Mark Roberts - 11 July 2008 04:55 AM
This is quite an intensive task. When I have some time I can write it clearer.
I’ll have a go. 
It’s easy to do, but you need some basic sub-object editing knowledge in VIZ and an understanding of Multi-Sub Object Materials. Most of the following operations are carried out in the Modify Tab of the VIZ Command Panel.
1) VEHICLE TEXTURE : This is perhaps the hardest part of the process - it’s all downhill once you have got this step nailed. Open the DVSP Help File and look at the DynamiteVehicles Material topic. This material will be applied to any vehicle generated using DVSP. You’ll notice that the material is divided into a number of numerical channels which need to match “Material IDs” at object level. So each vehicle component needs to have a numerical material ID on each mesh face which will dictate which channel of the DynamiteVehicles material will appear on that face. If you open the Modify Tab of the VIZ Command Panel and select Face sub-object level, you’ll see that you can select individual faces on the selected object. Scroll down the Command Panel until you see a rollout titled “Surface Properties”. In there you will see a “Set ID” option. You need to set an appropriate value in here to match the entry in the Help Topic mentioned above. For instance, for tyres enter a value of 15, and for windows enter a value of 17. All bodywork should be allocated a value of 9.
2) COMBINE TO SINGLE MESH : The next thing to understand is that the vehicle should be placed in a .max file on it’s own, and there must be only ONE object in the scene, which should be an “editable mesh” object or an RPC. Many vehicles from commercial libraries are made up of a series of components - for instance one mesh for the body, another mesh for the windows, another for the wheels, etc. So these components will need to be combined into a single mesh before they can be used with Dynamite VSP. This can be achieved by selecting any of the individual components and selecting the “Attach” or “Attach Multiple” button in the Modify tab of the VIZ Command Panel.
3) RENAME VEHICLE: Once you have consolidated the components into a single mesh, rename it to something sensible.
4) VEHICLE PIVOT POINT : Every object has it’s own pivot point which can be considered to be the local origin of the object. The convention in DVSP is that vehicle origins should be at ground level in the centre of the vehicle. It’s probable that the pivot point on your vehicle will need to be moved. If we do not position it correctly, the vehicle will not correctly be set at ground level when placed using DVSP. To move the pivot point - select the vehicle, then select the Hierarchy Tab in the VIZ Command Panel, then press “Affect Pivot Only”. You can now use the standard MOVE icon in the VIZ Main Toolbar to move the pivot point without moving the geometry of the vehicle. The “Center To Object” button will help you to find the centre of the object in XY space. Refer to the standard VIZ help file for more information on manipulating pivot points. Remember to de-activate the “Affect Pivot Only” button when you have finished.
5) SCENE ORIGIN : It’s good practice (although not essential) to position the vehicle at the origin of your max scene. So now move the vehicle so that it’s pivot point is at 0,0,0. Use Edit > Transform Type-In to position an object exactly at 0,0,0.
6) VEHICLE ORIENTATION : Next, we have to check the orientation of the vehicle to ensure that a vehicle is facing forward when we place it from DVSP. The easiest way to check the orientation of your vehicle is to change the viewport to a front view (right click the viewport label and select Views > Front). Can you see the front of the vehicle from this angle? If not, you will need to rotate the vehicle until you can see the front. Select the vehicle, then return to the Hierarchy Tab in the VIZ Command Panel, and select “Affect Object Only”, then select the Rotate icon in the main toolbar. With the “Transform Type-In” window still open, type in rotations in multiples of 90 degrees until you can see the front of the vehicle in the front view. Once you are happy with this, release the “Affect Pivot Only” button, and then (VERY IMPORTANT), press the Reset Transform button in the Hierarchy Tab of the VIZ Command Panel.
7) VEHICLE SCALE : It’s possible that the vehicle you have created was originally modelled in inches or feet, so it’s important that we check the scale of our vehicle to ensure that it matches the normal scale of our civil design models. Select the vehicle, then select Edit > Object Properties. This panel will show you the basic dimensions of the selected vehicle. From this you should be able to work out the units in which the vehicle was originally modelled. if you need to rescale the vehicle, select the SCALE button in the main toolbar, and re-open the Transform Type In window (See above). Type in the required scale factor, then (VERY IMPORTANT) in the Hierarchy Tab of the VIZ Command Panel, press the Reset Scale button.
8) SAVE THE MAX FILE : Save the MAX file to the Objlibs/Vehicles folder in your current DVSP Country Kit.
9) ADD VEHICLE TO DVSP OBJECT LIBRARY : In DVSP, open the Country Kit Resource Manager from the main pull-down menu. Select the Vehicles tab, then select any existing vehicle in the library and press the COPY INI FILE button. This will create a copy of one of the existing vehicles in your library which we can now use to hold the definition for our own vehicle. Press the RENAME INI FILE button to give the vehicle definition a new name, then press the Max File button and select the .max file that you just saved to the Country Kit. Finally, set an appropriate “Group” or sub-category name for your vehicle.
That’s it. You should now be able to place your vehicle using the normal DVSP object placement techniques.
