Merging Models In 3D Studio Max

  • You DO NOT need an account in order to download the content that we host....ONLY make an account if you plan to be an ACTIVE member.
  • We DO NOT Allow Multiple Accounts, those people found to have more than one linked to their IP address Will be Banned.

Stunod

Co-Owner
Staff member
VIP
Co-Owner
Jun 23, 2016
1,042
113
StunodRacing
Credit to: Bones @ Masgrafx

Merging Models In 3D Studio Max
_________________________________


This tutorial is written for 3DS Max 8 and will help with adding other vehicles into a scene. This will be written assuming that your knowledge of 3DS Max is limited.

Open the scene you want to work on. (In this case, I will be opening the Chevy Nextel model from MasGrafx).

First thing you need to do is move the current model out the way as anything you merge into a scene will show up right in the centre of the grid. To select the car, go to edit/select by/name. Highlight all parts to the car including the wheels and click on select.

Next, right click on the car and select rotate. Rotate the vehicle so it is facing forward. Next, right click on the car again and select move. Move the vehicle back and to one side of the screen.

Now to merge another vehicle into the scene. I will be merging a Late Model V2 into my render but the process is the same for merging and vehicle.

Go to file/merge and navigate to the vehicle you want to merge into the scene. Double click on the .max file. This will open a box that contains everything that is in that scene including lights and boxes. In some .max files there will be other models like Chevy, Ford, Dodge and Pontiac. Select the model you want including the wheels. Next there will possibly be another box that says there are duplicate file names in the scene you have open and the one you are merging.

What I do is select the check box next to Apply to All Duplicates and click on Auto-Rename. Next will be a box that says there are duplicate materials in both scenes. What I do is select the checkbox next to Apply to All Duplicates and select Use Scene Material.

In some cases you will need to resize the model you have merged. The model will already be selected so right click on it and select scale. Just scale down the vehicle to an approximate size (we’ll fix it soon).

Next, hold the ctrl key and hit the letter C. This will create a camera and help you position and scale the cars correctly. In the top left of the window you will see Camera01. Right click on it, hover over views and select top. As you will most likely see, the merged car isn’t the right size. Scale is down or up as we did before until it’s about the right size compared to the other vehicle.

Next right click on the word top (in the top left of the screen and select the view left. This will give you a side on view of both cars. They may see far away so to fix that, make sure both cars are selected. In the bottom right hand corner of your monitor you will see a white 3d box. Click on it and you will be zoomed into both cars. Now you will need to position 1 or both cars by rotating, scaling and moving the cars. When you have done all you can from that view go back to Camera01 by doing what you did to get to the current view.

From here you will need to reposition the cars so they look good in the camera. Once you have done that we can now start adding your paint work onto the cars.

Open up the Material Editor. Select an empty box/ball. Click on the eye dropper next to the box that had the word Default in it. Move the mouse over to the body of the car you merged in and click on it. Next click on the button on the other side of the drop down box from the eye dropper. Double click on Raytrace. Change the Specular Level to 100 and the Glossiness to 90. Next click on the Maps drop down list. Click on the button next to Reflect and choose Falloff. Change the Falloff Type to Fresnel. Next click on the arrow above the button with Falloff in it. Next click on the button for Diffuse and select Bitmap. Navigate to the paint work you did (jpg, bmp, png) and double click it. If the paint work doesn’t show on the car, click on the blue and white ball above the button with Bitmap in it.

Put you paint work on the other car. Now render your cars and you are done.

I hope this tutorial was helpful.

This tutorial was saved by me back in 2008... If the owner would like me to remove, please ask and we will!
 

Hot Links