3 modeling questions

[o_funnyonefunnyone]

1)Do you all know of any good tutorials on clay renders. I would like to create some clay renders for their appearance but can't make them look good. A good example of what I want is the clay render of the shotguns on the fortress-forever media section. How do you set up the whole scene to produce a good result? Also, notice the white background and "floor." How do you do that (the floor shows shadows produced by the shotguns).

2)Do any of you know how to create a model in 3ds max and export it as a .mdl file for use with gaming. This may be obvious, but I haven't been able to find anything on it. Or do you all know of any good tutorials on the subject.

3)Do the textures used in 3ds max "roll over" into the .mdl model? If not how do you make them?

[o_dr zauis]

To make a good render i believe that you make two walls add an omni light and set the weapon up on the floor of the one wall. Have ti look like this:

O <--omni light

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There is an exporter for 3dsm that you can get...i forget where i got mine..but i know it is out there.

[o_sev]

If you're going to do the psuedo-room method thing, then you're gonna need to use 3 point lighting to make it look any good. I just used the max skylight with some custom settings.