Reality Factory

Q. Is there a way to import static meshes for terrain or architectural elements, that are created in other 3D programs like Max or Maya?

A. Look at the StaticMesh and StaticEntityProxy entities - that's exactly what they are for.

you can currently create meshes for RF in:

- milkshape3d
- truespace
- gmax
- 3ds max
- animation master

Q. What is the difference between a .3dt file and an .act file?

A. .3dt files are the parts of the level that are building walls, cabinets, trees, comparable to the brushes you can make in a Quake 2 type editor. They have to be convex (no dents).

.act files are made in a polygon mesh modeling program like Milkshape, Gmax, or 3ds Max, they usually have many more polygons than .3dt brushes, can have dents. These are used mainly for the human and animal characters in the game, weapons, view weapons, health potions, small decorative pieces.

There have been several converters written to make .3dt brushes out of mesh/polygon '.act' type models. The one of better ones is 3ds2map, which can be used it in conjunction with Michael Little's Game Builder for 3ds max, see http://terrymorgan.net/reality_factory.html for the link, but it will work with anything that outputs the quake2 .map format. You still have to make convex brushes only or it will not work.

Q. What is a model?

A. A model is a group of one or more brushes to which programmers can attach data, and level designers can animate or point to from entities. There are two primary reasons to create a model: to create a moveable piece of geometry that you can animate; or to create a piece of geometry that programmers can identify at program run-time in order to provide special effects when an operation involves that piece of geometry.

For example, you might make a level that contains several different pools. By making each pool into a model and pointing entities at those models, the programmers will be able to differentiate among the pools. If they weren't models, then they'd be treated like any other piece of geometry and be indistinguishable from each other.

To create a model, select the brushes that you want to make up the model, and then from the Models Options page, click on the "Add Model" button. The program will prompt you for a model name. Once you've entered the name, the program creates the model. You can add brushes to a model by selecting those brushes, selecting the desired model in the Models page, and then clicking on the "Add Brushes" button. Other buttons on the Models page allow you to select and deselect all of the brushes in a model, remove brushes from a model, delete a model, clone a model, and set the model's rotation origin. The bottom half of the Models page allows you to define an animation path for the model.

You create a model's motion by defining its keyframes - points through which the model will move - and the time it should arrive at each keyframe. When animating the model, the engine interpolates between keyframes to provide smooth motion. The simplest motion is one with a single keyframe. The model will move in a straight line from its original position to that keyframe in the time that you specified when you created that keyframe. Motions with multiple keyframes work in much the same way, but the animation engine provides interpolation that moves the model smoothly from one keyframe to the next without abrupt direction changes (i.e. it "rounds the corners").

To create a motion for the model, select the desired model from the drop-down list on the Models page, and then press the "Animate" button. The editor will select the model's brushes and put the editor into Move mode. You can then move and rotate the model to the position you want the model to occupy at its next keyframe. When you have it at the position you want, press the "Stop Animating" button and enter the keyframe time.

Q. What is a portal?

A. A portal is the window between 2 leafnodes - when a level is compiled it uses a bsp (binary space partitioning) data structure to store the navigable play area as a series of convex hulls called leafnodes. Each leafnode (or leaf) is connected by a portal, which is a kind of window into the connecting leaf.

Q. When i try to compile a level it fails and says that the level is not sealed:
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A. Levels in Reality Factory/Genesis3D have to be sealed to compile properly. The easiest (but worst) way to achieve this is to put a large hollow box around the level. The better way is to find the leak and close it. If you try to compile a level and the compiler detects a leak it will create a leak file (.pnt). You can open this file with the editor and it will show you a line going right through the leak.