3d model textures

[New guy]

Hello eveyone. Im new to your forum, but not to Celestia, Found it online about a year ago and been hooked ever since! Im having trouble with some models i downloaded and need some help. First of all, is it possible to have models work in celestia that have several textures? Ive been playing around with some really nice models ive found but i cant get them to display right. Most of them are ships, 3ds, that ive found on different sites, not built for celestia, but still 3ds. The models will display, but ussually black and turn funky colors when I pan around it. One model was displaying the texture of the moon I put it in orbit around! Well Im oviously no expert, so any advise or links to some info on the subject would be greatly apriciated.

[Bob Hegwood]

Hi Newguy!

It would help if you could tell us what version of Celestia you're using, your system information, etc...

Do you have the models available on a website somewhere too? That way, we could have a look for ourselves.

Take care, Bob

[new guy]

Im using 3.1-1, i believe thats the latest version. I dont have them on a site, but I got them 3dmdelz.com, 3d heaven, and 3d cafe. My system...amd 2700, radion 9500 128 graphics, 1 gig ram, KT400 mother board, I think that covers it. Oh, and xp operating sys. If you wanna check out the exact models im working with let me know.

[Bob Hegwood]

Newguy...

I downloaded the Tie Fighter from 3dmodelz.com and got it to display just fine on my machine.

What are you using for the SSC? Try this model with the following listed in a "TieFighter.ssc" file. This file goes in your celestia\extras directory, and the TieFighter.3ds goes into celestia\models of course.

Code: Select all

"Tie Fighter" "Sol/Earth"
{
   Class "spacecraft"
   Mesh "TieFighter.3ds"
   Radius 0.0125      # Just a guess.
   Beginning       2449896.34451757
   #Ending       2449906.07561521     

   EllipticalOrbit
   {
      Period            0.055
      SemiMajorAxis  5555
      Eccentricity      0.0000831
      Inclination      61.6461
      AscendingNode    70.8459
      ArgOfPericenter 250.4901
      MeanAnomaly      50.6005
   }

   Obliquity             40.6461
   RotationOffset       180
   EquatorAscendingNode  70.8459
   Albedo          0.90
}

If that doesn't work, try getting the latest pre-release of Celestia. There's a link to it in one of these topics somewhere around here.

Finally, I did have trouble with the Millenium Falcon. Seems that THAT model includes a large flat platform for some reason. ??!!

At any rate, if none of this helps, ask someone more knowledgable. Try Jestr or bh or Terrier. They'll know the answer.

Take care, Bob

[new guy]

I acctually have the tie fighter annd it works fine for me to!.If you wanna give it a shot ill give the file names to a few im trying to get working. executor.zip,Republic_cruiser.zip,Awing.zip, shuttle.zip. Most are from 3d heaven.net. all these have several textures for each model. Im not sure if you can use models with more than one texture, if you can, i havent figured out how to do it.

[wasj2004]

Its the new guy! after reading through some topics on here I decided to goahead and register. Seems like a cool place!

[jestr]

Celestia can only display 1 texture per object.3DS models can be made up of any number of objects,though and many of the models on the net have multiple textures per object.To get it to work in Celestia
1.Make sure that all the texture files are JPG,BMP,or PNG format and that their dimensions are 64,128,256,512,1024etc or any combination thereof.
2.Objects that have multiple textures must be edited into more objects each with own texture,(probably best to use a modelling program for this)
3.Dicard any bump maps,Illumination,Opacity masks etc,as these wont be displayed anyway.
Hope this helps,or you can Email me the model and I'll try to get it working nicely.Jestr

[Bob Hegwood]

Newguy...

There ya go. The eminent Mr. Jestr knows what he's talking about, so I expect that the answer to your question lies within his text somewhere.

I will try a few of those models though. Thanks for pointing out the sites.

Take care, Bob

[wasj2004]

Thanks for the help guys. Jestr, ill email you those tommorrow. Im afraid editing those models is a little beyond my skills!

[Jeam Tag]

Newguy...
I downloaded the Tie Fighter from 3dmodelz.com and got it to display just fine on my machine.

Hello, don't know if yu are speaking about the James Bassett models of Ties i pointed in this old http://jeam.tag.free.fr/CELESTIAhtml/CelestiaAddons-SF4 page. These are working very fine in Celestia. Some models in 3D Haven Cafe etc. are working without their too many textures -see the last shots on the page: the craft loads the Jupi texture instead of the proper one!
You can edit them with a 3d prog: replacing textures that didn't work with only different colors (some years ago i try to make this, but don't like the result...) About The Millenium Falcon, sounds like a very simple one i found at the same time: I edit the model in Anim8tor, ungrouped the element, deleted the platform -there was a man or an other object too, IIRC, and export it as a new .3ds file. So, it works, but as it's a landing config, it looks strange in deep space Jeam

[Guest]

Hey THANKS Jeam...

Obviously I don't know BEANS about 3d modeling, but I'm still
at the shallow end of the learning curve.

The only thing I know for sure is that a little courteous behavior
attracted another member to our little group.

Life is Good.

Take care, Bob