Lightmapping Help - How do YOU make yours?

Ace · Post by **Ace** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 5:31 pm

I have searched the web for a way to create map models with lightmapping, and so far all I've come up with is Cartography Shop 4, and my3d format.

I'm using an older version of Irrlicht wrapped to game maker, but i'm not sure if it even supports my3d or not. I also can't find the download for the plugin for 3ds Max to export it to even test it out.

So now all I'm left with is the .csm format which looks awesome lightmapped, however, I can't find a plugin to export it in 3d Studio Max. I've found that Ultimate Unwrap 3d will export .csm but it costs money. I have the registration stuff for the older version 2.15 but I can't find a download for it anywhere and I lost it on my old computer.

If I can somehow find the 2.15 demo version of Unwrap3d, I could at least re-register it or something. Besides this, I am lost on how to make a lightmapped level for irrlicht. I also can't afford to buy cartography shop...

If ANYTHING, could someone tell me how they make their .csm files, like what programs/plugins they use to export them? At the moment, I'm lost as to how I would be able to do it and still keep a lightmapped level!
-______-;;

Thanks a lot, in advance!

luckymutt · Post by **luckymutt** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 6:01 pm

Why not get the latest version of Irrlicht?
It has the tools and support for my3d format, as well as an exporter for Max.

Ace · Post by **Ace** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 6:13 pm

I'm using an older version of Irrlicht wrapped to game maker, but i'm not sure if it even supports my3d or not. I also can't find the download for the plugin for 3ds Max to export it to even test it out .

Yeah, so I'm not sure which way to go. I can't find a working download link for the .my3d exporter anyway. I am using version 0.9 in case someone knows if it has even has support for .my3d or not.

luckymutt · Post by **luckymutt** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 8:45 pm

In the latest release:
\irrlicht-0.12.0\exporters\3DSMAX.my3d

You will find my3d_max*_exporter.dle for versions 5, 6 and 7.
In addition, I have used the version 7 successfully with Max8

If you don't want to wrap a newer version of Irrlicht to game maker, you can still use the Max exporter.

I'm not sure if 9 supports my3d.

If the version you are using does not, it would not be that difficult to include it.

luckymutt · Post by **luckymutt** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 8:47 pm

Then again, if the exporter is all you need, it is only 84k.
I can email it to you if you'd like.
What version of Max are you running?

Ace · Post by **Ace** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:14 pm

Actually I just found out that 0.9 does support .my3d considering I downloaded it from sourceforge and dug through it for the plugin. Thanks for the help anyway luckymutt! Maybe you could be of more assistance by maybe answering some of these questions!

When I load the map into Irrlicht, I get a black model with my3d, and with the .3ds version, some of the triangles are even missing. Though this could be because I have no textures applied to the object, right??

Obviously I have no clue what's the difference between loading the .my3d format and the .3ds format besides my3d keeping the triangles. I thought you could get a lightmap from the my3d without having to bake the textures in 3ds?

Doesn't it already lightmap the level automatically based on the lights used when Exporting?? :S I'm a bit new to lightmapping. Plus I haven't had the chance to study 3d game graphics much. However what I DO know is that you have to have lights in Max 6 to cast on the geometry to be able to make a lightmap for it. lol XD That's about it. Am I hopless?? (:S

So in this case, I have no clue as to what to do in MAX to make Irrlicht light the level properly or if the lighmap is separate to make it load correctly. Doesn't irrlicht load 3ds models with their textures already on them inside the 3ds file or do the textures need to be individually loaded?
Also, I doubt it, but does Irrlicht supports 3ds lights?

I'd really appreciate the answers to ANY of these questions if possible! I've been really eager to get a level loaded properly into Irrlicht!

luckymutt · Post by **luckymutt** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:34 pm

You do have to bake the textures first.
Somewhere on the formus, Afecilis wrote up a nice step-by-step on doing this in Max.
I'm at work right now and I don't recall exactly how to do it without going through actually doing it.
Once the textures are baked, you then export the geometry as a *.my3d.
Keep the textures and files created when doing the baking in the same folder that your *.my3d file is loaded into Irrlicht, and everything should show up fine.

Max lights don't export/import into Irrlicht, only the geometry and texture/mapping.
When you bake it, it creates a new texture with the lighting affects "baked" into the new texture. Its a clever way of faking complex lighting.
When loading it into Irrlicht, you shouldn't need to load the textures seperatly (with my3d or 3ds)

hope this helps.

Ace · Post by **Ace** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 11:43 pm

Yeah, that helps a lot in understanding what I need to do to get things going. I really appreciate your help!

I'd like to see that topic you're talking about too, however I just cant find it. I did a search for it and couldn't find anything resembling what you mentioned. I would really like to find out how to "bake" textures where the light appears correctly.

I've tried it in gile[s], but I can't come up with anything. The programs keep crashing so maybe it's the models or the way I'm doing lighting?? :S I dunno exactly but I hope something can be done to fix it. :S

Odd question, but can you use lightmaps on .X files? Or are there any major flaws to that?

luckymutt · Post by **luckymutt** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 2:08 am

Here's the how-to Afecelis wrote:
http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/ ... my3d#43709

Yes you can bake textures for .X files, but I've never tried. I am not sure if there is anything different about the method that's used in link above.

Once that is done in Max and exported as a X file, I can't image anything different would need to be done to load it into Irrlicht.
But I've never tried.

Give it a try and see what happens

michael520 · Post by **michael520** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 4:59 am

I don't think that step by step tutorial is detailed enough!!!
I following the tutorial but don't get that effect!!
anyone help?? give the most detailed steps please!

afecelis · Post by **afecelis** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 6:40 pm

whoa! I just re-read it and found it to be quite detailed and easy to follow. What might be a bit different is that you're using max7 and the tut is written using using max5. Max5's render-to-texture process is simpler than the one that comes with max6 and 7; but the basic process is the same, only that you have to assign your baking process to the difuse channel. So when you hit the render to texture dialog make sure to assign a 512x512 texture to the difuse channel and then the info will be loaded properly. Finally when you export remember to include the lightmaps with your file and use compression.

ps. I'm not at home right now to check deeper the max7 thing but when I arrive I'll give it a look. It's something doing with which channel you're assigning the textures in the RTT process to (difuse, lightting, shadows, etc).

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 9:50 am

Using my3d with Max7 here works perfectly. Keep all meshes that require different materials/textures as seperate meshes (no sub objects) and just export as afecelis says. It really is simple when you have done it once.