Exporting my assets into UDK - BA5

Following on from the previous screenshots I have been creating smaller assets to create some detail and characteristics for the design. Whilst doing this I have also UV Mapped all the major buildings and most smaller assets, I have textured the main interactive building up to an extent; I have textured just the front to see how the texture would look.

Here's an image of the textured house:

ignoring the sides of the house as in game they won't be visible so no texture will be added

Today though I had a tutorial on how to export our models and assets into the UDK game engine along with how to add the textures through material files. Thanks to Jess Smith I have a step by step guide of how to get the assets into UDK and add the material textures to the model in the engine.

Importing and Exporting to UDK/Boss Notes

·          -UDK sometimes needs to have your model/assets combined before you export to the engine. In our case, we must combine our objects and save as a separate FBX file to ensure it works in UDK.

·         You can’t use the Maya 2D textures in UDK.

·          -For your textures ensure you keep a PSD of the layers for the diffuse, specular and normal maps and you can use TGA files for each of the maps separately so they can be placed onto your model and loaded through Maya.
-File > export selection > in the directory go to the right and select “smoothing group” > under file name drop down select FBX (if you don’t have FBX option/smoothing group go to window > settings preferences > plugin manager > tick 2 boxes to allow FBX & smoothing group) > name your file > click export selection.

·        - Open UDK > all programmes > game engines > unreal development kick > open UDK editor (NOT GAME).

·         Content browser/Welcome > click new map on welcome screen > select the time of the day you want your scene to be in (usually early morning/late evening for best view) > close the other windows.

·        - Right mouse tumble/rotates the camera.

·         -Left and right mouse at the same time pans the cameras.

·         -Select camera movement speed at the top of UDK (next to the blue sideways triangle…play button).

·        - All your models are located in content browser (next to the binocular icon at the top of UDK interface) select it > go down to the bottom left of the content browser screen and select UDK game folder > select the content folder > click new (with content highlighted) > this will create your “package” which will have all your assets etc in it > name your package > then under name call it whatever your model is (i.e. museum study/bookcase) > ignore all other settings > click okay > if the animation window pops up just close it.

·         -Now look under content > packages > you should see your newly created package > when you select it there won’t be anything within it yet > double click select your package > find your FBX file that you created in Maya > click open and then click ok on the import screen (if it says out of date FBX just click ok and ignore it).

·         -Now you will see your model on the content browser (with your package selected) > middle mouse click your asset and drag it into the UDK space.

·         -If your model is tiny select scale model (next to drop down world button on UDK interface) so you can scale it up.

Putting Textures into UDK

·         On content browser right click (anywhere within the grey area) and select material from factory > in the “new” pop up menu re name it accordingly > click okay and the Unreal Material Editor window will pop up > your model and area will just appear black because there are no textures assigned to your model within UDK yet > you can temporarily close this menu > if you now look at the content browser (your package) there should be a new icon labelled “material” > select new icon > select import on content browser window > go to folder with textures (specular, diffuse and normal maps) > now select the textures you want > hit okay to all > now your textures should appear under your package as new square icons.

·         -Now we want to link all the textures (diffuse, normal and diffuse) to the model > double click material to bring up material editor (screen where your model looks black) > we need to add 3 blank texture maps > on the top right corner of the window find “TextureSample” > middle mouse click drag to the blank window OR hold “T” on the key board, left mouse click grey area.

·         -Select any one of the black boxes > then select any one of your textures in the content browser > click small green arrow at the bottom right of the Unreal material editor > now the black box should have the map you selected appear on it.

·         -Your model will still appear black on the Unreal material editor so you need to drag the black small box (next to the texture box you just assigned in the Unreal material editor) to the correct map. For example if the first map texture you put in is a diffuse map, then drag the small black box so that it connects to the word diffuse under the Unreal texture editor. Repeat the process for each of your textures making sure they are linked via small black box drag to their correct name. If you are doing this correctly the ball in the preview will now appear textured and not black. Make sure you save this now by selecting the green tick at the top left of the Unreal material editor > do not close it yet > under material in the bottom of the Unreal material editor screen > select material > ensure two sided is checked > save again > now you can close this window.  

·        - In the content browser double click your static mesh icon in content browser > this brings up the static mesh editor window.

·         -Now that your model is open in the static mesh editor go back to content browser and left click once the square icon that says “material” > go onto LOD info on the static mesh editor > drop down the menu until you find “material” > click the small green button (use selected object) > now you can close this window and view your textures upon your model in the main UDK interface.

·         -To play and move around your object press the play button on the main UDK interface (blue triangle button/alt + F8/Play in Viewport).

At this stage you should have a package which contains:

Static mesh

“AnimSet”

Material

Any texture maps you created (specular, normal and diffuse perhaps).

·         -You should save your package > right click your package > and select save > your package will now jump to under the UDK Games folder so you should save it again.

·        - When you re open UDK your model wont appear because its not within the level, you must save your map, to fix this on the main UDK interface select save under the file tab at the top of the screen > save it as “Map Files”. Remember, there is a difference between saving your level and saving your assets ;)

Adding Collision Meshes

·         -Under the content browser/right click mesh and select find in content browser > double click the square static mesh icon under the content browser (in your package) > this opens the Unreal static mesh editor > at the top you can easily select the button that says “collision” > on the drop down menu select auto convex collision > alter the settings for basic meshes > apply > then select “ShowCollision” (green button at the top of the static mesh editor).

(Jess Smith)

      Here's a screenshot of my assets in UDK:

      
      Overall I am very happy with how this turned out, all my assets seemed to export over nicely and none went crazy on me. I still have the textures to do but least I know now that my assets can easily be exported into UDK without a hitch (so far).