I just want peoples opinions on wether u can make stuff with sketch up models or not before I try and fail lol
Edited by Cheddars on Jan 24, 2011 at 05:04 AM

If there is something sketchup is not made for, it's gaming. Sketchup does not understand the sealed collision rule. I do not recomend creating anything whatsoever for this game within it. I know people say "oh but it's so easy to model in this". Well you can see what tool has to say about it when youi have 100 trillion errors of open edges and crossed planes. This isn't anything against you because it is technically possible to create things and people have done it before, but just don't use it. Use gmax or 3ds. Sketchup is for designing things and should really be only used to do just that.

K Thank you

Are you asking because you have issues with gmax or 3ds? If so I might be able to help.
I didn't mean to sound harsh really, it just pains me when people try to use sketchup for modeling in because I know it will end in a model full of errors that will just take more time to fix.

Nah I just saw some cool reach models

if you want alternatives, you can either check out blender or gmax.

blender is great for 3d modeling in general, and is often used in computer animation. it's quite popular and has a good database of official video tutorials and links to various how-tos on the site, which is extremely impressive for a free open sourced program.

Gmax is a stripped down 3ds max with no rendering capabilities without third-party plugins and missing features, which supports maxscripts used in halo modding. it's a bit of a pain to set up, I've heard of users not being able to get it installed on their machines.

Thanks I'll try blender cause I have gmax and I don't really like it
Edited by Cheddars on Jan 24, 2011 at 06:19 AM

okay. this will run you through the basics of the program:
http://gryllus.net/Blender/3D.html

and this is a database of tutorials:
http://www.blender.org/education-help/tutorials/

now go out and make something bad-ass.

Lol thnx I'm gonna try make a halo reach scorpion tank

But was it only Gmax and 3DS Max that was could export in some format or something?

I think blender exports to obj which gmax can open

Oh yeah that probably does work.

I suggest gmax over blender. You have to export into gmax anyway, and you might even want to move into 3ds max afterwards. If you're already familiar with blender you might as well use that, but honestly I don't know any environment modelers who use blender.

you ever used blender?

You ever use gmax?

i used a blender. it made me a smoothie :)

I've used gmax and it sucks. They never update it anymore, and it can't do anything decent unless you spend weeks learning. And even then, it can do less than a program that takes hours learning how to use it. So yeah, gmax really sucks. I'm about to download blender to see if it is any better.

You sure can.... have fun fixing the massive loads of errors tho :P

Dont bother. Box models = crap.

If you're in college, definitely go for 3ds Max through student versions; it's great for modding and animating. Blender is the next best thing for free, but you need Gmax/Maya to export it for HCE currently. You'd think someone would have made an export script for Blender by now....

Also, for those of you who keep using the "Gmax sucks because of all of the box models" argument, that's not why Gmax is inadequate. It's inadequate because it lacks the clarity of 3ds Max, it's more difficult to animate in for beginners, and when your model reaches a certain point its vertices begin to disappear at certain angles.
Edited by DarkHalo003 on Jan 25, 2011 at 09:57 PM

yes. I made a single weapon and was unimpressed by the lack of tools, including the slice plane.

you ever use blender?

I've been using blender for the past few days and it's way better than gmax. You can actually make decent models in blender... xD

Lol, my google sketchup models arent boxy.... if you wanna see my house project i did for technology class about a year back, but i agree, 3ds is and gmax and blender are waaayyy better than google sketchup.

why do I get the feeling that a good number of the people here who say X is better than Y have never used Y and therefore wouldn't be able to make a proper comparison between the two programs due to their lack of experience with Y

In my defense, you did say you've used gmax very little. It has slice plane btw.
I've only used blender once, for some converting.
Point is, max is the recommended tool for halo, and I don't like people putting down gmax for what it is. People work on halo for fun, and gmax is probably the best first step for an intro to modeling, conversion, or a small modeling project. It's free and not as CPU-intensive.

I don't know the reasoning behind sketchup or blender, so I won't say anything about them specifically. But of course, if you find its modeling easier and better, I advise that you stick with it. Just remember that you need to convert your stuff and get it ingame, and if that's worth learning a bit of gmax, you can choose that instead.

Can you pls give me link to your models

try out wings3d. all my models(except organics) are in wings3d. it exports almost any 3d format(obviously need gmax/3ds to export to halo)

http://www.wings3d.com

dont know how many times i gotta say this.
pros:
-free
-free?
-FREE!!!!!
-open-source
-only need your mouse for modeling(menus are situation sensitive, different menus for different selections)
-export to almost any 3d format, and got cr4ap load of plugins for others)
-some uvw unwrapping/material editing(materials made in wings get exported along with it)
-only about 30 mb at most
-runs off usb drive
-runs on any os(different versions for linux,mac,windows, and files from one os can be opened in another)

cons:
-no animation system ***YET, its being made***
-no real rendering (it can be done but usually needs a special plugin or such)
-not as many functions as 3dsmax/blender/maya


GOSH!

I've used gmax and blender and I've had the same amount of experience with both. I prefer Blender.