How to create models in XSI and other 3D applications and make them work in Battlefront 1 & 2. Post models, tips for application usage and share anything XSI, 3DMax, SketchUp, etc.
Hello There. I have jumped into the XSI pool and started making my own objects. So here are my first two.
A pirate ship...
I'm just kidding. My skills have not reached half that yet. Here's the real pirateship i made...
And the new ARC-195. It's my own ship if i was in the Star Wars universe.
Construtive criticisivesum is welcome. Note: These were made in the Modtools 4.2 not the actual XSI so don't expect to see these in a map any time soon.
Last edited by Moving_Target on Mon Aug 14, 2006 3:39 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Well, I must say that they look a heck of a lot better than my first models. Do you know how to use the add points/add edges tools? You can use them to make the back end of the ship a little less... square.
@t551t551: No i don't know how to use the add points/add edges tools yet. Thanks 4 letting me know about them.
@mcdestroyer: I don't know what the pirate ship would be used for when i first made it. The reason i made it was because of Pirates 2. Someone could use it as scenary like you said and also a flyable ship. Now i just need to know how to transfer models made in XSI modtools 4.2 to ingame...hmmm... Thanks guys!
On the left panel, go to modify => polymsh. It has tons of useful tools for making complex shapes. Just start with , say, a cylinder primitive, and you can app ponts and edges to turn it into a tree, with some liberal moving of points.
EDIT: The road from 4.2 to the game is long and hard, my friend. Search around on the forums, but the gist of it is:
a) You export to .XSI, and beg a friend with XSI Foundation to export them to .MSH
or
b) You export to .MSH, and then you use a model converter to convert it MS3D ASCII, and then use Nimlot's BConstructor (availible on the BF1 utilities page, I think) to convert it to .MSH. This method does NOT support animations, and you run the risk of screwing up your model by converting it too many times.
I would just reccommend investing in Foundation, because converting models between formats is very hard and time consuming, and Foundation is a very powerful tool by itself.
EDIT #2: One more tip on the models, when you try to make something a curved surface, you don't need all that many triangles, because, unless you mark an edge as hard, the game attempts to smooth it slightly, so after a certain point, adding more tri's just wasts memory. You can check the Art guide in the BF2_Modtools documents folder for guidlines on how many triangles a certain type of object should have, and to see how many your model has, in the top bar, go Edit => Info Scene.
you should REALLY raise your monitor resolution cause half the tools on the right and left panels are hidden cause your screen is too small and also change the camera view to user and set it from wireframe to textured decal so we can see what itll look like in game.
Minilogoguy18 i semi-understand what you're talking about. By raising the resoultion do you mean change it from 1024 by 768 to 1088 by 612? And where do i click to get it to look ingame?
Also how do i add hard points? Besideds Nimlot's BConstructor, what else do i need to convert models? And could someone point me the right direction to find the model converter to convert it MS3D ASCII. Thank you guys o so very much for your support.
@t551t551: Wouldn't i also find modify => polymsh somewhere in the toolbar?
Target
EDIT: Well i just downloaded the BConstructor and that a little confusing. But no pain no gain! Could someone tell me some tip, tricks about using BConstructor? Thanks!!!
well i dont use bconstructor so i cant help you with that, hardpoints can just be nulls. theres also a setting in XSI though that makes it fit your screen better but i dunno where it is, my resolution is 1280x1024.
Set your desktop resolution to the highest your monitor can handle. Yes, you could find the polymsh option under a file menu, but it is faster to use it from the sidebar.
With hard points do i just click and place them we i want it and that's it?
What should i google search to find the model converter to convert it MS3D ASCII?
Wow minilogoguy18 that's a small resolution you got there. i could get use to it but i'm going to stick with 1024 by 768.
@t551t551: When you mean that method doesn't support animations. Do you just mean new animations? or old also.
Good thing i'm only going to make vehicles and senery. t551t551 can you tell me the exact order how to tranfer something from XSI modtools 4.2 to Battlefront 2? I really dont care if it's time consuming and painful i just want to get the stuff i made ingame. Also where can i fidn a converter taht you mention earlier?
Yocki no problem with making the ship long. I added three cannons on each side. Could add more. The only problem is getting all the stuff and learning how to use it and get it ingame is the problem. so don't expect the odf and msh soon.
Also it wouldn't put a strain on my compy if i change the setting resolution contineuosly? I mean change it to Mini's settings when i XSI and when i'm done chagne it back.
you should just set it at its highest and keep it that way cause i got used to it and its so much better cause big pics on webpages dont stretch out your screen and you dont have to scroll down as much and it makes your desktop look neater cause its not full of icons. hadpoints you just place them wherever and make them child to dummyroot and thats all. also to change your setting to see what itll look like in game would to be to click on the camera button where it says camera and change it to user then click on where it says wireframe and change it to textured decal and just maximize the view to take screens. i hate it how people always take quick renders of everything and it makes the texture darker than what itll be in game and it makes all those shadows *hint QDin* you cant see what the model REALLY looks like. i changed all my render settings so that when i take a render it renders the gid and also renders it as the SWBF2 engine makes it look, i dont just take print screens like some might think.
Why not just keep it at a higher resolution all the time? It doesn't affect the resolution of full-screen applications like games, and it's more useful.
A tutorial, hmm? Well, I'll give it a shot, but please be aware, I have never gotten this method to work.
1) Make your model, texture it, set it up properly. Everything Should be merged into one polymesh if you are making a prop, and that polymesh should be a child of a null called "DummyRoot" (no quotes) and placed at 0,0,0.
If you have any hardpoints in your model, write down their XYZ coordinates on a piece of paper. DO NOT LOSE THIS PAPER.
2) Freeze all transforms (I forget where this option is, but it's under one of the top menus)
3) Branch select (middle mouse click) on DummyRoot in the explorer view. This selects all important things under it.
4) Go file => export => XSI.
Here is where you will need to play around. ModTools has three different versions of the XSI format to export, and Biturn, the only file converter I ever found that handled XSI, only handles XSI v.5.0. So, somehow (MAGIC!) convert your file to Milkshape 3D ASCII.
After you export, undo ONCE. The reason for this will be explained later.
5) Open up BConstructor. Go File=> Import MS3D ASCII. Browse to and open your new MS3D ASCII file.
6) In the hierarchy view, look for the names of your hardpoints, if you had any, and when you select them, their coordiantes will all be 0,0,0. this is because freeze all transforms sends nulls (which is what Hardpoints are) back to 0,0,0. This is why you need to undo after you export, otherwise if you save the model, you'll have to spend a while sorting out the Hardpoints. Obviously, this is not a problem for DummyRoot, but you will need to manually update the coordinates of any other hardpoints from the piece of paper.
7) Now go file => save, and it will save a .MSH file.
I guarantee you, THIS METHOD WILL NOT WORK THE FIRST TIME YOU TRY IT! You wil need to mess around with the options quite a lot before this will work.
Often this method will go wrong in the conversion from XSI to MS3D. Compare the filesizes of the .XSI file and the MS3D .txt file, and open them up in notepad to compare the contents.
Other than the sails being blocks, it looks good. Don't really know what you could do about that though keeping poly limitations in mind.
If those are cannons in the last picture they seem a bit too big compared to the rest of the ship, which seems pretty sizeable looking at the grid around it. I was planning on making a navy map but with star warsish/sci fi ships. You could try something like that but with traditional ships.
Oh, and even doing only scenery and vehicles you may still need bones for certain weapons and such.
