3d Studio Max Tutorial for Sims Object Creators


This tutorial is written specifically to help people with little or no knowledge of 3d Studio Max.  After this tutorial, hopefully, you will  be able to do the basic steps towards making an object from a 3ds mesh.  I am fairly new at this myself and pretty much figured this out by trial and error so I'm sure there's a much easier way of doing certain things, but this is all I know.  If someone does know of better or easier ways, I'd appreciate if they'd let me know.  

In order to use this tutorial, you will have to download a program called Sim Camera Scene from The Sims Workshop.  This is the best program ever made for object creators using 3d Studio Max as it puts the camera in the right perspective for all 4 views in the Sims game.  I don't know what I would have done without this program.  A special thanks to Judson Hudson for making it.  Unzip the program into your 3ds max scenes folder.

If you wish to use the same 3d mesh I'm using to make it easier for you to follow, you can download it HERE.  Unzip this file into your 3d studio Max Mesh folder.   Here is what it will look like when we're finished.


Okay, on to the tutorial.  Open Studio Max 3d then click on FILE, OPEN.  It open your scenes folder by default.  If not, then navigate to your scenes folder.  Click on the Sims Camera Scene.Max file and click on Ok.

Now to open your mesh, click on FILE, IMPORT then navigate to the Meshes folder and click on the CHAIR 004.3ds file.  A box will pop up asking if you want to merge with the current scene.  Click yes and yes to the next box that pops up.  Now you will see the chair in 4 different views. Throughout the tutorial, we will be working from the bottom right box of the 4 that show in your 3d program.


 Ok, to get the chair in the right view for the sims game, right click where it says USER in this box then go to VIEW, then VIEW 2.  Now right click where it says USER again, go to VIEW, then click USER.  Always remember to change the view back to user or your scene will be all messed up.  Now the chair is in the right view but not the right size.  

To resize it, click on the magnifying glass in the bottom right corner of the screen (illustrated below).   Now click back on the box and while holding in the mouse button, pull back on your mouse until the chair looks like it's the right size.  (this is something you'll have to experiment with)  If the chair is not centerered, then click on the hand icon at the bottom right of the screen and click on the view window and move the object til it's centered.

 


Now we're going to start adding the materials or textures to the object.  I'm going to make this a wooden chair with a blue seat.  Let's start with the seat cushion.  Click on EDIT, SELECT BY, NAME.  You'll see a bunch of items listed including lights which we don't need.  To delete the lights, hold the CTL button on your keyboard and click on the 3 omni items and the 2 shadespot items.  Click OK.  Now all the lights will be highlighted.  Click DELETE on your keyboard to delete them.  You can use the lights but I find that you have to fool with them too much so I prefer not to use them.  Now back to coloring the cushion.  Click on EDIT, SELECT BY, NAME and click on the item titled cushion.  Click OK.  Now you'll see the seat cushion is highlighted.  

To add the texture to it, click on RENDERING, then MATERIAL EDITOR.  You'll see a window pop up with several spheres on it.  Click on the first sphere, then click on the icon underneath them that has an arrow pointing to a globe (see figure 1).


 Now you'll see another window pop up.  Make sure that Mtl editor is checked then click on open.  You'll see a list of materials you can choose from.  Click on FABRIC.MAT and you'll see 3 different colors of fabric you can choose from.  I'm going to use the blue fabric so DOUBLE CLICK on the one titled FABRIC_BLUE_CARPET.  Now you should see that the first sphere has turned blue.  Click on the second icon that has a globe pointing to a cube then close both of these windows by clicking on the X on top right of their menus.  

       

Now we're going to color the wooden parts of the chair so go to EDIT, SELECT BY, NAME and click on all the legs, the 2 back supports, the back, the 4 lsupports, the 7 spindles and the seat.   Click OK.  So we won't have to go to the trouble of selecting them all again in case we change our mind about the wood we want to use, click on GROUP and GROUP again.  Group 1 is fine for the name so click ok.  Now the wooden pieces are all grouped together and named Group 1.  Go to RENDERING, then MATERIAL EDITOR and click on the second sphere and then the first icon underneath with the arrow pointing to the globe.  Click on Mtl Editor again and open and this time select the WOOD.MAT file.  Let's select the WOOD_OAK (STANDARD).MAT by double clicking it.  Now you should see the second sphere is a brown color to indicate the oak material.  Click on the second icon that has the globe pointing to the cube (see figure 2)  then X out both of these menus.  

Now for the fun part.  We get to see what our object looks like.  Go to RENDERING, then RENDER and click on RENDER AGAIN.  If a missing map menu pops up, just click on continue and you'll see your object appear.  If it looks good to you, click on the disk on the upper left of this screen and a save menu will pop up.  I prefer to save my objects in png format but you can save them in any format you like.  Name the object Chair1 (since this is the first view of the chair) then navigate to the folder where you would like to save the picture in, then click ok.  

Now this is the chair facing one way but since we'll be cloning the dining room chair, we need to also have the back view of our chair.  Right click where it says USER again and go to VIEW, then click on VIEW 1 so the chair is facing northeast.  Now right click on USER again and go to VIEWS then click on USER.  Resize the chair again to the right size and all you have left to do is render and save it. Go to RENDERING, then RENDER and click on RENDER AGAIN.  That's all there is to it.  Enjoy your creations!

For the next tutorial, I will show you how to add your own texture to an object.  For part two click Using your own textures in 3d Studio Max