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Call of Juarez 2 Part 5: Custom Objects in ChromEd

November 12, 2009
Category: Call of Juarez 2

Part 5 covers:

Maya Exporter Installation
Setting Up Units
What you need to know before exporting
Textures
DDS Plugin
Material file creation
Setting LODs

Call of Juarez 2 Level Design Part 5: Custom Objects in ChromEd

CoJ2 Bound in Blood Video Notes:

Download Maya Exporter for Maya2009

Install the Exporter

Place: ChromeExporter and userSetup

Into MyDocuments\maya\2009\scripts

Place: AnimConverter and chromeAnimexport.mll and chromemeshexport.mll

Into Maya2009 Installation Folder\bin\plug-ins

Launch Maya2009 and you should see Chrome pull-down menu

Set up proper units inside Maya. ChromEd uses centimeters.

Window --> Settings/Preferences --> Preferences

Under Settings/Working Units change it to centimeters

Scale

Before Exporting from Maya make sure to:

Proper Scale
Name: name your object objectname_0

0-3 = level of detail (LOD) that gets rendered

objectname_0
objectname_1
objectname_2
objectname_3

Create a simple collision for your object and name it collisionhull_0

This collisionhull_0 has to be placed in the same space as your objectname_0
(in the 0, 0, 0) - not shown below

UV your model and make sure no UVs intersect.

Triangulate all of your models. Select all of your models and go to

Mesh --> Triangulate

Delete History on all of your objects

Parent your collisionhull_0 to your objectname_0

Position your collisionhull_0 and objectname_0-3 at 0, 0, 0

Select everything except collisionhull_0

Chrome --> Export Mesh

Select Detect lods and set Mesh scale to 1.000

Hit Export selected objects
Save it as the same name of your object without the _0

Place the custom exported object into your maps directory. You can create subfolders if you want. Model browser will be able to read into any subfolders you create.

Textures:

Photoshop DDS Plug-in: Creates DDS textures.

Material Files:

You need to create the following material files. Use notepad to create them. Make sure that .mat file gets two breaking spaces after the last }. Just press enter twice.

objectname.skn

Skin("Custom Crate")

{
Replace("customcrate.mat", "customcrate.mat")
ReplaceSurface("Wood", "", "")
}

objectname.mat

import "templates.mtt"

sub material()
{
use mtt_objects(
s_clr = "objectname.dds",
s_nrm = "customcrate_nrm.dds",
s_shn = "customcrate_shn.dds",
f_shn_factor = 1.0,
f_nrm_factor = 1.0);
}

Place the custom exported objects and all of your textures and materials into your maps directory. You can create subfolders if you want. Model browser will be able to read into any subfolders you create.

Create a 96x96 png file named objectname_prvw.png

This is a preview that will show up in your model browser

Go to your model browser in ChromEd and under All, navigate into your map folder for your custom object. Place it into your map.

To set LOD distance at which our custom lods get switched over. In ChromEd go to

View --> Other Windows --> Mesh visibility params

Find your object and set LODs. Object must be placed into your map for this to work.