Tree Generator

For 3D Studio MAX

This is a little script i wrote because i couldn't +find any good freeware tree generators. Maybe i just didn't search well enough, but anyways, now it's too late. The generated trees aren't too professionell yet, as they are just created out of cones at the right angles which aren't joined and they lack leaves. But hey, it's for free,...

The whole thing is pretty self explanary, just copy it to your script folder and start it. Height is the height, radius is the radius of the trunk. Generations says how often branches, well, branch. Radius- and length-drop define how much the branches become thinner and shorter. A 0.5 value here makes a child branch half as thick or long as its parent. Spread angle and rotation define how the branches spread out. The lower the values here, the straighter the tree will be. Spread Randomness and Rotation Randomness make it look more random, less straight. Segments and sides finally define the detail amount on the branches.

Download treeGen.mse

AC3D Exporter

For 3D Studio MAX

This is a little exporter script while working on a 3D Model for Flightgear. It can basically just export a 3dsmax-Poly-Object into an AC3D-File. There are certain limitations: First every object you want to export has to be a poly object, so Meshes, Nurbs, Splines and similar won't work. It also won't recognize poly objects with modifiers. Second, textures should lie in the same folder as the object file itself to be recognised by flightgear. Of course if you insist on having seperate folders, you can hack it in after export with any text editor (AC3D is an ASCII-File-Format). Third, don't try anyting else than standard and multi/sub materials. It won't recognize and therefore export it.

AC3D file format is not especially compatible with 3Dsmax-architecture.

For installation just extract the content into your 3D Max directory. In your "Customize User Interface" dialog you'll find a new category called "olitools". Assign "open AC3D Exporter" to how you want to launch the exporter (i have it in a seperate toolbar) and enjoy.

Download ac3dExporter.ms

Valve Map Exporter

For 3D Studio MAX

I started my own exporter script for valve map files ("*.vmp"). So far it's kinda not even alpha, but i guess the results are promising. I can export all objects that can be converted to mesh objects (like boxes, cylinders, polygons, meshes of course, etc...).

For this images i didn't have to start Hammer at all, everything from modelling to lighting to exporting was done purely through my script.

Download exportMap.zip

Hook Nr. 1: It only works as far as these objects are convex (just like in Hammer). A concave objects (like say a pipe) has to be created out of convex objects. I'm working on a solution of that problem.

Hook Nr. 2: The UV-coordinates in the map-file are in world space, while in max they are stored in UV-space. This is a major pain in the ass to convert, the moment a face is in an arbitrary position (both in the world and in uv-space) there has to be a lot of math shit evaluated to get to a conversion matrix. So far my poor little artist brain can't handle the pressure, therefore i integrated a generic uv format so far. It looks alright for general texturing, so i'll put that back in priority.

Hook Nr. 3: The geometry shouldn't be too detailed. I've exported a normal sphere with 16 segments as a test and the result was... "okay". The problem comes from two issues: For once 3D Studio MAX gives no proper access to UV-data via Poly's, so i have to use Meshes. This mostly doubles the amount of faces, which isn't a problem most of the time, as Source works with planes. Only if loads of planes connect in a single point, you will encounter some problems for sure.

Hook Nr. 4: This exporter only covers geometry and the most basic necessary nodes (lights and start point). For everything else you'll still need hammer. It's still great for prototyping!

For updates on the progress you can also visit my blog post.

saveAsTGA Script

For Adobe Photoshop CS2

When you save a texture file for preview, did you ever get annoyed by having to select which file you want to save in Photoshop? "Save File", then browse the right directory, type in the right name, select the file format, deselect alpha channel... that can take ages! If you're working on a texture and have to save very often, that can get VERY annoying. This is what my little script here tries to solve. You set it to be executed by an action, set the action palette to "button mode" and from then on just click on the action to automatically save the file as a TGA into a previously specified directory. No stupid questions, no annoying dialogs, no warning shit, just plain save as a clean TGA. 3D Studio MAX automatically realizes when there is a new texture and usually just loads it so all you got to do is swap to 3DS Max to preview your texture! It saves a lot of hassle.

Installation is simple: Save the script to a nice place (a good idea would be the Photoshop script folder) and create a new action. The only command of that action then would be "start script save2tga.jsx". You start a script through "File => Scripts => browse..." and then select your script.

Usage: When you run it first, it asks for a folder where to store the TGA file. After that it won't bother you with that. If you want to change the path you have to delete the INI file which the script creates. It is stored in your Photoshop installation directory and is called "saveAsTGA.ini".

About stability: I could just test it in Photoshop CS2! A friend of mine couldn't get it to work on CS3 and i can't say why. It's open source, so if you know what the problem is, just email me, i'll change it accordingly.

Download saveAsTGA.jsx