learning how to create my first vehicle

Hey so this is the first time ive posted on the forums so sorry if this thread is in the wrong spot

anyways ive been playing beamng since the first month it became available and been playing all through its development. ive always wanted to make my own content but had a few tries and couldn't figure it out but after seeing all great quality content the last few months its made me really want to make my own stuff for the community.

so i guess my question(s) are:
where do i start?
my main confusion is with Making the Jbeam do i have to manually write the whole thing or is there a program i can use that generates it for me?

and the only place ive been able to find a large amount of information is: http://wiki.beamng.com/Content_Creation but to me it seems for of a reference and not a tutorial for beginners

so if someone could point me in the direction of a good tutorial and/or documentation that would be great

Thanks ~Scott

 

Before anything else.

Learn to model. This does not include making cars, learning to model is a prerequisite before even attempting anything automotive.

 

Im not a very creative person, im a programmer. i was just going to try and download some random model and try to add the Jbeam to it and configure it. then i would spent the time and make my own models after i learnt to Jbeam.
Why do i need to be a good modeler?

 

Hey! There are some tools floating around for Jbeam files, but you will have most control doing it manually.

Check this out for a "getting started" viewpoint to Jbeam : http://wiki.beamng.com/Introduction_to_Vehicle_Creation

 

could you point me towards those tools.
if i was doing it manually how do i know where to position the nodes because i think they are positions if im not mistaken. do i just guess where they would have to go by looking at the model in a modeling program?

also what do most people use to create Mods do they use tools or do it manually?

Thanks

 

Hello,
here is some info i through together

to make a car you need to know how to 1)model in a 3d program and 2)Know how to make a jbeam. Making a jbeam is in the wiki. As for how to make a model for the car, look up how to make a car in blender.

I dont know how the professionals position nodes, but i make my jbeam with vertices and edges in my 3d modeling program, then i use THIS SCRIPT to export it to beams/nodes
Wiki on Content Creation
WIKI


Getting started guide
Guide

Jbeam Templates
Templates

some programs you will need (all free)
Blender
Notepad ++
paint.net

some tutorials
basic texturing
a basic blender tutorial
creating a cube to start learning

 

thank you to all that posted i think with all this information i can start learning how to make some mods.

Thanks

 

Hmm, this is interesting, I'd love to make a car but this is WAAYYYYYY to far out of my skill group I can understand what code says, but I don't know how to write that... example: Collsion = true, means that the car can collide with other objects, things like that I can understand :3