3DS Changeable Color

When preparing a 3D model in AC3D, if the color of the object is set to black, its color can be changed within Flexsim.

Is it possible to set this color in Studio Max? I tried setting the color of the object to 0,0,0, but to no avail.

Greig,

AC3D is doing more than just setting the material to 0. The creator of AC3D actually put a "Flexsim Mode" into the settings of AC3D. Basically, it strips the texture off of anything that has a material type 0 and ranks it first in the hierarchy of the model. It is possible to do in 3D max but I haven't ever done it.

Greig,

For faces on an object to have their color set by Flexsim they need to be ranked first in the object and have no material specified. AC3D has modifed their program to do this with the default black material type. To do this in Studio Max you need to make sure that the objects you want Flexsim to color are ranked first in the file and that you have removed their material.

It's not an easy task and I haven't used Studio Max in such a long time that I can't remember the specifics for how to do this but it should be something you can look up. If not then hopefully someone else will have more specific information.

Good Luck,
Brandon

Thanks for your replies. I was hoping that FlexSim treated a certain object colour as alterable by the application, in a similar fashion to the way many games do so with team colour textures.

I'll see if I have any luck manually altering VRML files (i've had geometry problems with that so far, but that's for another thread...), and failing that I'll try AC3D.

In case anyone else is wondering the same thing, my problem was solved by setting the Studio Max material type to 'NONE' on the parts of the model I want to change colour. I used the schematic tool to rearrange the object hierarchy, putting the colour changing parts at the top.

I'll write this up more comprehensively as a 'Tips & Tricks' when I get a chance.