Ok so I don't usually have any sage advice for my fellow map makers, except now I do. One issue many MM come across is smoothing and how to eliminate odd or sometimes wacky face lighting. Smoothing helps to make NURB surfaces and otherwise complex items, appear more rounded and less "jagged". While there are many many methods to achieve a good smoothing job, one such method should never be used. NEVER USE THE "MESHSMOOTH" modifier within 3dsMax! Using this feature, runs your meshes through Maxs' built in Smoothing, and adds vertices and faces, similar to tessellation. Doing so boosts your vert anf face counts waaaaaaaay past h2 engine limits.
I made this mistake yesterday going back through Powerhouse, and now I have a pretty much usless build of the map. Don't get me wrong, it looks awesome with the smoothing feature being run on it, but it refuses to compile properly with tool. So, PRO Tip being... SMOOTH BY HAND!!!
***PRO TIP ADDITION***
Just ran certain selected faces thru the "Optimise" modifier, and it reduced the face count enough to get it compiling again. So yeah, Pro Tip #2, optimize can be your friend in a pinch or when needing to reduce highly poly items to still good looking results. Just remember though, when you optimize, most UVW mapping gets skewed and needs to be redone, so plan on using it ahead of time, or clone any geometry first to see what the results will be.
I made this mistake yesterday going back through Powerhouse, and now I have a pretty much usless build of the map. Don't get me wrong, it looks awesome with the smoothing feature being run on it, but it refuses to compile properly with tool. So, PRO Tip being... SMOOTH BY HAND!!!
***PRO TIP ADDITION***
Just ran certain selected faces thru the "Optimise" modifier, and it reduced the face count enough to get it compiling again. So yeah, Pro Tip #2, optimize can be your friend in a pinch or when needing to reduce highly poly items to still good looking results. Just remember though, when you optimize, most UVW mapping gets skewed and needs to be redone, so plan on using it ahead of time, or clone any geometry first to see what the results will be.
