max2map assist
by Mychal McCabe · in Artist Corner · 01/22/2002 (9:16 pm) · 7 replies
one of the modelers on my team is running into some difficulty with max2map (following some initial success), and I was hoping someone might be able to lend a further hand, here's the note he sent:
***
I'm continuing to have problems with max2map, and map2dif. I have had some minor success in getting things transferred and converted to TGE, but problems stil plague me. At this point I've made a large tube like object with some extra details like holes and broken parts in max that is supposed to be one of our playable arenas. I can export this mesh with max2map, and open it with worldcraft, but when I finally try and run it through map2dif, it gives me the same old error; "::createBaseWinding: bad face on brush. <3 points DMMNOTE: handle better?".
I was informed, in response to a post I made, on the Garage games forum to "snap objects to grid" in worldcraft, which did not work for me. At that point I decided to split up the geometry of the entire mesh into small subsections, and while I got a couple pieces into TGE other pieces would not work at all, and even pieces that had worked decided to stop working.
I've tried making test cases with simple boxes and have luck until I rotate the box at all, or move it slightly from the grid its aligned to. I'm suspect this has to do with the fact that as far as I know TGE doesn't handle floating point vertex coordinates. I'm not sure if there is a solution code wise, but if not I don't think I will be able to work in max. I'm pretty much at wits end with this and I am wondering if there will be a way to actually transfer map objects from 3dsmax
***
any documentation that you could point us to, or any insights re: floating points, really obvious things were overlooking etc. would be a big help.
thanks in advance.
Mychal McCabe
Badlands Games
Project Lead long shot
e - mychal@badlandsgames.com
w - http://www.badlandsgames.com
***
I'm continuing to have problems with max2map, and map2dif. I have had some minor success in getting things transferred and converted to TGE, but problems stil plague me. At this point I've made a large tube like object with some extra details like holes and broken parts in max that is supposed to be one of our playable arenas. I can export this mesh with max2map, and open it with worldcraft, but when I finally try and run it through map2dif, it gives me the same old error; "::createBaseWinding: bad face on brush. <3 points DMMNOTE: handle better?".
I was informed, in response to a post I made, on the Garage games forum to "snap objects to grid" in worldcraft, which did not work for me. At that point I decided to split up the geometry of the entire mesh into small subsections, and while I got a couple pieces into TGE other pieces would not work at all, and even pieces that had worked decided to stop working.
I've tried making test cases with simple boxes and have luck until I rotate the box at all, or move it slightly from the grid its aligned to. I'm suspect this has to do with the fact that as far as I know TGE doesn't handle floating point vertex coordinates. I'm not sure if there is a solution code wise, but if not I don't think I will be able to work in max. I'm pretty much at wits end with this and I am wondering if there will be a way to actually transfer map objects from 3dsmax
***
any documentation that you could point us to, or any insights re: floating points, really obvious things were overlooking etc. would be a big help.
thanks in advance.
Mychal McCabe
Badlands Games
Project Lead long shot
e - mychal@badlandsgames.com
w - http://www.badlandsgames.com
About the author
#2
Now its been over a month since and I have to rember exactly what I did.
I will see bout doing a sample and posting it as a downloadable html help. Give me some time on this as I am a very bussy guy with my regular life.. :)
01/23/2002 (8:14 pm)
I have been able to do them.Now its been over a month since and I have to rember exactly what I did.
I will see bout doing a sample and posting it as a downloadable html help. Give me some time on this as I am a very bussy guy with my regular life.. :)
#3
01/23/2002 (10:51 pm)
Thanks Stephen. Any help you could send our way would certainly be appreciated. Now about this real life thing... ;]
#4
There is a lot of people waiting for some documentation on the Max2Map exporter and we will all be very thankfull for any info on this little mystery.
Hope you get to find some spare time in your life to do this "tutorial".
Thank you.
Harald
01/24/2002 (2:24 am)
Hi StephenThere is a lot of people waiting for some documentation on the Max2Map exporter and we will all be very thankfull for any info on this little mystery.
Hope you get to find some spare time in your life to do this "tutorial".
Thank you.
Harald
#5
I will make an attempt to locate the tidbit of info I found on useing the exporter.
I have been working on a CG shot in a movie and a couple of other projects.
If you don't see any posts in a few days send me an email remider.
Thanks for your patience.
08/17/2002 (5:03 am)
Sorry its been a while since I posted.I will make an attempt to locate the tidbit of info I found on useing the exporter.
I have been working on a CG shot in a movie and a couple of other projects.
If you don't see any posts in a few days send me an email remider.
Thanks for your patience.
#6
I am pasting its contents here!
Thankfully this is working and I can create interiors in 3dsmax now. After doing some debug stepping through the plugin, I found the things to do.
First of all, you need to set some custom properties under File->properties. Click the custom tab and add these properties
Name Value Type
-----------------------------
wad wadname Text
geometry_scale 32 Text
lighting_scale 32 Text
ambient_color 0 0 0 Text
emergency_ambient_color 0 0 0 Text
wadname should not have leading path seperator \; I believe it doesn't matter at all unless you are going to use WC - map2dif gets raw textures.
Your material must be a standard material or multi subobject in max and it must have a bitmap type map. (Max bitmap that is; can be a .jpg, .png) The bitmap size must also be a power of 2.
There is a different object hierarchy setup for this vs exporting objects.
base01
+
start01
+
detail_1
+
meshsurface 1
A couple of things to note, in detail the _ is required or the exporter won't find it. For each detail_x node, a seperate .map file will be created. I'm totally new to mapping so any hints on why/what to do with multiple .maps are appreciated.
I exported to .map and ran map2dif to produce my .dif file and then coped the .map, .dif and texture.jpg into data\interiors\deaver. I am then able to add the interior via F11 editor. I was going to attach a screenshot but I realized nobody would be excited about the red box but me =)
ok, it all boils down to the portals and wether they can remove any of the geometry. Fundamentally speaking, Max shapes will be more efficient (or rather, well done max shapes will) because you can control the polycount.
Thing is, to do the lightmapping, the worldcraft brushes get broken up, so you may get more faces than you expect on a single wall, so if you can make the same thing in max and use a single poly for the wall, its obviously more efficient in max.
Having said that, in max you dont get any lighting unless you create it yourself in the texture.
horses for courses really, use WC for buildings, especially fairly complex buildings with interconnectivity. Use max for details and static meshes if you dont need lightmaps.
Phil.
08/17/2002 (6:45 am)
Ok found the text file that told me how to export using the plugin. :)I am pasting its contents here!
Thankfully this is working and I can create interiors in 3dsmax now. After doing some debug stepping through the plugin, I found the things to do.
First of all, you need to set some custom properties under File->properties. Click the custom tab and add these properties
Name Value Type
-----------------------------
wad wadname Text
geometry_scale 32 Text
lighting_scale 32 Text
ambient_color 0 0 0 Text
emergency_ambient_color 0 0 0 Text
wadname should not have leading path seperator \; I believe it doesn't matter at all unless you are going to use WC - map2dif gets raw textures.
Your material must be a standard material or multi subobject in max and it must have a bitmap type map. (Max bitmap that is; can be a .jpg, .png) The bitmap size must also be a power of 2.
There is a different object hierarchy setup for this vs exporting objects.
base01
+
start01
+
detail_1
+
meshsurface 1
A couple of things to note, in detail the _ is required or the exporter won't find it. For each detail_x node, a seperate .map file will be created. I'm totally new to mapping so any hints on why/what to do with multiple .maps are appreciated.
I exported to .map and ran map2dif to produce my .dif file and then coped the .map, .dif and texture.jpg into data\interiors\deaver. I am then able to add the interior via F11 editor. I was going to attach a screenshot but I realized nobody would be excited about the red box but me =)
ok, it all boils down to the portals and wether they can remove any of the geometry. Fundamentally speaking, Max shapes will be more efficient (or rather, well done max shapes will) because you can control the polycount.
Thing is, to do the lightmapping, the worldcraft brushes get broken up, so you may get more faces than you expect on a single wall, so if you can make the same thing in max and use a single poly for the wall, its obviously more efficient in max.
Having said that, in max you dont get any lighting unless you create it yourself in the texture.
horses for courses really, use WC for buildings, especially fairly complex buildings with interconnectivity. Use max for details and static meshes if you dont need lightmaps.
Phil.
#7
Check out that page for a full tutorial on how to get the max2map exporter working!
I just tested it out and it works perfectly
08/17/2002 (8:02 am)
http://holodeck.st.usm.edu/vrcomputing/vrc_t/tutorials/max2map/max2map_contents.shtmlCheck out that page for a full tutorial on how to get the max2map exporter working!
I just tested it out and it works perfectly
Torque Owner Mychal McCabe