Lesson 8: Importing a Coaster Car

This is the last lesson of the series. In this lesson we will give the model a new map, prepare for export as an mx file, import our car into the game and make appropriate adjustments. In reality this lesson should be titled, "Trial and Error" because that's what the adjustments are. It can be frustrating, but knowing that it will never work in the game the first time does allieviate some of that stress.

Step One:
In our previous lesson we mapped the model using a file we called coastercar.bmp. Now I have developed a new map using that template and called it coastercar.png (shown below). When you have designed your personal pretty picture simply replace it in the "Materials" section. Refer to Lesson Seven to import a texture map.

Step Two:
You may notice in the picture above the lesson title that our car seems kind of dark. We will fix this using the four lighting effects on the "Materials" tab. The first adjustment is "Ambient." Ambient is the effect of ambient lighting that an environment has on a model. So for the purposes of Milkshape, it is the model's self lighting. The default values are: Red 51, Green 51, and Blue 51. This results in a nice dark grey tone. We will raise those values to 176. This will present our model nicely.

Step Three:
"Diffuse" is generally defaulted perfectly as a nice cool light grey. Generally you don't need to mess with it. Diffuse is the model's base color. We will adjust the "Specular" though. Specular simulates a glossy effect. This is a wooden coaster car. It can have some gloss, but not too much! Set the RGB values to 51, and using the specular slider, reduce the size of the highlight (that's the little slider bar above the texture button).

Step Four:
"Emissive" is generally defaulted as black. Emissive makes the model give off it's own light. Since it is not a lantern, it is a coaster car, it isn't going to give off any lighting. However, in dark environments, it would be nice to see it still. So we will give it a little emissive color. Set the values as shown below.

Step Five:
Now that we've messed with the lighting values, compare the image below with the image of our coaster car above the title of this lesson. It has more life doesn't it?

Step Six:
Now it is time to prepare our model for exporting from Milkshape and import into the game. The first step is always to save as a new name. This will save you a migraine if you ever need to make adjustments at a later date. Save the new model as "tutmodelgrouped."

Step Seven:
Select all groups. With all groups selected, regroup the model. Rename the regroup to "coastercar." Then save.

Step Eight:
We may now "Export" our coaster car from Milkshape. Go to "File" on the Task Bar, choose "Export" and scroll down to "Ultimate Ride (.mx)." Follow the path of folders to save our mx file into the model folder of our Steel tracks in our Tutorial theme.

Step Nine:
Save the model as "carlead.mx." Every coaster model is named carlead for the first car. Repeat Step 8 and name the second model "carfoll.mx." Carfoll represents every car after the first car.

Step Ten:
Now that the car has been exported from Milk and imported into the game, let's see how it looks. Minimize Milkshape and start URDC (or URCD if you've been using that). Pick the "Steel" track and an easy environment like the Grid. Build a real lame track that loops (probably would be a Roller God at the new URG). Choose our car "Tutorial." And go into ride mode.

Step Eleven:
Well it seems we need to make some small adjustments. Go back to build and save this coaster as 000 or something like that. Then go to the load screen. When at the Load screen in URDC press Alt+Tab. This will minimize the game so you can work in Milk again. (Note: the reason you go to the Load screen is so that the game will read any changes we make to the model when we re-export the model.)

Step Twelve:
Go back into Milk and resize the model to 25% of it's size (X, Y, and Z). Then "Move" the model back into postion as shown below.

Step Thirteen:
Remember, URDC (or URCD) is still running in the background. The folders are read only. So when you export your adjusted model back into the game using the procedure in Steps 8 & 9 you must first delete the model that resides in that folder. Repeat for the carfoll.mx model.

Step Fourteen:
Go back into the game. Load the 000 (or whatever) coaster you built using our new car. Examine for size. Using the free camera (4) check the size of the model in the dock. Hmmm... Still too wide and too tall.

Step Fifteen:
Now select the front camera (1). Looks like we have a design flaw too. So we should do two adjustments to our model. Scale it in size (about 80%) and lower the "frontend." Go back to the Load screen in the game. Then minimize using Alt+Tab.

Step Sixteen:
Scale the model to 80%. Move the model back into position.

Step Seventeen:
Select the top verticies of the "frontend" and move it down slightly in the Y axis. Remember, you just scaled the model to 80% so it's already shorter. Once complete, export the model back into the game as described in Steps 8 & 9 (remember to delete the existing carlead.mx and carfoll.mx models first before saving).

Step Eighteen:
Go back into the game and check the model. First check the first person view (1). In this case, the model looks good and has no obstructions. Continue looking in all views to ensure the model is sized and positioned correctly.

Step Nineteen:
Looks like we've done all we can for this model. Minimize URDC and save the model in Milkshape. T-T-T-That's All Folks!

Summary:

This lesson concentrated on:

1. Replacing texture maps.
2. Adjusting model lighting.
3. Regrouping.
4. Exporting Milkshape models as mx files.
5. Shifting from Milkshape to URDC and back using the Alt+Tab command.
6. Model adjustments.
7. Deleting read-only files in order to save changed files.

Course Notes:

Keep the tutorial theme installed in the game. At a later date, I'll write tutorials for loading docks and props.