Before We Begin...
Over the following pages I will document my progress in making a replica of Devil's Dodge for MTM2. I chose to document this particular truck in order to force myself to get it completed(!) and also because, as a replica, it has a little bit of everything and involves some advanced procedures that hopefully you can glean some information from and apply to your own trucks. Be warned however that I do get a little carried away at times, and this tutorial may appear to be awful long in places. I recommend that if you're the type who does not suffer from cronic insomnia that you just skim through the following pages and get an idea of where the different procedures are located, then read more in-depth later.
I feel I should tell you...
This Tutorial is designed to be easy to navigate for both the novice and experienced truck maker.
At the bottom of each page there is a Prev/Next linking arrangement. Using this a first-time visitor wishing to read the whole thing in order can simply hit "Next" to reach the next stage.
At the left there is also a sub-menu that allows someone looking for something specific to jump straight to it. This is broken down into seperate topics for each stage of construction.
Throughout this tutorial/documentation I will be dropping little HOT TIP notes about things worthy of mention. There will also be download links so you can download some of the .BIN models and a few other things so you can see for yourself exactly what I'm talking about. It should be noted that the sequence these pages describe is not carved in stone of biblical weight and that I often flip between steps, skip steps, backtrack, etc in making an MTM2 truck. What I'm getting at is that there is no definite series of operation you must go through to create a truck: often I will change my mind, or go back and change something, or jump back and forth all over the place - and so should you! As long as the truck comes out the way you want it, it really doesn't matter how you go about it.
Don't worry if you do not get everything first time around: making MTM2 trucks is a learning experience, the more you make the better you get. Half the stuff described here can only really by learnt by doing anyway.
Tools of the Trade
These are the programs I used in making this truck:
BINedit
Tracked2
WinPod
MDMRE Palette Master
PodZip
Paint Shop Pro 4
All of these (excepting PSP4) can be downloaded from my Download page. Also check at the end of this tutorial for the links page, this will direct you to other websites offering more downloads or information.
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