Posts by shawnolson

Well the answer to your question could involve more than just disable shadows.

There are a few other things you can do to get good shadows with the foliage. Here are just a few tips off the top of my head:

• When setting your level to compile, you'll want to set these VRAD commands: -staticproppolys -staticproplighting -textureshadows (and make an entry in the lights.rad for your map that includes the forcetextureshadow command for this prop).
• If you are the author of the model, change the orientation of the Normals for the model. There are good article on Polycount discussing VertexNormal and this thread on vertex normals and foliage.

I've got a new little tool for quickly converting models into seamlessly tiling textures in just a couple clicks. Introducing ProPal.

[Blocked Image: http://dev.wallworm.com/media/1/image/png/page/134_propal-header2.png]

I built the tool for designing tiling textures like building facades, roads, walls, columns, etc. It tiles only in U or V seamlessly. It also controls most common RTT parameters directly at the object level (and in the Projection modifier via a custom attribute) so you don't have to click Add + dimensions for each render element--instead just set one dimension and check/uncheck the elements you want.

Sorry about the video--I was recording on the fly and should have set the object with more resolution and pushed the Projection cage to create a nicer normal (as in the image above) but alas I have almost half a dozen kids who keep my brain sufficiently frazzled to excuse such mistakes. For those who buy ProPal, the scene in the graphic is available to download as a sample scene.

The tool is on sale for $4 through Sunday. Then goes up some.

The name of your map and the theme of it... really makes this relevant: http://www.wallworm.net/index.php/topic,1206.0.htmlYou should consider moving it to Max and participating in the contest

I made the mistake of excluding too many of the people that are friends of mine or moderators of WW forums... who are the people most interested in this. As such, I'm not going to make that restriction on the next contest. There is still a week on the current contest. Next month there will be a brand new contest that will have a new theme along with a much more enticing first-place prize.

And to help here is a new video on getting a VMF into Max with the props:

Expect some more videos on actual design tools and workflow techniques soon.

@Cora : You should definitely update WW. The brush geometry import bug has been fixed. And for the model exporting, most likely fixed. There was a two-week-window in January where WW was broken and I wasn't aware because I was focused on building the WW Pro functions.

In terms of the nodraw... the problem is that the VMF Importer is set up to import the level so that the brushes remain as brushes so you can re-export the VMF from Max. Deleting faces of brushes just isn't pragmatic because they invalidate the geometry. I'll look into some other utilities for making it easier to show/hide objects by tools, etc.

You should hold off on update WW until later today, though, as I'm addressing a prop-import bug in the VMF Importer that causes an infinite loop in one case. I posted an update earlier for a related issue but still working on fixing it entirely.

Just wanted to chime in. I'm doing a lot of work on the level design pipeline right now inside Wall Worm. As mentioned above, the greatest challenge to someone trying to learn WW is first learning Max, then the WW workflow. I am currently recording some new videos and writing new documentation on various items that will be very helpful for anyone trying to tip your toe into this. You can do it all right inside Max without Hammer at all once you figure it out--and trying to help everyone interested in this learn WW is a never ending passion of mine.

@Cora: Could you please post more information on the WW Forums regarding the crashing issue you are experiencing? Whenever a crashing scenario presents itself, I am very eager to fix this--usually in the same day its reported. The problem is that when it isn't reported to me, I can't fix it. And please share info on the nodraw on faces... I'm not sure I understand that issue. Please include info on the version of WW as well as which 3ds Max you are using.

Quote from FRAG

And with that last part, you lost me, sorry but now you're sounding off untrue facts.

It's great you've done this and yeah you really believe in your toolset because you have a passion for 3DS Max, but we all use the Hammer editor, it's what we have learnt to use for years to craft our worlds, if someone has prior knowledge of Max then I'm sure they will be interested in WW as it does look really useful, but you will find that is not the majority, I should know, I've been floating around for 13 years myself and all I ever saw was XSI or blender being the go to tools for hobbyists as they didn't cost anything above maybe a pint to a mate to get it all working for you.

Keep up good the work on WW.

Please do not misinterpret that comment. I came on to share a video and saw these posts and tried to quickly answer again. I was answering the question about what I personally feel is a challenge for me. That someone wants to use Hammer, Blender, etc is perfectly fine Entirely. My frustrations alluded to are that those who discuss this topic in many forums or ask them generally regurgitate answers that are simply not true (like the fact that many forums constantly say you cannot use Max after 2012 for models, etc). Those are very Max-specific things.

I have many friends who use only Hammer. And I know many exceptionally talented people that make things that blow my mind in Hammer. I've had access to the original Hammer files for Dear Esther and am simply astounded by what Rob Briscoe did inside it.

I do not believe that you have to use Max for your levels, nor do I feel that anyone is undeserving of respect if they use Hammer. While I am very biased for Max, that is my own personal passion that I enjoy sharing with the world. Please do not misinterpret my post as condescending ... as I generally simply love creativity and creative people.

So if any of you are as much as an old fart as I am, you may have fun learning how easy it is to import a Goldsrc level into 3ds Max ... and then re-export it into newer engines (like Source). In this video, I'm taking a CS 1.6 level I made over a decade ago and sending it into CS:GO in a couple of minutes without any hassle.

And yes, I know that you can import your MAP into the CS:GO Hammer. But this is for the Max/WW people... and those who don't want to re-make material names and all that boring stuff.

Enjoy!

Quote from laminutederire

How hard would it be to have a version of your software that could work without 3ds max?

Since Blender can export .3ds, it could be useful to convert in .3ds then into .vmf.

Pardon me if it is a stupid question I'm not a genius in software development!

It would be harder than you think. There is a lot of logic in all the WW tools tied to how 3ds Max works internally. And there is nothing in WW that deals with .3ds files (which is an old format that isn't actually what 3ds Max uses). WW doesn't work directly on file formats except in terms of importing/exporting between Max and Source. So, for example, WW doesn't convert a VMF to a file format--instead, it imports the VMF data to create Geometry inside Max, or to export it takes scene geometry and exports to VMF.

Quote from Guni

I am of the target market that has only used Hammer, and although I know hammer quite well i wouldn't say im stubborn in exploring other software. Rather, and i think it was mentioned before, it is more so the time and effort required to "aquire" 3ds max and the plugin, and then learn it (Laziness). Of-course i also think there are limitations when it does have a rather "Pay to play" business model, opposed to Hammer which is provided free with a rather easy to use interface and larger community.

Saying this, do you find a common limitation when reaching out to people with 3ds Max? Is the cost, effort and alternate software all hurdles that have come up time and time again? I am just curious why you would go for an option that is harder to put into the hands of your average user. I really like that you've developed from the ground up, and I can see you are extremely passionate about 3dsMax and WW, but for me personally, I think the time and effort spent would not merit the outcome.

On Topic: I look forward to seeing the entrants submissions in this competition and seeing what WW is capable of. Maybe I'll be put in my place and end up 'acquiring' a copy of 3ds.

Pay to Play isn't really an issue. The majority of students and hobbyists can get Max for free directly from Autodesk Education Center. The hurdles I generally face are lack of education. The internet likes to regurgitate untrue facts forever. I still see people say that you can't use Max for Source levels or that there is no SMD exporters for Max 2015, etc. Apparently, the skill to use Google is only learned by people older than 30.

Quote from unremarkable player

Any chance you could extend this so say... Blender?? A lot of people who model for hammer use blender. Avoids the many $$$'sands they have to spend to purchase software they can essentially get for free (albeit, Maya and 3DSM are a pretty long way ahead of Blender in film, but it does the job just fine)

Blender is certainly a great free asset to the world of creativity. I'm glad it exists, and that it continues to grow. But it just isn't my cup of tea. The only reason WW has gotten to the point it has is because of my own personal passion for using it inside my darling 3ds Max. I don't have the resources (time, incentive) to make a Blender version. I've been using Max for 15 years. My incentive was the fact that I love both Source and 3ds Max, which gave me the reason to make time for it. And it took those years of using Max to get to where I understood enough about Max to start WW with any kind of sanity; and once started, it's been a 4-year education into MAXScript, linear algebra, application quirks and "customer" support. For me to make time for Blender would be like spending years to train and teach your beloved champion Golden Retriever, but suddenly stop all interaction with it and suddenly take all your money, time and dog food to feed and groom the neighbor's dog instead--and do it while your heart is yearning to take your own dog for walks.

The contest has been extended to March 31. I hope to see some of you get interested in it.

There was an update to WW Pro today that addresses some memory issues exporting DMX/SMD and fixes problems with the Wrinklemap exporter in WW Pro. And to go along with it, here is a new video explaining how to export facial animations/morphs as well as wrinklemaps.

Thanks for the feedback from those of you who are testing the early WW Pro versions.

Just some updates for those playing around in Max. There was an update this morning to fix the broken texture exporter. There was a problem in the VTF exporter if WW Pro isn't installed... the exporter kept thinking that all bitmaps had invalid dimensions. That problem is now fixed.

Quote from soultron

I might give this a go. I'm more comfortable with Max from prototyping layouts and placeholder models during my dayjob already, so this seems like a great excuse. I do agree that the timeline does seem a bit daunting.

I'm sure many people will say they could ship a map by the date you've suggested (might not look or run great though, depending on the person), but I personally worry about the necessary buffer time allotment for playtesting and iteration, custom asset creation (start to finish), and optimization.

I will definitely consider extending if the participants generally feel its necessary. I'm going to try and put out some new videos that will help explain some features and techniques this week that might lessen the design burdens.

Also, from the increased users testing the level design tools and providing feedback, I've found and fixed some bugs that will help anyone trying to migrate a project from Source to Max. The VMF/Map importer should no longer have the occasional bad brush or incorrect UV in the latest version of WW. We also found and fixed some major issues with running WW on Max 2012. Still, strongly urge users to use Max 2015+... so much faster and nicer.

Quote from diotk

Well I downloaded 3ds max is there anyway I can do it with it and if yes is there an easy tutorial ? I'm sorry that I'm being annoying I just dont have much time and dont understand a lot about the QC files and so on.

Here is the start of your journey using Max. Enjoy http://dev.wallworm.com/ 

Hey guys. I should have left the comments out above. They are a result of various frustrations that I'm dealing with regarding the efforts in WW. My expressions is mainly a result of the mass of responses I've gotten via many avenues for several years. In essence, far more people are anti-Max for Source level design based on bad assumptions or poor information. Of course there are many that just aren't familiar with Max and don't have the time to learn something new, but I know from the volume of communications, this is the minority, especially with the amateur landscape. I try to be immune, but after 500 14 year olds sending me emails, IMs or forum flaming about how something is stupid... it can boil over

I may extend the contest if it seems prudent, Stormy. Part of my rationale is showing how you can build levels far faster in Max... but it does entail you already know Max/WW.

Shawn, offering cash would be something I'd do if my wife wouldn't shoot me. The tools are a fair gift, in my opinion. The contest is to get people to try using Max and the general free WW tools. Of course my long term goals are to get people interested in the Max environment enough that they end up buying the commercial tools more. This will help lessen the frustrations I deal with the giant world of 14 year-olds and their flames ... and will also help lessen the possibility that my wife will shoot me in general.

I intend to release some new docs and videos showing various new tools and workflows as soon as I'm done adding DMX into WW this week.

Warning: Wall Of Text being condensed...

Everyone has loved Source, hated Source... loved Hammer, Hated Hammer... etc. Skipping rest of blah blah.

So Wall Worm has allowed everyone to build levels for Source inside 3ds Max for a while now. And it's about to enter a new phase with the addition of Wall Worm Pro. If you want to know what that is, go read about Wall Worm Pro on the Wall Worm website.

One of the things that's bothered me for a few years now is how angry the Source community gets whenever I talk about using Max for Source level design. I get it... because I am also defensive about the tools I love too.

Most of the reasons people give me about why you should not use Max and should use hammer is BS. 99% of it is. Really, the only valid reasons I can think of is familiarity and proficiency (and cost if you are unable to use the educational versions of Max and don't already own Max). That's it. If you know 3ds Max and Wall Worm intimately, there are infinite opportunities that Max presents that just don't exist in Hammer. But if you are familiar with Hammer and not Max... well it can be daunting. I understand that.

So I'm trying to get some more people interested in learning how to use Max as a Source level editor by launching a level design contest. The first contest is Amazing Desert. There are several mods you can map for as long as it fits the contest theme and rules. The contest has some prizes (various commercial Wall Worm plugins like Wall Worm Pro and CorVex). I wish I could offer more... but that's all I can offer right now.

All submissions must be in by Midnight (12pm EST) of February 28, 2015. Winner will be announced on the Ides of March (March 15, 2015).

At this time the judges are Rick Underhill and myself. I am petitioning a couple of my other contacts to also help judge.

I hope that this entices some of you to learn some of the tools in Wall Worm and how exciting it is to build levels in Max. I have tried to share some of the possibilities with the community but I'm often torn between developing WW, making a living, helping the community, documenting WW, promoting, etc... and it's really a lot to cover on my own (the WW development team actually now includes another developer named Orvid King, so that helps). But obviously all the effort has not gotten the kind of interest in the level design tools that I really want to foster. I hope that some of you talented folks will take a look at the contest and share some of your creativity and talents.

I am always happy to answer questions on using the tools. And I promise that if there isn't a way to do something cool you think of, I will think long and hard on ways to help you accomplish it. I've added almost every feature anyone has asked for in Wall Worm in the last 4+ years. And now I hope you join in on it all.

Quote from Deh0lise

Nice! maybe now we will see some custom player models in new maps

Thanks Shawn

You are welcome.

Yeah, hopefully people start working with them. I haven't documented much of the new features, but there will be a video coming soon on them. Included will be setting up a model to use different bodygroups, flexfiles, various bone controls and re-using animations from compiled MDLs. I've even added support for making/placing eyes in the WWMT struct. But it's still a beta and need to test some more.

I really hope that level designers start learning how to use Max/WW instead of Hammer, too. Getting the VMF exporter to export scenes faster and using displacements is much better in this beta, as well as even faster in the Pro version coming soon. We are also toying with finding a way to integrate ShaderFX into the WW > Source pipeline for materials. That should be fun Also, at some point, I'm expecting to build a node-editor for entities (like UE4's blueprints). If/when that's around is yet to be determined.

It's not yet released, but I've been working extensively with a new addition to the Wall Worm team Orvid King to bring new tools into WW. There is a beta release of this new version. Since it's still not extensively tested, it's not yet the main download on WW site. You can see a list of updated features and a link to download on this post on the WW forums.

Among the features people have wanted for a long time there are proper skin weights on the SMD importer (as it turned out, the last update that was supposed to fix that was not correct), a VTA importer, complete $jigglebone (and other bone controls), etc.

A large percent of our focus has been speeding up slow functions, reducing RAM usage where possible, etc. We are also working on WW Pro, which will add native read/write of VTF files in Max and much faster importers/exporters that utilize the SDK rather than just MAXScript.

Here is a screenshot of ctm_fbi.qc from CS:GO imported from the updated QC/SMD importer tools:

[Blocked Image: http://dev.wallworm.com/media/1/image/png/page/121_qc_importer.png]

Notice the hitboxes and attachments. You can now bring them into Max, tweak them, and re-export.

Again, this is the beta and not the widely downloaded link. If you want to check out the new features, use the link above to get this beta. Please provide feedback if you find any bugs.

Wall Worm 2.331 was released yesterday. The update has important changes to the way the SMD exporter works. It will now export bone systems in a more expected manner with less need for the user to understand the way the nodes/transforms have to be setup for WW. In the past, many hierarchies could get bad transformations if the nodes added to a WWMT Helper (or SMD Exporter) were not set up a specific way or added in a certain order.

In all the tests I came across with many user-supplied files, this update solves all the problems I could solve automatically.

So hopefully this will make exported animated models less of a hassle.

I also need to clarify something that has been noted in the past but not made explicit enough: the WW SMD Exporter fully supports only 3ds Max 2014+. This is because when Max 2014 came out the methods for interacting with Skin modifier data was drastically altered. When I added support for 2014 I inadvertently broke the older versions of Max. By the time I figured this out, there had already been many layers of changes... and I have never had an incentive to go back and fix those. So if you find that models with Skin modifier export with incorrect bone weighting, it is probably because you are using an older version of Max. I recommend getting Max 2014/2015 (as they are much more stable and fast than 2012 which is what so many Source modders seem to be stuck on.)

I have updated the docs on Exporting CAT and Biped Models to reflect the current version of WW.

Please report any bugs you happen to find.