custom maya static meshes

[Mageslain]

Hey all
Iv just been trying to get static meshes out of maya. I have managed to get them converted although the shadows don't seem to get casted on them.

example.
This is when you build the lighting.


This is before you build the lighting.



Anyone have any ideas?

[jansoft88]

Your shadow resolution may be an issue. The insides of the mesh seem a little dark in the rebuilt lighting. So maybe the shadow is there but just a bit more blurred out. Try cranking the shadow resolution pretty high and then do a build. If the problem persists then, well hopefully there's another member on this forum with a better insight .
Good luck.

[jansoft88]

Hey, don't you just wish this editor was just like maya ... Huhh, I miss the camera navigation system and the 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and QWERTY key functions . And the spacebar menus. Huhh...!

P.S. In UnrealED if you hold the U key you can navigate somewhat like Maya, but it's just not the same.

[Mageslain]

lol yea been using maya for a whole year. pretty fluent with it now. altho iv only been using unrealed for bout 2 weeks and now going back to maya i keep pressing space bar instead of "qwer" lol.

Iv upped the resolution to 2048 and it still does the same thing. it also increases the build time quite alot :-P

[jansoft88]

Ok try this. Click on your static mesh. Pres F5 to bring up surface properties and in the lighting section change the Lightmap Resolution to something like 4 or 2 (in this case lower is sharper). Check if that gives you self shadowing on the mesh.

[jansoft88]

oh and also .. got any insights on this ?
http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=589506

[Mageslain]

hmmm strange i just lowered it to 4 and then it didn't really have a shadow at all. but then i put it back to 256 and its working now :-S....

[jansoft88]

My knowledge of UnrealED runs out now . Given that the insides of the mesh are a bit darker in the build version leads me to believe that the shadows ARE there. Can't say why they aren't sharp. Try putting an asset from the UT3 game like a chair or something (dunno if there are chairs in UT3 ) which might cast a self shadow and see if it works in the same scene. Might put the whole thing into perspective and give you a reference point for tweaking the shadow thing.

[jansoft88]

Ok, I think I've solved your problem. I imported a UT3 asset and tried to simulate your situation. At first I had the same problem with the self shadowing, it wasn't as pronounced after building as it was before building lighting. The solution is that when you double click on the static mesh or open the actor properties for it, goto StaticMeshActor>StaticMeshComponent>StaticMeshComp onent
There is a check box there called bOverrideLightmapResolution as seen in this image taken from hourences.com
http://hourences.com/book/tutorialim.../lightmap9.jpg
Make sure the check box is checked. Then right under the check box is the option OverrideLightMapResolution, turn that upto 1024 or something and you'll be getting sharper self shadows.
Hope that helps.

[Hourences]

Yes you must enable/disable the right settings, overridelightmapres is one of them. See the rest of my tutorial if you stil cant figure this out: http://www.hourences.com/book/tutorialsue3lightmap.htm

It will not work if you do not have the right UV coordinates available for lightmapping. As also explained in the tutorial.

And you can simulate Maya camera movement in UED by holding i or u I believe, see the FAQ on my website, the short cut section.

You should learn working with the mouse camera though.

[jansoft88]

Holding down U just doesn't give the same feel as Maya . The part that I specifically miss is that in Maya when you're navigating in Maya you mouse pointer doesn't disappear and moves as you navigate, here, it stays put and also disappears (unlike sandbox 2) which is really disconcerting. Getting used to it though. Anyhow, thanks for your tutorials Hourences, Love em. Will probably buy your book soon (the one about Level Design).

P.S. Any plans for Tutorials on Sandbox 2?

[jansoft88]

Oh, also, any idea why this might happen?

http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=589506

[Senji]

I'm no pro but have u tried playing with the light properties?



Courtesy from Huorence of course, the link for the complete tutorial:
http://book.hourences.com/tutorialsue3phys.htm

[Mageslain]

iv actually figured out the real problem with it now after i imported a whole lot of different meshes.

It was the UV's. for some odd reason it didn't fully export the uvs. Sure when you applied the material to the mesh the uvs lined up. BUT when you press the overlay uvs in the mesh "viewer"(can't remember what its called as im not on my computer at the moment) it doesn't show anything at all.

So i just re-exported the mesh from maya and it worked. Iv always thought the actorx for 8.5 wasn't very reliable. Might have to go back to maya 7 :-P

[jansoft88]

Oh .. . Well at least we all learned something while trying to solve the problem .