Quick Tips

   <h1> Quick Tips </h1>

   <p>
   This page describes some short tips that can help you use Misfit Model 3D
   more effectively.
   </p>
   <!-- FIXME proof-read this -->

   <h2> General Modeling Tips </h2>

   <ul>
      <li> Some parts of a 3D model will have modifiable properties
      that can be changed through dialog boxes or the Properties Panel.
      The Properties Panel is a context-sensitive dockable window that
      displays modifiable properties for the selected portion of the 3D
      model. Using the Properties Panel may be more convenient than
      using tools, commands, or dialog boxes to accomplish some task.
      Select "View&nbsp;|&nbsp;Show&nbsp;Properties" to use the Properties
      Panel. </li>
      <li> When creating a model, it is sometimes helpful to have a 2D image
      for reference to help with getting the shape or scale of some object
      correct. You can project a 2D image into any viewport using
      <a href="olh_setbackgroundwin.html">Model&nbsp;|&nbsp;Set&nbsp;Background&nbsp;Image</a>. </li>
      <li> Use "Tools&nbsp;|&nbsp;Snap&nbsp;To&nbsp;|&nbsp;Grid"
      and Use "Tools&nbsp;|&nbsp;Snap&nbsp;To&nbsp;|&nbsp;Vertex"
      <!-- FIXME need link for these -->
      to help align the current tool with the grid lines and existing
      vertices.  </li>
      <li> Use <a href="olh_tools.html#dragvertex">Drag vertex on edge</a>
      to move a vertex along one of the triangle edges it is connected to.
      The tool will attempt to follow the edge that is closest to the mouse.</li>
      <li> If two triangle form a concave angle when you want a convex angle
      (or vice-versa), use <a href="olhd_commands.html">Edge turn</a>. See
      the link for an example of when this is useful. </li>
      <li> Use "Extrude" to take a set of faces and extend it out from
      the object it is connected to. There is a 
      <a href="olh_commands.html#extrude">geometry command version</a> and a
      <a href="olh_commands.html#extrude">tool version</a>.</li>
      <li> Some tools modify their behavior if you hold the shift key
      while using them. For example, the move tool will operate only in one
      dimension and the rotate tool will rotate in 15 degree increments.
      Often these behaviors are noted in the status bar when you change tools.
      Any special behavior of the shift key for a tool will be described
      in the <a href="olh_tools.html">tool documentation</a> </li>
      <li> Triangles/faces only reflect light off of one side. If the dark
      side of a triangle is facing out toward the camera, you need to invert
      the normal of the triangle to reverse the direction it faces. If some
      enclosed 3D shape has some triangles facing in and some facing out, 
      you can select the entire shape and use
      <a href="olh_commands.html#faceout">Geometry&nbsp;|&nbsp;Normals&nbsp;face&nbsp;out</a>
      to correct any faces that are wrong. Note that this only works if the
      faces are part of a complete, enclosed 3D shape.</li>
      <li> You can use <a href="olh_commands.html">Snap&nbsp;Together</a>
      to make nearby vertices align themselves. Optionally you can have
      them weld into a single vertex. This operation can work on all selected
      vertcies, or pairs of nearby vertices.</li>
   </ul>

   <h2> Viewports </h2>

   <ul>
      <li> You may only use selection and modification tools in orthographic
      projections. If you see something in a 3D perspective projection that
      looks wrong and you are not sure which faces or vertices to select
      from an orthographic viewport, you can switch the perspective viewport
      into an orthographic viewport from the same angle and scale by pressing
      the the left quote/backtick key (`).</li>
      <li> The Backslash key (\) will rotate the viewport 180 degrees so that
      you are looking at the opposite side of the object in your viewport.</li>
      <li> Click and drag the middle mouse button in a viewport to
      pan. You can also use the arrow keys to pan any viewport that is
      highlighted with mouse focus.</li>
      <li> Use the vertical scroll wheel or the plus/minus keys to zoom in or
      out. </li>
      <li> Use Ctrl + scroll wheel or Ctrl + plus/minus keys to rotate
      the viewport. </li>
      <li> Pressing Ctrl + &lt;Number Key 1-9&gt; will save the current
      position and rotation of the highlighted viewport. Pressing the number
      key alone will recall the saved position and rotation. Pressing 0 will
      center the viewport on the origin. </li>
      <li> Use "View&nbsp;|&nbsp;Frame&nbsp;Selected" or
      "View&nbsp;|&nbsp;Frame&nbsp;All" to and zoom your viewport on the
      object of interest (note that this changes all viewports).</li>
   </ul>

   <h3> Texturing </h3>

   <ul>
      <li> To apply textures to geometry, the faces/triangles must be part
      of a group. The texture is then applied to the group. </li>
      <li> Texture unwrapping is not supported, but using cylinder and 
      sphere <a href="olh_projectiondetails.html">texture projections</a>
      in addition to <a href="olh_painttexturewin.html">paint texture</a> may
      give you a good starting point for applying textures. </li>
      <li> If you are modifying your textures in a paint program, you can
      reload the model textures without restarting by selecting the
      &quot;Reload&nbsp;Textures&quit; option in the Materials menu.

      </li>
   </ul>

   <h3> Animations </h3>

   <ul>
      <li> Skeletal animations tend to be easier to work with than frame
      animations. For model formats that require
      frame (mesh deformation) animations--such as the quake formats--it is
      best to create skeletal animations and then convert those animations
      to frame animations before exporting to the desired format.
      </li>
      <li> Beginners sometimes try to move the joints instead of rotating.
      Use rotation on the bone joints to animate your model instead of
      translation (think about how you move your own arms and legs).
      </li>
      <li> It is a good idea to set a keyframe in the first and last frame
      of an animation for every joint that will be animated during the
      animation. This will give you more predictable results regardless of
      whether the animation is looping or not. </li>
      <li> Keyframes are automatically created when you move or rotate a joint.
      If you want to create a keyframe without rotating or moving,
      use the &quot;Set Rotation/Translation Keyframe&quot; options.
      </li>
   </ul>

   <h3> Alpha Blending </h3>

   <ul>
      <li> When working with transparent textures on a model, keep in mind
      that back-facing polygons are often not rendered by various rendering
      engines. Typically you will want to render back-facing polygons when
      you are modeling. However if you can disable back-facing polygons from
      the View menu if you want to see what your model will look like in these
      circumstances.</li>
      <li> Since triangles only render facing one direction, transparent
      triangles are sometimes doubled, with one triangle facing one direction
      and the other facing the opposite direction. If these triangles are
      exactly co-planar you may see rendering artifacts that cause part of
      the triangle that should be rendered to be obscured. To prevent this, put
      a slight gap between the co-planar triangles.</li>
   </ul>

   <h3> Importing and Exporting </h3>

   <ul>
      <li> Some supported file formats do not mix well with the way MM3D
      stores data internally. When working with 3D models on a regular
      basis it is often a good idea to save in MM3D format and then use
      &quot;File&nbsp;|&nbsp;Export&quot; to save in your desired format
      when you have something completed. There are many more exportable
      formats than save formats.</li>
      <li> You can use &quot;Model&nbsp;|&nbsp;Import&nbsp;Animations&quot;
      to load animations from another model with an identical skeletal
      structure. The skeleton will be checked to make sure that the
      parent/child joint relationships are correct. The position and rotation
      of the joints will not be checked, but if they are not identical the
      results of the import will probably not be what you expect.
      </li>
      <li> You can use &quot;Model&nbsp;|&nbsp;Merge&quot;
      to import another model into the current one. There are options for
      scaling and rotating as well as how to deal with animations.
      The merge feature can be useful if you have frame animations in your
      model, since adding and deleting geometry in general is not allowed
      in that case.
      </li>
      <li> Some model export formats have special considerations that you must
      keep in mind when you are working with them. See the links below for
      details.
      <ul>
         <li> <a href="olh_quakemd2.html">Quake MD2</a> </li>
         <li> <a href="olh_quakemd3.html">Quake MD3</a> </li>
         <li> <!-- FIXME write doc --> Cal3D </li>
      </ul>
   </ul>

   <h3> Advanced </h3>

   <ul>
      <li> Use <a href="olh_boolwin.htm">Boolean&nbsp;operations</a>
      to modify one 3D object based on the shape of another 3D object. 
      Boolean operations can combine two shapes into one, subtract
      the volume of one shape from another, or find the common volume
      between two shapes.</li>
      <li> It is possible to customize most menu shortcuts. There is not
      a graphical user interface to do this, but you can edit a file
      called keycfg.in in the $(HOME)/.mm3d subdirectory (on Win32 this
      is userhome in the Misfit Model 3D Program Files directory).
      Simply specify the name of the function you want to bind
      and then the key combination you want to bind it to.
      See keycfg.out in the same directory for the current bindings.
      Anythhing you do not specify in your keycfg.in will use the
      default setting.</li>
   </ul>