   Questions about Map creating and 3D object placement
  Hello, I've just got this nice model ready for my game(took 3 weeks), but the question is, should I use 3DS Max to design the whole map and object placement?I'm new to XNA and am unsure of the best way to place objects:(I have this helicopter model and would like to add in a carrier I made and some water(flat plane to start), but I want to do it "the right way", whatever that is.Any ideas?EDIT : Also anyone know of a good polygon cruncher?ThanksMajSlayer   
  Well, it depends on what you need from your map.  If your map is just going to be a big model, then sure you could do it all in 3dsmax.  But for most games this isn't good enough, as 3dsmax will have no concept of the underlying game logic and object types that you use in your game.  Writing your own map editor is really the only way to guarantee that you have a tool with all of the functionality you need, however making one is a far from trivial task.   ;  got a fair bit easier lately though. Microsoft released a sample that renders XNA into a WinForm:):):) Yippee Hooray.Add to that Winform's resource window and you're sortedEDIT: url to sample   http://creators.xna.com/en-us/sample/winforms_series1   ;  Rendering alone doesn't make an editor though.@MajSlayer: you may want to stick to 3DS Max, perhaps write a plugin for it if there isn't already one that does what you need. Building an editor can be quite  a task and is therefor unlikely to save you time, so that mostly defeats the purpose of building one in the first place.That, or you could try an existing editor - there are some free and cheap ones around - to see if there's one that forfills your needs. In the end, there's not really a 'right way' to do this. It depends on the situation.   ;Quote:Rendering alone doesn't make an editor though.True, but read my post again and you'll see I mentioned the resource editor too. That's a fair amount of the work done. All that's left is saving, listing the objects and other small bits   