Crashin' Jack's 3DZ Studio Tutorial
June 21, 2004
Here is what I know about 3DZ Studio.
To install:
Simply unzip to a new folder. I actually keep a fresh version of this available,
and then when I start a new project, I make a new directory and call it "3DZ
Studio Meteor MkIII" or what have you. Then I copy the fresh files into
it.
Getting ready to use 3DZ Studio:
Find a skin you want to work on. If you are doing this for the first time,
I strongly suggest you use a low resolution model. Unzip it into a temp directory,
and look for the following files, where **** is the name of the base model:
p****A.3dz
p****B.3dz
p****C.3dz
p****F.3dz
p****G.3dz
p****TEX.tpc
p****TRA.tpc
Select these files and copy them into your 3DZ
Studio folder.
The "F" 3dz is the main 3dz. All aircraft
have it, and all parts of the plane are built off of it. In default planes,
I think the entire plane is made up of this one 3dz, as far as the skin of
the airplane is concerned. If you are doing a twin engine plane, then the
plane is broken down the middle and one half is in the "F" 3dz,
and the other half is in the "G" 3dz. The A, B and C 3dzs are often
used in the more complex basic planes, and many Low Resolution types also.
The 3dz files carry all the information about
the wire frame of the aircraft:
The image of the skin is in the file p****TEX.tpc.
Unfortunately, we need a pcx file to do anything with it. Now you need a program
called tpc2pcx. Download it, and unzip it into your
3dz folder. There is a batch file included in the zip. If you right click
on a batch file, and select "Edit", Notepad will come up, with a
line similar to this:
gpmTpc2Pcx.exe Pp47dtex.tpc
Pp47dtex.pcx
Change the parts shown in green, in this case
"p47d", to whichever tpc file you want to convert, so it reads something
like this:
gpmTpc2Pcx.exe Pp38jtex.tpc
Pp38jtex.pcx
Save the batch file, and double click on it.
This will run the program. You can also run this command in a DOS window,
if you want to type it a lot, which you might end up doing! So, I always make
sure I have the batch file. Anyway, you will now have a pcx file in your directory
named p****tex.pcx.
There is one last thing before we start turning a P-51 into
the Swoose Goose. You need a 3dz to text converter. I downloaded several of
these, but there is a problem with most; they work fine enough, I guess, but
the Rendering Sequence is laid out in a hard to read fashion. After some initial
frustration, Col. Gibbon sent me Version 1.8a . This version is also compatible
with Woolfman's Vector Calculator, but that's another tutorial in itself. Download
this file and unzip it into your 3DZ Studio folder. To create a text file out
of a 3DZ, simply drag the 3DZ onto the Converter program. This will open a DOS
window and create a text file with the same name as your 3DZ. Now you can edit
the text file to radically or slightly change the 3DZ. When you are done editing
you are supposed to drag the text back onto the Converter, but I get errors
when I do this. So, I created a set of batch files to do the process for me.
They are located here. Download the ones you need,
depending on the base model you are starting with, and unzip them into your
3DZ Studio folder. Now do you see why I suggest having a fresh install to copy
the original 3DZ Studio files from?
Okay, you have everything you need to start 3DZ modding.
Usage:
In the version I have, which if I recall correctly is the version on the Aces
Over Gyn web site, there are two executables: Studio2 and StudioM. StudioM
recalculates the normals every time you save the 3dz, and seems to do so incorrectly.
You need to keep overwriting the normals after saves so everything appears
correctly. Studio2 is the one I generally use, but there is a problem here
also. The propeller is generally shown at the center of the model, and the
landing gear are distorted so that the landing gear strut is attached in the
correct place, but then it stretches to the center of the 3dz where the wheel
is displayed. Look at the landing gear of the P-40 shown below. I typically
only use StudioM to view the undistorted 3dz, then do my changes in Studio2.
UPDATE: I have just received a new version
of the 3DZ Studio, called Studio N. After some initial tests, it appears to
render the normals correctly AND the landing gear is placed correctly. A big
thanks to the Huntress for sending this to me! It should be available soon
at Sandbagger's, otherwise drop me a line and I'll email it to you. (Use the
Baker Innovative Design link at the bottom of this page).
When you start the program, you are given two
options for video compatibility; I use option A for my Radeon 7500:
The next screen you come to gives a lot of options
for screen resolution. I generally just use the default, 800x600x16 bit. When
you have made your selection, click on the square that says"3DZ Studio"
in the selection box, several squares above the word "Exit" (sorry,
but can't seem to get a screen shot of this).
This will bring you to the screen shown above,
with the P-40 in it. On the left you should have the pcx file you created
with the tpc2pcx program. If you did it wrong, or didn't do it at all, you
will see this displayed where the pcx should be:
Otherwise, it should be similar to the image
with the P-40 in it shown above.
-
Note - there is a bit of a glitch in the
program, at least for me. Whenever I move my mouse, it leaves a trail behind.
It goes away whenever I click on something, so I quickly got used to it,
but it is a minor nuisance.
At this point, the 3dz is pretty small, and in
fact might be turned around so you can't even see it...it should be about
where the wheels of the P-40 are located above. You can use the arrow keys
to rotate the 3dz left to right and up and down. Holding the Ctrl key and
pressing an arrow key MOVES the 3dz left to right, up and down. If you press
"Shift +", you can zoom in. To zoom out, hold just the "-"
key.
EDITING IN 3DZ STUDIO
Okay, we have everything setup and hopefully
appearing correctly in 3DZ Studio. A little tour is in order. Take a look
at the picture below:
The first thing you will notice is the pcx image
on the left side of the screen. If you've never seen one before, it can be
quite a shock to think our planes come out of such a mish mash. This can be
toggled on and off with the "2" key. Overlayed on the pcx is a bunch
of text. These are the basic instructions for using the program. Pressing
the "T" key will toggle this on and off. On the right hand side
of the screen, we see the Dialog Box with lots of empty boxes and arrows pointing
every which way. This is where we do our editing. This can be toggled on and
off with the "1" key. Just under the pcx, you will see a green circle.
I added this to point out where the 3dz model first appears; as you can see,
it starts out quite small. This can be toggled between the 3D view and the
wireframe view by pressing the "W" key. Across the bottom you will
see a line of text telling you which file you are looking at. This toggles
on and off the same time as the basic instructions, with the "T"
key.
Let's take a closer look at the Dialog box. This
is where you interface with the program. Across the top we have this:
If you try to enter a number in the element box,
you will notice that you can't. That's right, you use the two blue arrows
to scroll to the element you want. There are a total of 256 elements (starting
at zero) available, so if you know what number you are going to you can do
some quick math to get there faster. For example, if you wanted to work with
element number 200, you would hit the blue "up" arrow, instead of
using the blue "down" arrow and going through numbers 1 to 199to
get the, when you could go through only 55 numbers in the opposite direction.
As you scroll through the elements, the type
of element appears in the "Type" box. This is particularly handy
when scrolling quickly, looking for a hardpoint or some other type. Most elements
are textured polygons.
The next area in the Dialog box is the section
where al the actual editing is done. Take a look at this:
Working left to right:
The next section with the red arrows is to edit the wireframe
itself.
- X Length - this moves the node towards the front or rear
of the plane. Zero is the center of the airplane. Positive numbers move to
the rear, negative numbers move to the front.
- Y Wingspan - this moves the node towards the center of the
aircraft, or towards the wingtip. The center line of the aircraft is zero.
A positive number moves toward the right wing tip, a negative number moves
toward the left wing tip.
- Z Height - this is the distance above or below a center plane.
Zero is somewhere in the middle of the aircraft. A positive number moves up,
a negative number moves down.
Next we have the gray arrows. These move the red outline of
the element around on the pcx image.
- The first pair of arrows move the red outline right and left.
- The second pair of arrows move the red outline up and down.
Okay, lets look at the pcx image, with an element selected and
the model set to show the 3D wireframe:
First of all, if you are simply painting a new skin for the
airplane, you would just use this to identify elements on the pcx. Sometimes
it's hard to know what goes where. For instance, if you were painting a ID number
on this plane, you could scroll through and find out which of the sides shown
on the pcx is the left, and which is the right.
Now, let's say you want to correct some warpage. Look at the
red outline on the pcx. Look closely at the shape, and compare it to the shape
shown on the wire frame. Are they the same? In theory, if all the elements as
shown on the pcx match exactly with the shape on the wireframe, then there should
be no warpage. The tricky part is - you MUST view the part shown on the wireframe
as straight on as possible, by rotating the wireframe using the arrow keys.
Now, lets say in the above example that point number 3 is too far to the right.
Select node 3 in the Dialog box, and using the first set of gray arrows to move
node three to the left. When you are satisfied with the new position, look at
the buttons on the bottom of the dialog box. You will see "Apply"
and "Undo". Click on the "Apply" button, and watch the wireframe.
You should see the part shift slightly. Toggle back and forth between the wireframe
and the 3D shape using the "W" key, and make sure that everything
is okay. When you are satisfied, press the "G" key to save it.
IMPORTANT: DO NOT HIT THE "S" KEY TO SAVE!!!!
THIS CREATES A SCREEN SHOT (you can only do one screen shot) AND THE SAVE FUNCTION
IS DISABLED!!!!
Now, let's say you want to create a later version
of the P-40, with the larger radiator intake below the prop. Scroll through
the elements until you find the elements that make up the intake area. Select
the nodes you want to adjust, and using the X-Y-Z red arrows, move the nodes
to their correct positron. Then use the gray arrows to correct any warping.
It may be necessary to do some additional paint work on the pcx. There are
many tutorials on that subject, so I won't go into it here.
So, the basic premise of this program? The red
arrows are to change the wireframe, the gray arrows adjust the skin. That's
really all there is to it.
Ah, but there's more!
If you haven't already, press the "3"
key. The Dialog is replaced by the image below:
There are two parts to this box, the Center Mover
and the Resize Object. The Resize Object doesn't do anything. The Center Mover,
though , is quite handy. When I created my Meteor 3dz, the wing view was too
far forward. I simply went into 3DZ Studio, hit the "N" key to change
to the wing view 3dz, and played with the X - Length arrows until I was satisfied
with the positioning. After you get it where you want it, hit "G"
to save.
Okay, that's everything I have for you. Hopefully
it's enough to get you going. I thought about going into editing the 3dz,
but I think I will save that for another tutorial, as that is a whole different
level. If I have left anything out, or there are errors anyone notices, please
let me know here so I can update
this tutorial.
FULL LIST OF COMMANDS
B - Background On/Off
T - Text On/Off
N - Next 3DZ
W - Wireframe/3D Model toggle
Arrows - Rotate model
Ctrl Arrows - Move Model
P - Pause
R - Rotate
G - Save
Shift (+) - Zoom In
(-) - Zoom Out
1 - Dialog box On/Off
2 - PCX Image On/Off
3 - Center Mover On/Off
S - Screen Shot
ESC - Exit
©2004 Baker
Innovative Design
All Rights Reserved