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Setting up gMax

Before we start, we need to make sure that gMax is set up correctly depending on whether we prefer to use metric or imperial measurements (being an old-fashioned type, I prefer to work in feet and inches rather than these new-fangled centi-things!). Whichever you choose, select Customize/Units Setup from gMax's menu and select either Metric or US Standard. Then select Customize/Grid and Snap Settings from the menu, click the Home Grid tab at the top of the dialog, and then set Grid Spacing to an appropriate figure (I use 1'0.0" myself). No matter whether you chose metric or imperial measure, you should also select Customize/Preferences from the menu, and, on the General page, set System Unit Scale to 1 unit = 1.0 metres. If you intend to add animation to your model, this is absolutely essential, but is a good idea even if you don't at present intend to animate the model.

The initial modelling

Before we can start creating the model, we must work out the approximate size of the real-life building. On-the-spot measurement is usually not possible, but approximate measurements can be taken from the photographs. Ideally you would include something of known size in the photograph, but failing that you can get a good approximation by assuming that doors will be about 6½ft (2.0m.) high. On that basis it makes the height of the Co-op Bank about 25ft. 6in. (7.75m.) from the ground to the bottom of the roof, and 47ft. 6in. (14.5m.) wide. The depth of the building is unknown but has been assumed to be about 30ft. (9.0m.). Other measurements can be worked out in a similar way.

We will begin with the main part of the building which is simply a box 47'-6" wide by 30'-0" deep by 25'-6" high. (In this tutorial I am assuming that you are already familiar with the basics of gMax (such as how to create a box), but if you are not, I strongly suggest that you read the section called Getting started with gMax in the gMax Help file.)

Next we will apply a texture the to box. In this case we will use the small brick texture. Click the Material Editor icon on the gMax toolbar: . This will open up the Material Editor as shown below:

Click the New button at the top of the Editor. This will open up the "New Material" dialog. gMax will name the new material for you (probably Material #1) but you can change the name if you wish.

In the "New Material" dialog, select Standard and then click the OK button.

Back in the Material Editor, click the Maps bar at the bottom. This should open a new section in the Editor. If it doesn't, click the Maps bar again.

On the Diffuse Color row, click the button marked none in the Map column. This will open the "Material Navigator".

In the "Material Navigator" click Bitmap and then click OK.

From the "Select Bitmap Image File" dialog, navigate to the brick image and then click the Open button when you've selected it.

Back once again in the "Material Editor", make sure that your box is still selected, and then click the Apply button in the Material Editor. Disappointingly, nothing will happen except that the box changes colour! In the Material Editor you must now click the Show map in viewport button before it will show.

Next we need to apply a "UVW Mapping" to the object. Close the Material Editor and click the Modify tab in the Command Panel.

Click the UVW Map button lower down the Command Panel (see right) and then, in the Parameters section at the bottom, select Box.

We need the image, in this case, to be "tiled" - in other words we want the small image of the brickwork to be repeated several times over the surface of the box. To do this, click the Unwrap UVW button in the Command Panel and then click the Edit button lower down. This opens the Edit UVWs dialog:

Using the small "handles" at the corners, resize the white rectangular outline until the size of the bricks on the box looks about right. To resize the rectangle, first select the two right-hand "handles" by dragging a rectangle around them. Move the mouse pointer onto one of the "handles" and drag it to the right while holding down the Shift key on the keyboard - this helps to keep the movement horizontal. Do the same with the two bottom "handles", dragging them downwards:

When you are happy that the bricks on the box look about right, close the Edit UVWs dialog. At this point the box should look like this:

We can now start to add the other parts of the model.

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