The Harvest Moon Consortium

Ryoden · Post by **Ryoden** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:42 pm

Hi,

I will soon have a copy of 3ds MAX 9 as I gathered this was the weapon of choice for modelling?

I use NWN2 and wanted to start learning to model so my opening question would be are there any relevant tutorials around for this? I found a small one for NWN1 but nothing else as yet.

Also what would be the best thing to start on? I assumed that placeables would be the most basic thing but i may be wrong.

I just wanted some advice to get started if possible.

Thanks.

DM_Mask · Post by **DM_Mask** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 4:47 pm

I'm sure some of the people that actually know something will drop in here and answer with good info.

In the meantime, you have to settle for a link horde.

Ryoden · Post by **Ryoden** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 6:33 pm

thanks, I will have a look at those while I wait.

Estelindis · Post by **Estelindis** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:22 pm

Personally, I'd say that placeables are the easiest category of content to start with...

However, from another point of view, the best kind of thing to start with is the thing that interests you most, because you will be most motivated to stick with the learning curve until you get it. :thumb: That said, don't bite off more than you can chew!

First off, I would suggest that you import and play around with a few standard game models before you go making your own. You'd be amazed at how much you can pick up in this way that it's really hard to get while just working with a blank canvas!

Bannor Bloodfist · Post by **Bannor Bloodfist** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 10:57 pm

Ryoden wrote:Hi,

I will soon have a copy of 3ds MAX 9 as I gathered this was the weapon of choice for modelling?

I use NWN2 and wanted to start learning to model so my opening question would be are there any relevant tutorials around for this? I found a small one for NWN1 but nothing else as yet.

Also what would be the best thing to start on? I assumed that placeables would be the most basic thing but i may be wrong.

I just wanted some advice to get started if possible.

Thanks.

Downside here is that most of us (if not all) are dedicated to NWN 1. NWN 2 makes it terribly hard to create things. It uses different tools to get them exported from Max etc.

You will have to do some research in the NWN 2 custom content forums to see if there are very many people actually creating things for NWN 2.

Estelindis · Post by **Estelindis** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 1:34 am

Wellll... I don't know, Bannor. The last time I made CC for NWN2 was before I started modelling. Some things are more difficult, but others are easier.

It all depends! And doesn't Granny / Expotron / whatever-its-called-that-I-can't-remember work just fine for exporting NWN2 models from 3dsMax?

Ryoden · Post by **Ryoden** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:09 am

Yes I realised that most modders are still building for NWN1, which is one reason I wanted to start NWN2 as there is not a lot of custom content for it.

Do i need another program to export models from NWN2?

Estelindis · Post by **Estelindis** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:01 pm

http://nwcitadel.forgottenrealmsweave.o ... php?t=1137

There's a link to the Granny/Expotron tool on that page (as well as some other utilities)... However, it doesn't seem to be working at the moment. Anyone know what the story is there? (I know I've come late to the party.)

EDIT: there's an export tool for Blender (a free 3d modelling program) here... http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/vi ... &forum=115

Post by **Michael DarkAngel** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 12:50 pm

Provided they have not changed anything over the past 18 months or so. The only thing you'll need to extract models is a program that can handle .zip files.

Tazpn's 3DSMAx Importer/Exporter works for getting the models into 3DSMax, but has some issues getting the models back out of Max for use with the game. It also appears it is no longer being supported as the last update was October of last year.

Another option for importing would be Adinos' Importer/Exporter. It also appears to be no longer supported.

Expotron would be your best bet for getting a model into the game properly. But it is only an exporter, and it does not work with anything newer than 3DSMax8.

EDIT: Este beat me to it while I was researching my links. From my research I found that roughly February of this year Obsidian pulled the Expotron plug-in from the Vault (the Vault link I have provided was made possible by a community member), removed the official page for it on the website and pulled all the Dev posts on the NWN2 BioBoards. Somewhat puzzling.

HTH,

Estelindis · Post by **Estelindis** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:55 pm

I'm glad you found that link, MDA! The few that I found for Granny were all broken...

The Harvest Moon Consortium

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