Do the Virtua_LM GMTWizard & ModMaker plugins work with MAX 2010 ?

[sevware]

I noticed on the mbdevteam Tutorial page (that someone here mentioned)
a statement at the bottom that the GMT Wizard v1.17 and ModdingMax v1.07 plugins are "Only for R7 and R8". http://www.mbdevteam.com/download/Tutorials/index.html

Since they are based on the ISI toolset which now supports up to MAX 2010, I was hoping that someone using 2010 has had some success with these Virtua_LM plugins (?). [But since Hope isn't a good software strategy.... I thought I'd ask.]

And... (of course) some other curiosities:

1. In Max, when cloning things, it asks you if you want to make a 'copy' or 'instance' (not sure of the exact wording... I don't have that machine on). Seems as though an instance would be more memory efficient. When track building in Max for rF, which should you use?

2. I got my pit garage model to export to Viewer with a Bump Cube Spec T1 Alpha Reflect shader. Looks much better (thanks to all the g'day dna for the help), but still don't see variation when messing with the Blend control on the cube texture stage rollout.... Maybe I don't have something else set correctly (?) -- However -- I can see the cube map reflecting in the gMot Viewer, and can adjust how much it does via the T1 alpha channel (which is DXT 5 interp. alpha export from Ps). Shouldn't I see noticeable changes when messing with the Blend control in Max?

3. On the cube texture stage in Max, I saw some radio buttons below on the rollout that seemed to allow changing to 'Environment Maps'. Anyone know: if, how, and / or when to use this?

4. Haven't tried this yet, but is it possible to Save UV maps, then collapse the Unwrap UVW modifier and edit poly .... then move some vertexes in the editpoly model.... reapply an Unwrap UVW modifier, and then load the (previously saved) UV maps without having to remap everything? Can you just remap the faces that moved? [Any easier way to alter the model without losing all the other faces mapping?]

5. Do the alpha channels in the Bump and Spec textures do anything? Ok to be DXT3 exported from Ps?

6. Other than "they work together", is there any more concise explanation of what the color swatch and spec power control do -- Versus -- altering the grayscale and / or hue of the Spec texture? [not clear on what to look for.. and what does what on each]

Other than watching Raikkonen race a Nascar Truck (Charlotte, May 20), I'm dedicated to bringing this huge track into Max this month. Thought I'd better ask about the Virtua LM stuff first. Everything else is starting to make sense now.... so it's time to dig the hole a bit deeper...

Thanks again.... as usual, all help appreciated..

 

[mianiak]

I noticed on the mbdevteam Tutorial page (that someone here mentioned)
a statement at the bottom that the GMT Wizard v1.17 and ModdingMax v1.07 plugins are "Only for R7 and R8". http://www.mbdevteam.com/download/Tutorials/index.html

Since they are based on the ISI toolset which now supports up to MAX 2010, I was hoping that someone using 2010 has had some success with these Virtua_LM plugins (?). [But since Hope isn't a good software strategy.... I thought I'd ask.]

Yep they work

And... (of course) some other curiosities:

1. In Max, when cloning things, it asks you if you want to make a 'copy' or 'instance' (not sure of the exact wording... I don't have that machine on). Seems as though an instance would be more memory efficient. When track building in Max for rF, which should you use?

It depends, if you use instance all the instanced objects will,, erm,,, what's the word,,,,,, They will do the same thing as the other. If you edit one of the instanced objects, all the other instanced objects will follow the edit, ie, if you grab a vert and move it, all the other instanced objects will have that vert moved too. This is good if you want to make a lot of things that are all exactly the same, like light poles etc. If you make a mistake with the model and need to fix it, instead of editing every single one or deleting them all and re copying them after the edit, all you need to do it edit just one and all the others will change. but it wont work for things that you want to be unique, like trees for example.
Copy makes the duplicate unique so you can edit it without effecting the other similar objects.

But instead of using the copy to duplicate an object, mouse planter does a great job of placing duplicates on a mesh. http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/mouseplanter Also on this note, to randomise objects such as trees, you can use this http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/transform-random

2. I got my pit garage model to export to Viewer with a Bump Cube Spec T1 Alpha Reflect shader. Looks much better (thanks to all the g'day dna for the help), but still don't see variation when messing with the Blend control on the cube texture stage rollout.... Maybe I don't have something else set correctly (?) -- However -- I can see the cube map reflecting in the gMot Viewer, and can adjust how much it does via the T1 alpha channel (which is DXT 5 interp. alpha export from Ps). Shouldn't I see noticeable changes when messing with the Blend control in Max?

Are you using alpha reflect? You don't need to use the cube blend in max for alpha reflect, leave it at 100% and adjust the 'brightness' of the alpha channel, whiter = more reflection.

3. On the cube texture stage in Max, I saw some radio buttons below on the rollout that seemed to allow changing to 'Environment Maps'. Anyone know: if, how, and / or when to use this?

No idea. Try google?

4. Haven't tried this yet, but is it possible to Save UV maps, then collapse the Unwrap UVW modifier and edit poly .... then move some vertexes in the editpoly model.... reapply an Unwrap UVW modifier, and then load the (previously saved) UV maps without having to remap everything? Can you just remap the faces that moved? [Any easier way to alter the model without losing all the other faces mapping?]

You can preserve uv's in edit poly, But be careful, if you start welding and cutting you will run into problems and max can crash. make sure after your edit to uncheck preserve uv's and check Tools>Channel info.. and if you have dead verts, go into vert submode and click the 'Remove Unused Map Verts' button.

But yes, collapse the stack (or use another edit poly modifier on top of it) then when you want to tweak the uv's just chuck another unwrap uvw modifier on. But if you go back in the stack and edit things, you could lose some uv edits.
All I do is collapse the stack (convert to editable poly) if I need to fix something up, then I put another uv modifier back on it to keep going.
You can save uv's in the uvw editor under file, but I think that the obect you put them back on has to be exactly the same amount of verts as the one it came off.

*There is probably another 'right' answer to this question, but this is the only way around this that I have figured sofar.

5. Do the alpha channels in the Bump and Spec textures do anything? Ok to be DXT3 exported from Ps?

I don't know much about this one, but I think it depends on the shader. Some custom shaders can make use of it, but usually there is no need for alpha on bump and spec.

6. Other than "they work together", is there any more concise explanation of what the color swatch and spec power control do -- Versus -- altering the grayscale and / or hue of the Spec texture? [not clear on what to look for.. and what does what on each]

I kind of understand how this works but I'm not 100% with it, so instead of guessing an answer that could confuse you, I will leave it for now.

Other than watching Raikkonen race a Nascar Truck (Charlotte, May 20), I'm dedicated to bringing this huge track into Max this month. Thought I'd better ask about the Virtua LM stuff first. Everything else is starting to make sense now.... so it's time to dig the hole a bit deeper...

Thanks again.... as usual, all help appreciated..

It all starts to make sense as you start to use it, getting your hands on experimenting is the best way. That's how I learned most of this stuff, it's hard to find this sort of info on the net, most of it is learned by reverse engineering and trial and error. If you want to do a certain thing, try find a track/car that has the same or similar thing done to it, open it in simed and check out how it's done.