Track Making - How To

[richard]

Please do NOT post here, but if you have any questions ask in the TRACK MAKING QUESTIONS and ANSWERS.

That way you will not have to wade through all the questions to get through to the next bit.

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First of all make sure that you have the following:-

3ds Max

Fredizzimo plug-in for max. This is the one for the cars, but allows us to import RT files into max.

Bugbears plug-in for max.

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Then you should use the bzf manager to export all the textures and models ( of what ever country your track is going to be based), into the exported data folder. So if you are going to do a track in Kenya, you should have all the relevant Kenya models and textures ready to use.

[richard]

The sample track section is available in the download section, under Misc Files.

We can start in a day or so when everyone is ready. ( Just hope its going to work )

[richard]

Start up Max, but not with the Sample track section ( we will merge this in latter ).


l do not know how much you know about 3ds Max, but l aim to try and keep it as simple as l can.


Bringing in the RT Materials and merging in the track section.
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We will now import something from one of the stages, this will bring in the relevant materials.

File
Import.........select RT files (BMF) from the drop down list.
Find the track stage that you want to use as your donor track, this will be in the RT exported data folder under tracks.

The path will be something like this:-

Program file/Jowood/Rally Trophy/exported data/tracks/track2/models/stage5.BMF

You do NOT want stage5c or stage5sky.
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lf for example you you use Finland 5 this will be a tarmac stage,l am going to use Kenya 5,
but you can use what ever one you like.

From the "import from BMF" scroll down and select something like a tree. ( SEE IMAGE 1)

This has now brought into Max the materials etc for you to use.

Now you want to MERGE in the Sample track section, it is already a Max file.
( available in the Misc Files section of the downloads).

File
Merge........ select the track and click OK.

.................................................. .................................................. ...

[richard]

Converting the Material into Bugbear Materials.
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From the Main Menu along the top select
RENDERING
MATERIAL EDITOR..........You should have in the top left hand slot the Rally Trophy Material ( SEE IMAGE 2 )
with a list of the materials below it.
Look down the list for a grass or terrain material
LEFT click and DRAG the material up into one of the vacant slots at the top.
A pop up menu will appear giving you a choice of instance or copy, you want INSTANT.
The material will now be displayed in the previously vacant slot.
Opposite the material name is a button that has STANDARD on it, click on it and another menu appears,
double click on BUGBEAR. ( SEE IMAGE 3)
and then select to kEEP OLD MATERIAL AS SUB-MATERIAL.

On the SURFACE options you can see they are named

R0 Gravel hard etc, The R are roads, T are terrain etc.

select a T0 or T1 depending on what country or grass you have select.You can alter this selection at anytime. ( SEE IMAGE 4)
Leave alpha test and effects unchanged.
The material name is a slightly raised button, click on this to return to the main material menu.
Make sure that you now have the SHOW MAPS IN VIEWPORTS button depressed, ( as it will have deselected itself ).

If you now click on the main RT material in the top left hand slot and then look down the list at the bottom,
you will see that the material that you selected previously is now named as a BUGBEAR whilst the others are STANDARD.

[richard]

Putting textures and Materials on to the track.
=============================

ln the top view.
Select the track.
RIGHT click and from the options select Convert to: Convert to Editable mesh.

From the selection choose FACE ( SEE IMAGE 5 )

With the left mouse button draw a quad around the whole of the track, which should turn red.
Open the material editor and double click on the grass or terrain texture that you previously moved up
into the slots at the top of the editor.
Click on the asign material to selection button.
You have now applied a grass or terrain texture and material to the whole of the track section.

We will now add in the road section.
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Go into the Material editor, click on the RT Material ( Top left hand slot ) and scroll down the list at the bottom
till you find a suitable road texture.
Do the same as you did for the terrain but select a surface R0 or R1 for road material.

ln the top view.
Select the track.
RIGHT click and from the options select Convert to: Convert to Editable mesh.

From the selection choose FACE ( SEE IMAGE 5 )

With the left mouse button draw a quad around the road section, ( SEE IMAGE 6 ).
Do this for all of the road section down the lenght of the track.
l have only done a small section so that you can see it clearer.
You can do multiple selections by holding down the Ctrl button on the keyboard as you select.
Apply the texture and material the same as you did for the terrain.
You should now have a road section with grass terrain either side.

[richard]

Exporting the track into the RT
====================

We are now going to export the track section into the game, at this stage it is still flat and uninteresting,
but you will be able to see that you have done so far. After that we will start to bend and twist the track,
make some ditches and add a few trees plus cameras and the sun.

Exporting the track.
-------------------

File
Export............and choose BMF as the file type.

The path will be something like this:-

Program file/Jowood/Rally Trophy/exported data/tracks/track2/models/stage1.BMF
( I have choosen stage 1 as it is a daylight stage, and so that l can still import
trees and things from stage 5 as required).
l suggest that you export to a different track stage to the one that you used as your donor stage.
Say YES to replacing existing file.
The BMF exporter menu will appear, select Track from the drop down menu.( SEE IMAGE 7 )
Make sure you have the boxes checked or unchecked as in image 9



Do exactly the same as above, but export to stage1c and choose track collision in the BMF exporter menu.



You have exported the track twice. Once as the track, and once as the collision track.
lts the collision track that you drive on.

ln the BZF manager in the Import/edit side find the track that you exported to, and import it back into the game.
Remember to import the stage and the stage c.

You should now be able to go into RT and drive on the track.
If you fall into space, its because you have moved the track ( we can realign this on the next bit ),
or not exported a collision model.

[richard]

lf the game crashes during loading your stage, you can do the following:-

Start another stage first, as soon as it has counted down, 3 2 1 , press escape and return to the main RT menu and then load up your stage.

Go back into max and DELETE the tree ( or what ever was the first object that you used to bring in the materials).

Convert the material for the tree into a Bugbear material. That would be the tree leaves into material "bush", and the tree trunk into material "wood"

[richard]

lf you have got so far all well and good. You should have a flat and straight bit of track.We will now make a
copy of the track
and move it to one side for latter use. And then start to add a bit of interest to this track.



Make a copy of this track section by selecting it and then go to the main menu

Edit
Clone ( copy ) agree to the new name.

Move this new section ( in the top view ) out of the way ( IMAGE 8 )

[richard]

To make dips and hills and curves in the track we are going to use SOFT SELECTION
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Return to the original track section and select it.
Right click and from the menu select Convert to: Convert to Editable poly.
From the section choose ....VERTEX
and open up the SOFT SELECTION and check the box for............USE SOFT SELECTION ( IMAGE 9 )
Note that the FALL OFF reads 20.0m

First of all we want the track to move away from the centre line, because if you cross and recross this
line whilst driving in the game you get the wrong way message flashing up.

With the left button draw a quad down the track to just above the start line. Most of the selected area
appears red with some yellow and dark blue. ( IMAGE 10 )
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INCREASING THE FALL OUT will give a more gentle bend.
lf we increase the FALL OUT you will see that the orange, yellow and darker blue area expands. ( IMAGE 11 )
( but the RED previousl selected area stays the same ).
We can increase or decrease the FALL OFF in several ways.

By clicking on the spinner at the side of the numbers. ( IMAGE 11 )
By holding down the curser over the spinner and dragging it up or down.
By altering the numbers manually and writting your own numbers in.

[richard]

With the MOVE tool move the selection area over to one side slightly.
You will notice that the red bits stay the same, but the yellow and dark blue bits bend. ( IMAGE 11 and 12 )
Do not over move the selected area as it will distort the shape.
You may wish to do this bit again so that it moves the track a bit further away from the centre line,
do not draw your quad down as far as the first one, and then move this selected area over a bit more.

[richard]

A little way above the start line ( IMAGE 13 ), With the left button draw a quad across the track.


lf you now switch to the perspective view and move in closer to the soft selection selected area. You will see the
area selected, ( IMAGE 14 ) with the move tool you can move this area sideways, up or down. ( IMAGE 15 )
By varing the amount selected and altering the fall off you can see that you will be able to to have different
curves, dips and hills.
You can select bits at the side of the road to make hills.

Alter the track however you like.

DO NOT ALTER THE TRACK AT EACH END, as it make it easy to join up the next bit of track if it is all level.

[richard]

Here is my track as seen in Max ( IMAGE 16 ).

Here is my track as seen in RT at the start ( IMAGE 17 )

[richard]

l will continue this in the New Year.

[richard]

So far you have got the track, added textures and materials, added hills and dips, twist and turns.
Now we will add a few ditches and banks, rough up the ground at the edge of the track to stop drivers
cutting corners so that it is quicker to stay on the road.

IMAGE 18 shows how the track is made up , l use a 10 x10 meter grid, ( Bugbear use a 12 x 12 meter )
so my tracks are slightl smaller. You can see the following:-

Road width ( 10 meters )
Actual Road width
Road edge
Ditch or Bank
General terrain ( 10 x 10 meters )

Select the track, right click and convert to........convert to editable mesh.
Chose VERTEX from the selection ( IMAGE 18a )
In the perspective view you will find that the track has lots of blue dots all over it. These are the corners of the
triangles which make up the wire mesh of the model. Its these that we will move to make the ditches and banks.

[richard]

Move in closer to a bit of the track, ( l have chosen a bit which has a bend in the road ), but you can
chose any bit you like.
With the left mouse button draw a quad around several of these blue dots along the length of the road, ( IMAGE 19 )
For a multipul selection you hold the Ctrl key down on the keyboard whilst selecting addional bits.
Select the MOVE tool and move your selection up slightly. ( IMAGE 20 )
This will make just a slight rise on the edge of the road. Dips can be made in exactly the same way.

[richard]

To "rough up" some of the terrain so that it is a bit bumpy if you drive off the road we will do exactly the
same, except that we will select at right angles to the road. ( IMAGE 20a and 20b ) and move up or down.
If you move one up and then the next one down it will unsettle the car if driven over at speed.

[richard]

Select a new selection ( just as you did earlier ) next to the road and also some joining vertex's ( IMAGE 21 )
Move these up by between one and two meters in height, and then move them across
the track by one or two meters ( IMAGE 22 ).

[richard]

Change your selection from Vertex to Faces.

Select the faces of the bank that you have just made. ( IMAGE 23 )
( Note there is no difference between dich and bank, other than
one goes up and the other goes down ).

[richard]

Open the MATERIAL EDITOR and look down list and find the following 3 materials

kenya_ditch_1_1
kenya_ditch_1_2
kenya_ditch_1_3

or what ever the ditch textures are called for the country that you are doing.

Load these into the vacant slots at the top, just as you did for the road and terrain earlier.
Remember to convert them to Bugbear and the surface type should be changed to sand yellow.

Assign Kenya_ditch_1_2 to your selected faces. This is the middle of the ditch.
kenya_ditch_1_1 and kenya_ditch_1_3 are the begging and end of the ditch.
So select the begging of the ditch and apply the relevant material,
and then select the end of the ditch and apply the relevant material.
Now you should have the start, middle and end of the ditch. ( IMAGE 24 and 25 )
A different eye level view of the bank. ( IMAGE 26 )

[richard]

Put banks and ditch as required on your section of track. l have put a ditch on the inside of the corner which
we have just built the bank. ( IMAGE 27, 28 and 29 )

[richard]

Export your track into the game as often as like, so that you can see how its going.


By now the six slots in the material editor are full.
You can creat more by opening the material editor and right click on any material slot,
and chose from the menu how may slots you want visible.

Or you can remove some of the ones you have moved up. To do this you must remove them from the visible slots.
by selecting the material, go to parent ( IMAGE 30 )
and then deleteing the material. ( IMAGE 31 ) This will only delete the material from the material
editor and NOT you track. You can always put the material back if required.

[richard]

ln the top view, select the bit of track that you moved to the left earlier. Make a copy ( clone ) of it. ( see image 32 )
Move this new track section to the end of the track that you had altered.

[richard]

Line it up. ( see image 33 )
ln the side view you can see that they are the same height and line up OK.
That is why you do not move the ends of the track up or down.

[richard]

With the new section selected, right click and convert to editable mesh. ( see image 34 )
Select attach and then click on your main track section to attach it.
From the attach menu options click OK ( see image 34 )
Deselect the Attach button.
Both sections of track have now become one, however they now require welding together.
Still in editable mesh select the vertex option ( see image 18a )