MaxED2 Quick Reference
This document contains a list of most menu, mouse and keyboard
functions with brief explanation of the use and necessary additional
information.
1. Menus
File menu
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Ctrl+N
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New
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Opens a new empty document with
one default material. |
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Ctrl+O
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Open...
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Opens MaxED2 file format (.lv2) |
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Close
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Ctrl+S
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Save
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Saves MaxED2 file format (.lv2) |
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Save As...
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Import...
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Geometry made with original MaxED (.lvl) can be imported to MaxED2.
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Export...
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Export the whole document into the game. Uses Level Database-format (ldb).
Is not compatible with MaxED1 and not importable back to MaxED2 or
1.
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Export Selection...
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Export the selected objects into the game. Offers often much faster
way to edit and test a part of the level than exporting and processing
the whole (large) level file. The selection should contain at least one
room and one jumppoint.
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Export Selection Gameplay Critical...
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Export the selected objects into the game, but leave out all objects
which do not have "Gameplay Critical" flag in their properties
set to on. Offers even faster way to test the dynamic functionality of
specific parts of the level and to only export dynamic and essential
gameplay content. Requires you to mark Gameplay Critical objects in the
level.
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Insert document...
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Another
document is inserted to current document to its original location in
world coordinates. All materials are checked for duplicates and only
new materials/categories are inserted
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Exit
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Quit MaxED. Window positions and preferences are saved upon exit.
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Edit menu
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Ctrl+Z
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Undo
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Cancels the previous action. Pressing the Undo again cancels more
actions. Undo buffer holds some 8 previous actions. Use carefully, as
there is no Redo. Unfortunately a few functions are not undoable, for
instance purging the unused textures. Note also that undo buffer does
not survive over any Save function (saving manually or autosave).
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Ctrl+X
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Cut
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Used mostly in F5 mode, and is unavailable in most other modes.
Cut moves
the currently selected objects into the clipboard. Can also be used
for instance to cut materials in the material palette. Most text
dialogs also offer the possibility to cut text.
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Ctrl+C
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Copy
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Used mostly in F5 mode
with objects. Copies
the currently selected objects into the clipboard. In F6 mode you can copy lightmaps and in
most dialogs text.
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Ctrl+V
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Paste
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Used mostly
in F3, F5 and F6 modes. In F5 mode, the objects in the clipboard are
pasted their original locations. In F3 mode, the pasted objects' pivots are placed on
the grid where the mouse is pointing. In F6 mode you can paste light
maps and in most dialogs text.
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Ctrl+A
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Select
all
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This function is not visible in the menu, as it is F5 mode
specific function only. See further details from F5 mode description.
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View menu
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Main: |
F9 |
Hierarchy View
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Show/hide hierarchy view.
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Shift+F9 |
Material View
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Show/hide material view.
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F10 |
Output Window
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Show/hide output window.
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F1 |
Display filter
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Show/hide display filter. Most view related commands are now in the
Display filter (compared to MaxED1). See Display filter explanation in
the tutorials.
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Status
bar
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Show/hide status bar
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Tool
bar
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Show/hide tool bar
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Unhide
all
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Activates
all objects in the scene
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Grid: |
Num * |
Display Grid
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Toggle grid visibility on/off
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Num + |
Increase Grid Unit
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Increase grid unit size with one step. The steps are defined in
Document preferences. The current size is visible in the Toolbar.
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Num - |
Decrease Grid Unit
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Decrease grid unit size with one step. The steps are defined in
Document preferences. The current size is visible in the Toolbar.
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Alt+Num + |
Increase Grid Plane Size
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Increase grid plane size.
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Alt+Num - |
Decrease Grid Plane Size
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Decrease grid plane size.
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Camera: |
Ctrl+Num + |
Increase Movement Speed
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Increase camera movement speed in camera mode. The current speed is
visible in the Toolbar.
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Ctrl+Num - |
Decrease Movement Speed
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Decrease camera movement speed in camera mode. The current speed is
visible in the Toolbar.
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Texture: |
Num 1 |
Diffuse Only
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Shows only the diffuse (normal) textures in the scene view.
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Num 2 |
Lightmap Only
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Shows only the lightmaps in the scene view.
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Num 3 |
Diffuse+Lightmap
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Shows both diffuse texturing and lightmaps combined as they are
visible in the game.
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Num 4 |
Light layer Only
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This function from MaxED1 was not fully implemented and is made
unavailable in the released MaxED2 version.
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Unhide
all
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Unhides all objects in the scene
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Modes
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MaxED2 usage is based
on modes. All commands are divided under specific groups and
these are called modes. They are referred with names (polygon
mode, object mode etc.) or with corresponding function buttons (F4-mode,
F5-mode etc.). The cursor indicates the current mode and the
middle-button menu (when pressed over the scene) allows you to access
specific commands for each mode. See below for further explanation about
each mode and their functionality. |
Group
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Shortcut
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Function
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More
info / tips / description
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Space
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Camera
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Moving
around is done in the Camera mode.
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F3
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Build
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New objects are created in this mode.
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F4
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Polygon
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Most
of the polygon related editing is done in this mode.
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F5
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Object
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Most of the editing that affects a whole object is done in this mode
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F6
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Texture
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Most
of the texture related editing is done in this mode
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F7
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Portal
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Portals
are created in this mode
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F12
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Grid
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Most
of the grid functions are available always, but some additional grid
manipulation is available in this mode
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GIS
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Send Level
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GIS (Global Illumination System) is the lighting model of Max Payne
2. The lighting is calculated by separate executable and the lighting can be
calculated by sending the level to gisserver, which will send the level
to gisclient(s) and render the level. If you have only one machine, it
can run all of these programs (MaxED, server and client). Start the
rendering and the server by starting "local render" from the
Max Payne tools. After that select Send Level from MaxED and assign the rendering
to "localhost". Finished renderings go to C:\GIS folder.
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Send Selection
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Sends the selection to lighting calculation
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Send Level (vol)
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You can calculate the volume lighting (the lighting which affects
characters and some dynamic objects in the game) after the level has
been rendered with GIS. You need to start volumetric calculation server
and clients just like the lighting is done. Finished renderings go again
under C:\GIS folder.
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Send Selection (vol)
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You can calculate the volume lighting to selected objects.
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Set Lighting Curve
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The GIS calculation is done with floating point precision. This
command offers the chance to manipulate the GIS solution (lighting) with
curves without losing quality. See lighting tutorial for more
information. Suggested values are some 15, 128, 180, and 10%.
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Tools
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Goto Default Keyframes
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Reset
all dynamic objects to their default keyframes
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Refresh All Prefabs
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Refreshes all prefabs with the versions found from the original file
paths. See level integrity test to verify that all the prefabs are found
and the file links to the disk are not broken.
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Dump FSM's to XML Document
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Asks you a string to search and will open a web browser with all the
messages containing that string. Helps you to debug and find possible
problematic FSMs
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Replace Database Name in FSMs
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Lists database categories and allows you to replace objects in them.
For example "door_open" sound to "door_metal_open"
sound throughout the level.
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Level Integrity Test
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Analyzes level and reports possible problematic items, like JPG
textures (DDS recommended), objects grouped to incorrect rooms or spread
over several locations (should be fixed), prefab duplicates etc. Basically the same thing is
done to level during export and partially when level is being opened.
Note: Havok and other geometry errors are only being analyzed and
reported during export.
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Change File References
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Redundant
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Ctrl+P
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Document preferences
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These preference are part of the document file and will transfer
between instances of MaxED.
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MaxED Preferences
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These are your local preferences and will affect your local MaxED
copy.
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2. Modes and mode specific commands
Modes
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MaxED2 usage is based
on modes. All commands are divided under specific groups and
these are called modes. They are referred with names (polygon
mode, object mode etc.) or with corresponding function buttons (F4-mode,
F5-mode etc.). The cursor indicates the current mode and the
middle-button menu (when pressed over the scene) allows you to access
specific commands for each mode. |
Group
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Shortcut
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Function
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More
info / tips / description
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Space
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Camera
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Moving
around is done in the Camera mode.
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F3
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Build
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New objects are created in this mode.
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F4
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Polygon
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Most
of the polygon related editing is done in this mode.
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F5
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Object
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Most of the editing that affects a whole object is done in this mode
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F6
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Texture
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Most
of the texture related editing is done in this mode
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F7
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Portal
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Portals
are created in this mode
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F12
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Grid
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Most
of the grid functions are available always, but some additional grid
manipulation is available in this mode
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Always available
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These commands are
always available in every mode |
Main category
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Shortcut
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Function
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More
info / tips / description
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Num +/-
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Grid
scale
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Grid
up/down scale. By default MaxEd uses "old grid units", which
are in steps of half/double of one meter.
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Alt+Num +/-
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Grid
size
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This
changes the size of the grid plane to some extent (does not affect the
grid unit).
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Ctrl+Num +/-
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Camera
movement speed
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The speed
that the camera moves in the Look mode
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Num *
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Toggle
grid on/off
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Insert
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Toggle
select culled
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Toggle on/off the ability to select the polygons from their
"backside" (culled).
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Camera Mode
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Camera mode allows you
to move around in the scene. The cursor movement is limited to the scene
view and all menu functions are disabled. Camera mode is a "super mode"
which in most cases allows you to temporarily enter the mode and return
back to what you were doing. For instance, you can start drawing a new
mesh, enter camera mode and move around, then go back to F3 mode (either
with Space or F3) and carry on the drawing. This works also with other
commands like selecting operands for Booleans, grouping, exit drawing
and selecting. |
Main category
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Shortcut
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Function
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More
info / tips / description
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Space
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Toggle Camera mode on and off
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Pressing Space toggles you between the mode you were in before and
camera mode. You can move around only in the camera mode. The cursor
indicates the camera mode with a corresponding symbol. You can also
press Function keys to directly access other modes or also Esc to return
to the mode you were in before.
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Ctrl
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Spin around geometry
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When in Camera mode, you can take
the cursor above some geometry and keep Ctrl pressed. This changes the
camera to operate in "Around mode" and you can spin around the
geometry. See below. |
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LMB
Ctrl+LMB
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Look
around
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Keep
pressed and move the mouse to look around (turn the camera).
In around mode (Ctrl) the camera revolves horizontally around the selected
polygon.
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RMB
Ctrl+LMB
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Zoom
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Keep
pressed and move the mouse back and forth.
In around mode (Ctrl) revolves the
camera vertically around the selected polygon
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MMB
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Strafe
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Keep MMB pressed to move around on the view plane i.e. "strafe"
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Shift
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Strafe
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Keep
shift pressed to move around on the view plane i.e. "strafe"
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Build Mode (F3)
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In Build Mode you can
create new meshes and keypoints or place prefabs. |
Build mode
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F3 |
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Creating
new entities
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LMB
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Draw
polygon shape on grid, add a new vertex
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Note: If the object is intersecting with
itself, a new vertex can not be placed. Note: In MaxED2, you can
temporarily enter the look mode to move around. Press space while
drawing, move around, press space again and continue the drawing of the
mesh in the new location.
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RMB
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Extrude
mesh (accept creation)
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The current
polygon is extruded to a mesh, thickness is one current grid unit and
the texture used is the current material.
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Shift+RMB
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Create
polygon out of mesh shape
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Note: Polygons can’t be Booleaned.
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Del
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Delete
last vertex placement (during polygon shape draw) |
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N
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New entity
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A list
of possible keypoints is presented and it will appear to place on the
grid that was pointed when the command was initiated.
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A
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Align
grid to edge (projected)
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Unlike "normal align" in F4 mode, this align does not
change the grid plane, but only moves the origin and possibly rotates
the grid plane.
The red (selected) edge shows a white tick mark on the other (closer)
end. The origin of the grid is moved to the projection of the tick. The
X axis of the grid is turned so that is aligned to the projection of the
selected edge.
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Shift+A
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Align
grid to edge (crossing)
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Unlike "normal align" in F4 mode, this align does not
change the grid plane, but only moves the origin and does not rotate the
grid plane.
The origin of the grid is moved so that it crosses the selected edge
(if they do not cross, the edge is considered infinitely long)
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Ctrl-V
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Paste
to
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Clipboard
contents are pasted to the selected point on the grid. Note:
the pivot point of the object is the point that is used as a reference.
Use F5/P to set the pivot point before copy/paste if necessary.
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P
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Place Prefab
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Reveals the prefab manager where you can see the list of current
prefabs in the scene. You can select the prefab that you want to be
pasted. Previously placed is already selected.
The prefab manager also allows you to add new prefabs to the scene,
remove them from the scene or turn on a locator icon to see where some
prefabs are currently used. If you select close, you can exit the prefab
manager without placing a new prefab (handy if you only want to locate
them).
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Shift+P
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Place Prefab Aligned
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Similar to command above, but uses grid to orientate the prefab.
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C
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Move Grid to Mouse
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Moves grid origin to the closest grid point of the mouse cursor in steps
of the current grid unit.
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Reset Camera
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Moves camera to the default
position |
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Show Engine Statistics
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Prints some statistics to
the output window |
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B
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Edit FSM
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Allows to edit the dynamic object
under the cursor. See F5 mode for details. |
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V
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Toggle auto select children
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Allows you to toggle "auto
select children" mode on and off. |
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Show selected entity
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Reveals the pointed entity in the
hierarchy. TIP: use Shift-Click on the object in F5 mode to do the
same. |
Polygon Mode (F4)
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Polygon mode allows
you to manipulate polygons of the meshes created with F3 mode. |
Group
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Shortcut
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Function
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More
info / tips / description
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Move/Rotate Polygon:
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UC /
DC
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Move
selected face up/down one current grid unit
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Note: Faces of a triangular mesh can’t
be moved. The mesh can’t go "through itself". Tip:
Try a smaller grid unit or fix the mesh before moving a face (F5/F) if
you think that the face should move still and it does not.
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LC /
RC
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Rotate
face around selected edge
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Note: the amount of rotation is the current rotation step (use
Shift-num+ and num- to change and preferences to set the steps. Tip:
Try a smaller grid unit or fix the mesh before rotating a face (F5/F)
if you think that the face should rotate still and it does not.
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RMB
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Skew
selected face
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Works
around the edge marked as red in steps of the current rotation amount
(see above).
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LMB
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Move
selected face
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The selected face moves in steps
of a current grid unit, see above |
Main: |
Ctrl+F
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Flip Normals
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Point one face, press Ctrl+F and the whole mesh normals will be flipped.
Usually rooms should have their polygons pointing inwards and everything
else outwards.
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Del
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Delete Active Polygon
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Note: Deleting polygons should occur rarely
and the objects can’t be Booleaned if some of its polygons are deleted.
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Ctrl+Del
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Delete All But Active Polygon
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All the other polygons except the
selected one of the current mesh will be deleted. |
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A
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Align
Grid To Selected Face
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Align grid to selected face. Use Shift-A when possible.
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Shift+A
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Align
Grid To Selected Face in WCS
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Align grid to selected face in World Coordinate System. Will place
the grid to closest 90 degree angle and the grid plane to closest
current grid unit step
away from the world origin.
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S
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Split Active Polygon by Grid
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Place
the grid so that its plane crosses the polygon from the desired split
location, hover over the polygon and press S. Note: Split
generates redundant vertices, fixing the object is recommended (F5/F).
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J
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Join polygons
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You can
join planar adjacent polygons by pointing polygon1 pressing J clicking
polygon2. Note: Join generates redundant vertices, fixing the
object is recommended (F5/F).
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P
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Separate
mesh
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MaxED
checks the mesh and if it finds that it is not fully connected (some
parts do not share vertexes), the object is separated into two
objects.
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Rotate Grid by 90 Degrees: |
4
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Around X-axis
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Rotates grid in 90 degree steps around the grid origin.
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5
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Around Y-axis
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6
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Around Z-axis
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Main: |
L
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Locate
polygon
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You can locate a polygon by its index number. Type the number
to the dialog and MaxED shows a circle on that polygon. Type -1 to get
the location off. Tip: Sometimes MaxED can inform you that some
polygon is illegal geometry (usually after a complex Boolean operation).
Try to fix the mesh (F5/F) or then locate the polygon and try if splitting
(F4/S) helps.
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Enter
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Portal properties
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Select
show exits (Portals) from the view menu, point an exit and press
return to see Portal polygon properties. Note: Portal is two sided and both sides have separate names.
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Shift+C
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Copy Portal Name
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Select
show exits from the view menu, point an exit and press Shift-C to copy
the fully qualified name of the portal to the clipboard. Helps you to do
FSM scripts and paste the name to the scripting interface.
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Reset Camera
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Takes the camera to the initial starting point looking at the world
origin.
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Show Engine Statistics
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Prints some statistics to
the output window |
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B
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Edit FSM
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Allows to edit the dynamic object
under the cursor. See F5 mode for details. |
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V
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Toggle auto select children
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Allows you to toggle "auto
select children" mode on and off. Makes little difference in F4 mode, unless you click
items directly from the hierarchy. See more details about this command
under F5 mode. |
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Show selected entity
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Reveals the pointed entity in the
hierarchy. TIP: use Shift-Click on the object in F5 mode to do the
same. |
Object Mode (F5)
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Object mode is the
most feature-rich and most used mode in MaxED. You manipulate all
objects (meshes, keypoints, triggers etc.) and dynamic content scripting
(FSMs) in F5 mode. |
Group
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Shortcut
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Function
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More
info / tips / description
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LMB
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Select
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Select current object, drop others from selection. If the hierarchy
mode is on, all children of the object will be selected too. If
hierarchy mode is off, only current object will be selected (Use V to
toggle hierarchy on).
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Ctrl+LMB
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Select many
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Add or remove current object from selection. If the hierarchy mode is
on, all children of the object will be selected or dropped from
selection. If hierarchy mode is off, only current object will be
selected/deselected (Use V to toggle hierarchy on/off).
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Move Selection:
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LMB drag
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Move
selected object/group along grid
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Note: For animated objects MaxEd2 by default moves the whole
object. Toggle animate mode on (press N and red framing indicating
animate mode will appear) to move only current keyframe.
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RMB drag
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Move
selected object/group up/down
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UC /
DC / LC / RC
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Move
selected object/group along grid
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PgUp/PgDn
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Move
selected object/group up/down
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1
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Around X-axis
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Rotates selection around X axis in steps of current angle snap value
(use Shift+Num+ and Num- to cycle through angle snap values). By default
around the selected vertex, Use "A" to toggle to rotation
around pivot point.
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2
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Around Y-axis
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See above
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3
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Around Z-axis
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See above
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Shift+1
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Around X-axis
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Rotates around the center point of the bounding box of the selection,
in other ways functionality similar to normal rotation.
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Shift+2
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Around Y-axis
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See above
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Shift+3
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Around Z-axis
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See above
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Rotate 90 Degrees: |
4
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Around X-axis
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Rotates selected objects 90 degrees around X axis of selected vertex
(vertex mode) or pivot point (pivot mode).
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5
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Around Y-axis
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See above
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6
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Around Z-axis
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See above
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Hiding: |
H
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Hide Selection
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Select
the items that you want to hide and press H.
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Shift+H
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Unhide Selection
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Whether you have some hidden objects selected or you have
picked them from the hierarchy, this will unhide them
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Hide Children
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Hides the children of the topmost selected item(s).
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Unhide Children
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Unhides the children of the topmost selected item(s).
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Ctrl+H
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Inverse
hide
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Select
the items that you do not want to be hidden and press Ctrl+H to hide
all the rest.
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Ctrl+Shift+H
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Unhide
last
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Unhides the last hidden
selection |
Grouping:
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G
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Group Selected
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Select child(ren), press G, select parent
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Ctrl+G
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Lift Children
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Select
parent and the children will be lift (ungrouped)
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Shift+G
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Lift This
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A single
child will be lift (moving up in the hierarchy)
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E
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Autogroup
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Keep mouse over room mesh, press E to auto-group all top-level objects in
its volume to the room.
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Ctrl+E
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Autogroup All
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The same
as above, but applies to every room.
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Mesh Manipulation: |
Q
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Align Objects
|
Should align pointed faces of
objects to the same plane. Current iplementation questionable, not recommended for
frequent use. |
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C
|
Scale Selected Objects
|
A dialog
is presented allowing you to do uniform or non-uniform scaling. The scaling reference point is the vertex
or the pivot that was active when you pressed "C".
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F
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Fix Object
|
Forces a kind of "rethink" or "weld" over the selected objects, which removes redundant vertexes, builds
necessary T-vertexes and checks mesh integrity. Many operations that
affect geometry do this automatically, but sometimes bad geometry
(mainly in terms of the physics engine) is produced and applying this
function manually is needed.
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P
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Set Pivot
|
Align
the grid and move it in F12 mode to get the grid center in to the correct
place. Press P to place the Pivot point of the selected object to that
place.
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T
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Texturize Objects
|
Similar
to F6/T, except affects all polygons on all selected meshes.
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Ctrl+T
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Texturize Objects in Default Scale
|
Similar
to F6/Ctrl+T, except affects all polygons on all selected meshes.
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Booleans:
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U
|
Union
|
Select
first object, press U, select second. The result is the union of the
objects (the volumes are combined) and the unneeded polygons are removed.
Note: Boolean operations work only between
meshes that are defining a volume (only closed forms with no deleted
faces). All Boolean operations require that
both of the objects have their faces pointing the same way (use F4/Ctrl+F
to flip). Unlike MaxED1, the objects are free of hierarchy
limitations.
|
|
S
|
Subtract
|
Select
first object, press S, select second. If the objects overlap, the second
object volume is removed from the first object
|
|
I
|
Intersect
|
Select
first object, press I, select second object. The result is the intersection
of the objects (they must overlap).
|
|
J
|
Join
|
This
function joins objects to a single mesh (combine meshes, but do not
Boolean). Even if the meshes overlap, no polygon removal is done. In
most cases, you can use F4/P to separate meshes again.
|
Dynamic and FSM:
|
Tab
|
Keyframe dialog
|
After
making a mesh dynamic, it gets a single keyframe. More keyframes can
be added from the KF manager. Select the keyframe in the manager and
move/rotate the object around to get the keyframe position where you
want. NOTE:
|
|
Shift+Tab
|
Animation dialog
|
After
creating keyframes, animations can be created. Select the two keyframes
that you want to animate between (can be the same keyframe too), the
name, duration of the animation, rotation and position graphs can be
adjusted. Use messages button to adjust the messages that the object
sends. Note: the object always animates in relation to its pivot
point. Use F5/P to set the pivot.
|
|
Ctrl+F
|
FSM State Manager
|
TODO
|
Lighting: |
Shift+K
|
Set Lightmap Resolution
|
Sets the resolutions of all the lightmaps on all the
selected objects.
|
|
|
Set Lightmap Resolution
by normal
|
Similar
to above, but sets the resolutions by polygon normal. First asks the
desired resolution for polygons that point UP (floors) and other
general parameters. SIDE (walls) the ones pointing DOWN (ceilings) use
the same parameters, except you can give the texels per meter for each
dirrection. This is a handy
feature as often you need more resolution on the floor, a little less
on walls and the least on ceilings..
|
|
|
Get Pointlight Colors from Normals.
|
Redundant
|
|
Shift-L
|
Assign Default Light Source on Polygons
|
Usually when assigning a light source, you get the dialog asking the
color and intensity and also a chance to make those your default values.
By selecting objects and pressing Shift-L, you can assign those default
values on all of the polygons on selected objects directly.
|
|
L
|
Assign Light Source on Polygons
|
Every polygon on the selected meshes will be a assigned a
light source using the values you define in the dialog. See F6/L for more details about lights
in MaxED2 Note: Unlike MaxED1, the light sources are objects and
can not be "deleted" by making them black. Delete lights
either by removing them from the hierarchy or by pressing Ctrl-L (see
below).
|
|
Ctrl-L
|
Remove Light Source from Polygons
|
Will remove all light sources from all the polygons that have them in
the selection.
|
|
|
Add Light Layer on Lightmaps
|
Redundant
|
Prefab: |
|
Refresh This
|
Refreshes the selected prefab with the latest version
saved to disk. Lightmaps on refreshed prefabs are lost.
|
|
|
Refresh This Type
|
Same as above but refreshes all the prefabs of the selected prefabs
type with the latest version saved to the disk.. Lightmaps on refreshed
prefabs are lost.
|
|
|
Change This
|
Pops up a list of all the prefabs currently in the level, asks you to
choose what prefab the selected prefab should be replaced with.
|
|
|
Change This Type
|
Same as above, but replaces all the prefabs of the selected prefabs
type.
|
|
R
|
Edit Master
|
Refreshes the prefab from disk and opens it for editing.
|
|
Shift-R
|
Edit This
|
Same as above but does not refresh the prefab from disk first. If you
use same prefabs over several level files, it is usually better to use
"Edit Master" command so that older versions of the prefab
won't keep coming back.
|
|
Ctrl-R
|
Save and Refresh
|
Closes the prefab, saves it to disk, and refreshes all prefabs of
that type in the level. Lightmaps on refreshed prefabs are lost.
|
|
|
Save As
|
Closes the prefab and prompts for a new name and location to save in.
|
|
|
Select All of This Type
|
Selects all the prefabs of the selected prefabs type
|
|
|
Remove Prefab
|
Removes the prefab parent and makes the selected prefab become normal
geometry with no special prefab functionality. You can reach the same
goal by turning off the hierarchy mode and deleting the prefab parent of
an opened prefab manually.
|
Main: |
|
Edit Pivot Only Toggle
|
Redundant
|
|
N
|
Animate Toggle
|
In MaxED2 by default moving/rotating any objects with keyframes moves
and rotates all keyframes. If you need to move/rotate single keyframe,
you need to enter the Animate mode which is showed with red frame over
the scene view. Be careful: remember always to go to animate mode to
animate and to come back to do ordinary editing.
|
|
W
|
Toggle Local/Grid coordinate rotation
|
Rotation is by default done in
Grid space. If you want to do rotation in world space, press F12//R to
reset the grid to world origin. Local rotation is the original object
space. |
|
A
|
Toggle
Vertex/Pivot rotation
|
Rotation
works around the selected vertex by default. If you toggle Picot
rotation on, the object is rotated around the current object's pivot
point. Dynamic objects are mostly
and keypoints only rotated around their pivot point.
|
|
D
|
Make Selection Dynamic
|
When
a mesh is created, it is originally always static geometry. When the
object is toggled as dynamic, it gets a FSM (can send and receive messages
and has a state). It also can have keyframes and animations. Check the
object properties to get dynamic objects suitable for each need. Keypoints
are always dynamic in nature and can’t be turned as static.
|
|
Ctrl+D
|
Make Selection Trigger
|
You can make meshes into triggers with this. See tutorials for more
information.
|
|
Shift+D
|
Make Selection Static
|
Will make selection static object and lose it's FSM and all messages
from or to it.
|
|
Del
|
Delete Selection
|
Only
the object that is active (under mouse cursor) gets deleted. The possible
children get lifted
|
|
M
|
Mirror Selection
|
Affects
selected object or group and uses current grid plane as the mirror
|
|
Ctrl-Shift-E |
Export Selection to the Game
|
Select
a set of rooms objects and export them to framework. Note: there
has to be at least one jumppoint for player placement.
|
|
|
Goto Node
|
Will move the camera so that the selection is in the middle of the
screen and fit to view.
|
|
Ctrl+A
|
Select
all
|
Select
all visible objects. Hidden rooms/objects are not selected.
|
|
Esc
|
Clear Selection
|
Press
Esc to clear the selection
|
|
Return
|
Properties
|
Object Properties. See tutorials for further information about
properties.
|
|
Shift+C
|
Copy Entity Name
|
Will place the full name of the selected object to the clipboard as
text. Very handy when doing scripting and picking the objects for it.
|
|
Z
|
Show Selected Entity in Hierarchy
|
Should reveal the selected entity in hierarchy. Shift-clicking to
object in scene view is recommended.
|
|
|
Generate Cubic Reflection Map
|
Can be used to create cubic reflection maps to metallic and similar
reflective objects.
|
|
Y
|
Split Object
|
The selected object will be split into two with the grid plane. The
sliced surfaces will be textured with the current material. This functionality
is reached by "scripting" some Boolean operations to the
object. All Boolean related issues are present (see tutorials and the
actual Boolean operations for more information).
|
|
|
Reset Camera
|
Takes the camera to the initial starting point looking at the world
origin.
|
|
|
Show Engine Statistics
|
Prints some statistics to
the output window |
|
B
|
Edit FSM
|
FSM manager
and "Finite State Machine" system is the key to create any
dynamic content. You can add new states, create custom "message
sets" and overall manage the behavior of the object. Tip:
use Tab key to "complete" hierarchy and commands in Unix-fashion.
See tutorials for more information.
|
|
V
|
Toggle auto select children
|
Allows you to toggle "auto
select children" mode on and off. |
|
|
Show selected entity
|
Reveals the pointed entity in the
hierarchy. Tip: use Shift-Click on the object to do the same. |
Texture Mode (F6)
|
Texture mode is used
to manipulate textures and other surface properties. |
Group
|
Shortcut
|
Function
|
More
info / tips / description
|
|
LMB
|
Apply
texture
|
Apply
active material (texture) to current polygon without changing the UV
scale.
|
|
RMB
|
Move
texture
|
Move
texture location w/o affecting the UV scale
|
|
RMB+1
|
Axis
lock U
|
Lock U axis when moving
|
|
RMB+2
|
Axis
lock V
|
Lock V axis when moving
|
|
Tab+RMB
|
Scale
texture
|
Note: The ticked vertex is used as a reference
(closest to the cursor when the scaling begins). If you keep the tab
pressed the tick stays in the original vertex and you can gain more
precision by moving away from the vertex.
|
|
Tab+RMB+1
|
Axis scale lock U
|
Lock U
axis when scaling
|
|
Tab+RMB+2
|
Axis scale
lock V
|
Lock V
axis when scaling
|
|
Alt+Tab+RMB
|
Scale
texture with aspect ratio
|
Preserve current proportions when
scaling |
|
Z+RMB
|
Rotate
texture
|
Rotate
texture freely
|
|
Z+Shift+RMB
|
Rotate
texture in angle steps
|
Rotate
texture in current angle steps (use Shift+Num+ and - to cycle through
angles)
|
|
Ctrl+LMB
|
Apply
texture in default size
|
Apply
active material (texture) to current polygon by using the current
default size of the texture. The ticked vertex will stay in place and
texture UV's will change in relation to that.
|
Move Texture: |
UC/DC/RC/LC
|
Move
texture
|
Use cursor
keys to move texture precisely. The movement happens in steps of the
current grid unit (use numpad +/- to change).
|
|
PgUp
|
Rotate
90 degrees CW
|
|
|
PgDn
|
Rotate
90 degrees CCW
|
|
|
Shift+K
|
Set Lightmap Resolution
|
Sets the resolutions of all the lightmaps on all the
selected objects.
|
Lighting: |
Shift+L
|
Assign Default Light
|
Usually when assigning a light source, you get the dialog asking the
color and intensity and also a chance to make those your default values.
By selecting objects and pressing Shift-L, you can assign those default
values on all of the polygons on selected objects directly.
|
|
L
|
Assign Light Source
|
Every polygon on the selected meshes will be a assigned a
light source using the values you define in the dialog. See F6/L for more details about lights
in MaxED2 Note: Unlike MaxED1, the light sources are objects and
can not be "deleted" by making them black. Delete lights
either by removing them from the hierarchy or by pressing Ctrl-L (see
below).
|
|
Ctrl-L
|
Remove Light Source
|
Will remove all light sources from all the polygons that have them in
the selection.
|
|
K
|
Set Lightmap Resolution
|
Select
polygon, press K to reveal the lightmap dialog. You can set the
resolution and see what kind of lightmap will be resulted on the current
polygon (lightmaps are always in powers of 2 and the closest value is
inserted).
You can select how the reset lightmap will be treated. By default, MaxED
rescales the current ones and will render correct ones the next time the scene is rendered. You can also use solid color or classic
gray/white checkerboard to indicate unrendered lightmaps. Solid colors
can be handy when you want to reach some effect with lightmaps. For
instance, setting 128, 128, 128 as the lightmap color will result into
unmodified texture colors. If you want to see this in game and survive
rendering unchanged, you need to lock the lightmap with object
properties or polygroups.
Note: The lightmap is another layer of
texturing on most of the polygons in MaxED. These lightmaps have to
be rendered. Lightmaps can brighten and darken the texture.
|
|
|
Add Light Layer on Lightmaps
|
Redundant
|
Main: |
U
|
Scale Texture Numerically
|
Show
numerical texture tiling dialog of the current polygon. You can set the UV tiling
in relation to current polygon or define absolute size in meters. If you select "Set as default" the selected
tiling will be set as the default size of current material. Selecting
"Lock Aspect Ratio" will make the texture maintain its
current
|
|
X
|
Flip U
|
The edge
which is closest to the cursor is used as a reference
|
|
Y
|
Flip V
|
The edge
which is closest to the cursor is used as a reference
|
|
A
|
Align Grid to Texture
|
The grid is aligned to the polygon and the rotation and placement is
taken from the UV of the texture.
|
|
T
|
Texturize mesh
|
Texturizes
the whole mesh with current material. Note: The effect is limited
to continuous polygons (a mesh). In F5 mode, the same affects all the
selected objects/group.
|
|
Ctrl+T
|
Texturize Mesh with Default Scale
|
Similar
to above, but uses the default size
|
|
|
Get default
tiling
|
Checks
what material selected polygon uses and sets its default UV tiling to
the values which are in that polygon
|
|
C
|
Copy
mapping coordinates
|
Hover
the mouse over a polygon1 - press C click polygon2. Note: Works
only from adjacent poly to another. Tip: if you do not click
another time LMB (apply mapping), only texture coordinates are copied
and the material stays the same. Sometimes this can be very handy.
|
|
G
|
Get material
from polygon
|
Very
handy function which you can use to change the current material by pointing
a polygon in level and pressing G
|
|
F
|
Align Texture to Edge
|
Aligns
textures U direction to the active edge, set the scale to default.
|
|
N
|
Planar Map Mode Toggle
|
A polygroup has to be selected in the hierarchy in F6 mode. Press N to enter
planar mapping mode. You can now use all normal mapping commands (rotation,
moving etc). The reference plane for planar mapping is the normal of
the selected polygon and those texture coordinates are cast to all
polygons in the polygroup. You can also select several polygroups to map
over them simultaneously.
|
|
J
|
Join Polygons
|
You can
join planar adjacent polygons by pointing polygon1 pressing J clicking
polygon2.
|
|
Alt+Enter
|
Material Properties
|
Sets the material from selected polygon as current material and
reveals the material properties window.
|
|
|
Reset Camera
|
Takes the camera to the initial starting point looking at the world
origin.
|
|
|
Show Engine Statistics
|
Prints some statistics to
the output window |
|
B
|
Edit FSM
|
FSM manager
and "Finite State Machine" system is the key to create any
dynamic content. You can add new states, create custom "message
sets" and overall manage the behavior of the object. Tip:
use Tab key to "complete" hierarchy and commands in Unix-fashion.
See tutorials for more information.
|
|
V
|
Toggle auto select children
|
Allows you to toggle "auto
select children" mode on and off. |
|
|
Show selected entity
|
Reveals the pointed entity in the
hierarchy. Tip: use Shift-Click on the object to do the same. |
Portal Mode (F7)
|
Portal mode is used to
create portals aka. exits, which are mostly used to divide the level
into rooms and sections and to optimize the drawing during the game play
and editing. |
Group
|
Shortcut
|
Function
|
More
info / tips / description
|
|
LMB
|
Draw Portal Polygon
|
Align grid in F4 mode so that it is placed on the desired
"doorway" of the rooms (polygons pointing inwards). Draw exit
clockwise pointing the edges that cross the grid plane.
|
|
RMB
|
Accept
creation
|
If exit placement was
correct, the exit is created. A weld value is asked, as the rooms are
welded (F5/F). Use numpad 0 toggle exit drawing on and off from the
display filter. |
|
Del
|
|
Delete last vertex placement
during drawing. |
|
Enter
|
Show Portal Properties
|
Hover over a exit polygon and
press enter to see its properties and name. You can also do this in
polygon edit mode (F4). |
|
|
Delete Exit
|
To remove an exit polygon, you can
do like with any polygons. Go to F4 mode, hover over the exit polygon
and press delete. |
Grid Mode (F12)
|
Grid mode
is used for some additional grid manipulation |
Group
|
Shortcut
|
Function
|
More
info / tips / description
|
|
LMB
|
Move grid around on it's current plane
|
|
|
RMB
|
Raise/Lower grid by grid units
|
|
|
LMB+1
|
Rotate Grid around X
|
Rotate Grid around
world origin in steps of the current angle snap (Use Shift+Numpad + and
- to change). |
|
LMB+2
|
Rotate Grid around Y
|
|
|
LMB+3
|
Rotate Grid around Z
|
|
Move Grid: |
LC / RC/ UC /
DC
|
Left Right Forward Backward
|
Move
grid around on it's current plane |
|
PgUp/PgDn
|
Up Down
|
Raise/Lower
grid by grid units |
Rotate Grid: |
4 5 6
|
Around X, Y and Z axis
|
Rotate
grid around the origin in 90 degree steps |
|
R
|
Reset Grid
|
Grid is placed to its
default world origin position. |
|
C
|
Move Grid to mouse
|
The grid plane is
moved so that the origin is placed as close as possible to the mouse
cursor in current grid unit steps. |
3. Material Properties
Material Properties (Atl+Enter)
|
Material
properties can be accessed either with Alt+Enter on the current material
or by double-clicking the material or from RMB menu for each material, |
Function
|
Explanation |
Name
|
Texture (bitmap or the diffuse texture) name and path.
|
Dualsided
|
Toggles if the texture will be rendered dualsided.
|
Adult Content
|
Toggles adult content flag on for textures that contain material that
you want to consider as adult content.
|
Name
|
Name and path. If you want to make animated texture, you can select
several same sized and format files from the browse dialog
|
Default width
|
The current default width
|
Default height
|
The current default height
|
UI Visible Frame
|
If texture is animated, which frame is shown in the editor
|
Framerate
|
Controls the framerate on animated textures
|
Normal
|
Texture is considered as normal diffuse texture
|
Alpha compare
|
Texture is considered as an alpha texture (alpha compare) and the
alpha channel of the DDS will be used as alpha map (Texture must be in
DXT3 or DXT5 format).
|
Edge Blend
|
If the texture is alpha compare, this will imitate normal alpha
blended appearance. If Edge blend is off, the texture will have a sharp
one value point where it will turn transparent/opaque (binary alpha).
|
Reference value
|
Value 0-255 that controls the alpha compare threshold value.
|
Alpha Blend
|
Traditional alpha blend (Texture must be in DXT3 or DXT5 format).
|
Additive
|
Enable additive blending (possible alpha channel will be discarded)
|
With detail texture
|
The detail texture can only be enabled for normal (non-alpha)
textures. It will use selected detail texture (name and scale
adjustable).
|
Reflection
|
Will use reflection map (name and path). You can use both regular
square textures or cubic reflection maps in DDS format.
|
Gloss
|
The reflection strength is controlled by a gloss map (name and path)
|
Light Layer Texture
|
Redundant
|
4. Material Palette
Material palette
|
These
commands are available from the Right-Click menu on texture palette
materials. |
Group
|
Shortcut
|
Function
|
More
info / tips / description
|
|
Alt+Enter
|
Properties
|
Shows the material properties window for selected texture.
|
|
|
View as list
|
Add a
new material category
|
|
|
View as Thumbnails
|
Add a
new material category
|
|
|
Insert Bitmaps
|
Insert new materials into this file. MaxED can use JPEG (full color),
but DDS is strongly recommended.
|
|
|
Insert Materials from File
|
Import all materials from another LV2 file into this one.
|
|
|
Delete
|
Delete selected material. If the material is in use, those polygons
will get the default material.
|
|
|
Refresh Material
|
Reloads the material's diffuse bitmaps, if the files can be found
from their original paths.
|
|
|
Reset Scalings
|
Resets the materials UV default scaling
|
|
|
Copy Diffuse to Clipboard
|
Copy the material's primary diffuse bitmap to the clipboard
|
|
|
Memorize
|
Memorize this material.
|
|
|
Replace with
|
If other material has been "memorized", replace this
material with that one in the scene. Remeber, that if prefabs contain
materials that are replaced, they are opened, materials fixed and closed
again to keep in sync with the scene. Lightmaps of the prefabs are lost
in this process.
|
|
|
Locate / Remove location aid
|
Show/Hide location marker for polygons mapped with this material.
|
|
|
Add category
|
Add a
new material category
|
|
|
Move to category
|
Move
the material into another category
|
|
|
Copy to category
|
Insert
a copy of the material into another category
|
|
|
Merge category
|
Move the materials in the current active category into another.
|
|
|
Remove category
|
Remove
an existing material category. The category must be empty.
|
|
|
Refresh all materials
|
Find
the source textures for all materials and update them if found
|
|
|
Purge unused materials
|
Delete
all materials not used by any polygons
|
5. Hierarchy Palette
Hierarchy palette
|
These
commands are available from the right-clicking items on the hierarchy
palette. |
Group
|
Shortcut
|
Function
|
More
info / tips / description
|
|
Enter |
Properties
|
Displays
the property page for the object
|
|
B
|
Edit FSM
|
Reveal FSM manager for the current object.
|
|
Shift+B
|
Edit Player FSM
|
Reveal FSM manager for the player object.
|
Hiding: |
H
|
Hide Selection
|
Select
the items that you want to hide and press H.
|
|
Shift+H
|
Unhide Selection
|
Whether you have some hidden objects selected or you have
picked them from the hierarchy, this will unhide them
|
|
|
Hide Children
|
Hides the children of the topmost selected item(s).
|
|
|
Unhide Children
|
Unhides the children of the topmost selected item(s).
|
|
|
Unhide
all
|
Unhides
all objects in the scene
|
|
Ctrl+H
|
Inverse
hide
|
Select
the items that you do not want to be hidden and press Ctrl+H to hide
all the rest.
|
|
|
Goto Node
|
Will move the camera so that the selection is in the middle of the
screen and fit to view.
|
|
F2 |
Rename
|
Change the objects name
|
|
Del |
Delete Selection
|
Delete the current selection
|
|
Esc
|
Clear Selection
|
Press
Esc to clear the selection
|
|
|
Add polygroup
|
Add a polygroup to the mesh. A polygroup is a method to mark a group
of polygons (go to to polygroup properties to adjust different
properties). You need polygroups for instance to lock lightmaps and in
F6/planar mapping. Select polygroup name from the hierarchy list and
keep shift pressed when selecting/ unselecting polygons to the group.
MaxED shows selected polygons of the group with blue translucent
highlight. Note:
a polygroup accepts polygons only from the parent object.
|
|
|
Duplicate Polygroup
|
Duplicates polygroup
|
|
|
View Local Matrix
|
Shows the matrix of current objects. Sometimes necessary for
debugging purposes and syncing objects with other 3D software.
|
6. Object Properties
Object properties
|
All
objects (items that appear in the hierarchy) have a selection of
properties which you can use to control various features. Different
object types have different properties. You can usually enter object
properties from the hierarchy menu (double click or RMB/Properties) or
or by pointing the object (or portal) in the scene and pressing
Enter/Return. |
General (Mesh)
|
|
Name
|
Objects name
|
Hidden
|
Toggles if the object is currently hidden (F5/H)
|
Exclude from Game
|
Toggles if the object will be present in the light calculation, but
excluded from the game. Good way to make for instance "dummy
lights" that light up the scene but are not visible in the game.
|
Exclude from Lighting
|
Toggles if the object will be included in the lighting calculation.
For instance, sometimes you might want to leave some objects that you
might require later in to the scene, but do not want them to bother
normal development. Hiding and excluding the object from lighting and
game will make the object virtually go away, yet accessible later.
|
Enable Export Regrouping
|
By default, all objects in MaxEd are grouped where you group
them (usually in the rooms that they are in). Sometimes you will have
objects (some parts of prefabs for instance) that might be visible in
two rooms. For these parts to be drawn correctly in the engine, you may
toggle Enable Export Regrouping on, and they will be automatically
grouped to correct rooms during the export process. For example, you
have constructed a fancy automatic door with opening buttons on both
sides of the wall and made this into a prefab. When the door prefab is
grouped to the other room, the part of the prefab (the opening button)
that is in the other room will not work correctly, unless Enable Export
Regrouping is turned on.
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Gameplay Critical
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Toggles if the object is considered gameplay critical. You can make
exporting very fast by selecting only those objects that you want to
test as gameplay critical and use the "export gameplay
critical" functionality in the file menu. Very handy when testing
repeatedly some scripted scenario for instance.
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GIS (Mesh)
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Cast No Shadows
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Toggles if the object will cast any shadows during GIS rendering.
Very useful for instance with dynamic objects, which should have
lighting on themselves, but should not leave a shadow where they are
rendered, as they are about to move around.
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Ray Tracing
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Toggles different kind of GIS solution on the object. Will use Ray
Tracing method, which is somewhat slower than standard rendering, but
usually produces less artifacts especially on objects that are not very
orthogonal. For instance, you plan to collapse a wall. During rendering
it is still standing, but you have cut it into small uneven pieces that
will be spread around when it is collapsed. If rendered with traditional
GIS, the seams of the pieces are likely to be visible and Ray Tracing is
recommended.
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Physics (Mesh)
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Collisions
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Toggles all collisions off. If the selection contains multiple
objects or object has children, they may still have some of their
collisions on (the collisions below may be in indifferent state).
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Bullet Collisions
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Toggles specifically bullet collisions off
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Character Collisions
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Toggles specifically character (player, enemies) collisions
off.
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Generate Bounding Box Hull
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If checked, the exporter will generate a bounding box hull to be used
as collision geometry.
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Visuals (Mesh)
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Do Not Render
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Toggles if the object will be rendered in the game. If it is not
rendered, all other properties of the object will still remain, like
collisions and scripting.
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Dynamic Objects (Mesh)
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In addition to
other properties of a mesh |
Block Explosions
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If checked, the DO will block damage from explosions; otherwise the
explosion will cause damage to receiver even when the receiver is in
cover behind the DO. Should be off for tiny objects and on for objects
that are large enough for cover.
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Generate Convex Hull
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If checked the exporter will generate a convex hull to be used as
collision geometry.
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Elevator
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Turn this on if the DO is used as an elevator. It changes the DO
behavior slightly against the collision capsules of the characters when
the DO is moving in scripted animation in straight vertical line.
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Physical Material
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If the DO is released to physics with DO_EnablePhysics, this is what
physical properties the object will have (weight, sounds)
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Use lightmaps
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If turned on, the object will use lightmaps for lighting, otherwise
dynamic lighting is used.
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Pointlights Affect
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Toggles if the pointlights in the scene will affect the object.
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No decals
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If on, the DO will not receive any decals (bullet hit marks etc)
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Continuous update
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If on, the object will be updated all the time, meaning it will
animate even when the player is on the other side of the map. This
should be on for most objects that use scripted animations. The
exceptions are objects that animate constantly but wouldn't need to when
they aren't visible, like rotating fans and such.
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Room
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Sound Environment
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Selects the acoustic properties (echo etc.) for a room.
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Polygon Group
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Number of Polygons
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The amount of polygons currently in the group.
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Smooth Lightmaps
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Calculate
smooth lighting for the polygons in the group (imitates a round
surface). Will use Ray Trace method to achieve this (little slower).
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Freeze Lightmaps
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The light
maps in the polygons will not be affected by GIS any more and their
current lighting is "frozen". All events that would affect the
lightmaps on these objects are ignored (set lightmap resolution and
similar).
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Smooth Geometry
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Marks
the polygons to be tessellated by a subdivision surface algorithm in
the game engine. Doesn't affect the polygons' appearance or tessellation
in MaxED.
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Ray Tracing
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Toggles different kind of GIS solution on the polygons of the
polygroup. Will use Ray Tracing method, which is somewhat slower than
standard rendering, but usually produces less artifacts especially on
objects that are not very orthogonal.
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Max Edge
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Controls the maximum edge length of smoothed geometry.
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Max Angle
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Controls the maximum angle value of smoothed geometry.
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Portal
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Ignore in GIS lighting
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Will make the portal invisible to the GIS lighting. The rendering is
done in larger chunks (somewhat slower) but there will be no visible
seams caused by the lighting near this portal.
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Always Closed
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Sometimes it may be necessary to make a Portal for optimization
reasons but it will not be ever seen by the player (it is covered by
something or not accessible etc.). These portals may be closed
permanently to optimize the level to maximum speed.
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Dynamic Pointlight entity
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Intensity
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Intensity of the pointlight
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Falloff
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Falloff (the distance) where the light affects
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Color
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The color of the light
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Trigger
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Radius
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The trigger radius
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Player
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Trigger will react to player touching it
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Use
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Trigger will react to player using it
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Enemy
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Trigger will react to enemy touching it
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Bullet
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Trigger will react to bullet touching it
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Look At
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Trigger will make player to look at it inside the radius
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Visibility
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Trigger is activated if it is seen in the player view
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Enemy
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Group
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Which group the enemy belongs to
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Skin
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The appearance of the enemy (or NPC as well)
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Activator's Use Animation
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If the player "uses" this entity, what animation will be
shown
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Level Item
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Type
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The type of the level item
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Prefab parent
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Radius
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The visual radius of the prefab parent (does only affect the parent's
size so it is easier to see or does not cover a small prefab fully).
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Flare
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Name
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The type of the flare.
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Volume Lighting Box
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Width
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The width of the volume lighting box
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Height
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The height of the volume lighting box
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Depth
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The depth of the volume lighting box
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Resolution
|
If a volume lighting box is present in a room, the volume lighting is
only calculated on its area. This is handy with large spaces, where the
player has limited access and it is wise to limit the volumetric
lighting to optimize calculation speed and memory consumption. By
default, the resolution of volumetric light is 1 meter. If any other
resolution is required, this value controls it.
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7. Document Preferences
Document Preferences
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Document
preferences are used to set different preferences that will be saved
into the document file. |
Renderer
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Back plane
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Distance
of back clipping plane
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Front plane
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Distance
of front clipping plane
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FOV
|
The angle of FOV of the scene view
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Connected Rooms
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Redundant
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Background Color
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The color of background (emptiness) in the scene view
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Modeling
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Angle snap
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List of possible values for angle snap (Shift+Num+ and Num-). Values
use points for decimal separator and semicolon for separating different
values.
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Grid Scale Steps
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List of possible values for grid scale (Num+ and Num- to change).
Values use points for decimal separator and semicolon for separating
different values.
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Texturing
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Default UV Scale
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When a new texture is added to the scene, the initial default scale
will be calculated from this value. With this value being 128, a 512x512
texture will be 4x4 meters big.
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Lightmap res
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New geometry will use this value as the default lightmap resolution
value
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Radiosity
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Default Light color
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Redundant, use lights property dialog to control the default
light values
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Default Light intensity
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Redundant, use lights property dialog to control the default
light intensity.
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Default Light color
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Redundant, use lights property dialog to control the default
light color.
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Average lightmap border
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When
set, an averaging scheme to calculate lighting for for the edge pixels
of lightmaps is used. The calculation is less accurate, but takes also
takes less time. This function is less meaningful with MaxEd2 than it
was before, as the GIS calculation works differently than the previous
lighting model.
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Viewport size
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The size of the viewport that the GIS lighting calculation will use.
Large values take longer time but produce less noise in the lighting
result. Values like 512 are good for final quality rendering.
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Global lightmap res
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To produce quick results you can generally drop the lightmap
resolution of the scene lower. Using 50 % as a value here will
temporarily halve the lightmap resolution in the level during GIS
rendering,
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GIS MaxEnergyPerShoot
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Important value that defines how many percent of light energy of a
light source is cast per one shoot during GIS calculation. Smaller
values produce more quality lighting but take more time. values like 20%
are good for previews and some 5% can be used as a final rendering
value.
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GIS StopAtEnergy
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Important value that defines how long the light is bouncing in the
lighting calculation before it is considered as nonexisting. Smaller
values produce more light in the dark areas and more even light but take
longer to render. Values like 1 % are fine for tesing, values like 0.2%
are good for final quality.
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GIS Ignore Portals
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When
set, the polygons of any object created in F3 will be flipped
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Export
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LDBExport parameters
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Level export uses a separate executable for the actual exporting.
Here you can enter some parameters for that executable similar to
command line usage of the exporter.
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8. MaxED Preferences
MaxED Preferences
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MaxED
(Local) preferences are used to set different preferences locally that
each user will want to use and should not be moved with the document
file. |
Function
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Explanation |
Never Break Portals
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When on, MaxED does not allow you to do geometry moving that would
break portals.
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Autosave interval
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The document is autosaved every N minute to the MaxED program folder
under Autosave subfolder.
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Distance Hiding Offset
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Separate objects (furniture and similar) are hidden in the editor
when they are further than this value in meters. Defaults to 100 meters
but typically you want it to be much bigger, if you are making large
scenes.
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Edge Thickness
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This value is used as the virtual thickness of meshes in Booleans and
similar. Should not be changed unless you want a lot of geometry
trouble.
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Indicate Outside Lightmap Texel
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Will use code colors to indicate areas that are outside polygons in
unrendered lightmaps. Meaningful mostly in debugging purposes.
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Level Directory
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The default directory for saving levels
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Export Directory
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The default directory for exporting
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Import Directory
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The default directory for importing
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Texture Directory
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The default directory for importing textures
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Prefab Directory
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The default directory for saving prefabs
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Triangle Mesh Directory
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The default directory for importing triangle meshes
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SharedDBPath
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Path
to Max Payne's shared database. Point to your Max Payne root folder,
e.g. "C:\Program Files\Max Payne”. Paths with white space in the
names need to be enclosed in double quotes.
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Split Tolerance
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Value that is used to consider meshes separate if they are further
than this distance during split. Do not change.
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Texture Increment
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Redundant
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Font Scale
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The scale for font that is used to indicate object names and similar
in the scene view.
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Flip Faces After Mesh Creation
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When on, meshes that are created will by default have their normals
pointing outwards (boxlike). If off, they will point inwards (roomlike).
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Save Map Statistics
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Saves some statistical information
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Minimum edge length
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No need to change, used for debugging purposes.
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Grid Color Major
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The color that grid will use for every 10th (major) line
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Grid Color Minor
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The color that grid will use for basic lines.
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9. Display Filter
Display filter (F1)
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Display Filter
can be used to select which types of
entities they want to have displayed in the main view. Basically you set the flags on the objects you want to have displayed at a certain time.
It also includes some other visualization options. |
Function
|
Explanation |
Rooms
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Flag to toggle room count optimization on, and count for setting the number of hops from the active room
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Show BB
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To display the bounding boxes of the rooms that are optimized by the above setting
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Static Objects
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To display static objects
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No-Draw materials
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To display polygons of static objects that are using a no-draw
material (such as "Dummy" or "CharacterCollisionNodraw")
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Dynamic Objects
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To display dynamic objects
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No-Draw materials
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To display polygons of dynamic objects that are using a no-draw material.
Names and Types control the name and type text visibility.
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Non-rendering objects
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To display objects with "Do not render" object property set.
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Non-character-colliding objects
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To display objects without "Character Collisions" object property set
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Non-bullet-colliding objects
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To display objects without "Bullet Collision" object property set
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Non-exporting objects
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To display objects with "Exclude from Game" object property set
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AI nodes
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To display the AI nodes
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Keypoints
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To display floating FSMs, Characters, Jumppoints, Waypoints, Level items and Flares.
Names and Types control the name and type text visibility.
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Triggers
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To display all types of triggers. Names and Types control the name
and type text visibility. Types will basically display what propery flags the triggers have set (Player collision, Use, Enemy collision, Bullet collision, Look At, Visibility)
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Pointlights
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To display the pointlights, falloffs will show also the falloff with
a wireframe mesh.
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Exits
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To display the portals. Names will reveal the names of the portals.
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Radiosity Lights
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To visualize the radiosity light emitters. Spotlight Visualization
will visualize the spotlight cones too.
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Volume Lighting Boxes
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To display the volume lighting boxes (If there are volume lighting boxes in the rooms, they will get volume lighting calculated only inside the boxes. Otherwise the whole room gets volume lighting. Volume lighting is used to light the characters and selected
DOs)
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Gameplay-critical objects
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To display all the gameplay critical objects. (Gameplay critical objects are all the objects with any dynamic properties, all the rooms, and all the static objects and AI-nodes with with "Gameplay Critical" object property set. Basically this flag is used only when doing "File" -> "Export Selection Gameplay Critical", which means the game doesn't export all the static geometry nor all the AI nodes which aren't necessarily needed when testing some small things the levels, and the user can still include some objects to the gameplay critical export as well)
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Non-gameplay-critical objects
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To display AI-nodes and static objects without "Gameplay Critical" object property set. This is a handy tool for selecting the critical ones you want to have included in the export.
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Prefab Parent Nodes
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To display the prefab parent nodes. Prefab parents are also hidden when a prefab is not being edited, but this flag is handy when editing a prefab whose prefab parent node tends to get in the way.
Names will display the prefab master names of the visible prefab parent nodes. That is, the name of the prefab as it is in the prefab list, NOT the name the instance has in the level hierarchy.
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Make Ungrouped Red
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To display all the ungrouped objects with red bounding box.
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Grid
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To display the grid
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Locator icons
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To display locator icons that are used for example when locating prefabs or materials from the level.
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Lightmap density
|
To display the lightmap densities with color codes.
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Bounding Box Hulls
|
To display a red wireframe bounding box for objects with "Generate Bounding Box Hull" object property set. This is used to view the orientation of the bounding box hull, as it is always oriented the same way as the pivot point of the object and may need re-orientation of the pivot point. Bounding Box Hulls can be used to quickly and easily simplify the "character collision" geometry, which is used for ragdolls and physical objects as well as living characters. Thus the object needs to be character colliding before this object property can be used. The bullet collisions are still performed against the exact visual geometry.
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