Creating tracks - Revision history

Timo 6: /* Other Notes */ Fix tab instead of space

2014-12-24T22:51:09Z

Other Notes: Fix tab instead of space

Timo 6: /* Directions for creating tracks */ Fix formatting

2014-12-24T22:42:21Z

Directions for creating tracks: Fix formatting

Timo 6: Formatting style updates

2012-09-01T10:48:30Z

Formatting style updates

Timo 6: Update categories

2012-09-01T10:40:26Z

Update categories

Timo 6: 22 revisions: Import from old wiki (on 15 May 2012)

2012-08-26T17:21:40Z

22 revisions: Import from old wiki (on 15 May 2012)

Timo 6: Change from SVN to Git

2011-07-03T21:13:30Z

Change from SVN to Git

Timo 6: /* Directions for creating tracks */ Remove extra blank line.

2011-04-26T19:57:32Z

Directions for creating tracks: Remove extra blank line.

Venzon: /* Video Tutorial */

2011-04-22T03:15:38Z

Video Tutorial

Venzon at 03:14, 22 April 2011

2011-04-22T03:14:01Z

New page

==Video Tutorial==
NaN has produced this nifty video tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oju-vKVVaho

==What you need==
* Vdrift program
* Vdrift level editor
* Blender 2.33 or higher. Tested on 2.45 with Python 2.5.1
* Blender JOE export script. Get that here: http://svn.vdrift.net/repos/vdrift-art/trunk/tools/
Get the "export-all-joe-0.3.py" script. The difference in the files is that one exports all the object in the scene and the other only exports the one that is selected.

==Getting the level editor==
In the Linux console, copy ''everything'' below:
svn co http://svn.vdrift.net/repos/vdrift-trackeditor/trunk vdrift-trackeditor

==Directions for creating tracks==
* Model the scene. See the [[track modeling tutorial]] for help with this step.
* If you use a 3d editor other than blender, import the track into blender.
* Use the export-all-joe-0.3.py blender export script to export all objects. This script can be found in the VDrift art repository under the tools folder. The export script creates a number of .joe files and a list.txt file. The list.txt file may be named somename-list.txt, in which case you should rename it to list.txt. At least one .joe file should get created for the curve track. Also verify that list.txt is mentioning all the .joe files. An empty list.txt will not load anything in the editor.
* Create new folder for track in track editor folder TRACKEDITOR_TP (if your track is called parkinglot, the path could be /home/joe/VDrift-trackeditor/data/tracks/parkinglot).
* Make folder TRACKEDITOR_TP/objects/
* Copy all of the .joe files and the list.txt file to TRACKEDITOR_TP/objects/
* Open track editor data/tracks/editor.config and set active track to TRACKEDITOR_TP.
* Create a TRACKEDITOR_TP/track.txt file with at least a line "cull faces = on". track.txt is modified by track editor to add all starting positions and lap sequence points. Read the track editor inhelp for more information.
* Run the track editor. Trace the roadways and mark the starting position (press H for help). A track may not always appear on the screen. Move the mouse around and you could see it in the black space. The first time, check the console output of track editor for any warnings.
{| style="border: solid 1px black; background-color: #e0e0e0"
|- valign="top"
|width="250px"|'''Why trace roadways?'''
[[Image:Track-smoothing.png]]
This is a visual depiction of the track smoothing that occurs when tracing a roadway. Imagine this image is showing the track surface from a side view. The black lines represent the track mesh, and the red lines represent the bezier patches. Once the track has been traced in the track editor, VDrift will use the red lines to do collision instead of the black lines. On the top, this represents a dip in the road. You can see how collision using the red line will behave properly. On the bottom, this represents a bump road. You can see that the red line doesn't change the magnitude of the bumps, it just makes them realistically smooth instead of unrealistically pointy.
|}
* CD to the VDrift-trackeditor/joepack folder. Compile the joepack tool by running
scons
* CD to the TRACKEDITOR_TP/objects folder (this is important, the packfile stores relative paths) and run
/path/to/VDrift-trackeditor/joepack/joepack -c objects.jpk *.joe
* If you want, this command will show you the files in the joepack to allow you to verify the previous step worked correctly:
/path/to/VDrift-trackeditor/joepack/joepack -l objects.jpk
* Copy TRACKEDITOR_TP into the main VDrift tracks folder VDRIFT_TP (for example /home/joe/VDrift/data/tracks/parkinglot). Erase VDRIFT_TP/objects/*.joe since they are all in the pack file now.
* Add VDRIFT_TP/about.txt and ensure that the first line is the name of the track. You should put information about the track author, where the track came from, etc in the second line and on.
* Run VDrift and check out what the track looks like in-game. Note that you will only be able to drive on the roadways you defined in the track editor since no other surfaces have been flagged as collideable. Also take a screenshot for the track selection screen.
* Create a track selection image (a 512x512 png file works best) and save it to VDRIFT_TP/trackshot.png
* Open up all of the texture files in TRACKEDITOR_TP/objects and review which textures belong to objects that should be collide-able (roads and walls), have full brightness (trees), be mipmapped (fences and fine transparent objects sometimes look better when not mipmapped), or be skyboxes.
* Set the correct object properties using the VDrift-tracked/listedit tool (more documentation to come).
* Done!

==Other Notes==
* A track should be of a minimum size for loading within vdrift game. If the editor is not allowing to adjust the camera poistions correctly, probably the track is very small. Scale everything in the blender twice or more and try again.
* Starting points are set within the track editor. After the track is loaded, position the track like you were in the car on the track i.e. first person view. Press L to save the position as a starting position. Continue to add positions depending on your track. Also add a lap sequence i.e. lap starting/ending point　track.
* Track editor does not paint or mark the starting points or lap sequence numbers on the track. These are only saved in track.txt. Also, the editor will always continue adding more starting positions if track.txt had some already. Therefore, consider deleting everything in track.txt if you wish to reedit the positions.
* A .joe file gets created when the track has a texture.
* The export-joe script should be loaded within blender along with the track, and executed.

[[Category:Tracks]]
[[Category:Review]]

NaN at 13:30, 10 January 2010

2010-01-10T13:30:06Z

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 * Copy all of the '''.joe''' files and the '''list.txt''' file to '''''TRACKEDITOR_TP''/objects/'''
 * Open track editor '''data/tracks/editor.config''' and set active track to ''TRACKEDITOR_TP''.
-* Create a '''''TRACKEDITOR_TP''/track.txt'' file with at least a line "cull faces = on". '''track.txt''' is modified by track editor to add all starting positions and lap sequence points. Read the track editor inhelp for more information.
+* Create a '''''TRACKEDITOR_TP''/track.txt''' file with at least a line "cull faces = on". '''track.txt''' is modified by track editor to add all starting positions and lap sequence points. Read the track editor inhelp for more information.
 * Run the track editor. Trace the roadways and mark the starting position (press H for help). A track may not always appear on the screen. Move the mouse around and you could see it in the black space. The first time, check the console output of track editor for any warnings.
 {| style="border: solid 1px black; background-color: #e0e0e0"

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:30, 10 January 2010
Line 41:		Line 41:
	* Set the correct object properties using the VDrift-tracked/listedit tool (more documentation to come).		* Set the correct object properties using the VDrift-tracked/listedit tool (more documentation to come).
	* Done!		* Done!
−
−	~~==Experimental(Broken)==~~
−	~~This modified script exports the track.txt from blender.~~
−	~~[http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NB360O00 export-all-joe-0.3.py]~~
−
−	~~To add a lap sequence(start/finish line):~~
−	* Add an Empty object to the scene.
−	* Position it at the start/finisch line of your track.
−	* Rename it to "lap sequence n"(n is the number of the sequence)
−
−	~~To add a car start position:~~
−	* Add an Empty object to the scene.
−	* Position it on your track.
−	* Rename it to "start position n"(n is the number of the position)
−
−	~~[[Image:Experimental.jpg]]~~

@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 ==Other Notes==
 * A track should be of a minimum size for loading within VDrift. If the editor is not allowing to adjust the camera poistions correctly, probably the track is very small. Scale everything in the blender twice or more and try again.
-* Starting points are set within the track editor. After the track is loaded, position the track like you were in the car on the track i.e. first person view. Press L to save the position as a starting position. Continue to add positions depending on your track. Also add a lap sequence i.e. lap starting/ending point　track.
+* Starting points are set within the track editor. After the track is loaded, position the track like you were in the car on the track i.e. first person view. Press L to save the position as a starting position. Continue to add positions depending on your track. Also add a lap sequence i.e. lap starting/ending point track.
 * Track editor does not paint or mark the starting points or lap sequence numbers on the track. These are only saved in track.txt. Also, the editor will always continue adding more starting positions if track.txt had some already. Therefore, consider deleting everything in '''track.txt''' if you wish to reedit the positions.
 * A .joe file gets created when the track has a texture.

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 * Blender 2.33 or higher. Tested on 2.45 with Python 2.5.1
 * Blender JOE export script. Get that here: https://github.com/VDrift/blender-scripts
-Get the "export-all-joe-0.3.py" script. The difference in the files is that one exports all the object in the scene and the other only exports the one that is selected.
+Get the '''export-all-joe-0.3.py''' script. The difference in the files is that one exports all the object in the scene and the other only exports the one that is selected.
 ==Getting the level editor==
@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 ==Directions for creating tracks==
-* Model the scene.  See the [[track modeling tutorial]] for help with this step.
+* Model the scene.  See [[3D modeling]] for resources to help with this step.
-* If you use a 3d editor other than blender, import the track into blender.
+* If you use a 3D editor other than blender, import the track into blender.
-* Use the export-all-joe-0.3.py blender export script to export all objects.  This script can be found in the VDrift art repository under the tools folder.  The export script creates a number of .joe files and a list.txt file.  The list.txt file may be named somename-list.txt, in which case you should rename it to list.txt. At least one .joe file should get created for the curve track. Also verify that list.txt is mentioning all the .joe files. An empty list.txt will not load anything in the editor.
+* Use the '''export-all-joe-0.3.py''' blender export script to export all objects.  This script can be found in the VDrift art repository under the tools folder.  The export script creates a number of '''.joe''' files and a '''list.txt''' file.  The '''list.txt''' file may be named '''somename-list.txt''', in which case you should rename it to '''list.txt'''. At least one '''.joe''' file should get created for the curve track. Also verify that '''list.txt''' is mentioning all the '''.joe''' files. An empty '''list.txt''' will not load anything in the editor.
-* Create new folder for track in track editor folder TRACKEDITOR_TP (if your track is called parkinglot, the path could be /home/joe/VDrift-trackeditor/data/tracks/parkinglot).
+* Create new folder for track in track editor folder ''TRACKEDITOR_TP'' (if your track is called parkinglot, the path could be '''/home/joe/trackeditor/data/tracks/parkinglot''').
-* Make folder TRACKEDITOR_TP/objects/
+* Make folder '''''TRACKEDITOR_TP''/objects/'''
-* Copy all of the .joe files and the list.txt file to TRACKEDITOR_TP/objects/
+* Copy all of the '''.joe''' files and the '''list.txt''' file to '''''TRACKEDITOR_TP''/objects/'''
-* Open track editor data/tracks/editor.config and set active track to TRACKEDITOR_TP.
+* Open track editor '''data/tracks/editor.config''' and set active track to ''TRACKEDITOR_TP''.
-* Create a TRACKEDITOR_TP/track.txt file with at least a line "cull faces = on". track.txt is modified by track editor to add all starting positions and lap sequence points. Read the track editor inhelp for more information.
+* Create a '''''TRACKEDITOR_TP''/track.txt'' file with at least a line "cull faces = on". '''track.txt''' is modified by track editor to add all starting positions and lap sequence points. Read the track editor inhelp for more information.
 * Run the track editor. Trace the roadways and mark the starting position (press H for help). A track may not always appear on the screen. Move the mouse around and you could see it in the black space. The first time, check the console output of track editor for any warnings.
 {| style="border: solid 1px black; background-color: #e0e0e0"
@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 This is a visual depiction of the track smoothing that occurs when tracing a roadway. Imagine this image is showing the track surface from a side view. The black lines represent the track mesh, and the red lines represent the bezier patches. Once the track has been traced in the track editor, VDrift will use the red lines to do collision instead of the black lines. On the top, this represents a dip in the road. You can see how collision using the red line will behave properly. On the bottom, this represents a bump road. You can see that the red line doesn't change the magnitude of the bumps, it just makes them realistically smooth instead of unrealistically pointy.
 |}
-* CD to the VDrift-trackeditor/joepack folder.  Compile the joepack tool by running
+* <code>cd</code> to the '''trackeditor/joepack''' folder.  Compile the joepack tool by running
   scons
-* CD to the TRACKEDITOR_TP/objects folder (this is important, the packfile stores relative paths) and run
+* <code>cd</code> to the '''''TRACKEDITOR_TP''/objects''' folder (this is important, the packfile stores relative paths) and run
-  /path/to/VDrift-trackeditor/joepack/joepack -c objects.jpk *.joe
+  /path/to/trackeditor/joepack/joepack -c objects.jpk *.joe
 * If you want, this command will show you the files in the joepack to allow you to verify the previous step worked correctly:
   /path/to/VDrift-trackeditor/joepack/joepack -l objects.jpk
-* Copy TRACKEDITOR_TP into the main VDrift tracks folder VDRIFT_TP (for example /home/joe/VDrift/data/tracks/parkinglot). Erase VDRIFT_TP/objects/*.joe since they are all in the pack file now.
+* Copy ''TRACKEDITOR_TP'' into the main VDrift tracks folder ''VDRIFT_TP'' (for example '''/home/joe/vdrift/data/tracks/parkinglot'''). Erase '''''VDRIFT_TP''/objects/*.joe''' since they are all in the pack file now.
-* Add VDRIFT_TP/about.txt and ensure that the first line is the name of the track.  You should put information about the track author, where the track came from, etc in the second line and on.
+* Add '''''VDRIFT_TP''/about.txt''' and ensure that the first line is the name of the track.  You should put information about the track author, where the track came from, etc in the second line and on.
 * Run VDrift and check out what the track looks like in-game. Note that you will only be able to drive on the roadways you defined in the track editor since no other surfaces have been flagged as collideable. Also take a screenshot for the track selection screen.
-* Create a track selection image (a 512x512 png file works best) and save it to VDRIFT_TP/trackshot.png
+* Create a track selection image (a 512x512 png file works best) and save it to '''''VDRIFT_TP''/trackshot.png'''
-* Open up all of the texture files in TRACKEDITOR_TP/objects and review which textures belong to objects that should be collide-able (roads and walls), have full brightness (trees), be mipmapped (fences and fine transparent objects sometimes look better when not mipmapped), or be skyboxes.
+* Open up all of the texture files in '''''TRACKEDITOR_TP''/objects''' and review which textures belong to objects that should be collide-able (roads and walls), have full brightness (trees), be mipmapped (fences and fine transparent objects sometimes look better when not mipmapped), or be skyboxes.
-* Set the correct object properties using the VDrift-tracked/listedit tool (more documentation to come).
+* Set the correct object properties using the '''trackeditor/listedit''' tool (more documentation to come).
 * Done!
 ==Other Notes==
-* A track should be of a minimum size for loading within vdrift game. If the editor is not allowing to adjust the camera poistions correctly, probably the track is very small. Scale everything in the blender twice or more and try again.
+* A track should be of a minimum size for loading within VDrift. If the editor is not allowing to adjust the camera poistions correctly, probably the track is very small. Scale everything in the blender twice or more and try again.
 * Starting points are set within the track editor. After the track is loaded, position the track like you were in the car on the track i.e. first person view. Press L to save the position as a starting position. Continue to add positions depending on your track. Also add a lap sequence i.e. lap starting/ending point　track.
-* Track editor does not paint or mark the starting points or lap sequence numbers on the track. These are only saved in track.txt. Also, the editor will always continue adding more starting positions if track.txt had some already. Therefore, consider deleting everything in track.txt if you wish to reedit the positions.
+* Track editor does not paint or mark the starting points or lap sequence numbers on the track. These are only saved in track.txt. Also, the editor will always continue adding more starting positions if track.txt had some already. Therefore, consider deleting everything in '''track.txt''' if you wish to reedit the positions.
 * A .joe file gets created when the track has a texture.
 * The export-joe script should be loaded within blender along with the track, and executed.
 [[Category:Tracks]]

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 ==What you need==
-* Vdrift program
+* VDrift
-* Vdrift level editor
+* VDrift level editor
 * Blender 2.33 or higher. Tested on 2.45 with Python 2.5.1
 * Blender JOE export script. Get that here: https://github.com/VDrift/blender-scripts
@@ Line 51: / Line 51: @@
 [[Category:Tracks]]

← Older revision	Revision as of 17:21, 26 August 2012
(No difference)

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ==Video Tutorial==
-NaN has produced this nifty video tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oju-vKVVaho
+NaN has produced this nifty video tutorial (Windows, but mostly applicable to Linux too): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oju-vKVVaho
 ==What you need==