[WIP] BREST rebuilding

OK. I've tried to model the main dock. What I've done :

a) imported a basic rectangle from harbour_kit.dat
b) de-triangulated it
c) selected both edges (top and bottom) to cut them into several parts
d) moved the new vertices to the correct place
e) connected each vertices (top and bottom)
f) triangulated again

And how it looks like :



But now, when I try to import the model into S3D, an error message says : "One or more vertices is not mapped to a texture coordinate."

Teasing view with Bismarck in the large dock, Hipper at anchor, and a type IXC u-boat sailing outwards.

Now these models have to be textured. And then the harbour devices have to be added on them. Requesting permission to use LSH harbours stuff (trains, vehicles, buildings, etc.) !

Also have some difficulties in modelling the U-bunker.

I need to put a texture on both new harbour bases and on the new seawall, to import them into S3D, in order to test placement in game. It doesn't require to be precise at all, I will probably change the shape again.

So, can anyone do this for me, or explain me how to do ?

Also, gap, could you change the terrain as shown on the first post of this thread ?

Two questions about Wings :

- There are plane surfaces which are subdivided. How can I remove the connexions in order to have polygonal surfaces containing only one face ?

- The top face is not connected to the sides of the model. How can I connect it ? Is it necessary ?

[gap]

Originally Posted by Kendras

Could you remind me how to make a symetrical dock ?

What do you mean exactly?

Originally Posted by Kendras

I need to put a texture on both new harbour bases and on the new seawall, to import them into S3D, in order to test placement in game. It doesn't require to be precise at all, I will probably change the shape again.

So, can anyone do this for me, or explain me how to do ?

Are those models UV-mapped already? If not, you can create a quick UV map by using Wings's AutoUV function:

• select an object in body selection mode and right click on "UV mapping" (by using the rmb you are forcing a new UV map to be created for all the faces in an objects; useful when working on a modified object which may have some faces already UV mapped).
  
• An AutoUV Segmenting window will pop up. Right click on it, click on "Segment by" and choose any segmenting method ("Projection" or "Feature Detection").
  
• Faces in the AutoUV window will become colored. Each color corresponds to a group of contiguous faces which will be part of the same UV surface. You can change the color of any face or group of faces by selecting it/them (selection/unselection is made as in the 3D modelling window), richt clicking, and selecting the wanted colour in the following contextual menu. If need be, you can also force the splitting of an edge shared by two faces of the same colour: slect the edge, right click and select "Mark Edges for Cut".
  
• Once you are satisfied, right click, choose "Continue" and select a projection method. Usually for complex/irregular objects with "jagged" UV maps, "Unfolding" gives the best result.
  
• At this point a new window will pop up with the resulting UV map. By default, Wings creates non overlapping UV maps, i.e. separate UV regions will be arranged and scaled to to avoid mutual overlapping and to maximize their size by still keeping the right proportions among them. In most of the cases, UV maps created with such a quick method are far from perfect though: some distorsions are still present, straight groups of edges/vertices can be bended, and horizontal/vertical lines become askew, but since, at this stage, you are not looking for perfection, I think you can close the UV window, triangulate the object if you have not already done it, export it and import it in a dat file.

Two last notes before you export your model:

• When a new UV map is created, a standard checkered texture gets assigned to it, for easing up the process of detecting distorsions within the map. You can replace it any time both in Wings (import an image from the menu "File" and in the "Outliner" palette drop it on top of the meterial assigned to your object), or directly in S3d.
  
• If I rememeber correctlty, objects as seen in Wings are not the same as we see them in game or in S3d. You need to invert their x axis before exporting them, for them not to look flipped in game. In order to do so, select one or more objects, right click and choose "Flip"=>"X". If your selection contains multiple objects and you want them to keep their right position relative to each other, you should click on the "X" selection using the middle mouse button. Doing this, will result in Wings asking you to select a point along the chosen axis that the object(s) will be flipped around. You can select a single vertex or a group of vertices, faces or objects, in which case the calculated middle point of selection will be used as reference.

Originally Posted by Kendras

Also, gap, could you change the terrain as shown on the first post of this thread ?

Do you mean the terrain/water RAW mask?

Originally Posted by Kendras

Two questions about Wings :

- There are plane surfaces which are subdivided. How can I remove the connexions in order to have polygonal surfaces containing only one face ?

Simple: select all the faces that you want to "merge" and click back space on your keyboard. Doing so will create a single face and remove all the edges and vertices within it, except for the redundant verices along its edges. A quick way to get rid of them too, is selecting the object containing the new face, right click, select "Cleanup" using the righ mouse button, uncheck "Short Edges" and confirm. If all went well, the vertex count displayed on the top info bar should change (decrease) after the process. Ideally you should do it before you UV map the model, because under certain conditions the merging of adiacent faces and the deletion of vertices can mess up the existing UV map.

Originally Posted by Kendras

- The top face is not connected to the sides of the model. How can I connect it ? Is it necessary ?

It depends. Editing complex objects when their faces are not connected can be a PITA, and an over-splitted models can increase innecessarily the size of a model and, lastly, the memory usage once it is imported in game. For this reason, I always keep edges in the working versions of my models as connected as possible. Yet, as discussed a few months back by VonDod and The_Frog, edge splitting can be necessary before importing models in game, because the game engine tends to smooth edges even at sharp angles, and there is no other way to make some edges hard than splitting them before importing the desired model in game.
That said, there is not an easy way to weld adjoining edges or an authomatic function for splitting hard edges in Wings3D. There might be workaronds, but those tasks are performed much more efficently by other freeware programs such as Blender, Softimage Modtool or MeshLab.
The edges that you are talking about should be hard anyway, so my suggestion is you to keep them splitted rather than having to learn other programs

[Urmel]

Originally Posted by Kendras

Now these models have to be textured. And then the harbour devices have to be added on them. Requesting permission to use LSH harbours stuff (trains, vehicles, buildings, etc.) !

Also have some difficulties in modelling the U-bunker.

Dear Kendras

What e great idea to redesign Harbor Brest!

Shure i give you permission to use elements of LSH3 Edition 2015 for this project.

Supermod Edition 2015 is just a collection of greatfull single artworks done by lot of great modder of the worldwide SH3 community.

Be shure you give the right guys credits who done the elementary prework of elements you like to add in your project.

Read more about in our LSH3-Manual here:
http://www.lsh3.com/dl/v15/LSH3-Handbuch-2010_DE.pdf
(125 Pages, start maybe by page 65, german only)

Maybe you shoult contact Subsim user Rowi58 to.
He is the guy with the biggest knowledg about L/SH3 contents in the german comunity and he wrote most of the LSH3 manual.

Please contact me anytime by mail "urmel@lsh3.com".

My biggest respect to you Kendras!

Greetings from LSH3-Urmel from Switzerland

Originally Posted by gap

Okay, I have GWX Gold installed on one of my old hard disks. Can I do the changes on its terrain files?

No. HanSolo sent to me the WAC terrain folder. Let's work on it. I can send you the link, maybe it's better by PM ?

Originally Posted by Urmel

Dear Kendras

What e great idea to redesign Harbor Brest!

Shure i give you permission to use elements of LSH3 Edition 2015 for this project.

Supermod Edition 2015 is just a collection of greatfull single artworks done by lot of great modder of the worldwide SH3 community.

Be shure you give the right guys credits who done the elementary prework of elements you like to add in your project.

Read more about in our LSH3-Manual here:
http://www.lsh3.com/dl/v15/LSH3-Handbuch-2010_DE.pdf
(125 Pages, start maybe by page 65, german only)

Maybe you shoult contact Subsim user Rowi58 to.
He is the guy with the biggest knowledg about L/SH3 contents in the german comunity and he wrote most of the LSH3 manual.

Please contact me anytime by mail "urmel@lsh3.com".

My biggest respect to you Kendras!

Greetings from LSH3-Urmel from Switzerland

Roger that ! Thank you very much for the answer !