LightWave 8 Model Processing and Clean Up By Adam Bava Chico State Game Studios

This is a tutorial for cleaning models for Unreal Tournament 2004 and the things you should keep in mind while modeling and implementing the models into Unreal Tournament 2004 for LightWave 8. During the course of this tutorial you will learn what to think about while you model, what to do ahead of time to prepare the model for implementation, and what things not to do to prevent problems with importing models into Unreal Tournament 2004 from LightWave 8.

First when you are modeling remember to keep your polygon numbers down. The lower the polygon count the faster the game goes. Therefore with this in mind remember that you cannot use sub patching with game models. It will not import into the game, and it will distort your model more than you want. Leave sub patching for higher quality models.

Then as you start modeling make sure you are modeling in the correct units. 1 meter equals 1 unreal unit, and a standard character size for the male model is 96 unreal units. So make sure you are modeling in meters and not any other unit of measure.

Next choose your axis that you want to model on. This will help you to position the model easier and save time rotating the model around for placement. The model will import exactly the direction you want. This will also make the model easier to use when programmers load it into the game, saves time from the model having to be tweaked afterwards.

Also make sure that the origin is placed where it would logically be placed. For instance on this sword it would be located in the center of the handle. That way when the sword is loaded and imported into the game, the sword will be located correctly in the character’s hand. Once again saves time from the model having to be tweaked afterwards.

Finally as you model try to keep from having invisible polygons. Make sure all polygons are facing the same way, use the flip polygons command,”f”, so that all polygons are faced the correct way. Invisible polygons are when there are polygons hidden inside other polygons, especially at places where polygons over lap. This will help texture artists from having to find the polygons they are painting, another time saving technique.

Now after you have modeled your object, here are some things to think about before you import your objects into the game. First, the texture artist are the ones that texture the model and there should only be one surface for every polygon on the model, usually the default surface. The game will only allow one surface for each polygon, and the only surface in the game should be the textured surface created by the texture artist.

Next make sure that after you have completed the model that every piece of the model is on one layer. The game will not import and model with more than one layer. By making this check you will save time and thought as to why the model will not import.

Finally, the last check, you should make is with your UV texture map. There should only be one UV texture map for every polygon on the model. The game will only import the model and use one UV map, which should be the UV map created by the texture artist. This will also keep errors from occurring when importing the models into the game. A texture map is created when the texture artist makes a texture, so by creating one after you’ve completed modeling would create and extra map that would prevent the texture from loading correctly.

Should you encounter any problems while importing your model recheck these things: Is there only one surface for every polygon? Are all the parts of the model on the same layer? Is there only one UV texture map? Does every polygon included in the UV texture map? Also, to prevent problems with resizing and post modeling tweaks try these tips: Is the model made to scale using meters, keeping in mind 1 meter = 1 unreal unit, 96 units = standard character size. Is the model facing the proper axis direction? Is the origin placed where it should logically be on the model, i.e. the center of the handle on a sword. Has there been sub patching used on the model? Are there any inside or invisible polygons? Corrections to these checks will help save time and allow the model to be more compatible with the game and its build processes.

Should you encounter more than one surface or UV map. Use these steps to correct the problems. For more than one surface select all the surfaces and press “q” to rename all the selected textures. Click make default and name the surface default, this will associated all the selected surfaces with just the surface you just created. Save the object and reload the model and open the surface editor to make sure there is only one surface called default.

Lastly, if there is more than one UV map, all the other UV maps should be deleted that are not necessary. The only UV map that should be used is the one created by the texture artist. More than one UV map is usually the problem behind oddly placed textures and non loading textures. To delete extra UV maps, click the “T” in the lower right hand side of the screen. Then click on the square that says new, this should open a drop down menu that displays all the current UV maps for the model. Select the Extra UV maps and then click the map tab and then click the clear map button under general. This will delete the selected maps, do this until only the desired one is left.

Now if you have completed all the checks and made all the corrections, your model should import into Unreal Tournament Of course new problems arise every day, so should there be a problem not covered in this tutorial, ask people that know more around to hopefully uncover the answer to your problem. To import your model just open unreal editor and select static meshes from the tabs on the opened window. Then click file, import, and look up the object file you saved. The model should import correctly how you want it to.