awesome - sorry its not the process i have difficulty with, just the terminology!!

To save me time with the animations its obviously going to be easier to change the existing models than introduce new ones - is it possible to 'copy and paste' my model over the british_infantry.3ds model?

ok, ive built the model from scratch - whats the best method of painting it because whereas one section is 'upper arm' i dont necessarily want to paint this whole section the same colour - theres detail on all the seperate 'panels'

looking at various max tutorials the model is built from the ground up including the face and colouring - whereas the .3ds file ive imported from the sample folder is just the white smooth model or the wire mesh and presumably the .dds file transfers the detail onto the model - if i change the mode...

looking at various max tutorials the model is built from the ground up including the face and colouring - whereas the .3ds file ive imported from the sample folder is just the white smooth model or the wire mesh and presumably the .dds file transfers the detail onto the model - if i change the model...

ok - full story - im looking to convert the models to Warhammer 40k - the engine lends itself perfectly to a turn based WH40k game - i was looking at changing the british infantry/desert rats to a 1 or 2 unit space marines unit - need to make them bulkier and taller and convert the axis to an 8 man ...

ok this might be the right time to ask - im looking at changing just the skins on all the infantry and the vehicles, dont want to change the animation or anything else - is it better then to mod the .dds file with trial and error - or is it going to be a whole lot less painful to make new models? ok...

i cant upload a picture to show you guys - let me see if theres max 9 knocking around somewhere

yeah thats what i thought - but if i switch smooth on i just get a white 'mushroom' over the top of the wire frame and i cant see anything underneath it!!

3ds is fine but this is just the wire frame and animation - i was actually looking for the model itself

and secondly (!!) if im creating a new model - can i put the skin over the top of the existing animations - the animations are fine its just the appearance of the units i wish to change?

ive got a copy of 3ds MAX 7 - forgive my ignorance but is this the max software we're referring to, and if it is - when i try and open the sample max files from the BA-3D-pack there are 'class' errors and it wont open the image. The 3ds animation opens fine, i can even see a thumbnail of the british...