Wall Worm Forums

So if you have played with the VTA exporter... you may have been confused since the flex controllers are not visible in faceposer upon export. As of 1.744 you must still add the flexcontroller data into the QC manually.

I have already added automation of flexcontrollers from the morpher into the next release. That means that you will be able to edit in Faceposer directly upon exporting. At the moment I am trying to tidy up a couple things but hope to have that update in the next couple of days.

Also... just a reminder... Wunderboy has been working on updates to his SMD/VTA exporters that improve performance/results and add functionality. Please consider sending him a thank you in the form of a donation in the name of yourself and Wall Worm. I will share news when he has released these new versions.

New WWMT version is out. Has a few new settings in the settings floater. Also fixed a Morph-O-Matic to VTA/flex bug.

See the changelog for full details.

Also added a new docs page on how to export the facial animations (morphers to VTA/flex).

So you may have wondered how you can make a tileable, seamless texture from your photo. If you are using an image editor like Photoshop, you've probably found some information on doing that online. But what if you want to do it inside 3ds Max?

Here is a video that shows you how to do that. You can also read instructions here.

I have released WWMT 1.74. This version adds a RES File maker (which you need if you want people to download custom assets like models and materials) from a server running your custom maps. You can package your assets into your map's BSP with a commandline tool in SOurce... but that is inconvenient; a common tool has been PakRat... but that program stopped packaging materials in my projects some time ago...

So that is one reason I made this tool. It is just an efficiency tool... as you will still need to manually add any sound files, text files, scripts and other files to your RES file that this tool doesn't consider (it only adds models and materials that are inside the current scene when you run the tool).

I also added a couple new Proxy tools inside the WWMT UI. I had added Proxies in a recent update to the displacement tool... but now you can make them inside WWMT. Also, you can collect skins from your proxies.

See the changelog for other additions/changes.

Built into WWMT is a Material Library Generator to convert collections of Source Materials into 3ds Max materials.

One thing I am considering changing is the default of creating a DirectX material for all materials. I need DirectX Material for the Blend Materials (for displacements) but I'm beginning to think it was not a good idea for the World brush materials... since I have noticed a lot of viewport display issues using DirectX materials and Nitrous (3ds Max 2012).

Anyone else seeing this? Opinions?

I just got miauu's Work Plane. It's a maxscript utility to set working planes easily and to automate a working plane to appear in your viewport on the major X,Y,Z axis that is closest to perpendicular from your current viewport. It is convenient for working in the perspective viewport. It also has other tools for seting working planes and reusing them.

I really love the tool. It's costs 10 Euros (about $13). Well worth it. If you get it from this recommendation... let 'em know Wall Worm sent you.

miauu's Work Plane on Scriptspot
miauu's Work Plane Official Web Page

I neglected to announce that the 1.73 version of WWMT included the WWDT 2.2 update. That update included a new way to re-use WWMT models in the WWDT VMF exporter called WWMT proxies.

Generally speaking, it works fine. But you can find that the proxie versions can have the incorrect rotations. Today I was discussing with Andrew the problem... and believe it or not, the solution to the dilemma will probably come directly from Andrew's latest work in CSS colors (Cascading Style Sheets) and JavaScript. Go figure!

I hope to have a solution for that in the near future. Not sure I'll have it out until next week, though. Thanksgiving and all.

Wall Worm Model Tools turns 1 year old today!

I have an update to release too. But it will be later on in the day. Stay tuned...

Sorry for the lack of info here lately. After the server crash, things have gotten quiet here. Part of my own attention has been on various client projects at the moment.

I do have a cool update lined up for WWMT, though. I'm going to add animated texture exporting support. That should be good for the kiddos. I won't get that out for a little while since I'm in the middle of trying ot get a couple levels out for CS:S, Hidden:Source and Goldeneye:Source.

I've had a couple requests on how to do this in the past week... so here is a sample scene that has a working rubix cube that can export into Source. I also saw someone request it on Steam.

I've loaded it in Max 2011 format.

Version 2.1 is out. Fixes some missing features in Max 2010 & 2011 (Display Walkable wasn't working in them) and suppresses errors for features not supported in Max 2009 and older. Also ads a placement helper.

This update has a few updates for WWMT. The majority of the updates in this package relate to the Displacement tool.

Well after the server crash, we lost several months of posts and new users. Unfortunately, I did not properly set up the DB backup for the forums... (I kept saying to myself I'll do it this weekend... but this weekend kept coming and going.)

I put it into maintenance mode the other day to update some of the software and forgot to take it out of maintenance mode... which is why it's been unavailable for a few day. Sorry about all that.

Also, I reposted a few informative posts that I retrieved from the Google cache... but the effort proved too annoying to get very far. So I guess it's up to users to repost anything they think might be of value.

I'm working on an altogether different system for the new displacement tool version. The improvements are speed. IN version 1, it can sometimes take a long time to go into "Edit Mode".

I already have most of the re-write done.

Some of the new key features are that you can copy displacements in the viewport, lock/unlock their transforms. I've also added some other workflow optimizations (the edit mode mesh is now automatically on the Modifier panel so you can immediately sculpt; the paint mode goes straight to the vertex paint brush, etc). I've also added a couple new presets (Tunnel and Tube).

Even with the rewrite, I'm wanting a little more speed in getting into the Edit Mode. I have now begun my introduction into C++ and the Max SDK. That ought to be fun. When I finish the C++ version of the edit mode, I will keep the current version available in WWMT. I will likely make the faster C++ version a paid app... don't worry... it'll be no more than $10-$15. So if you will want the speed of it, you can pay for it and help support all this craziness! If that's too much for your budget... well you'll still have the scripted version.

Here is my wishlist for Convexity. Feel free to add to the list. Please only make suggestions if you already own and use Convexity (so if you don't... go buy it now... it will change your mapping life forever!)

###########  Textures  ###########

* Use Material Name only... ignore material type (Except Multi/Sub-object which should apply the material name of each slot per face) --it is already available

########### Lighting  ###########

* Add Dreamscape Sun support-- export as light_environment

###########  WSVE  #############

* Add Texture View that has a texture overlay... give an opacity slider for overlay
* Display current grid spacing
* Add multi-wall WSVE mode
* Apply WSVE to floors (Floor Top View Editor)

###########  Export #############

Since WW now has a VMF Exporter... there are no longer priorities of mine.

* Add prop_static/prop_dynamic/prop_physics for WWMT models
* Add WW Sky Writer to map skyname
* Export WW Displacements - or better yet, make a better displacement tool than WW Displacements inside CVX!



############  Files  #############

* Open Convexity .max File from Vault


BUGS

* Libray Shape List Editor broken in Max 2012

There are now videos on using Convexity on my Youtube Channel:

Retrieved posts from Google Cache.
Kevinglongtime Wrote:

Hey all,

I've been having this issue that has been bugging me where my models arn't keeping the types of normals-smoothing i've been giving them in Maya (as you can tell this question I dont think pertains to wallworm itself).

I use Maya for all my work and I use 3DS max purely for this export tool. Long story short, when I import the final product from maya > to 3ds max > to source, the results turn out being that everything on the model is now smooth regardless of what I had manually did myself in maya. So that means all the hard edges on a cube, for example, would look very odd and smooth.

I never had this issue when doing it the regular way of compiling so I think this issue boils down to the bringing over of models and maya's own way of smooth over to 3DS max (If I read right, 3DS max has an entirely different way of smoothing and its called "smoothing groups").

Anyone have the knowledge to shed light on the best way of going about this so that it retains my set normals smoothing while transfering? The odd thing is, in the viewport of 3DS max, the smoothing seems fine but when it gets to source it looks all messed up. I am self taunt in using these program so I may be missing what some of you may consider an obvious option or file type for exporting or even an importing option for 3DS max. I've been mainly using the .obj format with the normals option ticked to bring over the normals smoothing.

This is how odd the flat surface on my stopsign is looking in Source model viewer becuase of all these edges getting oddly smoothed

Version 1.7 is out. It's one of the biggest single updates I've released. It adds many new features, fixes several bugs and changes a few things.

At the moment, I do not have any additional documentation on the features listed below. The changelog description is the only docs until I get time to explain them in more detail. I expect to make a video soon demonstrating Sequences, Attachments and Particle Systems.

Please make sure to report any bugs!

Version 1.7 released on 09-27-2011

•Added VTA export for models with a Morpher or Morph-O-Matic modifier. A flexfile with the channels is created and linked from the main QC. Currently only works with the Wunderboy VTA Exporter.
•Added VTA-Prep function to automate the creation of keyframes on meshes with Morpher or Morph-O-Matic modifier. This item is the WW Morpher UI in the Wall Worm > Wall Worm Utilities menu. It makes keyframes for each channel in the modifier. (If you don't see it, you can add it to your menu by opening WWMT Settings and clicking the Add to Menu button.)
•Added Particle System UI in the Attachment rollout to allow attaching particles to your model. Many particle systems in popular mods are available from a menu; also add the name of your own custom system.
•Added new line to all exported QC files for an auto-generated include QC file. If the include file isn't there, WWMT will now always create it. If it is there, it will not over-write it. The new include is always in the same directory as the current QC. If your model name is "mymodel" the main WWMT QC is called "mymodel.qc" and the new custom QC file is called "mymodel_custom.qci".
•Added support for Reflection export as $reflectivity. Uses Reflection value, or if your use a Color Correction Map (Max 2009+) in the Color Correction Map, uses the Color of the Color Correction map.
•Added $ssbump to export of LightmappedGeneric and WorldVertexTransition materials exported with the Displacement tool. ($ssbump is not supported on other shaders in Source.) Will automatically use $ssbump on such materials that have an alpha channel in the Normal Map of a Normal Bump.
•Added replacemodel and replacematerial to QC for bodygroup models that have LODs. Now main model QC will swap out LODs of bodygroup models automatically.
•Added new WWMT setting to turn on/off the export message prompt for models and model textures. That message prompt now defaults to off... which is convenient especially with models that have multiple models (ones with Bodygroups or custom gibs) and the batch exporter in the Utilities rollout.
•Added Del Sel buttons to LOD entries to let you remove a mesh from that particular LOD.
•Added Material button to each LOD entry into the LOD list. This lets you assign a material for that LOD that will over-ride the materials when at that LOD. Note that the function only works for materials that have a name that has a diffuse TGA that matches the name of the root model's TGA(s) and follows this pattern: if root model diffuse TGA is "mydiffuse.tga", then the material will only be swapped if you also make a material with a diffuse map having a "mydiffuseLOD1.tga" in LOD 1, "mydiffuseLOD2.tga" in LOD 2, etc. Accepted materials are Standard, Multi/Sub-Object Materials and Shell Materials.
•Changed $phong no longer exports for any Shader type except for VertexLitGeneric.
•Changed Diffuse Bitmap now optional. If none supplied, diffuse color is used in the VMT as $color. Note that this feature seems to be best used on the Lightmapped Generic and UnlitGeneric materials... when used in VertexLitGeneric... I have not been successful in getting the color to work... but it means you can compile a model and view it in Source without a texture yet... though it will be white or gray in-game.
•Changed Displacement tool VMF exporter to use prop_dynamic for any model that doesn't have $staticprop checked and has no Prop_Data assigned in the gibs rollout.
•Fixed export bug when exporting a model that had bodygroups assigned in a previous session.
•Fixed Bodygroup materials not getting exported with the main model.
•Fixed gibs materials not collecting recursively on main model material export... now it should collect all of the gib's decendant materials.
•Fixed Export bug that happened if any of the materials in the Skin material were not Standard Materials with a diffuse bitmap.

Version 1.0 is out. Here's an overview video:

Sorry the forums have been down for over a day. Our server hard drive failed. Worse, I hadn't been backip up the forum database like I should have been. Luckily there is a little bit of a site here... but there is a ton of information that is now gone. Oh well... at least all of our clients' data was backed up... as that could have meant the end of all things Wall Worm!

Anyway... Version 1.71 is out now. I'll explain more later as I'm still getting all of our domains back up and running. I'll load a new video to Youtube tonight or tomorrow with the main new additions to the world of Wall Worm.