The Process AFTER creating your .dae

[Theforgot3n1]

Hey! My name is TheForgot3n1 and I am a member of Frictional Games Community

I've recently created a .dae file. But that's all I seem to have. I want to make that model into an entity, to edit it in the ModelEditor with a texture and such. But how do I create that .ent file?

The "ModelView" shows this message as I attempt to load a simple polygon cone.

Loading material data for 'pCone1'
Create default material!
Creating material file: 'C:/Program Files (x86)/Games/Amnesia - The Dark Descent/CustomTestModels/'
No file for 'Diffuse' texture type found
No file for 'NMap' texture type found
No file for 'Specular' texture type found
No file for 'Alpha' texture type found
No file for 'Height' texture type found
No file for 'Illumination' texture type found
No file for 'CubeMap' texture type found
No file for 'DissolveAlpha' texture type found
No file for 'CubeMapAlpha' texture type found
No file for '' texture type found

EDIT: Oh and also, on my actual creation, the log tells me I have a lot of stuff that's incompatible with ModelView. How do I, in Maya, like look up exactly what creations I've put in? Really appreciating help!

[Ongka]

A member of Frictional Games? You probably mean a member of the Frictional Games Community.

You need to create a material (.mat) with the MaterialEditor. You can import a .dds texture.
You can't edit the texture in the model editor, you have to do this with an external program.

[Theforgot3n1]

A member of Frictional Games? You probably mean a member of the Frictional Games Community.

You need to create a material (.mat) with the MaterialEditor. You can import a .dds texture.
You can't edit the texture in the model editor, you have to do this with an external program.

Hehe, yeah. Wouldn't really get too far if I didn't know that sort of problem, I think.

I don't think I'll have to create a texture, since I was thinking of using an already existing one (pipes.mat). Any way of creating the .ent file to view my model with? Do I first have to fix those issues stopping me from viewing the model with ModelView, maybe?

[The chaser]

You can create the .ent file saving it with the model editor. Simple as that. Don't forget to add a body.

[Theforgot3n1]

You can create the .ent file saving it with the model editor. Simple as that. Don't forget to add a body.

I think I got it. I did "Import Mesh" and I got my model produced.

Just need to get the texture lined up properly.

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Okay here are some things you should keep in mind (Prepare yourself, wall of text incoming! ):

Oh and also, on my actual creation, the log tells me I have a lot of stuff that's incompatible with ModelView. How do I, in Maya, like look up exactly what creations I've put in? Really appreciating help!

First of all, to clean up your scene, click on Edit>delete All by type> history. (Non-deformer history if you have a skinned mesh)

Then click on window> Outliner. That opens a list of all objects in the scene. The only thing that is allowed in your scene (other than the standard stuff like the viewport cameras) are your mesh and joints if its a rigged mesh. Delete everything else! (NURBS curves, groups, Locators...) If your mesh is in a group, click on it and hit SHIFT+P to unparent it before deleting the group.

Now to the exporting!

You may have to assign a texture to the mesh before you export the .dae, otherwise your model could be invisible in the level editor even though it has a .mat applied (and even though it is visible in Model Editor!). A quick way to test if this will be the case is to click on the button with the two cogwheels at the bottom of the model editor to enter test mode. This issue is also probably what's causing the error message from your first post.

It doesn't need to be the same texture you want to have on the mesh later - any texture will do, just make sure you put it in the same folder as the mesh. It has something to do with the way Open Collada exports stuff...it does weird things if the mesh doesn't have a texture assigned on export.

Just need to get the texture lined up appropriately.

By lined up, I assume you mean the uv layout? You'll have to do that in Maya and re-export afterwards. Assign the texture to your mesh, then go to Window>UV Editor. Now unwrap your model and arrange the uv shells so that they line up properly.
There are several workflows for how to do this exactly, it depends on what kind of model you have. It would really take too long to explain here and its easier to learn if you see it in a video anyway. This one might help for example.

[crisosphinx]

Hi Theforgot3n1!

I might be restating information that was already provided, but I hope I can add a bit more detail to any part of it.

Just as Hirnwirbel said, make sure you delete all history if it's an object. If it's a character with joints, make sure to delete all non-deformer history (or else it will remove the joints from the character!!).

Make sure your material in Maya (blinn, lambert, phong, etc.) are linked up to your model! That means the diffuse, specular AND bump maps should have files attached to them!!! You can make normal maps for bump, but you must set it so your model (and maya) will recognize that they are normal maps!!!!


Make to sure export your model using these settings for the OpenCollada exporter!

1. Default file extensions
2. Preserve references
3. Triangulate
4. Polygon Meshes
5. Lights
6. Cameras
7. Joints and Skin
8. Animations
9. Texture Coordinates
10. Normals
11. Vertex Colors
12. YFov

If you do that, you should basically be good to go!


Import that .dae and save it as an .ent! Don't forget to edit it before you save it though!