i made a model of a baracade (for my troops in battle) now what do i do? i herd something about copying the model and making it lowrez and stuff like that but i do NOT have a clue how to do this properly. this will need a colision thing aswell so my troops not just walk through the baracade.

if i could just have a N00B tutorial on exporting that would really help. thanks people

p.s i have the XSI 5.1 (summin like that) Foundation version trial with the .msh exporter installed so miss them steps lol

wazmol', I suggest that you read ''art_guide'' located in The Documentation Folder...

- Linus

You could've used the exact same number of words telling him how to export instead of directing him somewhre else.

This is how you export:
1) Install the exported
2) Branch select your model
3)On 'File' Go to Pandemic > Exporter (I beleive, forgot) and select where you want the file exported to.

I agree with JJ, Linus.

Especially because it would be waste if he had to read everything instead of just asking and get the simple reply here (I know there aren't much in the art_guide, but in some of the bigger docs...)

Does it work like it's supposed to?

Just to clarify, by Branch Select, we mean middle click. Doing so selects all of the important things underneath dummyRoot in the hierarchy.

The dummyroot being the null you placedand put all your objects and hardpoints under.

By lowrez and all tat soundslike you read nz's tutorial.That would justby copying the stuff and renaming it under another root which you can export separately for collision and lowrez models. You shouldn't have to worry about any of that right now though.

thanks guys but when you say Kyross: "You shouldn't have to worry about any of that right now though." why? im sure that i would have to add a low rez and a shadow and a collision

sorry for double post but i exported it and placed it in ZeroEdit but ingame it doesnt appear

If you want to get all technical and deep and have it fully decked out yes, but for a first model most of that is really just optional. who really pays attention to whether or not anything but players have shadows?

And lowrez is just the model it uses when a certain distance away. It's defalt collision should be itself or the same as whatever you are replacing.

Givemea minute and I will pu together a slideshow to explain everything.
actually some of this doesseem important but you can get themoel ingame without it.

ok thanks will this be a powerpoint and when will you send me it?

I had to go after taking the pictures for it and just got back.

[I typed up a bigtutorial with pictures and everything. Then got lazy and realised the art guide conveniently packaged with the documentation that came with the mod tools summed it up pretty well.]

From t3h docz0rs:
Appendix B
Shadowvolumes
Shadowvolumes are special meshes that are created to mimic the model in shape and profile to cast shadows onto terrain and other objects. It can also be used for self-shadowing. Follow these steps to create a shadowvolume:
1. Create a low-poly mesh that is slightly smaller in scale than the original model's mesh. When both the original mesh and the shadowvolume are unhidden, you should not see any of the shadowvolume sticking out of the original model. Try to keep it as low-poly as possible, but pay special attention to the profile from the top down view or whatever angle the sun will be at in relation to the model. The silhouette is what needs the most attention, because this is what gets cast onto other objects. Also, the mesh must be completely closed without any open ends or polygons, and its global center is 0,0,0.
2. Once created, name the shadowvolume mesh "shadowvolume". If there is more than one, name them "shadowvolume", "shadowvolume1", "shadowvolume2", etc.
3. Make the shadowvolume mesh a child of the actual mesh to which it is related. This is especially important when there are multiple shadowvolumes and bones and animated parts in the model. If the original mesh is skinned, then the shadowvolumes should be children of their respected bones. Otherwise, they should just be children of the individual objects.
4. Select the shadowvolume mesh.
5. In the Animate menu, select Create -> Parameter -> New Custom Parameter.
6. In the dialogue box, rename the Parameter Name to shadowvolume. Uncheck the Animatable Characteristic Button.
7. Hide the shadowvolume mesh before export
Appendix C
Collision Meshes
Collision meshes are simple low-poly meshes that are used by the game engine to calculate when and how objects collide with each other. There are 2 types of collision meshes used in SW BattleFront: collision meshes and collision primitives.
Collision Mesh
1. This is usually a low-poly yet fairly conforming version of the original mesh. It is most often used for soldier and ordnance collision since those are most obvious ways to see collision mesh correctness. For example, you can see the ordnance collision on an object by shooting at it with any weapon. If the collision is sloppy and covers gaps or is not correctly aligned with the original mesh, then you will see the laser blasts hit empty space or inside the actual geometry of the model. The collision mesh has to be named "collision", or if there are more than one, "collision", "collision1", "collision2", etc. Multiple collision meshes will all get merged into one when munged. This is very important when considering rule #3. Do make the collision mesh a child of the root node or its corresponding node, and make sure its global center is at 0,0,0.
2. Enabling the Collision Mesh: if the vehicle .MSH file has a corresponding .OPTION file, then it might contain the argument "-nocollision". This is to prevent generation of a default collision mesh using the model's full geometry. If you have specified a collision mesh in XSI, you will need to remove this argument from the .OPTION file.
3. Collision meshes can NOT be used on moving parts (turrets, bones etc). When the vehicle is munged, all collision mesh nodes are merged into a single non-articulated collision mesh. If a moving part on a vehicle requires collision, it will have to be specified with a primitive.
4. If a vehicle has a collision mesh, it will automatically be used when colliding with soldiers and ordnance. Collision meshes (on vehicles) are not used for any other type of collision. Primitives must be used when vehicles collide with terrain, buildings, and other vehicles. Collision Primitives
--- Collision Primitives are a cheaper and faster way of computing collision for the game engine. It is also the only way to have collision on moving parts such as turrets or bones. Collision primitives can be either cubes, cylinders, or spheres. Cubes can be scaled in x,y, and/or z to better fit the geometry they are conforming to. It is best to leave the original size of 8 units as is and scale the cube from there. On the other hand, cylinders and spheres CANNOT be scaled. Instead, use the polygon properties such as radius and length to control the size of those 2 primitives. Also very important, primitive collision pieces CANNOT be frozen or lose their primitive properties. This information is taken directly into the game engine and if it is lost, the engine will most likely ignore the primitive collision. Lastly, DO NOT move the center of primitive collision either or else the proper information will be lost as well.
---There is a limit of 64 collision primitives per model (or 63 primitives + 1 collision mesh).

[That's the basic gist of it. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. If you need further help or something here is giving you more trouble, I'm sure.]