Fredrik Hansson

there is a setting under user preferences -> input called emulate 3 button mouse that lets you use alt instead of the middle mouse button to rotate the viewport it might be off by default. if it just won't work just use the middle mouse button + ctrl and shift to rotate move and zoom the viewport.

using blender myself and i must say that it works quite well with Le its a bit tricky the first time you export to get the materials and animation speed right but all you need to do is to go into blenders animation settings and set the fps to 30 instead of the default 25 and assign a image with the material name in the uv/image editor to the mesh and its all good even 2.5 works now with its fbx exporter tho you need to export to the same harddrive as your .blend file. now as for the modeling+rigging tools inside of 3dsmax vs blender i have used max from v1.0 until around a year ago or so and i really don't want to go back i work much faster in blender than in max and theres really no features i miss from max other than the shell modifier unless i use 2.5 where they have added something similar

its quite simple actually just make sure that the open ends of your meshes line up and are on a grid line. you can set the grid spacing in the view properties to something that is easy to place in the editor (min 0.1 units) as for the lining up part just move the meshes into place or for places like an T intersection press alt d to make a clone of the surrounding parts and move + rotate them into the openings so you can match up the verts. you can also turn on vertex snapping so its easier to move verts so they match.

updated version with a small bugfix

actually planning on "printing" this using my cnc mill well more carve from a few pieces of wood or plastic but the machine will do it for me

getting myself distracted again... luckily this might be helpful as some training on animation/posing

heres a quick video of how far i have gotten in the code section of my game so far

File Name: Office Chair File Submitter: Fredrik Hansson File Submitted: 17 Feb 2010 File Updated: 10 May 2011 File Category: Models Triangles: 1934 LOD Versions: No License: © Fredrik Hansson Free for noncommercial use the collision on this is a bit off in 2.3 making it fly away in some random direction when interacting with the player controller but seem to be working just fine in 2.31 Click here to download this file

the first number would be the imported files size and the second would the file size it expects for the current terrain size

i see some pretty bad collapsing of the knee area in that last image take a look here might help some with that http://wiki.polycount.net/Limb_Topology

same rig as before just added some more shapes to the control bones to make it easier to work with. oh and he has found his gun so i better go hide under a rock now

spent some time today fixing up the rig i made for this guy had a horrible ik rig before but its much nicer now with some extra controls for foot roll/tumble. still have to get some better controls setup for the hands + head and if i knew how to the spine but i can live with doing that part using fk

thanks guys now i just finished my "lowpoly" for the head at 3007tris and a 2048 normal+diffuse map and rendered in the editor using just 2 lights maybe a bit on the higher end for how many triangles for just a head but i guess it depends on the final target way to much for the game im making but this was just for fun anyway and i have been a bit curious on how to do facial rigs so might give that a try after i finish the texture the hair is just a single color and the eyebrows are a bit to strong as they are right now.

here is a little something i have been working on for a few days just to cure some boredom might use him later. i do plan on making a lowpoly version and seeing how to best do the skin so it looks good without any specific skin shader. and heres something i plan on sharing once i can get rid of the collision issues i seem to be having with it and finally some of the stuff i have moved into the engine for my game still have to animate the alien there but im going to wait untill blender 2.5 can export proper fbx files

you really should look over those shoes they look way to square (the sole shape part) and his feet look kinda huge looks great otherwise