McJobless Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 This tutorial is INCOMPLETE, please standby for updates. Firstly, let me just state that this isn't easy by any means. It takes some dedication to get any type of model into LegoRR, but doing this really might just leave you butt-hurt...in today's tutorial, I'll be teaching you how to create a car in LEGO Digital Designer (LDD), and then, through the use of magic and tools, get it into LEGO Rock Raiders (LRR). You can make buildings, creatures and minifigures, but please note this. To animate the last two correctly, you will need to splice your model in 3DS Max. That is, separate the legs in to two pieces, take the hand pieces out, etc. I vow that I will make a tutorial one day on how to do this successfully. Also, throughout the tutorial, I make up a few terms to describe some of the actions we shall be performing. Feal free to use them or not. What Will You Need? LEGO Digital Designer - DOWNLOAD Dassault Systemes 3DVIA Printscreen 2.3 - DOWNLOAD (Getting the Player is optional, but we won't be using it in this tutorial) Autodesk 3DS Max 2009 SP1 - No Link Available; you'll need to research this for yourself KoichiSenada 3dsMaxConvertXML - DOWNLOAD (Download the .txt and the .zip file) Lightwave 8 with the "conv3d.p" plugin - No Link Available; you'll need to research this for yourself Lightwave 5.6 - No Link Available; you'll need to research this for yourself LEGO Rock Raiders - Mod using the Data Folder Method (Just for this tutorial, you can go back to packing WADs later) A couple notes on the tools above: 3DS Max 2009 is the only one the program worked with for me, so I'd recommend you get it too. If you're having trouble finding a copy, contact me, and I'll see if I can get a link for you to a website which is still stocking it. You will need to get Service Pack 1 for 3DS Max 2009, but it's a free download. A quick Google search will let you download it. KoichiSenada 3dsMaxConvertXML is the magic in this whole conversion process; install it after you installed 3DS Max 2009 and Service Pack 1. Lightwave 5.6 is the developers tool. I was lucky enough to find a copy, and its been great using it so far. While I recommend using it for the last couple of steps, and will be demonstrating how to use it in this tutorial, other members may refer you to newer copies, such as Lightwave 7, 8 or 9 for the main animation and texturing steps. So long as you download the conv3d.p to your input-output folder in the program files for these newer copies, and then add the plugin within Lightwave (don't ask me how), you should be fine to use them (they will work in a similar way, but expect texturing issues if you don't follow the tutorials carefully). Alright, now we've taken a quick look at what we are using, please install all the applications in the order I've listed them above, seeing as KoichiSenada 3dsMaxConvertXML is dependent on 3DS Max. Note that you can install LDD and LRR in whatever you please; I just them in that order because I wanted to link back to the title (feels just like an essay now). Right, now we've done that preliminary stuff, let's move right along, and make a car for LEGO Rock Raiders. Create a folder on your desktop called "Car".If you don't know how to do this, I'm surprised you can use a computer at all. Open LEGO Digital Designer and build a car.Pretty basic to be honest with you. Simply open the program and then make a model. I'm going to assume you will be building a 1:17 scaled model, just like mine which is a customised Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder. Isn't she pretty? Explode the model.No, I don't mean rig the model with explosives, or use LDDs explode feature in the Display View. Explode refers to breaking down the model in specific part groups. There are couple of reasons why we break down models, and these include: - Animation: Essentially, any part which moves need to be separate to other parts, simply because when we export an object, it becomes a solid part of the mesh which can't be animated. One example of this is a car door; we make a separate model for the door and the body so we can animate the door correctly. - Part/Poly count: LWOs can only hold a certain amount of polygons. Unfortunately, LDD likes to use as many polys as possible. By breaking down the model into composite sections, it allows us to have bigger models. - Colours: When we export from 3DS Max, we group the model by its original textures, because we cannot export a Material Library. What this means is that everything that was green will be one "surface" in Lightwave, everything that was pink will be another "surface" and so on for every colour. In some instances, it might be easier if you break down the vehicle with everything in one colour in one file, and the next colour in the next file. - Access to other sections: In some models, it might be highly complex to get things animated correctly, such as when you have the interior of a car. Taking off parts like the roof may make it easier to animate correctly. - Parts behind transparent pieces: In the instance of a model which might have something like a glass helmet, it is possible during the conversion process to make the helmet and head become a single part, which isn't what you want. Therefore, it's usually best to take away any transparent pieces and do them separately. When exploding, the aim is to fill the area around the car with all the different components you take off. You then send them to separate LDD files, and convert them separately. By the end of the process, you will have a whole bunch of different LWO files which you can then use in your animations. Alright, you might be wonder how I explode a model. Well, firstly, save your model as "Base.lxf". This will be our reference model for textures and colours. Next, start by rotating the doors about 45 degrees, so that you can pull each one off. For now, just pull parts off the model. You might notice as you pull part off that things like hinges, axles and other components will get all messed around; unless you REALLY, REALLY need them, feel free to delete this joining parts. In the case of the hinges on the doors, replace their empty "slots" with 1x2 Plates. After the doors, look for other animated parts. For certain parts, like the wheel, you only need one, so delete three wheels, and move the other one away. If you have lights on the model like I do, take them off according to colour; I took my red lights, blue lights, white lights and yellow lights off in separate pieces so I can colour them differently later in the process. Another thing you might consider exploding is the roof, seats and license plate, and even splitting the main body into several sections. These all come down to user preference, though. An example of a fully exploded car is below: While taking apart your vehicles, you aim is to also delete as many parts that you won't need as possible. Because LDD aims to have super-high poly counts, you need to lower that figure by shedding some weights. Delete the parts holding the wheels onto the frame, the hinges holding the doors to the frame (you might want to replace them with 1x2 Plates as noted above, though), parts on the inside of the model that the user wouldn't normally see etc. Use the camera to rotate around the model; if you can't exactly see the part without some obscure angle you wouldn't be able to achieve with the LRR camera, delete it. Now that we've got our model prepared, you need to separate each part into different files. Basically, save the new "model" we just created as "Base_Disassembled", the create a folder in the same directory as these two models called "Parts". Choose one of the groups of parts you made, and delete everything else in the model. Save this in the "CarParts" folder with a name corresponding to what it is (for example, "Red Lights.lxf" for the red lights and "Wheel.lxf" for the Wheel). Re-open your "Base_Disassembled" model and select another group of parts, and continue onwards. You should get something like mine when you finish: Print the screen to a 3DXML file.Alright, we actually finished step 2! Anyways, we need to now start exporting our model to 3DS Max so we can convert it into the games original format, but to that, we need to go to our first intermediate; "3DXML". Close LDD, and open up Dassault Systemes 3DVIA Printscreen. You'll see a new icon on your taskbar; double click it. Now, you'll see an options menu; set your options the same as I have done (apart from the last one about the output folder; you can select a folder for that) below: Press "Ok". Open up a part in LDD; I'm going to start with the main body (I called it "Body.lxf"). Make sure it looks correct, then close the two side panels (the one with all the parts you can place, and the one that's either blank or got advertising). Hit the "*" key on the Numpad (it has to be the Numpad or it won't work). Give the file the same name as the LDD part (so I call it Body.3dxml) and save it in a new folder called "Car3DXML" (note that the 3DXML folder should be located in the same place as your "Base.lxf" file, for organisation). At this point, you can take these screenshots of every part, or just complete one part until it's in LWO format, and then start on the next part. For this tutorial, I will be doing the latter. Create a working directory in 3DS Max.Alright, the key to using 3DS Max effectively is creating a working directory. A working directory is a place on your computer were 3DS Max can efficiently store all the files it uses for a project, including the scene (our model), the textures and any configs. Select the "Customise" button on the toolbar, then press "Configure User Paths". On the "Project Folder" line, press the "..." button. Create a new folder in your "Car" folder, and call it "3DSMax". Inside that, create a folder with the same name as your part. Select the folder you just created. Select "Ok", then in the event you get an error about missing directories, press "Ok", then "Ok". Convert the Printscreen into a 3DS Max scene.You should see, if you installed correctly, a white button with the words "XML CONV" (written in squiggly paint) on the far left, underneath "File". Press it. A new window appears, as shown below: Click the "EXT File" button, and select the 3DXML file we created for the part you chose earlier. Click the "Read Source" button, and wait for it to complete. After it displays a bunch of lines in the middle with some random text (you should see a lot of "Inst3D" and checkboxes), and it has numbers for each of the different elements, press the "Max Scene" button, type in the name of the part, and select "Save". Press "Write Destination". The window will close automatically, and you will now see a version of your model in the Viewpoint Windows. Prepare your model for secondary intermediate conversion.Because their are no convertors for MAX to LWO, we need to convert the image to OBJ first. Before we can do that, however, we need to do a couple of things. Right now, your model probably looks like this: For the next couple of steps, use the box called "Perspective". Firstly, select the green box called "Root" at the top, and delete it. There will be another one; delete that too. Now, select your model by dragging the left-mouse click over everything. On the second-to-top bar, two/three buttons on the left of the "View" drop-box, you should see a 4-way arrow thing which has the tooltip "Select and Move". Press this. Now, click and hold the blue arrow which is on your model, and move your mouse up until the model is above the grid. Your model needs to be rotated, and that baseplate removed. Firstly, delete the base plate by selecting the big plate attached to the bottom of the model, and pressing the "Del" or "Delete" key on your keyboard. Now, use the other 3 boxes. Firstly, we need to rotate the car. Press the button next to the "Select and Move" button, the "Select and Rotate" button. In each box, you want to make sure that the model is straight and not pointing to the sky. Once this is complete, just like we got the car above the grid, hit the "Select and Move" button and align the car with the origin of the scene; that is, where the two black lines in every view meet. Your model should look a little like this: At this point, you can go ahead and see how many polys your model is currently using. Go into the "File" menu, then press "Summary Info". It looks like a lot of faces, but considering technology today, it should be fine for now. Convert the model to OBJ.We're a little over the half-way point now. Firstly, press "File", then "Scene". Next, go back into the "File" menu, then press "Export". Type the name of the part, then in the dropbox select "Wavefront Object (.OBJ)", and press "Save". You need to have your settings just like the following, or else it won't work: Select "Ok", then do the following options for the MTL Library window: Select "Ok", and wait for it to export (if it hasn't already). Close 3DS Max, and save if it asks to. Convert the OBJ file to Lightwave 5.6.Open up the Lightwave 8 "Modeler.exe" program. Select and hold the mouse button on "File", and highlight "Load Object", then release the mouse. This is how you have to control the menus in all Lightwave versions. Open up your OBJ file in "Cars3DSMaxYOURPARTNAMEHEREexport". Firstly, zoom out to check your part by holding down on one of the four magnifying glasses above each of the Viewpoint Windows, and dragging out. Use the two arrows button next the magnifying glasses button to rotate the camera around the menu. This is what I saw: Alright, before we get our part to the developers tool, we need to quickly lower the "Point" count, otherwise will not be allowed to export the model. Simply hit the "Detail" tab at the top, and then on the side bar select "Merge Points". Make sure your dialogue box settings look like this: Select "Ok". Now, goto the "File" menu, and highlight "Export", then Highlight and Release on "Lightwave 5". Save the file with the same part name to a new folder in your "Cars" folder called "LWO". CONGRATULATIONS, YOU JUST GOT A PIECE FROM LDD WHICH CAN NOW BE USED IN LEGO ROCK RAIDERS! Basically, the next bits will go into detail about how to make a working vehicle from these raw parts. Now, I'm actually considering making separate tutorials for this, and linking from here, so feel free to wait up while I make my decision. In the meantime, if you haven't already, get the rest of those parts exported, and take a look at my texturing tutorial: HERE! Please note that you can skip steps 1 and 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PWNZOR Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 So we both go through 3DXML, but your tutorial starts with splitting the model before 3DXML, then goes through some converter, 3DS max, editting, then export to Lightwave, more editting. Mine goes through half-manual conversion, LDraw + MLCAD and then a converter to .obj, and then Lightwave editting. Amirite? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McJobless Posted March 18, 2012 Author Share Posted March 18, 2012 So we both go through 3DXML, but your tutorial starts with splitting the model before 3DXML, then goes through some converter, 3DS max, editting, then export to Lightwave, more editting. Mine goes through half-manual conversion, LDraw + MLCAD and then a converter to .obj, and then Lightwave editting. Amirite? I believe so. Mines a little more complex though, although its going to get a couple more parts. Your tutorial is fantastic for beginners who want parts from the first 3 modes, but I just couldn't get my LDD Extended models fully exported. Also, yours has colour and looks prettier, while mine has some in-correctly scaled pictures, bad grammar and just general formatting issues. Oh, and it's incomplete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PWNZOR Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 So we both go through 3DXML, but your tutorial starts with splitting the model before 3DXML, then goes through some converter, 3DS max, editting, then export to Lightwave, more editting. Mine goes through half-manual conversion, LDraw + MLCAD and then a converter to .obj, and then Lightwave editting. Amirite? I believe so. Mines a little more complex though, although its going to get a couple more parts. Your tutorial is fantastic for beginners who want parts from the first 3 modes, but I just couldn't get my LDD Extended models fully exported. Also, yours has colour and looks prettier, while mine has some in-correctly scaled pictures, bad grammar and just general formatting issues. Oh, and it's incomplete. But I used extended mode to get Jet's helmet into LRR >.< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McJobless Posted March 18, 2012 Author Share Posted March 18, 2012 So we both go through 3DXML, but your tutorial starts with splitting the model before 3DXML, then goes through some converter, 3DS max, editting, then export to Lightwave, more editting. Mine goes through half-manual conversion, LDraw + MLCAD and then a converter to .obj, and then Lightwave editting. Amirite? I believe so. Mines a little more complex though, although its going to get a couple more parts. Your tutorial is fantastic for beginners who want parts from the first 3 modes, but I just couldn't get my LDD Extended models fully exported. Also, yours has colour and looks prettier, while mine has some in-correctly scaled pictures, bad grammar and just general formatting issues. Oh, and it's incomplete. But I used extended mode to get Jet's helmet into LRR Yeah, I looked at the LDraw library sometime ago, and it was getting better, so it's likely many of the parts are now supported. But still, I don't trust LDraw. It and all it's composite programs had a nasty habit of just randomly stopping working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PWNZOR Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Yeah, I looked at the LDraw library sometime ago, and it was getting better, so it's likely many of the parts are now supported. ...But I never used LDraw's libary to get her helmet. I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, my apologies if I am, but you do realize I never export anything from within LDD, right? You sound like you believe my tutorial exports to LDraw directly from LDD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McJobless Posted March 18, 2012 Author Share Posted March 18, 2012 ...But I never used LDraw's libary to get her helmet. I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, my apologies if I am, but you do realize I never export anything from within LDD, right? You sound like you believe my tutorial exports to LDraw directly from LDD. Whoops, I didn't read your tutorial correctly then I'll drink from the fail cup. And relax. You're allowed to insult my intellegance seeing as you aren't: A brony Hitler A Pepsi addict Swedish A "Will it Blend" hater Apple's co-founder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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