I am currently importing OBJ models (exported from Blender) into the beta 2 release and have issues that I suspect are probably due to my lack of experience:

1. I used the Mapping node in Blender to tile images to cover larges areas, but GMax does not pick this up on the import and I cannot see a way to tile within GMax? Some rooms in my 'game' are huge and would require a massive single texture...

2. The GMax import populates the Albedo but nothing else, namely Normals/Bump and Surface, is this a bug?

3. I went to great effort to create all my models to a consistent scale but it upon GMax import, the size of the model is shrunk to a standard size no matter the original dimensions (I can enlarge a model using the 'Scale' setting for the OBJ export in Blender, but still don't seem to get consistent results), is this me doing something wrong, the nature of OBJs or GMax? This is compounded by the inability to enter a scale manually and having to use to slider only.

I've been working on assets for well over a month and was looking forward to loading them into GMax, but the above issues turn each import into a pain for some models and makes the bigger ones impossible to texture. I have over 150 models to import...

MAX has no way to work with nodes from Blender. So, you'll have to either bake down your textures or properly create them for import into a game engine. This is not a MAX issue, but an issue with understanding how to get your textures/materials out of Blender and into a game engine. Without a converter specifically for MAX, you'll need to do the leg work yourself. One way to get your texture/material to tile, without the node in Blender, is by scaling y our UV maps up (make them larger) so the texture/material tiles the number of times you want it to. MAX should then respect the UVs and tile your texture/material appropriately.



While I believe that MAX should bring in all these materials, if it doesn't upon import, there is a section on the right-side panel that allows you to apply all the correct materials. However, I am finding that the current beta does not store the values correctly after you've saved your model to use in MAX.



Before exporting, did you apply any scaling, rotation, and transforms done at the object level? To do so, press CTRL+A and press APPLY ALL. Also, when you import into MAX, there is a scale slider that can be set to scale an object there, if need be. But you should be able to get consistent sizes from Blender on export. I do. Just make sure you've applied all transforms.

I don't like it when you have to scale a model because you made it too large or small, it less then ideal, and may end up with bugs or results you don't want, sure the is a tree or plank you want to scale, ect, but having to scale each and every model is a bit counter productive.

A quick way around this is to import a static version of the stock character, I did this by importing it into lithunwarp which is a free tool, this deletes any animation info it has and gives you a default pose export to obj file format after which you can import into blender and use it a scale reference for what ever you are modeling or measure character dimension in blender and use that info when you ate modeling.That way you will always have the correct scale and never need to scale an object in game guru unless you have or want to

Thank you!

The UV scaling is something I'm aware of but didn't know it would tile.

I've already learnt the hard way regarding transformations when my booleans didn't work in Blender. One model is 10+ metres long in Blender but looks like doll house furniture when imported (and definitely has all transforms applied). I'll keep experimenting, but if GMax isn't storing values correctly I guess I should concentrate on getting my models GMax friendly first.

Thank you again! You have brought me some much needed clarity!

Reposted below with screenshots cuz I'm an idiot who doesn't know how to edit....

Was the model that came out scaled wrong an fbx?

If so, GG doesn't like the fbx scaling from the blender exporter (neither does unity), when you export tick the experimental option (renamed to apply transforms in the latest blender) that works mist of the time, not always though.

I'm only using OBJs, and they definitely have transforms applied. Here is an example in Blender, showing the applied transforms and the expected size of the model:



A straight OBJ export produces the small building at the guy's feet and is too small to scale up in GMax (20x limit), the same building behind was exported with with 20x setting in Blender, then still needed further scaling up in GMax:



The stinger is that I've gone to great lengths to ensure a consistent scale by creating my main building as one piece:



Then splitting out the separate rooms, corridors and other assets:

What are you UNITS in Blender when you model? What export settings are you using with your OBJ? Just for curiosity, have you tried FBX to see if you get the same results?

I'm using metres in Blender and using the defaults for OBJ exporting until recently, then have been messing with the scale.

I've just tried FBX, using the defaults plus the 'Apply Transformations' ticked as Belidos suggested....I did laugh:

You should take one test object, like a cube created to the size of a human model in MAX. Then export it using various scales in the OBJ or FBX exporter. Once you get one that works, it should work equally for all objects you export. You can even save it as an export type that you can use each time you export to MAX.

The point is, this is not MAX. It's something you're doing in Blender (probably when you export). I can export models all day long and bring them into MAX at the appropriate size each time.

Firstly, thank you for your help Argent_Arts.

I've done the test using a new Blender file and the default cube and exported to OBJ and FBX using the default settings (so both had a scale of 1) and still get a huge FBX and tiny OBJ:

Applying transforms in blender and applying them in blenders exporter are two completely different things, the export apply transforms is to fix the export scales for export because blenders scaling and rotation are different to most game engines, it was mainly added because unity had the same problem with fbx from blender, it doesn't always work. Which is why I'm still using 2.79 for the final export to .X because .X works properly. I make it in 2.9 then load 2.79, append the 2.9 objects then export to .x

I've had some success with fbx by using imperial/inches as the units in blender and applying transforms on export.

Okay. So, something is going on with Blender, though I need to check this in another modeling program to be sure. When I export the same cube from Blender as an FBX and an OBJ, the cubes come into MAX at very different sizes. As a test, I brought both in to Unreal and they are the same (the OBJ is very tiny while the FBX was the size I expected). Both were exported with the export scale set to 1.00. So, the issue is not MAX. I'll do a test with another 3D modeler to see if it's a Blender issue or a file format issue.

Having said that, I am getting consistent exports from Blender with FBX when it comes to size in MAX.

EDIT:
So, I tested this with another 3D modeling package (MODO). A standard cube exported as FBX and OBJ produce cubes of different sizes, the FBX larger than the OBJ. So, it appears to be something with the OBJ file format. I'm picking on OBJ because my FBX files come in at the size I created them. However, since we know this, we can adjust the scale on export to get it to match. Once that's nailed down (and the preferences in Blender for export saved for both FBX and OBJ) then we should be able to get consistent exports using either format.

For me, I've set my units to NONE in Blender. Doing this, I've been able to get the same entity into three different game engines (MAX, Unreal, and S2) all at the correct size.

That works perfectly, thanks for that. It's actually the reason the appending to 2.79 works because none is the default in 2.79 and lower. In 2.8 they removed the blender units and you could only choose metric or imperial, which is why i haven't been using it, but it looks like they added it back in again after i last looked. Good to know.

Thanks for looking into this, it's good to know it wasn't me doing something stupid...this time! This does lead to three more noob questions:

If the units are set to none in Blender, how do I know what size model I am building?

As per my last screen shot, the FBXs are coming in larger than 2 metres, am I right to assume this is a units issue too?

Is there a ratio for Blender units versus GMax object size?

The slider only Scale setting in GMax makes accurate scaling a pain, so I am keen to get the models the right size from the start.

Blender Units (none) translates to one Unit in GameGuru, one unit in GameGuru is 1 inch, so basically treat one Blender unit as an inch.

If you model to that scale and use the correct settings to export into FBX it should be spot on.

Make sure when exporting to FBX for GameGuru you change the "apply scalings" drop down to "FBX Units Scale", if you don't it will still go into gameguru at the right size, but you will notice that the FPE will have scale = 10.00 or 5.00 or something in it, meaning the actual model isn;t the right scale and GameGuru is altering it for you. If you change that setting on export then you will have the correct scaling for gameguru (ie 1:100x100x100, for some reason in GameGuru 100 is 100% scale, whereas most modelling software scale at 1 = 100%, probably why we get size issues) from the base model.

Hi Belidos,

I've updated Blender to 2.9 from 2.82 and following your instructions (thanks again!) I would expect the default Blender cube to import a little taller than the terrorist guy, but it is only knee height...or am I putting too much faith in the character being a suitable size?

Tbh, the fbx import is large enough that I can rescale the whole lot in GMax (unlike OBJ), but I have to admit that this is a layer of messing about that I could do without.

The default cube when using "none" as units is 2 inches high, so of course it will be smaller than the character which is around 72 inches high.

If the default cube is as high as his knees then you have another problem there because it's too big.

Not entirely sure what you're doing wrong because it just works for me to the right scale. Here's my process ...

1. Creating/Setting Up:
a. Start a new project in Blender.
b. Go to your "Scene" tab in the properties panel on the right. and locate the "units" section.
c. Change the "Unit System" drop down to "none".
d. Make your model as you normally would, (for "real world sizes" look at your N panel when an object is selected, a 1 in any of the dimensions boxes translates to 1 inch in GameGuru, so use that as a guide to size), UV unwrap, make your textures etc as per normal (making sure rotation and scale transforms are applied by selecting the object and pressing ctrl+A).

2. Exporting:
a) Select your object
b) Go to file/export/FBX (.fbx)
c) Tick the "Selected Objects" box (this is so only the item you want exported is exported if you have more than one object)
d) Select the "Apply Scaling" drop down and choose ""FBX Units Scale".
e) Choose where you want to save it, then name your model and hit the "Export FBX"

Now when you import it into GGMax it should be the right size. You can text this by making a cube 100x100x100, importing it into Max, then before you place it press "B" twice to go into grid snapping mode, then when you place if you can place two of them corner to corner with no gaps or overlaps (like the picture below) you have your scale perfect.



if you're doing all that and getting different results, then i haven't a clue what's happening.

If you've already built the model in a different scale, let's say meters, then you will have to change the units to "none", then scale your model up to match the new units, so if you made a cube that was 1 meter in size, once you switch to "none" you would need to scale it up to 39.3701 x 39.3701 x 39.3701 (making sure you apply the scale after) to make it 1 meter in GG.

Funnily enough, through trial and error I've found using meters and exporting to FBX with a scale of 40 got me a scale I was happy with. I'll tweak it to 39.3701 for accuracy.

I'm finally at a point where I feel confident continuing knowing I can get my models in GMax.

Thank you to everyone for their time and effort happy me with this! I'd still be going round in circles with OBJs without your guidance.

Because I am old school (was developing stuff for games back when everything used a power of two grid), I still tend to work by the grid. So, what I do is create a cube that is the full size of a large grid (one large square with 10 smaller grid divisions) and then export that to see how it comes into my game engine of choice. From there, I determine if I need to adjust the export scale settings. Currently, I have my Blender units set to None. My grid scale is set to 1 with 10 subdivisions. My FBX export is set to 1.00. With this, I can get a predictable export each time. And since I know the grid settings and how that all works (based on how the cube exported - see above), I can visually work in Blender, based on the grid, and create what I need to scale.

It's an odd one, because at first glance the scaling seems like a GameGuru issue, but it's not because it happens in other engines too. For example it used to happen in Unity from day one of the engine and they only added an algorithm to properly automatically convert it with the 2020 release of Unity, before that they had it automatically scale, but not apply so your scaling widget would be full off odd numbers (i think it was 5.5 they added that), and before then you had to just put up with having to scale it right yourself in Unity

Quick update: everything is consistently importing to scale so I'm merrily working my way through my Blender models and building a collection of FBXs for whenever GMax is ready...