split into 4 parts. The gmax information is in the first 2 parts. Joat Mon

Are there any other programs besides Milkshape that will convert .md3 to .obj?

I've had some luck with Brad Bolthouse's LithUnwrap freeware utility. It's like Steve Cox's UVMapper, but supports multiple file formats, has a hardware-accelerated 3D texture-shaded preview mode, etc. Anyway, I tried it this afternoon, successfully loaded one of my .md3 models, and then saved it to .obj format. I won't guarantee that it'll work with every .md3 model, but it can do the job.

Download LithUnwrap at one of these locations. If one site is down, try the other; it's a popular tool for game modellers, and Bolthouse is constantly updating the code, so the sites get visited often, and the hosts have to shut them down occasionally.
Mirror site #1
Mirror site #2

Great! Thanks for that tip, I'll try it out.