Magic: The Texturing

[piperone]

Anyone that has used Magic for texturing a model, if you have any tips I'd appreciate them. Specifically in application of the texture to the model. (I'm used to Milkshape).

Also, if you have any key shortcuts for Magic or other tips that's be great. Using Milkshape, there is a checkbox to ignore back faces when selecting polys. Haven't found that option nor a key-mouse combo to do that. Right now, I select the face and the Ctrl-Click in a different view on the back face to unselect.

For the ship def file, the "scale" parm scales the model to game units. Can anyone tell me what units the game uses?

Sure, I could continue to use Milkshape but magic actually has some neat little features that make me want to use it instead (besides being the native modeller for SS).

Thanks,

piperone

Oops, put in wrong forum, please move to modding forum.

[Mehrunes]

You can use milkshape to model and/or texture if you're used to that. Magic can import OBJ and 3DS format and there's a program called Shatner I believe that can convert MAG files to OBJ. It's located at http://www.simisen.com/shatner/shatner.zip .

The standard unit of measurement in the game is the meter.

[piperone]

Thanks Mehrunes. Maybe I'll do the basic stuff still in MS. But Magic works pretty good. I'll keep plugging away. I think the thing I'm having most trouble with is UV mapping, i.e., how to do in Magic.

I've also notices that transparancy seems to work in Magic. Will this also work in the game?

If the game unit is the meter, then are Magic's units the meter as well?

piperone

[John DiCamillo]

You don't need Shatner for OBJ conversions anymore. Magic 1.6 can save and export models in OBJ/MTL format as well as VirtuaLight format.

Texturing has never been Magic's strong suit. Heck, I don't know if Magic has a strong suit, but the price is right.

Anyway, when I do starship models I usually create reusable material textures such as armor plate, painted metal, bare metal, and so on. Then I just select portions of the ship and apply the material using a planar projection in whichever direction seems most normal to the surface I'm painting.

For fighters, I tend to create more detailed texture maps that include insignia and fuel ports and vents and stuff like that. First I create a plain white or gray texture and apply it to the section I want to paint - a wing or a tail fin. Then I click the "Template" button on the texture dialog to draw an outline of the polys on the blank texture map. Then I load the templated texture into Photoshop and paint the details and weathering and stuff on it, not being too careful about staying within the lines. Flatten the texture back to PCX and Bob's your uncle.

DamoclesX on the other hand, uses a real modeling program to achieve some really spectacular results, and then just imports the finished work into Magic for conversion to the game format.

[Starbuck]

Nice job on the conversion upgrade.

Good job John, as always[:D]

[piperone]

Ah...the template button...now I get it. Thanks. BTW, can you comment on the units ?

piperone

[Mehrunes]

Magic's units are arbitrary. They're multiplied by whatever the scale parameter is set to wherever the model is used. So one weapon could use a turret model with a scale of 5 making the magic units equal to 5 meters for that weapon while another weapon could use the same turret with a scale of 1, for instance.

One question, how do you export to OBJ format? I didn't see an option, so do I just change the filename extension to .OBJ in the SaveAs dialog?

[John DiCamillo]

Yup.

[Kuokkanen]

There can be used scale parameter in DEF files to scale models. Default parameter for scale is 1 which mean that 1 unit in Magic equals to 1 meter in the game.