What do you use?
 

I would like to try to make some custom ships, but I don't know what program to use or how to use it. Can someone give me a link to a good SHIII compatable 3D creator program, and tutorial for it please? Thx.

Will Gmax work?

Yes, if it can import/export .obj files.
Gmax is a good choice and it has many tutorials and good support.

I suspect the reason that you have had no replies is because there is soooo much incorporated in the answer.

3D Modelling, UV Mapping, Texture creation, Hex editing, cloning/importing.

It makes the mind boggle.:o Only very few members can do all and most just specialise in one area.

Wings 3D is another good choice.:up:

ok, that makes sence, I did find some tutorials on a site somewhere, the thing is, that I would like to know that it would be compatable with SHIII before I get to far in to it. Wings 3D worked you said? I'll look into that. Thanks!:up:

wait, where are the .obj files?

They are mostly embedded in *.dat files which can be opened for extraction/import by Sansal's Pack3d.

Instructions to use of Pack3D (3D units cloning tool) by Sansal

To access the objs you need a Java tool called pack3d (do a search on these forums) it will extract the objs, tgas and other files from the DAT file found in the folder for each ship/sub/aircraft ;)

(ssB beat me to the mark... oh well :o

Thx every one!

It was a big help.

But how do I know if it will show up the right size in the game, as in, how do I know if it won't show like a toy or an Iron wall on the horizon?

Ok, here is what I started, looking at this is it possible to tell if I am I any where near what I need to do?

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...gle8/Ship1.jpg

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...gle8/Ship2.jpg

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n...gle8/Ship3.jpg

I always base my vessels on the default ships, so in order to get the right size I expand or shrink the 3d model a given %age, based on the size of the parent ship. If you are starting completely from scratch I guess you could import an existing ship into your model as a reference and then delete it when you are through.

Nice work BTW - are there any particular types of ships you are interested in making?

Hey, thats a good idea, I'll import another ship to compare it to, I didn't think of that.:D

I want to make mainly cargo and passenger ships, I would to try big battle ships, but I'm going to start with something a little simpler (I assume merchants are easier) Don't want to deal wih the guns really right now.