arma3_model

[tribal rain]

interesting good to know

wait one ill grab some screenies of it in blender

[tacit hull]

yes sir that's why i feel they call it a U-boat 🙂

[hazy shell]

Quick question is there a limit to the amount of Camo selection you can have

Im trying to set something as camo6 so i can use hidenselections to set it to be different things based on the uniform but so far its not liking the game im playing

[charred bolt]

No limit, apart from perhaps performance will suffer at extremes. camo1 to camo6 will be absolutely fine. If it's not working, it's some other issue.

[hazy shell]

cheer's figured id check to make sure I wasnt wasting my time on that bit at least

[charred bolt]

Are you working on your own model? Obviously check you have the camo selections in the res LOD's, and that you've added them to the model.cfg sections [] array.

[hazy shell]

Yeah, i erm missed a coma

[charred bolt]

Missing a coma is better than missing a comma 😉

[hazy shell]

man i cant spell for shit today

[charred bolt]

One is a night of sleep, the other is a sleepless night. ba dom tish

[chrome ridge]

I don't know if this is the right channel, but does anyone know why my tank tracks are clipping underground in Editor Preview and Virtual Garage, but tank works exceptionally fine when actually playing with it ?

Like this

I have seen the same happening with CUP tanks meanwhile

Is there any way to fix it or is it ARMA slop ?

[stuck oyster]

some mishap in how its been made.

what tank is it?

[chrome ridge]

T-64

I have placed the Land Contact memory points fine i think and my physX are fine too

Generally the tank works really well in-game but does this when placed in Editor

Thing is, when i had no PhysX and just wanted to test how to model looks with the textures in the game, the model was fine. When i added PhysX it sinks like this in Preview

And im not inheriting from CUP btw, my tank is standalone

[charred bolt]

You should model the tank so that in the p3d the suspension is at the correct position for how it will sit on the ground under it's own weight.
With the base of tracks on the y=0 axis.
And land contact points also on y=0.
Ensure you do not have wheels or tracks modelled in the p3d Geometry Phys LOD where they could interfere with the physx suspension code.
Wheel boundary memory points at y=0 also.
In the physx config, set the rest position to be at damper = 0.5 (0 to 1).

[chrome ridge]

These are my tracks in Res 0

My Geo PhysX

Memory points are also on the same place as the tracks above

As for the PhysX are you sure there is a 'damper=X' reference because i did put that and did nothing

Can the problem be something like this ? I have assigned the tracks in PhysX Geo like that, so they don't touch the ground. Is it also a problem ?

[charred bolt]

The physx interaction of the tank with the ground is purely code based.
For that reason, you should not have any model parts in the Geometry Phys LOD between the ground and the upper most part of the suspension movement.
It's normal to lift and compress the 2 components representing the wheels and tracks as shown.

Some more information here
#arma3_model message
#arma3_model message

[chrome ridge]

So as far as i understand, the problem is either code-based or Land Contact ?

Land Contact

Wheel memory points

[hazy shell]

Is there an example of clothing by bhomeia?

[stuck oyster]

there is sample character in the arma 3 samples on steam

[hazy shell]

Ah i shall download that then

[umbral shuttle]

is there any named properties I should have on memory lod? or not at all

[charred bolt]

None.

[umbral shuttle]

cool cool I have some ill remove lol

[stuck oyster]

@toxic needle
It has come to our attention that you use ripped models in your mods. We have 0 tolerance for that.

[toxic needle]

@stuck oyster ???

@stuck oyster i didnt ever develop the models nor published any mods with ripped ones???

[stuck oyster]

where is the T72 you have from?

[toxic needle]

the T-72 I made?

[stuck oyster]

do you happen to have any development pictures of it?

[toxic needle]

um no why would i have those?

[stuck oyster]

you might have shared them with friends

[toxic needle]

um no not really, listen just cause a server said that i had worked on an AW that one time doesnt mean that i rip models now

• i have spent 500 euros for new ones for a mod that will be published

i can send u the links for those

[stuck oyster]

sure you can DM them to me

[toxic needle]

ok

[icy pier]

anyone got a recommended youtube series for learning to create buildings in arma 3?

[stuck oyster]

there arent any

what you will need is work through general model making techniques

modeling/uvmapping/texturing and understanding how those work so you can adapth the knowledge to create something that works in Arma

[icy pier]

how does one like.. go about learning it..?

[stuck oyster]

I guess starting point is how much do you know about 3d modeling

[icy pier]

I know a pretty good amount of 3d modelling, im trynna figure out how to get things into arma 3

Ive managed to create a basic hat from a model so far

but information feels spread so thing and sparsely apart you know?

[stuck oyster]

it is unfortunately spread around yeah

but the basics of modeling are pretty much the same

you have 3d mesh, you have uvmapping and texturing and so on

buildings and hat have some different requirements though 😅 so if you can be a bit more specific on what you have done and what you are trying to figure out we can likely give you some pointers here

[tribal pivot]

If I want to create a building, where inside there is for example a table with few chairs, should I model the furniture into the building model or create separate object (maybe in separate pbo) and add it later on during mission creation?

My way of thinking tells me that if the furniture is static and has no functionality, it should be part of building model, otherwise if is has for example storage capabilities then it should be included in separate pbo. Would that be correct?

[stuck oyster]

there are few considerations

-static furniture will not be changeable by mission makers.
-static furniture will have some effect on performance even if its not immediately in the view as the whole building model becomes more complex.
-static furniture is better for building reliable AI pathing.
-furniture is often added as proxies so the model can also be used as independent object.

[hazy shell]

is ````16:38:08 Subskeleton index out of range. There seems to be a SubSkeleton index that is greater than the number of sub skeletons, this should not be happening. Please report it with reproduction steps/files.``` Me being a mong or is it something elses

[charred bolt]

BI messed up with their error messages, it's meaningless spam introduced in a recent update of the tools, along with a bunch of others disappointingly.

[hazy shell]

Ah So i just spent the last 4 hours trying to fix it for my clothing for nothing wonderful lol

[charred bolt]

Also these are irrelevant too and can't be "fixed":
Geometry LOD has UVSet, it is useless, consider removing it.

➥ Context: #(argb,512,512,1)r2t(rendertarget1,1.0) <- ShapeLoad:
Can not create source for procedural texture - probably badly formed texture name: "#(argb,512,512,1)r2t(rendertarget1,1.0)"```

[icy pier]

hi im sorry for the unclairity havent done much game deving so describing things is difficult since I dont know what I'm supposed to be looking for lmao. But something im really curious about, I will try to phrase this the best way I can please let me know if its unclear, but here is one of the example houses from the arma samples models, and if i've understood it correctly, but the objects marked red are the render distance options with LOD? Blue I do not know what quality it translates to neither purple. Orange, or Roadway I understand it was being anywhere on the object you can stand? Green being paths A.I. can path find through the house, white, hit points being anywhere fire can blocked by the building, black I do not know?

Is there documentation for these and are all of them needed when you take your pd3 into object builder?

[stuck oyster]

there is a wiki page that describes different lods purposes

the wiki also contains pages on many other asset related things

[cunning temple]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/LOD

Also since you doing buildings https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Multimaterial

An HG's example of it in blender #arma3_model message

[north sundial]

had no idea that blender example existed

Its great 😄

[icy pier]

thank you found it and made sense, with links from ice

it seems... I may have messed up the size however lmao

my scales are applied and proper in blender, however when I import my fbx into object builder i believe its there it becomes quite wildly out of size, anyone know if im not supposed to import it as an fbx?

[charred bolt]

Use the Arma3 Toolbox for Blender to export directly as p3d

Otherwise there's something like a 1/100 or 1/1000 scale ratio to apply iirc.

[icy pier]

ya only issue is I cant import the p3d into object builder?

using the file -> open

[charred bolt]

So your p3d export from blender has an error

[charred bolt]

Which toolbox are you using?

[icy pier]

how do I know which toolbox I'm using

you mean version?

[charred bolt]

Out of my expertise now, but HG will help you with blender questions

[icy pier]

alrite gotcha

this one

4.2

[charred bolt]

Check the pinned messages and look for Alwarrens Toolbox

[icy pier]

alr will check out in a sec, but just eyeballing trying your method by just running it through times 0.01, is there a way in object builder to see my height, so I can have an idea if its a realistic height?

[charred bolt]

Each of those squares is 1m, so it looks like 8x4x4m approx

[icy pier]

alr makes sense, thank you

[stuck oyster]

1 blender unit is 1 meters

you can also set blender to metric units

you must not use object scale in blender

or it has to be applied before exporting

blender should tranlsate into Arma 1:1 size

[icy pier]

ya no it should be correct in blender and applied, even used one of the characters from arma sample to check the size

[stuck oyster]

if it comes out at funny size the scaling in Blender is not right

fix it there

[icy pier]

alrite ill retry, however is my toolbox broken not being able to import the p3ds I exported out of blender into object builder?

[stuck oyster]

it likely means there was some error

and it didnt write correctly

try use export with the "selected only" mode

and select the objects you want to export

[icy pier]

could it be that i've missed an n-gon? I've understood it as it only accepts triangels and quads?

[stuck oyster]

yes

error would pop up with that

in most cases anyway

[icy pier]

i see

thank you for sticking with my extremly unclear questions

[stuck oyster]

is alright

thats what the channel is for 😅

[cunning temple]

Try this one, as it has some error checking for us noobs https://extensions.blender.org/add-ons/arma3objectbuilder/
Error checking with video link https://mrcmodding.gitbook.io/arma-3-object-builder/tools/validation

[smoky edge]

i've seen that this is a common issue, is there any solution for this ?model.cfg circa Line 132: A3\anims_f\data\skeleton\SkeletonPivots.p3d im packing with mikero and allways appear this problem

[stuck oyster]

missing file?

[smoky edge]

it is already there, im a little bit confused

[stuck oyster]

this is a pbo you are looking into

not P drive

[smoky edge]

it's the original one, from arma 3 folder

[stuck oyster]

pboProject expects you to have data you use extracted on the P drive into their real original paths so it can verify they exist

[stuck oyster]

yes but its not in the development environment

what is known as P drive

[smoky edge]

so i have to extract a3 into p drive?

[stuck oyster]

mikeros tools has arma3p for that

[smoky edge]

gotcha, thanks

[icy pier]

having the issue of that the walls do not collide, neither block fire? However the roadway works fine. I have no n-gons in the model, anyone know what could be the issue?

the LODs themselves are filled with geometry

[stuck oyster]

goemetry lods are not valid

I have a pinned message regarding what they need

[icy pier]

this one?

im assuming its this... pretty sure...

[stuck oyster]

that one yes

your geometry mesh needs to fulfill all the requirements

[stuck oyster]

looking at this, its not made out of separate components

[icy pier]

when you say seperate components, do you mean like several cubes stretched to fit floor, walls and roof seperately?

[stuck oyster]

yes

convex shapes

you can compare with the sample house

[icy pier]

so for floor, I would need a cube, and then another cube for the back wall like this, which are unconnected?

giving me two components then for example?

[stuck oyster]

yes exactly

and wall with a single window would be 4 parts

as long as the shape is convex it should work

[icy pier]

makes sense

[icy pier]

would the fire geometry use the exact same vertexes and stuff, which I could just copy paste from my normal geometry?

[stuck oyster]

it can use the same shape

often firegeomery may contain more detailed mesh though

like for example you might have guardrail that geometry wise is just a box as theres no way to slip through it

but firegeometry would have the poles etc

[icy pier]

I see, that makes sense, I saw in your post that it mentioned material for penetration and so, how does one actually asign the material practically?

I assume we are not talking about the blender materials tab?

[icy pier]

also, i've managed to get the fire geometry to work, it now blocks bullets, however I still have not managed to get the normal geometry to work so I dont walk through walls, does anything look off?

[stuck oyster]

did you set the collision geometry mass?

[icy pier]

I do not believe so, how do I do that?

[stuck oyster]

in edit mode

@icy pier

[icy pier]

the first option?

sorry for the million questions jesus

oh I see this then

should be it

[stuck oyster]

yes

the value is in kg but for buildings it can be something like 20000

[icy pier]

I think I read minimum was 10 for it to interract right

[stuck oyster]

yes

[icy pier]

okay lovely

Ill give it a try and see if it works

[stuck oyster]

for static buildings it does not matter that much

it affects physX simulated things more

[icy pier]

I see

I assume the weight is hidden in the code and not something ill interract or see in the object builder

[stuck oyster]

its there to enable collision simulation

[icy pier]

agh still no luck with the collission, maybe its because i export it as an fbx? then it doesnt take the mass value with it?

@stuck oyster

[cunning temple]

Why you exporting as fbx from blender?

[stuck oyster]

yes fbx wont work for that

the toolbox is designed to export p3d directly

[icy pier]

I've been getting an error trying to import p3ds

[stuck oyster]

do you get error in blender when you export the p3d?

[icy pier]

no error in blender, only error trying to import the p3d into object builder

[icy pier]

I will try this one

[stuck oyster]

worth a try,

alwarrens toolbox should work too though.

you will have to set up stuff again for the new addon though

thy are similar but have both their own menus/dialogs

[icy pier]

uagh

[stuck oyster]

open blender console just in case before you export so you can see if it throws any errors there

[icy pier]

got this but unsure if it is because it thought I had both addons on

[stuck oyster]

it seems it tries to export object that is not an exportable arma object

select only the objects you want to export and make sure they are all set with the arma properties tab

then when you export use the option to export only selected

and use different name to test as the previous p3d probably is locked in file system due to previous error export

or restart blender to unjam it

[icy pier]

I see, yes because its quite wonky

sorry my mind is melting using two different addons on blender

[stuck oyster]

in case of the toolbox

youll have to decide which one you use and stick to it

clocks has the checkup functionality which can be useful

[icy pier]

ya I totally get that

makes sense

some progress however, I managed to export from the toolbox one you use

and ive got the geometry in?

but none of the others

[stuck oyster]

at least it is confirmed it works

[icy pier]

I assume its becauyse of the geo is set as a LOD?

but I do not know how to set the others since nothing comes up..?

[icy pier]

yes lmfao

[stuck oyster]

yes and if thats the only one visible you cant select the others to export

if you did the only selected export

[icy pier]

i did the regular export

ill try with them unhid

no dice

only the geometry

I assume ive missed a step on how to assign different LOD identities in blender?

WAIT

I got it pretty sure

[stuck oyster]

for each object

[icy pier]

yesss

it appeared when I unhid them

IT WOOOOOORKS

https://tenor.com/view/letsgo-gif-973281010881986608

@stuck oyster also on the scaling issue earlier, it works perfectly aslong as the file is a p3d, but gets very messed up if it is a fbx

[stuck oyster]

fbs exports and imports at different scale yeah, just stick to the p3d and save your hair

[icy pier]

yes def very much so

just a million and one things left to learn now instead of a million and two

[stuck oyster]

[icy pier]

is there any pinned message about making doors..?

[stuck oyster]

no 😅

could write a book for all the things one could do

[icy pier]

oh mah lawd

[stuck oyster]

it comes down to understanding model making (which you got on the way there), model,cfg animations and config.cpp user actions

so next step for you would be to figure out model.cfg

[icy pier]

that makes sense

im using a combination of the arma samples, chatgpt and hitting my head against a wall

[stuck oyster]

once you can do that and preview your animation in the buldozer viewer in ObjectBuilder

you can start figure out the action part

GPT

[icy pier]

its wrong a lot of the time... but gives a kind of pointing direction...

I sweat to god chat gpt is more confused than me

[indigo mountain]

I have a basic-ish little write up on 'em from when I was converting some of our props to use it

https://github.com/DartRuffian/Obsidian-ArmaModding/blob/main/Importing/Props/Doors.md

[icy pier]

I see uh

im just quite confused on the object builder portion

I belive im trying to create hunges in the memory LOD right now?

[stuck oyster]

check the model.cfg /howtoanimateamodel wiki pages

[icy pier]

read through it now I couldnt find much about how to set it up other than a few lines or code or i may be very silly

[indigo mountain]

I mostly wrote about the config / model.cfg bits
Memory points are just vertices in the memory lod with named selections

[icy pier]

so if I have a door, do I want two seperate selections in the memory LOD? One for open and one for closed?

which I then through code switch between which one is "active"?

[stuck oyster]

no its just one

the parts that move are defined in the model.cfg skeleton hierarchy

and parented parts move their child parts

[icy pier]

so one mesh per door, in the memory LOD of the building..?

[stuck oyster]

in the memory lod you would only have axis points

not the whole mesh

[icy pier]

ah I see

[stuck oyster]

the visual moving mesh is in the respective resolution lods

and geometry lods

[icy pier]

that makes sense

[stuck oyster]

as geometry components can also move

[icy pier]

the axises are they created in blender or in the object builder?

[cunning temple]

Just make it all in blender

[icy pier]

alright just two vertecies then in blender make up the axis as I understand it

[icy pier]

im very stuck, I've managed to get the promt in the game to open door, however nothing happens when I try to open it.

anyone know whats wrong with the code?

[charred bolt]

skeletonBones[] = {"door", ""};
sections[] = {};

[icy pier]

sections is supposed to be empty and skeletonBines is supposed to reference Door?

i will try boss man

still no luck

I capatalized the D in door however since my section is capatalized

[charred bolt]

Do you have a named selection on the door mesh in the first resolution LOD of "door"?

[icy pier]

I believe so

if this is right

the door is still in the same mesh as my building just not connected

[charred bolt]

and is your p3d called "testhouse.p3d"?

[icy pier]

ya exactly

[charred bolt]

and model.cfg is in the same folder as testhouse.p3d?

[icy pier]

yes 1 sec

ill send a pic of the folder

[charred bolt]

looks fine

Are you testing the animation in buldozer from Object Builder?

[icy pier]

I have not done that

how do you test it?

[charred bolt]

Menu bar in Object Builder there is a red'ish icon

[icy pier]

ya im able to get into buldozer, but how would I start it?

oh scroll wheel

[charred bolt]

View>Viewers>Buldozer>Start

press Enter to scroll through available animation sources until you get to "door_source"

then use the mouse wheel to change the value of door_source from 0 to 1

If you're stuck, feel free to zip up your three files and dm them to me, I'll have a look

[icy pier]

1 sec im uploading a video of it

[icy pier]

that would be lovely, give me a second

[charred bolt]

Ah, it's actually working - but your axis memory points are probably in the wrong places

[icy pier]

ya agree, its def going the wrong direction hahaha, but it should still play it in game right

[charred bolt]

Well first thing is to get it working in buldozer. Then if it doesn't work in game, it's because there's something else wrong with the config.cpp

as config is not used by buldozer

[icy pier]

I see

so its the config file then that needs to be adjusted

[charred bolt]

first fix your memory points so it rotates as you wish

[icy pier]

ive tried moving the vertexes in memory around, but does not seem like it changes the rotation of it in the buldozer viewer

[icy pier]

ya I have them like this?

its a bit hard to see since theyre small

[charred bolt]

Wrong naming

look at my pic for name

[icy pier]

non captial door?

[charred bolt]

Both of "my" points have the same name of door_axis which is what you refer to it as in the model.cfg animation.
Whereas you have given them two different names of Door_axis_end and Door_axis_start

[icy pier]

I see

gonna adjust and see if it fixes it in game

[charred bolt]

Check it in buldozer first

[icy pier]

are the two verticies to be one single selection then?

I will assume so

[charred bolt]

yes

[icy pier]

does the name and capitalization of the door selection under the 1.00 LOD have to match the one in memory then

assuming thats how you have several like Door23 and Door23_axis

[charred bolt]

No, but highly recommend you use lower case throughout your project, as there can be some difficulties if you mix door1 and Door1 for example.

[icy pier]

but the _axis is dependent on the name before, like having door22 and door23 with seperate door22_axis and door23_axis?

for a bigger building

also, great success on getting the door to swing on the right hinge

[charred bolt]

You define which selection (bone in the skeleton, mesh in res LOD and Geo LOD's) and which axis (memory point LOD) in the model.cfg.
They don't have to have similar names, but it's convenient to call them door1 and door1_axis, door2 and door2_axis etc

So now you have it working in buldozer, build it into a pbo and check in game.

[icy pier]

thank you, will do

agh still no luck

gotta still be an issue in the config

[charred bolt]

Correct... and the issue is...

{
    source = "user";
    initPhase = 0;
    animPeriod = 1;
};```

change `source = "door";`

[icy pier]

alr will try that

keep the two lines below it i persume

[charred bolt]

yes

just switching user for door

[icy pier]

alr compiling it now and will see

[charred bolt]

what does "alr" mean?

[icy pier]

oh just shortened version of alright

[charred bolt]

thanks! sorry, I'm a 👴

[icy pier]

dont worry haha

however..

it still does not work

😭

[charred bolt]

What doesn't work - you don't get the option to open the door, or it does nothing when you select the open/close?

[icy pier]

the option to open the door comes up and is at the right place, however nothing happens when i interract with it

[charred bolt]

more errors in the config, 1 sec

[icy pier]

okok

looking myself but I'm not good enough to know what im looking for agh

[charred bolt]

Change your config.cpp UserActions to this:

{
    class OpenDoor
    {
       displayName = "Open Door";
       position = "Door_trigger";
       radius = 2;
       onlyForPlayer = 1;
       condition = (this doorPhase 'Door_source' < 0.5);
       statement = (this animateDoor ['Door_source', 1]);
    };

    class CloseDoor
    {
       displayName = "Close Door";
       position = "Door_trigger";
       radius = 2;
       onlyForPlayer = 1;
       condition = (this doorPhase 'Door_source' > 0.5);
       statement = (this animateDoor ['Door_source', 0]);
    };
};```

I've got to go for a while, back later. Others can help if you get more issues.

[icy pier]

alright, thank you for the help

ill change it and see if it works

ya no luck sadly

[icy pier]

oh my lord i managed to debug it

making it all only took me 11 hours

https://tenor.com/view/sacha-baron-cohen-great-success-yay-gif-4185058

[stuck oyster]

next thing will take only 10 minutes less!

[icy pier]

oh how lovely

[icy pier]

I'm trying to texture the walls of my building but keep having weird issues, in substance painter the exported co's line up correctly, but in arma I get this mess? Does anyone know how to go about this

[cunning temple]

For buildings you want to be using Multimaterial for textures

I linked to it the other day #arma3_model message
Looks like you messed up UV unpacking in one of the UVmaps

[icy pier]

gonna read through it, but I've assumed the workflow is I make a UV map in blender, export to substance painter and pain there, then just format into paa's and call them in my rvmat, or is that process incorrect?

ive read though the wiki page and i gotta say im more confused than i was

I understand like 10% of what its about-*+

[cunning temple]

Look at HG blender example, that helps a lot.
Basically you have 2 UVmaps. One is linked to a basic texture mask, where you use red, green, blue or black. Then in the rvmat you link those colours to a texture.
Then using the other UVmap, you adjust your textures like normal but you can scale it way the hell up.
It stops you being limited to 2k texture size, plus it helps performance since you can have loads of buildings and walls etc using the same texture

[icy pier]

looking at it in blender, the example file trynna wrap my head around it, so I have two masks which are the UV unmaps then, the two in the pictures?

[cunning temple]

Should be something like this

That first image is the mask

[icy pier]

ah gotcha, I feel like im missing out on a lot of context

is there something i should read up on to understand these things better

slowly understanding more

[icy pier]

I did not think adding a texture to a building would be this complicated

if anyone would be down to help me out let me know... I cannot figure it out

[stuck oyster]

just ask the specific questions where you are stuck at

Also I might have explanations about it in the chat history

[jaunty rune]

@woeful viper Iv known about that for a long time but no way to do in wire mode anymore?

[woeful viper]

if you set opacity to 0 you get the same effect as wireframe. Do you use a plane with a texture or a background image?

[terse elm]

latest WIP http://i.imgur.com/G9vp4Jl.png

come on guys soo and tell, we all like to see new shit

[jaunty rune]

plane now seems to be the best havn't messed with the new background image functionality

@terse elm Nice, looks good i would put a sill on your big windows even if its only a couple of inchs off the ground, just makes it look more realistic

[terse elm]

dont get u

[jaunty rune]

trhe should be a sill on windows makes it look better and im refering to the bottom floor shop windows

[terse elm]

got a ref image?

[jaunty rune]

depending on setting this could look good

http://www.rgcarter-construction.co.uk/wp-content/gallery/little-wimbledon/waitrose-little-wimbledon-convenience-store-front.jpg

[terse elm]

ah k i got ya

[jaunty rune]

butm im refering to the bootom of the windows here

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2012-09-12-7eleven-conveniencestore.JPG

the bottom of the windows

so water doesn't get in

irl atleast

just looks right

[jaunty rune]

Have deciphered how to do a multi layer method for refrance images but when ever i change the layer to be locked to shaded it goes back to view port after closing, any ideas?

[fervent steppe]

@terse elm i like the building..looks nice!

[finite stump]

Im kinda confused on hiddenSelections. I have a ground decal that I am making so you can add your own texture to it kinda like the User Texture or VR Block objects. I setup the config just like the User Texture but when I add an image to the attribute nothing happens. I did read that you need to set a selection in the model.cfg, but I can't find an example of what that is. The User Texture and VR Blocks don't even have a model.cfg.

[marsh canyon]

You can't do it for decals

[finite stump]

Well thats dumb

[finite stump]

The fact you can't do hiddenSelections on decals

[bright echo]

I'm pretty sure it's a bug rather than intended

also iirc it DOES work just not for simpleobjects

[umbral shuttle]

Tryin to use objRandom and not having much success with it, just doing a simple cube to have them rotated randomly.

class random_rot
{
    type="rotation";
    source="objRandom";
    selection="stand";
    axis="axis_stand";
    sourceAddress = "loop";
    minValue = 0;
    maxValue = 1;
    angle0 = "rad 0";
    angle1 = "rad 360.0";
    animPeriod = 0.0;
    initPhase = 0.0;

};

doesnt seem to work in object builder or in game

but if I say do time or anything else, the cube rotates in objectbuilder

class random_rot
{
    type="rotation";
    source="time"; //This changed
    selection="stand";
    axis="axis_stand";
    sourceAddress = "loop";
    minValue = 0;
    maxValue = 1;
    angle0 = "rad 0";
    angle1 = "rad 360.0";
    animPeriod = 0.0;
    initPhase = 0.0;

};

I guess I could just use userPositionHashedInit and have an array of like random numbers lol

[fathom knot]

anyone willing to help me with memory points in blender for a AR Platform based gun?

trying to make the bones for the Rifle

[stuck oyster]

whats the problem with it?

[fathom knot]

problem is me

i'm noob when it comes to porting stuff to Arma reforger lol

i just need some help to create the memory points of the gun, that's all

in blender

[stuck oyster]

#enfusion_model is the place to talk about reforger related modeling.
But in general to be able to do this you cant skip learning basic modeling first. buying a model is not a shortcut. (also can not use model stolen from other games)

[fathom knot]

it's not

a friend of mine made the rifle model

The license is free to use

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/ia2-762-read-the-description-350af8ab4cbd4c4cb1186ee9d661471d

this model to be more precise

[cunning temple]

Did you ever work out how to do it?

[stuck oyster]

even then you will need to understand basic modeling to do what you want to do. So just to clarfiy are you doing this for reforger or arma3

[fathom knot]

Arma reforger

i was just attempting to make the memory points, i am following the bohemia guide and have a experienced modder with me to help me trough the proccess

i'd ask him, but he's not online rn

[stuck oyster]

then #enfusion_model is the place to ask since the process is different from arma3

[fathom knot]

i see. Thanks for the advice

[icy pier]

i have not i took a break for a couple days, see if i might try again on the weekend

[stuck oyster]

that is good. no need to burn yourself up while still learning

[halcyon pike]

what is an approx poly count I should be aiming at for an a3 plate carrier model?

[charred bolt]

2 to 8k tri's depending on how much stuff is on the vest, res LOD's at 50% down to about 300

[hazy shell]

Is there a way to change the weight of just 1 vertex in the geometry fire LOD

[stuck oyster]

no

[hazy shell]

fuck

[stuck oyster]

why would you?

[hazy shell]

Some how i keep getting an error for 1 vertex being 150 instead of 100, so was wondering, buts it sfine ill just redo the weights

[stuck oyster]

ah tehn yes sure weightpainting or direct vertex group manipulation can do that

but the error means the total is 150

so you have some overlap between selection

[hazy shell]

ahh, okay cheers for the info should save me a bit of time

[charred bolt]

In Object Builder, yes you can.
Select the vertex, right click in the selections window, select Weights.
The window which opens will show which selections the vertex is part of and respective weighting. You can alter the weighting for each selection.
Sum of bone weights should always be 100.

[hazy shell]

ah cheers

[foggy coyote]

Hi all. Quick question. Would some one know if its possible to get a character template into 3ds Mudbox. I'm looking at getting just the head in, so I can use it as a reference for sculpting helmets, hats, facewraps ect.

[royal mango]

There is head model in ARMA 3 samples

[oblique vapor]

@terse elm Good job on that building mate, looks neat

[foggy coyote]

@royal mango Thanks mate. I'll have a look.

[foggy coyote]

@royal mango I had a little test. Unfortunately Mudbox wont load it. I get the following in an error message; File version is too new or is corrupt. File name: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3 Samples\Addons/TemplateRTM/bust.p3d, File version: 1146047565, Current version: 506

[obtuse rain]

Open it in Object Builder and export it as FBX.

.p3d is something only A3 and A3 Tools understand.

Also once it is in Mudbox check the dimensions to make sure it imported with the right scale.

[foggy coyote]

@obtuse rain Thats got me one step closer lol When I go to inport the FBX it won't show up in Mudbox. Like nothing gets loaded. Strange?

When I'm in object builder it only gives me the option to export as the following; "universal Bistudio. TXT" "3D Studio" "P3D Old Version" and "MDA" I'm rather new to the modeling/sculpting world, so sorry if I'm a bit of a noob

[obtuse rain]

You could try .OBJ format.

[odd fjord]

hello friends, i am trying to add a model i have of a custom det charge into the game, would anyone be willing to help me get it into the game as i have very little experience using the p3d software

[celest sand]

I tried to open the model in Blender, but I kept getting this error. I'm a bit dumb and don't understand what it wants.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1283808766160277606/1447260719371391018/cobson_cigar.gif

[marsh canyon]

Means you cant open it

[celest sand]

Something is missing or simply not possible?

[marsh canyon]

Not possible

[celest sand]

https://tenor.com/view/man-praying-black-man-praying-black-man-praying-and-crying-man-praying-and-crying-gif-23376408540985609

[stuck oyster]

you are not supposed to take other peoples models

you can make models

you can not take models

[celest sand]

k

[royal mango]

@foggy coyote are you sure you did import the model not load it?

[thorn spire]

Mudbox reads 3D studio aka .3ds files

[north sundial]

Hey guys what do dark green lines in wireframe view in OB mean? like so: https://gyazo.com/5a1fa4f5c61e4d487f4edaaf29e25c51

Nvm figured it out, the faces were coloured, didnt even know that existed haha

[mint wolf]

That is the wireframe for the poly faces.

oh ok, you figured it out

[north sundial]

yeah i didnt know you could colour them for identification purposes

thats useful info for the future

Thanks for trying to help though 😃

[mint wolf]

anyone know of a Discord server specifically for 3d artists?

[gleaming tusk]

@stuck oyster is there a scale requirement for buoyancy?
im making a cork and trying to ge it to float but its just not floating, if i drag over the geo lods from the buoyLarge, it will float, but if i shrink those lods it wont float anymore

[stuck oyster]

as far as Ive seen the bouancy lod typically matches the shape of the boyant hull

[gleaming tusk]

Hmm, so the scale doesn't matter as much?
I got no idea here.
I've made the lods match the intended shape, given the properties, and it still sinks like a rock.
Give it the buoy's lods and it floats all wonky but I can't scale them or else it won't work anymore.

The only changes being to the geometry lod and buoyancy geo lod

[stuck oyster]

adjust the geometry lod mass

[gleaming tusk]

i had it set to like 5, then 12, then 40, then 100,

[stuck oyster]

well right now its tiny thing weighting 96kg

[gleaming tusk]

the buoy large is set to like 5500 top and bottom with a total of 12000

[stuck oyster]

even at 5kg

its tiny thing weighting 5kg

if you catch what Im hinting here

[gleaming tusk]

🤔

yea

[stuck oyster]

Arma and tiny thing simulations is not usually very great

but yea you would need either weight that works (but simulation might not work on very low mass)

or you need larger boyancy lod ot counter the weight

[gleaming tusk]

or scale it up

gotchya

[gleaming tusk]

❤️

lowered weight to minimum possible

was able to shrink down

[charred bolt]

It's the volume and position of the Geo Buoyancy LOD that matter. It doesn't have mass in it.

[ruby lion]

if canOcclude is not inside object namedProperties ["Geometry"] does it mean its off or is it off only when canOcclude is set 0 for buildings

I would assume its on for buildings by default

[north sundial]

You making a fishing mod ? Haha always having fun side quests mate

[gleaming tusk]

[sacred crest]

I wish there were Arma 1 characters

Like King Joseph III and Prince Orlando

[icy pier]

hiya, back at it again

in the process of trying to understand to get the materials on my builds, im trynna export the MM example thats pinned, and just curious if there is a quick way to make my n-gons into trises so it'll actually fold into a openable p3d?

aware of selecting by trait to find my n-gons but if anyone had something in blender to just make it easier

[cunning temple]

edit mode > select all > ctrl + T

[icy pier]

oh thats lovely, thank you

[cunning temple]

Good luck 👍

[icy pier]

anyone had this issue that the UV editor just doesnt.. open..?

[stuck oyster]

windows sometimes minimizes it

youll have to find it in task manager and use maximize so it opens in full screen

then you can resize it

[icy pier]

that worked perfectly, oh my

thats the most nichie issue i have seen in my entire life

[icy pier]

just a theoretical question so im not like working towards something that doesnt work, but its possible to make my mesh in blender, paint it in substance painter, and then import the p3d and then bind the rv mats in object builder right?

[stuck oyster]

yes. but you really would assign the materials in blender

[icy pier]

so, blender -> fbx to substance -> then back to blender -> Object builder?

[stuck oyster]

well technically you dont need to come back from substance with the model. the uvmapping is already done in blender blender. and the textures made in substance would then match those in blender

[icy pier]

ya that makes sense

[stuck oyster]

so blender -> substance -> textures to blender to test -> p3d out to arma

[icy pier]

when you export the p3d from blender does it bring the textures with it or do you have to bind them?

[stuck oyster]

the arma paths are assinged blender yes

there is separate dialog for that in the material tab

[icy pier]

i could be wrong but as im trying to figure it out, I'm unsure if the MM example actually came with a RV mat..

[stuck oyster]

it probably does not. You can find some of those in the p:\a3\ folders

when you have unpacked arma3 data

[icy pier]

is there some other thing on how to learn textures than just the example file because I am beyond lost

Im trying to figure out that entire having two materials for masks thing

[cunning temple]

Use this rvmat https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Multimaterial#Alternate_layout it's easier to read lol

[icy pier]

so the rvmat file, links a color on my unwrapped UV to a png, am i getting that right?

this

[cunning temple]

yeah, if you ever done terrains think of it like mask and sat map

[stuck oyster]

therea may be need to read up on 3d model theory

[icy pier]

do u have recommendation?

[stuck oyster]

not really. Its been over a decade when I started, I dont know the recent guides that well

[icy pier]

I see...

uagh

it is quite abstract to grasp but I can blame myself trying to learn the engine of a 13 year old game 😭

[stuck oyster]

basics of 3d models have been same for far longer

and are still the same

how uvmapping works etc is old technology

you dont need to know the deep theory

but the basic principles and how they are made

[cunning temple]

UVMap_MM is where you adjust textures.
UVMap_BAKE is for mask.
The rvmat is what tells Arma what texture to show for colour on mask

[icy pier]

ill try to see if i can find some videos on youtube to understand it better

[icy pier]

would that translate into these then, MM 1 and 2?

going from the example file

[cunning temple]

No that's basically 2 rvmats, you can have 4 textures for each one

so if you had a brick wall, you would link the brick texture in the rvmat to red or whatever. An you would paint red on the mask for where the walls are

[icy pier]

so the file on the left, would you make that then in photoshop after you've unwrapped your file then?

[cunning temple]

You can just paint it in blender

[icy pier]

whats confusing me is that I have to make this red green blue png, and that I couldnt just apply my color, normal and others just straight on?

cause what I find online talks about metalic and roughness and color but I havent found anything yet on specifically designating certain areas as red and blue and so

[cunning temple]

normal is set in rvmat class Stage11 {texture="#(argb,8,8,3)color(0.5,0.5,1,1,NOHQ)"; etc for each colour

so like texture="ca\MultiTest\kostky_NO.paa";

[stuck oyster]

yes well true the multimaterial is more elaborate setup than basic texturing you refer ot.

so you wont find exact example for it online

[cunning temple]

Arma is doing all the work, blender is more for just positioning of textures

[icy pier]

so, the arma engine needs that blue red and green file, to be able to understand where to put the different things in my color paa? assuming i have on co paa for one house?

[stuck oyster]

yes

[cunning temple]

Also you don't need Multimaterial for everything, but for buildings it's really useful

[icy pier]

and that red green blue image is linked in the rvmat, together with the link to the co file then.. would that be DTSMDI?

[icy pier]

how come its useful for buildings?

[north sundial]

It’s about pixel density

If you have a building that’s small, say a 4x4x4m shed you can use a 2k material to get roughly 2pixels per cm which can look fine

Take that building to be a 20x20x40m office building and that 2k texture won’t cut it anymore on the surface area you need to apply it to

So then you use tilable textures . Which is fine, but a multimat can apply 4 of those textures for the cost of 1 material which is much better for optimisation

As well as the fact you can also use the masks to switch textures mid polygon as can be seen on this tutorial: https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Mondkalb's_MultiMaterial_Tutorial

It’s mainly about balancing optimisation and quality

[icy pier]

I see I think im following

makes a lot of sense quality wise

but in the tutorial you linked, am I understanding correctly, the left one with rgb colors you need to have so that the right picture, the exported co from substance painter for example, can properely apply its texture?

[north sundial]

That one is also using a baked down texture usually known as an mlod

Mainly it’s used for the 2nd or 3rd res lods and beyond

Though I think it can be used to help blend from memory

Ah yeah it does that too

Multimats just layer many components to give you a better looking large asset

[icy pier]

I see I uh think

I will continue this venture tomorrow…

[cunning temple]

I did a couple of rvmat's of the example files. They named same as material in blender

[jaunty leaf]

So I have this helmet (lowpoly right now) http://i.imgur.com/uk356Nr.png

And I'm wondering 1) How you all do helmet nets and 2) how you do scrim

[icy pier]

oh thats lovely thank you

[icy pier]

okay so I changed my UV unwrapping seams, and magically it just worked? The mysteries of this software continues to delude me to this day

[icy pier]

trying to bind my rvmat with normals and so on my building and not just the color but get this error? My rvmat looks like this, do I need more in it?

[indigo mountain]

Can't have leading slashes in rvmats

[icy pier]

i changed but still no luck

am I thinking of the file path wrong

[indigo mountain]

Maybe, it needs to start with your pboprefix

[icy pier]

the rvmat is in the data folder

[icy pier]

how do you mean?

the same folder as I have my pbo?

[indigo mountain]

No, every pbo has a "pbo prefix" which is the virtual path to that pbo, which is how you reference textures, models, etc. from a pbo

[icy pier]

how doI know my pbo prefix?

[indigo mountain]

Addon builder just uses folder name if you don't explicitly set one, not sure about binarize or if it even cares about it

[icy pier]

im a bit unsure what you mean, this is how my path looks, having the rvmat in the data folder, what path does it expect me to have in the rvmat?

[indigo mountain]

not sure about binarize or if it even cares about it

If it was addon builder it'd be TestHouse\

[icy pier]

never used addon builder but Ill run it like this

unless im supposed to binarize the textures

[cunning temple]

Addon builder is awful for newbies, error checking is poop. Also that isn't multi rvmat

[icy pier]

what kind of rvmat is it? I dont think ive quite understood the concept of milti rvmat yet

[icy pier]

okay managed to make larger progress and successfully assigned my rvmat to my building getting my normals and so on, however does someone know why the lighting is so extremely sensitive?

the wall on the back is completely black as well as the inside with the door open

[stuck oyster]

improperly configured rvmat or maybe missing/wrong kind of ambient shadow texture

[icy pier]

so I closed all convexity on my shadow volume and got this? is the mesh supposed to be one singular box and not several as in second picture? Or is the value wrong in the third?

okay so I turned off both sided lighting and it went back to how it was before

[stuck oyster]

you should not need to touch any lighting stuff

thtats wrong shadow volume though, 0 is the one you would make

[icy pier]

when I change it to zero it does not compile?

[charred bolt]

pboProject set-up

[icy pier]

hi apollo, sorry but im very confused what you want me to do? where can I find those tabs, and should I click them?

[charred bolt]

You are using pboProject?

[icy pier]

I found the settings

[icy pier]

sir yes sir

better to run them with all unchecked?

i did that and the building has gone insane

[charred bolt]

While in game, go to options and turn off your shadows. See if that "fixes it". If it does, you know it's your shadows that are broken.

[icy pier]

will try

@charred bolt new result is this

no color at all around it

[charred bolt]

I find that hard to believe. Switching off just shadows made it lose colour?

[icy pier]

ya I turned the shadows to disabled

in video settings

[charred bolt]

Just reading back through your history - is it multimat?

[icy pier]

Im very unsure, I dont think it is, im using a rvmat that looks like this ( first pic ) and thats just bound to my 3 seperate paa's

[charred bolt]

eek

[icy pier]

HUH

[charred bolt]

I will admit to knowing next to nothing about buildings, but that's not like any supershader rvmat I've ever seen.

[icy pier]

uh

do you have an example?

of a proper one?

[charred bolt]

Here is the "default" one from
https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Super_shader

diffuse[] = {1,1,1,1};
forcedDiffuse[] = {0,0,0,1};
emmisive[] = {0,0,0,0};
specular[] = {1,1,1,1};
specularPower = 30;
PixelShaderID = "Super";
VertexShaderID = "Super";
class Stage1
{
  texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0.5,0.5,1,1,NOHQ)";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class Stage2
{
  texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0.5,0.5,0.5,0.5,DT)";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class Stage3
{
  texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0,0,0,0,MC)";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class Stage4
{
  texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1,AS)";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class Stage5
{
  texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,0,1,0,SMDI)";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class Stage6
{
  texture = "#(ai,64,64,1)fresnel(0.4,0.2)";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class Stage7
{
  texture = "a3\data_f\env_land_co.paa";
  useWorldEnvMap = "true";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};
class StageTI
{
  texture = "a3\data_f\default_vehicle_ti_ca.paa";
};```

Texture (_co) and material (rvmat) are assigned per face in the p3d.
The material then connects the _as, _smdi and _nohq maps.

[icy pier]

ya I only find it referencing a co file in it, no reference of normal or as?

[charred bolt]

The default one uses procedural nohq (stage 1), as (stage 4) and smdi (stage 5) textures, so you can try it without having to create those uv mapped textures. All you need is the _co and rvmat assigned to the faces in the p3d.

[icy pier]

so nothing in this rvmat is to be changed then? it is just an fixer for the lighting so to say?

[charred bolt]

As an experiment, correct.

[icy pier]

I will try

🫡

[icy pier]

it works in the aspect of the lighting not being super extreme, but I now lack the depth my normals had on my texture, since I used co for the texture and then the rvmat on the material slot

[charred bolt]

Ok so that's good progress. Colour and shadow working.
Now you can add in the normal map

[icy pier]

do I add the normal map as a piece of code in my already existing rvmat then?

[charred bolt]

{
  texture = "path\to\your\normalmap_nohq.paa";
  uvSource = "tex";
  class uvTransform
  {
    aside[] = {1,0,0};
    up[] = {0,1,0};
    dir[] = {0,0,1};
    pos[] = {0,0,0};
  };
};```

[icy pier]

oh I see ill fill it in and compile and see what happens

[charred bolt]

If your normal texture file is in
p:\testhouse\data\housewalls_nohq.paa
then use
texture = "testhouse\data\housewalls_nohq.paa";

[icy pier]

so this is how the walls turn out, with no strange lighting, however

this was the walls with the normal map, which the lighting made the back side entirely black

so I have a feeling the normal is not quite working

[charred bolt]

Not enough info there for me to understand

[icy pier]

when I ran the building on only my rv mat, which directly referenced co, as and nohq I got the result in the lower one which has proper depth and shadow on the object, but on the sides which are away from the sun it goes completely black

[charred bolt]

I think you're saying you've added the normal map, and it has worked, but not quite as you expect.
I would then say, now add the AS and SMDI maps into the rvmat.

[icy pier]

ill give it a try

see how it does

[charred bolt]

I'm assuming this is the starting point: #arma3_model message
which is totally scrambled. So far, with your new correctly formatted super shader rvmat, it is not scrambled.

[icy pier]

I believe so, I gotta say its very difficult keeping a red thread with how many processes and taking two steps back to try a new angle lmao

no luck with getting any depth also adding as, also, addendum, the interior is pink

[charred bolt]

It's hard to follow when you keep changing what we're looking at. One thing at a time.
Firstly, what does your rvmat code now look like?
Secondly, show the same outside view as before and comment on whether it looks "correct".

[icy pier]

give me a sec ill try to make a proper overview of everything from zero

[charred bolt]

Why? I asked for 2 simple things. Don't overcomplicate it.

copy and paste your current rvmat. screenshot the outside of the building

[icy pier]

okay will do, my bad sorry

rvmat code

the outside, it looks correct with the color of the outside is correct, but there is no depth to the crevaces the normal should apply, also as you can see in the frame, the inside of the house is somehow pink

[charred bolt]

Why have you put your as texture in stage 2?

[icy pier]

I thought it was to go in stage 2?

I see ill change it to step 4 and see if I can get a difference

[charred bolt]

Put your _as in stage 4 and your _smdi in stage 5.

[icy pier]

I dont have any smdi I only have co, as and nohq

also my bad, coding is relatively new to me

[charred bolt]

ok, that's fine, just leave the smdi as the procedural from the default. smdi is the map which gives specular highlights (shine).

So put in the _as to stage 4 and post the screenshot outside of building result. Comment on whether you think it is correct. If all good, then we can move inside and look at other issues you notice.

[icy pier]

alright will do, thank you

@charred bolt think this might be jackpot, the color is very close to what I have in substance painter and the lighting is correct around all sides of the building, as well as working inside, and no pink texture inside of it either

im willing to call this the first house ive made complete, with most of the bells and whistles

[charred bolt]

So the take-away is that the format of the rvmat is very important. You have to put the right textures in the right stages.
If you were able to export an _smdi from Substance too, you could get even nicer results, but well done!

[icy pier]

thank you very much for the help

ill be looking over my substance painter export set later to see if I can make an smdi, also eventually have to figure out how to make it destructable and windows, but ya

almost 30 hours to make this simple brick structure, I get why not a lot of people take up arma modding

[stuck oyster]

you have to make sure your normalmap green channel/Y axis is right way. Typically you may need to invert the green color channel for Arma use

[umbral shuttle]

do backpacks support any sort of model cfg animations?

[stuck oyster]

No

[umbral shuttle]

yeah I figured I did try in the past but I guess the weighting with spine messes it up but I wasn't sure if there was a way around that I just didn't think off

But surely if I say on model cfg to have everything attach back to spine bone if would work no?

[stuck oyster]

in essense backpack is a character

as far as I've tested, I never got model.cfg procedural animations to work for either

you cant also add bones to them since that would break the rtm connection

[umbral shuttle]

oh hehehe I see very funny analogy

[bright echo]

yeah best you can do with backpacks is hide stuff with hiddenselections

but do note that wont work with shadows

[cunning temple]

Do you think I should add a trim (like on the right) to hide the hard edge of textures. Or maybe just extend the stone wall all the way down?
Can't decide lol

[stuck oyster]

trim look nice

like for real the rocks probably would just sit on the foundation

but making that look natural can be a chore

[white oak]

Ýou'll find that hard edge between the foundation and the walls irl aswell

what I've done with my buildings was to extend the foundation by 5-10cm then add a curve

[north sundial]

If you’re using a multimat you could try blending the rocks into the concrete?

Using the mask

[north sundial]

This also works

[stuck oyster]

solid point there. could make the edge bit uneven and follow the shape of the rocks

[cunning temple]

I'll just do trim as I'm lazy lol

[stuck oyster]

If you werent and wanted to be very fancy you could even cut the wall up into segments that allow you to pull some of the sone shapes out a bit making the surface uneven up close

[distant heron]

that would look sick

[sour bough]

... Insane question.

Do magazines animate if they're in a ground holder? For my jetpacks mod, I'm gonna be making a multi use fuel can and my insane idea was to make the gauge on it work when you put it down lmao

[stuck oyster]

🤔 probably not?

as in there is nothing to give it input either

[sour bough]

Yeah, I was thinking ammo... Might?

Are there any transparent mags in vanilla lol

Easy test for it

Wait the one in the ground isn't even the same model all the time

I'm certain it doesn't now

That's okay, I'll fulfill my insane ideas of an analog ammunition gauge with a different steampunk pipe dream in the future.

[icy pier]

Anyone know where arma decides what is the lowest point of the house/building that it snaps onto the ground? Is it the lowest face in the res LOD?

[cunning temple]

Where the grid is in blender / object builder

[icy pier]

ah makes sense

thanks

[obtuse rain]

Your modelling package should have some way for you to model a flat net and then push it to conform to the helmet surface.

[karmic blade]

Hey, I wanted to import some 3d models into arma. I booted up my blender and installed an arma addon, but only tabs I see in the top right are "item, tools, view. Object builder" wasnt there suppose to be an arma 3 tab where I can made a model into arma 3 object?

[crimson beacon]

whatever the model is should be able to export as p3d

i am also still learning but that much i know

[icy pier]

are u sure u turned the addon on?

[toxic needle]

what are u working on?

[karmic blade]

Ye apparently it was a different addon called object builder. Arma3toolbox doesnt seem to want to install

[karmic blade]

Ori warship

[icy pier]

which version of blender are u using

[toxic needle]

Object Builder addon is much better for .P3D creation

[karmic blade]

4.0

[icy pier]

did u match it to the right version of toolbox?

[toxic needle]

ye that could be too

why use only 4.0 tho?

at least have u gotten familirized with 4.0

[toxic needle]

have u ported stuff before

?

[karmic blade]

Good question I guess I never updated it. Didnt need to. As I only ever used it to transfer models to arma

[toxic needle]

oh ok

[karmic blade]

Oh yes. Generally a punch of spaceships for set dressing

[toxic needle]

nice

[karmic blade]

Also the division mod (like watch and computer on shoulder)

[toxic needle]

u mainly use OB or blender for .p3d creation

[karmic blade]

Gotcha ye I figured it out. It is just not my usual way of doing it

[toxic needle]

like selection creation, RTMs, LODs

[toxic needle]

i mean like making models functional

[cunning temple]

If you enabled it, then it should be on side panel when your press N

[stuck oyster]

More a #military_materials kinda clip I think. Unless you mean to also model it.

[icy pier]

<@&105623147411202048>

idk who to ping

[leaden quartz]

built a model all is well minus one issue

the model loads in game and the textures apply except the texture has a blue tint to it any ideas?

[stuck oyster]

texture is not in accepted resolution (power of 2)

[leaden quartz]

Is this a config fix a texture fix in PS settings ?

What changes do I make if it’s a PS issue

[stuck oyster]

image resolution

[leaden quartz]

Ok resize to 1024x1024 ? Or smaller

[twilit dagger]

Any power of 2 works

Depends on how detailed you want it to be.

[umbral shuttle]

So kinda texturing question but also model, I have a bunker and I really just want to use the multimat parts just for its scaling ability, and I dont exactly fully understand multimats still really tryna figure that out. I would guess put the concrete parts on the black section of mask with red/blue/green being used. Is that a good idea or is there a better way to achieve what I am going after?

[stuck oyster]

The mask colors are painted on the surfaces you want to be X color.

[umbral shuttle]

well id have only one color no? so wouldnt it be a waste to use multimat if my only reason to use it is for the scaling on the 2nd uvset? what could I even do for the mask colors?

[stuck oyster]

You could make the surface less boring by using second concrete patternntexture and mix them up. Also add dirty/damaged parts for nicer look

[umbral shuttle]

oh okay kinda like the carrier deck where it has like 3 different colors of like dark/light and I think oily? tarmac or watever and the mask like mixes em up?

I guess my next question is how do I make a texture that I can use for multimats I feel like the process would be different then making a normal texture cause I dont exactly know how to make tileable textures?

many questions 🙁

[cunning temple]

Game has loads of tileable textures you can use. Or just download some

[stuck oyster]

this is soemthing googling finds tons of answers to I think. Not specifically in Arma context, but tiling textures in general are common thing in games and 3Dmodeling/rendering

or l ike Ice says, you can use the vanilla textures

[tawdry rover]

Any idea where i can post idea / suggestion or get in contacnt with a person who might be willing to make an UGV model / mod for arma3 (im will be willing to pay for the project)

[cunning temple]

#creators_recruiting #creators_offers one of them lol

[stuck oyster]

You can pay only for a model. Not the actual implementation/making of a mod

Floundering money around only attracts scammers

The mod making tools are for non commercial use only

[tawdry rover]

Welp i suck at making mods so, thxs for the info tho 👍🏽

[stuck oyster]

that can be remedied by practice though

wanting something as a mod is why people generally start learning it

[last spindle]

If you want 3D chat you need to be on Polycount, nothing on any discord channel could compare

[umbral shuttle]

Ah okay bet that should be ez then, there's no vanilla green concrete so I guess that will be fun to learn:):):):):)

[stuck oyster]

it is useful skill

[umbral shuttle]

But time is the problem 😭

[cunning temple]

Green as in moss or something else?

Could just edit an arma one

[umbral shuttle]

Something else like tbh just hue shift from grey to green

If that makes sense

[cunning temple]

Should be easy to make, there is loads of textures in P:\a3\structures_f\data
Check the other structures folders for more textures

[torpid root]

does anyone know what assest the Afganistan_Amy are from the mod auther is Evan Mara? idk if its possible to reverse search?

[stuck oyster]

no there isnt really much in way of looking such info up. why?

[torpid root]

just curious what the assest were as they are not the usual cup or RHS

[stuck oyster]

if they are not from a dependency mod then they could be original work

[torpid root]

yeah im trying to find the original mod

[stuck oyster]

they cant be original in that mod?

[torpid root]

? i dont understand

[stuck oyster]

does the mod use any dependencies?

[torpid root]

No its when I'm editing a workshop scenario

When i load it says missing mods the usual continue stuff but this one mod i would like to find as it adds units that I can't see and it's just titled Afghanistan_Army and under author it just says Evan Mara

[wispy girder]

WIP I thought some would like to see

Just finished the engine bay and I'm gonna add the exhaust, driveline, and gas tanks and a roll cage for where the road warriors are gonna stand (which I already have a template to just drop this into the game and make EVERYTHING SPIN, except the belts, idk how to animate those

For the car guys that look at this; I already stretched the supercharger back to where it needs to sit, and added the steering rod on the other side(which will spin) because in the code this thing has like 10 wheels

[sour bough]

Could do a UV animation for the belts?

I'm not sure if you can do one of those based on rpm though

[stuck oyster]

Yes that's possible

[sour bough]

Yaaay
(I thought it was but haven't done UV animations before lol)

[stuck oyster]

I think they work with any source

[plush moss]

I recently decided to learn Blender and my goal was to create an add-on for Arma 3. This is the result of the process so far; it's still a work in progress, but at least I've managed to see it in the game engine. I've spent most of my time searching for tutorials and information to finish it. My main barrier is the language (I'm a native Spanish speaker) and the technical jargon. If you have any recommendations for a clear guide, I would appreciate it.

[daring pelican]

hey im trying to add this 3d model pelvicbinder to the game in arma3 how can i do this can someone help me out im very new to the game 100 hours

[stuck oyster]

Where is it from

[daring pelican]

I made it

[stuck oyster]

why is it in glb format?

[daring pelican]

idk

[stuck oyster]

so its not made by you

[daring pelican]

ai

[stuck oyster]

🤮

also you cant pay for mod making

the mod making tools are non commercial

[daring pelican]

I just what this mod im new to the game and dont know how to do this

want

[stuck oyster]

"I just want" is not a valid reason

if you really want it you spend 100 hours to learn the stuff

[daring pelican]

alright bro you got it

[indigo mountain]

I made it
ai
Yeah not how that works

[daring pelican]

what are you on about im just trying to make a mod not argue

[stuck oyster]

in any case AI made stuff is grossly poor guality and do not fit game use at all.

if you want a mod, there is no skipping to finish line

you would really have to do the work of learning

also anyone who contacts you to make this for you for money is a scammer so dont pay people

youll just end up robbed

[daring pelican]

Aye I captian

[stuck oyster]

I'll just delete this and we can hope you dont get flooded too much with offers

[icy pier]

this is an amazing reason lmfao

made my day reading that convo

[stuck oyster]

its not reason to try to shortcut to the end 😛

[icy pier]

yes very true

[daring pelican]

I'm not a modder nor a 3d artist I just wanted to get the mod I'm not here for the modding/design scene like you guys, like this was prob going to be my first and last mod

[stuck oyster]

unfortunately that does not really cut the requirements

and even from experienced person making what you are after is likely multiple hours project

so even if it could paid, that tenner would be a bit of a joke

[cunning temple]

Not even min wage 😄

[daring pelican]

yah right im just going to leave the server thanks for no help but just saying you're wrong wrong wrong

[stuck oyster]

if you really want to make it, first step would be learning Blender.

[icy pier]

anyone know how to change the jigsaw puzzle to my own image, I have a _ca paa in the power of two and referencing it as UiPicture in my CfgWeapons but isnt working?

[bold flare]

It should be the mod.cpp icon

Per mod, not per item

[icy pier]

Tried running it like this with a few variations but no luck, does something look off?

[bold flare]

Seems ok. Not sure if the image path is supposed to be inside pbo

Compare with other mods

[icy pier]

I tried outside the pbo first but had no luck with that, how do I actually compare with another mod?

[bold flare]

Look at the file of another mod and see what it says

[icy pier]

oh im stupid

I havent before and just assumed they were binarized or something

[icy pier]

okay so issue was I was running the mod.cpp and paa inside of the pbo and didnt have it inside of the @mod folder

thank u for the help didnt know it was to be a seperate .cpp file

[indigo mountain]

It's not, mog logo should be placed next to mod.cpp

mod.cpp
logo_ca.paa
addons
  - abc.pbo
  - xyz.pbo

[icy pier]

ya this is how i ended up doing it and works perfectly

[icy pier]

has anyone ever figured out a way to make the object builder UI a darker shade, I know about the background being changable and I find nothing about the UI being, just curious if anyone ever did make a solution

[cunning temple]

I think most people just use Blender

[stuck oyster]

windows menu colors

(old ones)

[icy pier]

ya I just go in for proxies and applying UVs n stuff

[icy pier]

how do I get to the old ones..?

[stuck oyster]

googelo

[icy pier]

yes sire

[stuck oyster]

😅

[icy pier]

insanity

one by one

[icy pier]

managed to do most but am I right if I say those other fields are hard coded?

[livid canyon]

You can rearrange the panels to minimize the light space

[icy pier]

oh my goodness

[icy pier]

I'm pretty sure this menu is something that you can make with CBA right, does anyone know where in the documentation Im supposed to look for how to make one of these menus

[warped mural]

i believe this is ACE arsenal extended

[grand cloak]

ACE Arsenal Extended

[icy pier]

oh thank you

[icy pier]

could someone point me in the right direction of how vests are able to display your pistol in their holster when you dont have it equiped, im assuming I have to use some kind of proxy, unsure if I need any programming?

[icy pier]

update figured it out

[kind arrow]

Hey, does anyone know how you'd hide a character's head when a helmet item is equipped?

[indigo mountain]

The only way to do it is via script and making your own "empty head" face
The head proxy is a part of the uniform, so you can't do it that way

[kind arrow]

Figured, seen it done for uniforms but never helmets. So I guess plan B would be an event handler added to CAManBase to pick up the helmet being equipped probably by isKindOf

For swapping the head - how would you switch the identity over to the empty head?

[indigo mountain]

The setFace script command

[kind arrow]

Sweet thank you I'll give that a go

[polar hound]

Continuing from here:
#arma3_texture message

Model appears triangulated, and there don't seem to be back faces, or at least duplicated faces that I can see...

[polar hound]

@charred bolt

And disabling shadows in the game made no impact, the artifacts just become less visible in direct light.

[charred bolt]

And you say you unassigned the rvmat, so don't think nohq or ao maps are having any effect?

[polar hound]

Correct.

In both Blender and OB, the surfaces do appear truely smooth, but they roughen up in-game.

What's driving me nuts is that I had a similar issue with a model of some ESS Crossbows a few months ago, and the lens surface had the same issue.

But I did something a few months ago, and the problem resolved.

And I cannot for the life of me remember what I did.

[charred bolt]

Texture is named with a _co suffix before converting to paa?

[polar hound]

Affirm.

[charred bolt]

replace texture with a procedural to eliminate it completely perhaps

[polar hound]

Rightyo... never have done that, got a quick guide handy?

[charred bolt]

#(argb,8,8,3)color(0.5,0.5,0.5,0)

[polar hound]

Ah, I gotcha

Stby.

[charred bolt]

Have you checked the bin logs to make sure sum of vertice weights are all 100?

[polar hound]

Not something I've had to do, assuming that's within the temp (using mikero's tools)?

[charred bolt]

After building with pboProject, click the "View Logs" button and look for the binlog.

[polar hound]

And any particular line within the bin that I should be looking for?

[charred bolt]

sum of weights

[polar hound]

Okay, so how does one resolve an issue with vertice weight sums?

Though I'm seeing the same warning on models that don't have the same artifacing issue as this shirt I'm working with.

[charred bolt]

If a vertex has two (or more) named selections that are bones in the model.cfg skeleton, the sum of their weights should add up to 100.
I'm not saying it is THE issue, but it's something else that it might be.

[polar hound]

I doubt it, as this artiface issue is isolated to this shirt model (and it's short sleeve counterpart).

[stuck oyster]

what does your normalmap look like?

[polar hound]

Like that.

It was softened up via substance compared to the normal that came with the model

The creases and folds in the default normal were far stronger, too strong for my liking.

[warped mural]

Do you have a correct material and texture path set in the model itself?

[polar hound]

Affirm. Artifacing was also visible with those unlinked and the raw model untextured.

[stuck oyster]

make sure the vertex are merged and not floating.

[wispy girder]

I finished that old mad max Buick, except for some small touchups(gotta remember how taillights work) and it sounds godly. So far I got two mad max vehicles, I'm thinking I'm gonna make a car pack at this point. It'd be the second one in the workshop. Alongside mad arma.

[icy pier]

@polar hound did u manage to fix it?

fixed a very similar issue with lighting for one of my own things tonite and was thinking it could be the code in ur rvmat

[polar hound]

Haven’t had an opportunity to test new fixes yet.

[azure pier]

Anyone know if it is possible to make a model follow another model's bones?

For example, if I wanted a sight addon to follow the standard iron sights of the rifle.

I ask because I am currently working on a national match aperture hood for Prairie Fire's M14

[sour bough]

nay, the model has to have its own bones

or

rather

in this instance, the proxy is following the proxy in the m14

[azure pier]

Got ya

[azure pier]

Best I could do is a non-animated version, but they seem fine for target competition

[umbral shuttle]

So I am on the development branch and with the shots mode how can I tell what I would need to change to make this bullet penetrate through the sandbag? I dont see how I would know the bullets penetration on impact? and then in the opposite direction I suppose how can I tell how much i would have to increase a firegeos thickness or density in .bisurf to make a certain bullet not penetrate it?

[late jewel]

Guys, can someone please tell me if it's possible to somehow get this model into Arma 3 with UV? If not, how can I create the same smoke and use it in Arma 3?

[stuck oyster]

thats not really how smoke is done in Arma

[late jewel]

If it's not too much trouble, could you tell me how to do it correctly?

[stuck oyster]

smoke and similar things are done via particle effcts

[late jewel]

So, directly in the cpp code? It's just that Blastcore has p3d and paa.

[stuck oyster]

particle effects can use p3ds too. like flying rock pieces and stuff like that

[late jewel]

I don't quite understand how this will help create a model of the explosion

[marsh canyon]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3:_Particle_Effects

[stuck oyster]

it does not

[cunning temple]

Really tempted to just leave all the house doors open so I don't have to bother setting them up 🤔

[stuck oyster]

It is a valid option xD

[sullen jasper]

I need help with geometry. I have a large cube with collision/LOD geometry set up, but I’m still able to pass through it.

[stuck oyster]

Geometry requirements can be found in pinned messages. Start with checking that

[sullen jasper]

[sullen jasper]

Alright now i understand

forgot to add components

[cunning temple]

Good info here https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/LOD

[sullen jasper]

Yeah i know i just forgot to add components

Now working

[north sundial]

Make them all damaged so you have a “lore” reason that they don’t open haha

Though maybe I should take my own advice https://gyazo.com/929a094d21d7ebfe32ca738dbdc23155

Gave myself migraines over this bloody thing 😂

[formal fulcrum]

Hello mates, please i need help will anybody be able to do that

[indigo mountain]

Just ask what your question is
https://dontasktoask.com/

[formal fulcrum]

here is what i need
Arma 3 Vehicle Mod – Puch G 290/LP “Sandviper”. Model, UVs, textures and LODs are complete. Need config/modding only. Crew: driver, front passenger (front fire), roof gunner, optional 4th seat. Variants: hatch and HMG (360° turret). Weapons: MG 74 or M2. Realistic PhysX, damage, storage, MP ready, clean configs, optimized. Must have strong Arma 3 vehicle modding experience.

[formal fulcrum]

....

[stuck oyster]

#creators_recruiting is the place to look for such. But I'll be honest most people learn this stuff to make their own mods, not make other people's mods.

So you may need to learn it yourself.

[cunning temple]

Got rid of all internal doors, everyone suffers from claustrophobia or something.
I was thinking of not putting glass texture in windows to help fps, but feel like that's a slippery slope! What's next "do I really need walls" 😄

[stuck oyster]

You just need to make a burned down door factory.

[umbral shuttle]

Warning: Unaccessible (wrong height) house exit 31b2b661e00# 115: outpost.p3d test_Bunker_Des, exit "pos2", position [4280, 4217] (042042 on a3\map_vr\vr.wrp)

any idea what this means? pos2 in paths lod is at the same height as the other garrison spot points

[late jewel]

Thanks, I figured it out a bit, but I have a question, I uploaded this p3d from blastcore but only got this plane, is this normal or shouldn't it be like this?

[stuck oyster]

Why would you upload that? Makes no sense.

[icy pier]

Doin a vest for DDPM Camo to work with another mods uniform, however, for the life of me I cannot get the correct coloring or pattern that the mod uses for their uniform to match my vest to it, anyone had this issue before and have a good solution for how to get exact same pattern / coloring as another mods uniform?

[main dune]

Aside from isDiscrete = 0; are there any other guidelines or rules when trying to weight/rig suspension? No matter what, every vertex that is influenced by the damper bone acts as if it is weighted 100% to the damper bone. Even does this in model viewer. Any ideas/suggestions? I'm hoping it's something I obliviously missed.

[stuck oyster]

Bulldozer does not show weights right

[main dune]

Gotcha, the issue still persists in game. I have the suspension pieces weighted between wheel_1_1_damper and a root bone I have defined in the tree. All vertex's equal 100 but still no luck... Any vertex influenced by wheel_1_1_damper by any percentage still acts as if it is 100% influenced.

[proper kelp]

hey guys any resources for tutorials on creating aircraft mods for arma 3 online?

[stuck oyster]

Not in great detail. Aircraft are from the more complex end.

Modeling wise there isn't really much to consider. Wheels should be made in open state and some compromises may need to be done for pilot position and how pilot sees forward.

The complexities start more with configuring the flight model.

[stuck oyster]

How do you pack the pbos?

[main dune]

PBOProject

[stuck oyster]

Should be fine on that end then.

Have you tested how the weights behave in your source model by animating it there?

[main dune]

Yes, everything works in my software. Been trying different things all day, searching through here, google etc. No luck.

[charred bolt]

isDiscrete = 0; is critical to have.
Sum of weights on each and every vertex should be 100%.
So a vertex with two named selections that are in the model skeleton bone1 and bone2, could be weighted as bone1 at 70% and bone2 at 30%.
Weights don't show in buldozer, only in game.
As it sounds like you've done all that, next you probably need to start showing detailed screenshots of what you have - relevant parts of model.cfg (skeleton and movement animation code), p3d res LOD with part highlighted to show coloured vertices and named selections, memory LOD with animation axis mem points.
Also check the bin log after binarising with pboProject, search for "sum of" - there should be none.

[civic stratus]

geolods dont need rvmats to they?

[main dune]

Turned my computer on, cleared the temp folder, double checked the selections and gave it a pack and now it's working. I'm dumbfounded. Either way it works now, thank you very much.

[stuck oyster]

👍 😅

[celest arch]

they dont

[toxic needle]

hey guys, i have a problem, i recenlty bought a uniform and i want to add it to arma i know how to do it the problem is that arma wont export any of the resolution LODs and generally anything that contains the model does anybody no why?

[civic stratus]

good good

[celest arch]

fire geometry lods do though

not mandatory, but if you want different penetrations for different materials u need them

[civic stratus]

what if you want to use the geo lod as the fire geolod

[celest arch]

otherwise I think it defaults to concrete

you have two ways: either you don't make a fire geo lod, so it defaults to the geolod, or you copy the geolod to the firegeo

[civic stratus]

the second seems sorta redundant 😛

[celest arch]

the latter is always better tbh

that way you can assign rvmats for different penetrations, while you cant do that in the geolod

[civic stratus]

but you can also do that in the visual lods right?

[celest arch]

penetration? nope

that's controlled by the fire geolod

[civic stratus]

i see

thanks for clearing that up

[celest arch]

you're welcome

[gentle merlin]

"arma wont export"?

[toxic needle]

generally it wont let me import any model to OB