Questions From A Begginer.

Asterisk

<div class="IPBDescription">Modelers desreve a round of applause</div> ok i downloaded gmax because i was gonna try to get into thgis modeling stuff. i must say it is hard. i am having a lot of problems with understanding relitive sizes. can someone give me an example like how big the regular pistol is. also is there a way to "snap" the pointer to corners. like Object Snap in AutoCad. none of my objects are touching. i know i coudl do it the hard way and type in values manualy but is there an easier way. also should i start my model from x0 y0 z0 or somwhere else. i though my experiance with AutoCad would help me some but i see that it does not. thank you for your time.

CrouchingHamster

Well, I use Milkshape, so this will probably be no help at all, but someone else more familiar with gmax might be able to help you out.

The relative sizes part is easy. Just decompile the weapon model you want to replace ( Milkshape has Kratisto's decompiler built in ), say the LMG. Now import > half life smd > lmg_ref, delete the weapon itself, and you should be left with the hands remaining and you can use these to get an idea of scale.

Edit: Or you could just make the model, and worry about scaling it once you come to the "adding hands" step..

As for snapping objects together, Milkshape has a "snap to grid" function ( albeit a slightly flakey one ) and the option to snap vertices and objects together and weld them. I'd imagine gmax will have something very similar.

btw, While Gmax is undoubtedly more powerful for general modelling, Milkshape might be more suitable for HL specific models..it's a 30 day free trial, 20 quid or so to buy, links in the "Modelling 101" sticky. Depends what you want to use really..gmax has the obvious advantage of being similar to 3dsmax, Milkshape on the other hand has great import/export options and is fine for low poly Halflife work.

/shrugs

btw, there should be a few tutorials for gmax in the stickied "Modelling101", also try a few of the 3dsmax ones, as gmax is a cut-down version the interfaces should be similar.