[Tutorial] Flat-Shading Models in MilkShape 3D

[Packer]

All you do is unweld...? :o

That's all I do, you must under stand Milkshape and the tool unweld for it to work properly.

[Ad Bot]

[Jervan]

Uhh... I push the unweld... and if I have the correct knowledge... it works? :D

[Packer]

You don't know how unweld works so you'll most likely have issues when you click unweld.

[Muffinmix]

I've tried this and my models do not come out flatshaded, maybe some clarification would help.

5. Under the 'Groups' tab, uncheck 'Auto Smooth'.

This is sometimes already un-checked... I'm not quite sure what to do in these cases.

8. In the 'Tile texture mapper settings' window, just leave the default settings and click 'OK'.

What are your default settings? Because I have a feeling this is where it all goes wrong for some people.

My settings:

Mapping Type: Planar

Horizontal Coordinate Source: X
 X repeat: 1

Vertical COordinate Source: Z
 Y repeat: 1

 Z repeat: Locked at 1

Coplanar faces Only: Un-checked

Also an interesting fact, if I follow all your steps but in the Texture Mapper, I check Mapping Type: Cubic instead of Planar and then export the model using the old exporter, it comes out semi-flatshaded (done with an old stuffty model made out of primitives, so the stuffty modeling might be the culprit for the crappy flatshading).

Using the old exporter isn't an option unfortunately, because of the name-size restrictions on Materials which forgets up animation sequences, so I would really like to get your technique working.

[Dr Bling]

I got this one to work right. Once. I did some change, but now I can't remember what I did D:

[Trader]

Typically when someone says "default", they mean the application's default settings.  I listed the exact set of steps I followed, using the latest version of Milkshape with its default settings.

[Curiosity Core]

This is why I love Blender. Flat shaded by default!

[Packer]

This is why I love Blender. Flat shaded by default!

Easy modelling not by default!

[stevey1000]

No offence, but smoothing groups looks a lot better than unwelding.

[Packer]

No offence, but smoothing groups looks a lot better than unwelding.

Flat shading is mostly for models that use a single colour so you can see the corners rather looking at a box on an angle and it not appearing as a box.

[Trader]

No offence, but smoothing groups looks a lot better than unwelding.

You don't need to go to the trouble of smoothing groups if the entire model is to be flat-shaded.

[Azerath]

This works better.

1. Create your model.

2. Assign all parts of your model to a material.

3. Select all faces that you want to be flat-shaded.

4. Click the 'Vertex' menu and choose 'Unweld'.

5. Under the 'Groups' tab, uncheck 'Auto Smooth'.

6. Click the 'Vertex' menu and choose 'Weld Together'.

7. Click the 'Tools' menu and choose 'Tile texture mapper..'.

8. In the 'Tile texture mapper settings' window, check off 'cubic' instead, then click 'OK'.

9. Click the 'File' menu and choose 'Export' and then choose 'Torque DTS Plus...'.

10. In the 'Torque DTSPlus Exporter' window, uncheck the following:

     'Generate .cs file'
     'Output dump file'
     'Export Animations' (Unless your model uses animation.)

11. In the 'Torque DTSPlus Exporter' window, click 'Apply' and then click 'Export DTS'.

12. In the save dialog, choose your filename and save location and click 'Save'.

13. In the .cs file for your item, modify the following properties to match your desired effect:

     doColorShift (true or false)
     colorShiftColor (Red / 255   Green / 255   Blue / 255   Alpha / 255)

Ofux, I posted in the wrong topic. D:

[Jaydee]

Plus, update your Milkshape to the latest version

Latest version is 1.8.2

[Muffinmix]

I got it to work, the procedure seems to mess up when Animation comes into play.

All I did was switch steps 6 and 7-8. So I keep all my vertexes unwelded, do the whole Tile Texture Mapper stuff, and THEN I Weld them back Together.

Also if the Smoothing Groups box is already unchecked, reload the model before you Unwelded all the vertexes. Then start over, this time check the box first, then unweld and then uncheck the box. After that, continue the rest of the steps.

[yuki]

Should be Stickied. Bump for great justice.