Amin Montazeri

Hi MapCore community,
Here's my 10-hours Blockout for FPS genre (aim map for CS:GO almost)

 

Much more images on my Artstation.
 
Any feedback would be appreciated.

Greetings Earthlings! @fmpone suggested I do an A-Z intro on Wall Worm for MapCore, and I thought it was an excellent idea. I never shy away from an opportunity to spread the joys of 3ds Max and Wall Worm.
Introduction
For those who do not know, Wall Worm has been a Source Engine pipeline toolset that I started back in 2010. I started it because I had just built my first level for Source with some custom models, and I had concluded that the process for getting props into Source was essentially a nightmare, especially for simple static props. Having more interest in level design than the technical aspects of models, I was frustrated with how much time went into getting models into Source. So I dove head first into MAXScript, and the Wall Worm Model Tools were soon born.
Fast-forward to 2016. Wall Worm has morphed from a model exporter into an entire pipeline for almost every aspect of building levels and games in Source. In the right hands, you can create entire worlds for Source directly inside 3ds Max without opening text editors and other applications. Using Wall Worm and Max, you can create materials, models and levels all in one place.
The driving principle behind Wall Worm is to make the process of creating assets for Source easier and more fun--I've always felt that my time should be focused on being creative rather than doing repetitive and mind-numbing tasks. Now that Source is getting older and newer engines are coming out with more user-friendly pipelines, it's going to be more and more of a shock for new designers who get sucked into Source because they want to make something for the great games still maintained on Source--and Wall Worm is your best friend when it comes to taking away the pain of making assets for Source.
Some quotes of people you probably know:
Getting Started
Before you do anything else, you should set Max up to use the correct system scale, units and grid spacing.
Click Customize > Units Setup Set the Display Unit Scale to Generic Units Click the System Unit Setup and make sure that 1 Unit = 1 Inch Click OK Click OK Right-Click the Snap Icon in the main toolbar In the Home Grid tab, change the grid spacing to a multiple of 2 (like 32, 64, 128 units, etc) Now Max is setup to the same scale as Source.
Models
For the majority of people using Wall Worm, the goal is to export a prop into Source. This one function is the reason 99% of people download Wall Worm. So this is the topic I'll cover first.
The main important thing to understand is that the more you know about 3ds Max itself, the better. Lacking familiarity with Max can lead to frustration. So I always suggest that you start from scratch and with a simple project before diving into complex projects. If you have never compiled a model for Source, then you should start with your first custom crate rather than a fully animated character. This is important even if you are just porting assets, because it will help you understand what is going on.
For models, Wall Worm stores information in an object called a WWMT Helper. Technically this is just a Text shape object that has extra data attached to it. You can think of the WWMT Helper as a UI for storing information about the model that you'd traditionally always write into a text file called a QC. In fact, when WW exports the model, it generates a QC file for you based on the settings in the WWMT Helper, which WW then sends to the model compiler.
Your First Model
To export your first model, you need an object in the scene. You can start with a Teapot Primitive. If you do not know how to create a teapot inside 3ds Max, then you should stop what you are doing and go here: Make a Teapot.
Click Wall Worm > Wall Worm Model Tools > Wall Worm Model Tools Click the Pick Model button in the WWMT UI Pick the new teapot model in the scene Immediately, Wall Worm creates a WWMT Helper. That helper will have some default settings (some of which can be controlled in global settings, including the default output paths, staticprop, etc). Take note of a field labeled Model Name. That name defaults to the node name you just picked (probably Teapot001). Also notice that the model immediately turned orange, as WW likely generated a default material for this object (this is the default behavior when picking a model that has no material).
Exporting your model into Source has two steps: Exporting the Materials/Textures (steps 1-3 below) and Exporting the Model (step 4 below).
Click the Export VTFs button in the WWMT UI Check all materials and textures you want to export in the popup Click the Export Selected Textures button Now that the textures have exported, export the model by clicking the Export QC+Model button. At the basic level, that's all there is to it.
If you have many WWMT Helpers in the scene and want to export all of the assets at once, you can:
Select All WWMT Helpers you want to export Click Wall Worm > Wall Worm Exporters > Export Selected Model Textures (to export all the materials and textures) Click Wall Worm > Wall Worm Exporters > Export WWMT to Source Models (to export all models) That method allows you to export any number of models with a couple clicks.
There are more functions and settings to explore in WW, including tools to create collision hulls, animation sequences, Level of Detail (LOD) models, custom gibs and a lot more. But we'll leave it at that for now.
Level Design
Building levels with Wall Worm isn't all too different than building them inside Hammer at the basic level. The primary difference is that you must be aware of the fact that its up to you to keep your brush geometry valid. Wall Worm offers several tools to make the process simple with brush-specific geometry types and modifiers to force geometry to remain valid. The main hurdle for Hammer users coming to Max is changing your design philosophy from atomic to systemic--in other words, don't build things brush-by-brush but instead build systems (see CorVex, which is a brush-geometry tool built for BSP design). If you stay in the Hammer-methodology, then you are missing the point of using Max and might as well stay in Hammer.

 
You may want to go learn about Grids, Snaps and other Drawing Aids before delving into your first test of level design in Max. Those functions are similar to Hammer, but have more features and settings to understand. Some of the functions like Increase/Decrease grid spacing can be bound to keyboard shortcuts via the Customize > Customize User Interface and looking in the wallworm.com category (there are many hidden gems in there to help make your design process easier).
Your First Brush
1) Turn on 3D Snaps
2) Turn on Snap To Grid
3) Maximize the Perspective viewport
4) Make four Box Primitives as four walls around you teapot
5) Make a Box primitive for the floor
6) Select all five boxes (but not the teapot)
7) Click Wall Worm > Wall Worm Level Design > Set Selection as Brush Geometry
Now these objects are tagged as brushes. The VMF Exporter will export them as brushes. Note that this method of brush-work is similar to the Hammer method of brush-by-brush (which I just said is not ideal), but this demonstrates the similarity of Max/Hammer in a basic level.
Your First Brush Material
Now your brushes need some materials.
Open the Slate Material Editor (M on the keyboard) Right Click an empty part of the Slate View Click Maps > Bitmap Browse for a TGA Bitmap on your computer that has a power of 2 dimension (512x512, 1024x1024, etc) When the bitmap node appears in slate, double-click it and change the name of the map to a relative path (so change "Map #1" in the material editor to "testing/textures/" Click and Drag the little circle at the right side of the texture to an empty part of Slate (notice the red line) Let go of the mouse and choose Materials > Standard from the menu Drop the bitmap into the Diffuse slot of this material Double click the new material Change the name of the material from "Standard #25" to "testing/textures/brush1" Select your five brushes At the top of the Slate Material Editor, click the Assign Material to Selection button At the top of the Slate Material Editor, click the Show Shaded Material in Viewport button (be default, textures don't appear in the viewport) Click Wall Worm > Wall Worm Exporters > Export Brush Textures Click Export Selected Textures After this is finished, WW will have created "testing/textures/brush1.vmt" with a base texture of "testing/textures/bitmapyouchose.vtf" (where the vtf file name will match the TGA bitmap you selected.
For Wall Worm pro users, any texture type is valid (even non-bitmap textures). For the standard WW, the bitmaps must be TGA files. See Advanced Texture Controls available in WW Pro. With WW Pro tools, you can work efficiently with Substance maps right inside Max.
Controlling the texture transformations (offsets, rotations and scales) are topics for another day.
Exporting the Scene
To export this simple scene, just click Wall Worm > Wall Worm Exporters > Export Scene as VMF. With the dialog that pops open, you can choose to pack the assets, various compile parameters and to compile.  Go ahead and turn on the Compile Map on Export option and click the Export Scene as Game Level.
Now WW generates the VMF and sends it to the compiler. Because we did not seal the level, there will be a leak generated (which you'll see in the resulting log). Once the compile is done, you can view the leak as you would in Hammer by clicking Wall Worm > Wall Worm Level Design > Wall Worm Map Compile Tools > Load Leak File. Now you'll see a big red line that is the leak.
From here you can take the standard principles of fixing the level. You'll want to add entities, which are loaded with the Wall Worm > Wall Worm Level Design > (Point Entities | Brush Entities) menus.
You can continue to fix the level to a compilable state, or you can open the scene in Hammer to see your brushes and model.
Conclusion
What I've covered here is just the tip of the iceberg. Here are just a few of the other utilities you can utilize in Wall Worm:
Blended Mapping Material Generator Sky Writer to render 2D skies Displacement Sculpting RAD File Generator Res File Generator Soundscape Generator Animated Sprite Exporter Animated Texture Exporter Wrinklemap Exporter Map / VMF Importer VMT Importer A lot more... I know that the majority of Source level designers are not interested in the level design-side of WW. But for those who have similar interests as I've always had, I think you'll get a lot of satisfaction in building worlds in Max once you get your mind wrapped around it. Because of the long history of  Source designers believing it's impossible to make world geometry inside Max, Wall Worm recently hosted a brush-only level design contest to help dispel the myth. Check out some of the screen shots of the levels (remember, the contestants were not allowed to use models, displacements or Hammer).
Brush-Only Maps from WW Contest
gg_futurelobby

fy_delaunay_world

That contest was sponsored by some super-sexy plugin developers: Exlevel, Ephere and enRichPro. All three have agreed to sponsor the next contest, which will not be limited to just brushes. The first place winner received $1k in commercial software licenses. Rules for the next contest will be announced soon.
Other mappers, too, have been experimenting with doing Source level design inside Max. Joris Ceoen is an avid creator with levels that have won Game Banana contests. His level Space Marble Unlimited won a contest recently and is the level featured on the book below.
If you are interested in learning more about experimenting with level design in Max, you can download your free copy of Hammered to the Max: A Hammer User's Guide to 3ds Max.

Common Resources for WW:
Wall Worm Documentation Wall Worm Forums Wall Worm YouTube Channel Wall Worm Twitter Feed Wall Worm on Facebook Wall Worm on G+ Some other Fun Tools and Features in Wall Worm
 
There's a lot more... if this is interesting to you, it'll be easy to find it all.

Hi MapCore community,
Here's my 10-hours Blockout for FPS genre (aim map for CS:GO almost)

 

Much more images on my Artstation.
 
Any feedback would be appreciated.

Hi MapCore community,
Here's my 10-hours Blockout for FPS genre (aim map for CS:GO almost)

 

Much more images on my Artstation.
 
Any feedback would be appreciated.

Hi MapCore community,
Here's my 10-hours Blockout for FPS genre (aim map for CS:GO almost)

 

Much more images on my Artstation.
 
Any feedback would be appreciated.