alittle help, please

barri allen

I'm starting to use UDK (installed: Sept 2010 64 bit win 7). All goes well as long as I keep using BSPs, but whenever I import a static mesh of mine, either from 3ds or XSI (the latter is my tool of choice), it appears correctly in the interface windows, but disappears when I play the level (well, actually I can see only its shadows).

I've followed several related tutorials accurately, and I'm feeling a bit frustrated, cause I've quite a bit of experience in modeling and texturing.

I realize this to be a newbie problem, but this is a flriendly community, so thanks in advance. :poly141:

Oniram

save your package once everything is imported and it should appear.

barri allen

Thank you Oniram, but this is what I do every time, to no awail.
To state things better, meshes don't disappear when I start to play the level, they simply do not appear (their shadows are visible, though, and meshes themselves are visible in the interface windows of UDK). Theys also fail to present their images in the thumbs of the content browser (I use the eye icon, be assured).,
I wonder if anyone has already met this problem (an error of mine somewhere along the process, no doubt).

Psy-UK

I know a few people who've had this problem but I don't believe they managed to fix it. Still, you're not alone!

barri allen

In a way I've got it, well, at least in part.
Looks like you have to (and I mean HAVE TO) assign clusters to polys, then assign materials WITH textures (anyone, even checker), and last, assign a convenient UVmap to all geometry (planar or cubic work well).
All this done in Softimage, export as .ase, import in UDK, SAVE .upk and you are able to put mesh in the level.
To tell the truth, this works somehow erratically, but works in the end.
An additional problem I encountered was that assigning materials the usual way (ie select mat in CB an click the green arrow) not always works. When this happens, I found that grabbing mat to the mesh is effective instead.

I fear that XSI is not as easy going with UDK as 3ds, but I love that sw and I am not inclined to give it up. :shifty:

feanix

I model alsmost exclusively in Modo and it's not perfect when it comes to exporting ASEs (and it cant to PSKs at all, obviously). If I ever need to do something complex I sometimes finish up in Modo, export to obj, import obj to Max and export to UDK from there. It's a schlep but sometimes it's less of a schlep than doing it from Modo/XSI

barri allen

Yep, feanix, I too found out this is the easiest way often.
I hate modeling in 3ds, but, no way, for I/O 3ds rocks.