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Old 26-12-07, 17:12   #1
tweetygwee
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Joined: Jul 2006
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Arrow Metasequoia Tutorial

Part 1: Metasequoia Overview

This is intended as an addition to Titak’s excellent tut here: http://www.tombraiderforums.com/showthread.php?t=79223

The difference is that I will give some step by step examples on the application of meta to make your objects in the next posts. Metasequoia has a lack of tutorials aimed at level editors that actually show you the process of making objects specifically for LE use, which I will show you later on. This is just the overview. You may remember my texture tutorial, I may continue it but I’m busy with projects at the moment!

Metasequoia can be a daunting program. The best thing you can have is experience, as you discover quicker and better ways to get what you want the more you work with the program. I can now make meshes quite well (but texturing them is not so fun/simple IMO) and thought I’d share some of the useful features that I had to learn by experience, experimentation and accidents! This overview section is largely based on what I found difficult when learning meta, and will give you some useful tips on how to go about things efficiently. I hope it will make the path to good quality meshes clearer for new meta users. Let’s begin.

Meta grid vs LE grid

At first, trying to visualise where your mesh will appear in the LE is very confusing. I’ll clear this up now. Go to View > Grid and set the interval to 52, if it isn’t already. Note that 52 is not the size of an LE square (51.2), but it’s close and what I work with. This is how the meta grid corresponds roughly with LE squares:



Notice that the green y-axis hits the centre of an LE square, so a mesh positioned like this:



will appear in the centre of an LE tile. As 52 is not the exact value, the tiles I drew further away from the centre will be very inaccurate. So now, we will make some reference blocks. In meta units:

25.6 = 1 LE click
51.2 = 2 LE clicks
76.8 = 3 LE clicks (Lara’s height)
102.4 = 4 LE clicks (a standard cube)

So these are powers of 2 (or powers of 2 added together) with a decimal point in.

Go to Primitive (command panel), select the cube and click “property”. Under “size” input 102.4 in each (or in one and then click “cube”). Close this panel, and back on the primitive panel click create.

This is a standard LE 4 click block. Save this as an .mqo file. I also have 1, 2 and 3 click blocks (putting one of the values above in the Y parameter). Now when you make objects, you can go to File > Insert and insert a block for reference, selecting “create as new object”, so your reference block can be manipulated separately. You can insert a few, moving them 102.4 each time to stack them in different directions. They are very useful if you want a column to be 6 clicks high, or are trying to get a torch bracket perfectly against a wall, for example. Make sure you delete it before saving as a dfx, because the reference block will appear in your mesh!

The Object Panel



When you created the block, it was placed in obj1 by default. In this panel the different slots are a bit like those in wadmerger. They have names and correspond to different meshes. If you created a complex object and then wanted to change or delete different parts quickly, it would help to have them separated. So every time you want to make a new part, click New in this panel. Using primitive or creating faces will be attributed to whatever slot you have selected (above, “Torch” is selected). This way, everything can be manipulated, selected, hidden (click the eyes), locked (click the other box for keys) and deleted.

Tips

- Double click a slot to change its name and other attributes.
- To select different parts of your object quickly, lock whatever you don’t want selected and hit Ctrl+A.
- Click “Clone” to make a clone of selected slot. You can change the position in the panel that appears, or lock everything but the new clone, select all (Ctrl+A) and then move/rotate it.
- Under “Misc” you can merge everything, merge visible and do many other things.

The Edit Panel



This isn’t shown by default (Panel > Edit Panel) but it is extremely useful. Now you can move, scale and rotate in all three axes while not constantly using the left panels. You can also see by what factor you are scaling, how many units you are moving, or how many degrees you are rotating. Just click and drag on the X, Y and Z buttons, or the top one for all three.

Miscellaneous features and tips:

- View > Document Information shows you the number of vertices and other information (vertex limit = 255. This is not too important if you use TREP to extend limits).

- Selected > Join Vertices (Ctrl+J) Joins selected vertices if they are in the same slot in the object panel.

- Object > Reduce Polygons can be helpful, especially if you have a high poly mesh ripped from somewhere, but can produce unwanted results.

- Selected > Cut, copy, paste and delete are huge timesavers. You can cut and paste a selection to create it as a new slot in the object panel, and copying is useful anywhere.

- Views:
F1 = Side
F2= Top
F3= Other side
F4 = 4 viewports, press again to return to normal.
- Go to View > Set View > Initialize to return the meta window to standard view, after moving, tilting the view etc. with the top right contols.
- In the top left you have 7 nice buttons, I use Pt, Ln and Fc most to better visualise a mesh without all the pink vertices and lines.

I will go through the left panels in Part 2, when we start making objects.

Last edited by tweetygwee; 26-12-07 at 17:14.
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