3D Modelling Software

Then your probably only one adequate choice is Blender. The only one software besides the holy trio of 3ds Max-Maya-Zbrush I know is Milkshape3d... But it is shareware, and it functionality and ergonomic still gives me nightmares, six years after I opened it last time.

 

Well, it is professional software used in creation of films, games, and god know what else. Do not expect pro software be "easy to use")

 

I started with Blender, but switched about two weeks later to 3ds max.

And yes, it is a heluva lot better than Blender.

 

Ive always loved Maya, and from personal experience Maya was a huge upgrade from max.

When i went to university, the ENTIRE class accept me came from a course that tought MAX onto this course that taught maya..they all said "why havnt we been usuing this from the beginning, its so much better"

But... its personal preference

 

For Space engineers Modelling... Nothing you will never use anything advanced enough to warrent the difference.

But for me, usability and the viewport of 3D space was just alot nicer.

 

Semi unrelated, but my thoughts on max vs maya are that Max is made for modelling, with Maya picking up the ball for animating.
I've dabbled around in everything, Milkshape was okay but is very limited and compared to others feels a lot harder to use, Blender was just blechh to me, and Maya was a little 'casual' or something in its setup. I've used 3DS Max for a few years now and I think its great

 

A 3D Software is a Tool, means that you need more than this Tool: Creativity. It's like a Music Program, you could learn to use it, but that didn't mean that you make automatically awesome Music. So it is not so easy to answer your Question if it is relatively easy to make Custom Blocks, when you know what you are doing, yes, than it is easy. When you never have done something before and you didn't know what Points, Edges, Faces etc. are, than it could take some Days/Weeks to make a bit more complex Blocks. A Cube like the default Armor Block is no Problem, that generate the Software directly for you.

Tutorials: Youtube. Is a good Source for that.

I self use Blender, in the 90s i like Lightwave on my Amiga very much... but today i better use legal software and for a little Hobby I make to less with it to buy me a expensive 3D Program, I'm out of the age to get cheap on it.

 

That all depends, there are free tools that have been around since the 90's and others but the most popular is that of 3D Max & Maya for Commercial Work.. As for free work most people tend to try their luck at blender but it isn't really worth it considering that a lot of company's in the industry won't hire blenders but it doesn't mean it isn't good as a starter tool and considering the large amount of content online for self-teaching you'll have no problem picking it up quickly and moving onto other programs when you've got the money.

PS. Autodesk Line is about 6,000 $ but if your luck you can pick it up for under 1,000 $ if you happen to be lucky and locate a software sale warehouse that is going out of business.

 

As far as I figured, standart big block is 100x100x100 max's default units

 

size of the block can be re-sized by max sometimes that's why i made a template from the frame block.

i don't know what possible reason you would need my template but just the same, its up for a month here. https://tempsend.com/EF3CE0F729

 

With regards to Max, if you want to make a standard large cube, just make a cube and type in all 3 dimensions boxes (length witdth height) '2.5m' - Regardless of your units setup it will get the correct scale.

 

Could perhaps someone make a tutorial how to get 3ds Max to put out the FBX, UV Maps and HKT Meshes? Found many for Blender, at least one for Maya but nothing for 3ds Max.

 

Just a tip, I have been using 3ds Max and I have had some issues as not much info on how to do things for max. HKT meshes are easy, because you just need to follow the KSWH tutorial about using Havok tools (which installs perfectly with 3ds Max).

Big tip from me is custom attributes. Make sure you export using ASCII FBX so you can convert. If you're using 3ds Max 2010 (or earlier), make sure you download the FBX converter app so you can export to more recent FBX version (ASCII again). Check these are filed in the FBX with just the name, i.e.:

P: "MaxHandle", "Integer", "", "A+U",2,0,100

Note with extended data - it should just say "MaxHandle". Otherwise your dummy objects (for terminals, etc...) won't work.

Other than that I haven't had an issue. UV mapping, materials, everything is easy.

 

Well ... not for me ^^ ... im used to CAD Tools, no need to add materials ^^ ... now just that is a problem, no idea how i can get Max to add them for textures

 

Hello everyone.
First I want to say I'm Spanish and i dont speak English and I dont write, so I apologize for this English translation with google translator.
I want to create mods for Space engineers, but I am limited by language, because only I find guides and tutorials in English, and I find impossible to understand .. both youtube and written guides (google translator has its limits). Aid would ask anyone with desire and time to hecharme my hand and Spanish-speaking, because I would like to ask you if anyone who knows my language could create a guide or a video (youtube) explaining the process for creating mods Space for engineers. I am forced to pediroslo because for more than've been looking for appears to any Spanish speaker to known or wanted to create a guide MODs for Space engineers.

And aprobechando topic of software use, or that it should be more. Would it ask if the program Maxon Cinema 4d which is what I use for 3D modeling.?.

Again ask you please if someone could help me with some video or guide in Spanish, preserve the entire process to create a mod, even basics for how to wear my 3D designs to suit, or such as creating an object with some action. No anything but Spanish to understand that programs need and how you do then go to the game, with its dimensions and configurations made to work properly.

thank you very much in advance and hope not to bother and they understand what I write with traducctor of goolge.

 

Ah understood. I made a basic screenshot of Max that hopefully should provide you with enough information to assign a texture to it.

 

Well unfortunately there aren't that many (but not non at all) tutorials/docs mostly because it's an alpha and the game is drastically changing all the time. So good luck with finding someone willing to translate stuff for you, unless you're willing to pay someone to do it... :/

 

Ok, Materials work( thx to [SIZE= 12.7272720336914px]rocket2guns for that) [/SIZE], export works (after messing around with the units and scale factors), but it seems that there is a problem in the fbx file ... my models are, well ... completly white. I checked the FBX, got these lines with Material mentioned:

Code:

Line 233:   ObjectType: "Material" {
  Line 458:     LayerElementMaterial: 0 {
  Line 463:       Materials: *1 {
  Line 474:         Type: "LayerElementMaterial"
  Line 538:   Material: 1861284976, "[COLOR= #000000]Material::Default1[/COLOR]", "" {
  Line 596:   ;Material::Default1, Model::ASTBF0511344-DC_Brep

As far as i found out, Line 538 is needed in xml, like this:

Code:

<Material Name="[COLOR= #ff0000]Default1[/COLOR]">
    <Parameter Name="SpecularIntensity">1.745</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="SpecularPower">20</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="DiffuseColorX">255</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="DiffuseColorY">255</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="DiffuseColorZ">255</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="Texture">Textures\Models\Cubes\Default_de.dds</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="Technique">MESH</Parameter>
    <Parameter Name="NormalTexture" />
  </Material>

but that doesnt seem to work for me :-/ Any ideas what im doing wrong?

 

Do you really no one who can help me out with this please ?.

 

The only tutorials that i know exist are all for blender (and 3dsmax is pretty much explained in the modding section of the space engineers website), but no cinema 4D (but the only thing you need to mod is a way to export to the fbx file format (proprietary bs by autodesk), and maya or 3dsmax to be able to make collision mesh (because havok only furnish exportation from autodesk's softwares...))
Here is how i use blender:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=eOQLsrArUb0
(link because the video won't work apparently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=eOQLsrArUb0)
You can also check Shaostoul's tutorial serie:
https://forums.keenswh.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1282851507&postcount=2

 

The most likely problem is that hardly any modder on this forum speaks Spanish. The topic of creating mods is large. I think the best we can realistically do is give you some general pointers and hope you can find your way from there.

For every new mod you have to go through these steps:

1. Create a mod folder under %APPDATA%\SpaceEngineers\Mods\<Name of the mod> . Everything in you mod is relative to this folder.
2. In this folder create a file named Data\CubeBlocks.sbc. The content of this file defines the blocks your mod contains. It also describes what other files (3D models, icons) to load. You can copy this file from another mod and modify it to suite your needs. The content is XML and has to conform to the structure expected by Space Engineers. Maybe translating the content of <Game Directory>\Content\Data\CubeBlocks.sbc can give you a clue what is expected.
3. This should make the folder selectable as mod in the settings of a game world.

To use 3D models in the game you have to go through these steps:

1. Your tool of choice must be able to export to the FBX format
2. Create your 3D model complete with material definitions and UV-map for every part of the model
3. Export the model using the FBX format into Models/<Model Name>.fbx
4. Create a parameter file Models/<Model Name>.xml that maps the material names of your model to texture files in DDS format. Again, this is a XML game-format. Again, use existing files as a template.
5. Run mwmbuilder on the command-line in the "Model" folder. If there are no errors you now have the MWM file you can reference in CubeBlocks.sbc

I hope this is basic enough to translate well into Spanish...