Anim8or is a free 3D modeling program.
If you want to learn how to make your own meshes for Impressive Title, you won't find an easier way of doing it than this!
I am going to take you through making a simple, textured ball model in Anim8or, then converting it for use in Impressive Title.
Before we begin, please note that I won't be teaching you how to use Anim8or itself, (that would take forever), but I shall be showing you how to make a simple ball model, then applying a texture to it.
If, after reading through this here tutorial, you decide you want to get serious with Anim8or, then I recommend going through this tutorial on the main Anim8or website. That tutorial was designed to teach beginners the basics of Anim8or. After going through that tutorial, you should have acquired enough knowledge to start making your own models.
Let's begin...
PART 1: Making the Model
First thing you'll want is Anim8or itself, which can be downloaded from here
Extract the .exe from the zip file to your drive, then make a shortcut to it on your desktop...
Right-click the .exe then select "Send To" then "Desktop (create shortcut)"
Let's create a simple model, a ball...
Click on the button highlighted above, then in the middle of the screen, hold down the left mouse button and drag.
Now double-click on the ball so we can set it's properties. Set them to the following...
Once you've done that, with the sphere selected, go to "Build" then select "Convert to Mesh"
Time to give it a texture...
Click on the materials button highlighted above. Now where it say's "New" double-click on that. A window will pop up where we can buttign materials to the model.
Click on the highlighted button above, then click the "Load Texture" button...
Once you've loaded in a texture, select it from the list, then click "OK"
Now give this material a name. Let's call it "BallTex"
Edit the name then click "OK"
Your work area should now look something like this...
With the sphere selected, click "Apply" right above the texture button...
This will apply the texture to the sphere.
Note: Texturing in Anim8or is not always this simple, lol!
Now we need to "Floor" the model for use in Impressive Title...
To do this, with the model selected, go to Edit/Locate then select "Stand on Ground"
That's your ball done! Save it now by going to File/Save As...
Once you've saved it, copy it and the texture you used for it, to C:\
PART 2: Converting the Model
To convert the model to Ogre's .mesh format, we shall require the following tools...
1) Ani2Pov - Converts .an8 files to other formats.
Note: You will also need to install this and this for Ani2pov to work!
2) Command-line Tools - We shall need one of these to convert the .xml to .mesh
Download and install those, plus any required components, (such as .net), if you don't have them.
Fire up Ani2Pov then load in your ball model...
Now select the "Ogre3D" tab then click on the "Export Now!" button...
We're nearly there!
Copy the .xml file that Ani2Pov created, into the "OgreCommandLineTools" folder in C:\ (You have installed it, yes?)
Now we need a command prompt...
Go to Start/Programs/Accessories/ and select "Command Prompt"
In the command prompt, type the following...
cd\
cd ogrecommandlinetools
You should now be in the "ogrecommandlinetools" folder.
Note: If you want to view the contents of the folder, type: "dir"
Now type the following to convert the .xml file into a .mesh file...
ogrexmlconverter modelname.xml modelname.mesh
Example:
ogrexmlconverter ball.mesh.xml ball.mesh
Now find all your files! You'll want to copy the .mesh .material and texture files into your map folder.
Example:
ball.mesh
ball.material
ball.bmp
PART 3: Editing the .material file (Optional)
Your model will look rather dark in-game using the default .material file. You can brighten up your model by removing a few unnecessary lines.
When you convert a model, the material file will look something like this...
All that ambient, diffuse, specular and emmisive you can do away with!
I like my material files to look nice and tidy, so they usually end up looking something like this...
Note: To see any changes made to your .material file in-game, you will have to restart Impressive Title from the desktop.
Congratulations! You have just made your first Impressive Title mesh!
If you want to learn how to make your own meshes for Impressive Title, you won't find an easier way of doing it than this!
I am going to take you through making a simple, textured ball model in Anim8or, then converting it for use in Impressive Title.
Before we begin, please note that I won't be teaching you how to use Anim8or itself, (that would take forever), but I shall be showing you how to make a simple ball model, then applying a texture to it.
If, after reading through this here tutorial, you decide you want to get serious with Anim8or, then I recommend going through this tutorial on the main Anim8or website. That tutorial was designed to teach beginners the basics of Anim8or. After going through that tutorial, you should have acquired enough knowledge to start making your own models.
Let's begin...
PART 1: Making the Model
First thing you'll want is Anim8or itself, which can be downloaded from here
Extract the .exe from the zip file to your drive, then make a shortcut to it on your desktop...
Right-click the .exe then select "Send To" then "Desktop (create shortcut)"
Let's create a simple model, a ball...
Click on the button highlighted above, then in the middle of the screen, hold down the left mouse button and drag.
Now double-click on the ball so we can set it's properties. Set them to the following...
Once you've done that, with the sphere selected, go to "Build" then select "Convert to Mesh"
Time to give it a texture...
Click on the materials button highlighted above. Now where it say's "New" double-click on that. A window will pop up where we can buttign materials to the model.
Click on the highlighted button above, then click the "Load Texture" button...
Once you've loaded in a texture, select it from the list, then click "OK"
Now give this material a name. Let's call it "BallTex"
Edit the name then click "OK"
Your work area should now look something like this...
With the sphere selected, click "Apply" right above the texture button...
This will apply the texture to the sphere.
Note: Texturing in Anim8or is not always this simple, lol!
Now we need to "Floor" the model for use in Impressive Title...
To do this, with the model selected, go to Edit/Locate then select "Stand on Ground"
That's your ball done! Save it now by going to File/Save As...
Once you've saved it, copy it and the texture you used for it, to C:\
PART 2: Converting the Model
To convert the model to Ogre's .mesh format, we shall require the following tools...
1) Ani2Pov - Converts .an8 files to other formats.
Note: You will also need to install this and this for Ani2pov to work!
2) Command-line Tools - We shall need one of these to convert the .xml to .mesh
Download and install those, plus any required components, (such as .net), if you don't have them.
Fire up Ani2Pov then load in your ball model...
Now select the "Ogre3D" tab then click on the "Export Now!" button...
We're nearly there!
Copy the .xml file that Ani2Pov created, into the "OgreCommandLineTools" folder in C:\ (You have installed it, yes?)
Now we need a command prompt...
Go to Start/Programs/Accessories/ and select "Command Prompt"
In the command prompt, type the following...
cd\
cd ogrecommandlinetools
You should now be in the "ogrecommandlinetools" folder.
Note: If you want to view the contents of the folder, type: "dir"
Now type the following to convert the .xml file into a .mesh file...
ogrexmlconverter modelname.xml modelname.mesh
Example:
ogrexmlconverter ball.mesh.xml ball.mesh
Now find all your files! You'll want to copy the .mesh .material and texture files into your map folder.
Example:
ball.mesh
ball.material
ball.bmp
PART 3: Editing the .material file (Optional)
Your model will look rather dark in-game using the default .material file. You can brighten up your model by removing a few unnecessary lines.
When you convert a model, the material file will look something like this...
- Code:
material object01_slgrock1_rocktex
{
technique
{
pass
{
ambient 0.263529 0.263529 0.263529 1.000000
diffuse 0.614902 0.614902 0.614902 1.000000
specular 0.200000 0.200000 0.200000 1.000000 1.000000
emissive 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000
texture_unit
{
texture slgrock.jpg
}
}
}
}
All that ambient, diffuse, specular and emmisive you can do away with!
I like my material files to look nice and tidy, so they usually end up looking something like this...
- Code:
material object01_slgrock1_rocktex
{
technique
{
pass
{
texture_unit
{
texture slgrock.jpg
}
}
}
}
Note: To see any changes made to your .material file in-game, you will have to restart Impressive Title from the desktop.
Congratulations! You have just made your first Impressive Title mesh!
