Creating ASE Models from brushwork in Radiant

[Breli]

Note: Originally posted by Red in the old forum

Rotating my trees and resizing them causes horrible results so I needed to find a way to convert them into models that are more easily manipulated.

How are .ase models created then? Well, it''s not that complicated. Select the geometry you want to convert into a model. Copy it. Save the map and open a new map. Paste the copied geometry into the new map. Slap a caulk box around the geometry and throw in an info_player_deathmatch entity. Select the entire map and move it so that the centre of the geometry is somewhere close to 0, 0, 0 on the grid. This is necessary as the model control point is always created at 0,0,0. If you don''t move the geometry the result can cause a leak if you insert a model into a map with it''s control point in the void.

Save the map, with an appropriate name, I normally use something like mymap_tallarchase. Open Quake toolkit or Q3map2 toolz, or what ever front end compiler you use. Compile with:

bsp -meta -patchmeta -subdivisions 6

Then compile the new .bsp (not the .map!) with:

bsp -convert

You have now created your first .ase model. I normally move the model into a mymapname folder inside the models/mapobjects/ folder.

Open your original map and delete the old geometry. Insert the model by dropping the entity menu and selecting misc_model. In the window that pops up, change the file type from .md3 to .ase, then select your model. Move the model into position. You can rotate it in any direction (using the angle keys in the entity editing window, and/or by setting the key angles with a value n,n,n for pitch, roll and yaw. GTK 1.5 will allow you to free rotate models around any axis), just as with an .md3, this is the other benefit of creating and using models. It is not normally a good idea to rotate brush or patch work, but with models there is no problem. All map models are non-solid. You will need to place a playerclip brush over the top of them to make models solid, or weapclip if you want weapon impacts as well. Cut the clip brushes into more or less the correct shape, but don''t be overly fussy. Try to keep clipping simple. It is possible to auto-clip models by setting a key of spawnflags and a value of 6, however I strongly recommend NOT going down that route as the load placed upon your CPU increases hugely once weapons start getting fired into your models. If you want explosions, use simple weapclip brushes. You will need to set the key spawnflags and a value of 4. This will allow your model to be lightmapped (cast and receive shadows), it''s also often a good idea to set a key of _lightmapscale and a value of 0.125. This sets a high resolution lightmap on the model, resulting in much sharper shadows.