Wednesday 30 September 2009

Second Attempt at importing a 3DS Max model into the Unreal Engine Editor

OK after yesterdays effort i decided to start again and try another tutorial that John Dwyer had kindly provided me with. Although yesterdays effort wasn't a success i was determined to get it right today. And I'm happy to say Ive finally cracked it :) I do realise that i did not do all that i was supposed to do i.e. like UVW Unwrap the 3DS Max character model this is why the Material/s in the Unreal Engine did not sit right on the character. However even just attempting to importing the model across has helped me greatly.

Learning outcomes:
  • Never use spaces when naming the characters head, torso, arms, legs and boots

  • If there is no Published folder in the C:\Documents and Settings\Steven Chabeaux\My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame copy and paste over the Unpublished foledr and rename (I dont know why there was no Published folder present ill have to work that one out?)

  • Very important to name the shoulder pads with meshname_LShoPad01 all other meshes are not that important

  • Texture sizes no bigger than 1024 x 1024

  • Ensure all sections of the character conform to the Unreal layout when setting out your UVW Map

  • Here is the tutorial i followed that was kindly donated by John Dwyer http://www.veoh.com/collection/HouseofUnreal/watch/v3378005eMBr65b9

Below is a screen shot of the custom character imported into Unreal Tournament 3 and also some videos with the character actually in-game.



4 comments:

  1. Hi Steven slowly , slowly and you will get there.

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  2. Glad that the tutorial helped and that you have your test character ingame. As I say this character is different from yours.....the animation works well because the pads cover the joints. And therefore any errors (strech or sqash )! Your character design has very different proportions. And you may have to rework it to get it to look good with the standard Unreal anims. As you do not at this stage want to re-do animations. This would be the best rout to take. Follow the advice that I gave you in the prior section. Update your design one element at a time !The missing folder is not relevent. You would only have it if you download mods and other wise you just create it manually. So dont worry about it.
    Most of your questions can be answered on the Unreal modding site that I gave you the address for. If you have any specific Q's let me know.

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  3. Check out this guys work as an example of proportion to work in Unreal. I have seen his stuff on mods before http://www.farazmobin.com/

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  4. HI guys.

    Good to see you have gotten your head round it all Ste. Its coming together. I too had very similar teething problems at first but once yoy get your brain into unreal mode it should start to just go straight in. Its just a matter of getting it right once and bobs your uncle.

    Also Hi John. Good to see your following Ste's stuff on here too. Thanks for all the help and mentoring over on your side too. Cracking link you have there too.

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