Hi… so im currently doing modeling for a mod for HL2, and i made a lamp post prop.... Now the project manager says i must “rig” the pole so that the game knows what to do with it… My question is, Do props require rigging? (or atleast adding 1 bone to it?) and How do i do this? please help me, thx in advance

I’m pretty sure they require one bone, though there is a chance ValveTool’s SMD exporter adds one automatically if none are found.

The process is really simple for adding one bone manually though. The steps might vary depending on if you are using XSI (calling it ‘Softimage’ just seems weird) or Modtool (depending on which mode you have Modtool set to).













And since you’re only using one bone, you can just accept the default settings for the envelope.

Thx Cryrid… YOUR HELP IS KREDIT TO HEAVY!.... seriously, thx....

ahh… another question.... what are smoothing groups?

Pretty much a split/hard-edge in the continuity of the shading.

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Smoothing_group For more info, especially as it relates to HL2

thx again mate…

I have a question.. again… (im newby) im currently doing another prop, and for some reason, any polygon, point of edge i move is sticking to things around it… Imagine it as a box, ur looking at face 1. face 2 is to the right of face 1, i cant move the polygon out of face 2… same thing with points and edges… or lets take the points for example, i try to move it out of the box but i cant, and if i move it up or down, they go fine, but when they reach an edge or another point, they cant move beyond it.

Sounds like you either have snapping on, or one of the options enabled on the move tool (the middle one moves along edges, not allowing you to move away from the object).

Strange… i went to the mod tool and tried to move a point and it worked.. i guess it wore off… P.S if it happens again, how do i remove it? (I know that its not snapping)

I didnt want to start another thread.... i have this problem, so i uv mapped this door + frame, and for some reason, i get messed up shadows on the model, here’s a pic:

The pic on the right is what i want it to be, but the pic on the left is what it is… what is causing the shadows? do you need a picture of the uv map?

The UV map would help. There could be the chance that faces are sharing the same UV space, which could confuse the baking process.
If that image on the right has a normal map on it, the green channel might also need to be inverted.