Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Terrain Editor => Topic started by: TexMurphy on February 06, 2005, 07:21:29 PM

Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: TexMurphy on February 06, 2005, 07:21:29 PM
Ok this is what I have done.

Ive built a tree and created a shape of it.

I move the shape to the texsrc dir of the terrain.

When I add the tree it shows up nice.

Next I create a forrest.

In the OE I add multiple tree objects to a shape and build it.

I move the built forrest shape into the texsrc directory.

I have it in my list but when adding it I dont get any trees showing.

I also tested adding a city building into the shape (stock one) and this shows up nice but not my trees.

Tex
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: TexMurphy on February 07, 2005, 10:38:12 AM
HT any word on this?

Anyone else have this problem?

Tex
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: hitech on February 07, 2005, 11:24:52 AM
Tex can you email me, your bmps, tile files, and ac3d files?

dalea@hitechcreations.com

HiTech
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: TexMurphy on February 07, 2005, 12:46:58 PM
Ill create an example.

Tex
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: Raptor on February 07, 2005, 11:58:12 PM
I have the same problem, looks fine in the object editor but the object shows up as a 2D circle in the Terrain Editor
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: TexMurphy on February 08, 2005, 08:17:34 AM
Hmmm... when rotating the plane of the object editor it looks like the custom shapes actually end up LOWER  (negative on the Y axis scale) the stock shapes.

To check this I added one of my trees and the stock tree group. When viewing it directly from the side my shape was under the stock shape.

When looking at the .ac models for both they both are alligned at 0.0 to the Y axis.

Tex
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: Waffle on February 09, 2005, 07:58:28 PM
I noticed this on the model Im working on - when you use the 'move to' button in Ac3d, and it's set to ,0,0,0 - it will center your object on O on each 3d axis. This will leave your model on the front plane (xy) about 1/2 way under ground.
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: BlauK on February 10, 2005, 05:17:06 AM
With the object that I am making, the shp that was built in newshps folder is smaller (64k) than the original shp from usrlib folder (256k). Maybe the newshp does not get built properly?

When I copied the shp from usrlib to texsrc, it showed ok in TE. The built shp from newshps was not visible in TE. (both appeared as names in the list though)
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: Waffle on February 10, 2005, 09:26:05 AM
actually - I'm noticing this as well on the hanger I built -


I kicked the "y" axis in Ac3d up to 30 on my hanger as that was set on in the AH stock Bomber hanger - thought that would fix the problem - but didn't. -

Still sunk into the ground about 8-10 feet...lol
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: MachNix on February 10, 2005, 10:07:40 AM
In gmax, an object has an origin or "pivot point" that can be moved.  Does Ac3d have something like this?  Sounds like objects are being placed according to their origin, which is defaulted in Ac3d to be in the objects center.
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: BlauK on February 13, 2005, 04:08:27 PM
I has to be in some text definition..... I placed a part of tower object side by side with my own object in ac3d. Then I grouped them, saved and converted the file in OE. For some reason my own object now appears lower in OE and the tower object is higher...

So some definition, but where?
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: hitech on February 14, 2005, 09:39:06 AM
Sounds like you are creating verts below 0 in ac3d. If all the verts are on the x-z plane and above , they should apear correctly after the import. When you look at the object in ac3d. is the XZ grid going threw the object?
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: TexMurphy on February 14, 2005, 10:19:11 AM
I will double check that all the verts are over the origin.

I have them all aligned to the origin, though I will zoom in and watch if anything is sticking down into negatives but it shouldnt.

I did send you a sample which should show this.

Tex
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: BlauK on February 14, 2005, 10:53:50 AM
I had them all just slightly above the XZ-plane.

btw.. the whole model gets mirrored along Z axis in conversion. ( I earlier thought it was along x-axis, but then also had to rotate the model 180 degs in TE)
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: Waffle on February 14, 2005, 11:38:16 AM
There's that recenter object tool in Ac3d - Even just moving a drawing above 0 doesnt help - you have to change the centerpoint to the minimum "y" - which in itself is another can of worms in Ac3d, if you have odd-sized asymetrical objects.

Best bet is to just change the minimum "Y" axis for your "world or model" group - if you mess with individual objects..it'll add for more work :)

Lot's of no see-ums and careful planning is needed I'm finding out about this stuff
Title: Custom objects not showing up in custom shape in terrain...
Post by: BlauK on February 22, 2005, 03:56:18 PM
A possible solution.. or few:

- in ac3d, be sure that each subgroup and group center coordinates are 0,0,0. Object centers can be just about anything, but all groups have to be at origo.

- MaxDist definitions have to be also in all groups, not only in objects. Right click the group title in Hierarchy tree to edit properties.

- LOD Max and Min Dist definitions seem to go to objects or groups that are after "Objects" or "Ground" group.

I hope this helps... It was really a fight to make the new custom object visible in the game :)