MODELING FOR UT3: TIPS

HEY ALL, HERE IS SOME TIPS ON MODELING:

1. WHEN YOU SAVE OUT OF SOLIDWORKS CHECK OUT THE OPTIONS BOX, YOU CAN ALTER THE DETAIL LEVEL THERE AND IT HAS A HUGE EFFECT ON THE NUMBERS OF POLYS OF THE SAVED STL.

2. THE LOWER THE POLYS THE BETTER, I WOULD RECOMEND A REASONABLE LIMIT OF 30,000 FOR EACH MESH. HOPEFULLY A LOT LESS.

3. ANYTHING THAT IS A COMPONENT THAT CAN BE USED AGAIN AND AGAIN SHOULD BE MODELED SEPERATELY, UT3 DEFINITELY LIKES MULTIPLE USE OF ONE STATIC MESH THAN MULTIPLE DIFFERENT ONES. THIS WILL PROBABLY EFFECT JULES' POLES.

4. KIMBERLEY, IT'S FINE (EVEN GOOD) THAT YOU ARE GOING OVERBOARD WITH THE STACK MODEL. LARGE ELEMENTS THAT ARE SUCH AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE SITE SHOULD HAVE MORE DETAIL.

5. SMALL, AND PERIPHERAL, THINGS CAN BE MODELED WITH LESS DETAIL.

6. AS JULES NOTES THERE REALLY IS NO POINT IN COMPILING ALL THE SOLIDWORKS PARTS TOGETHER IN AN ASSEMBLY AS THEY GET SAVED AS STL'S SEPERATLY ANYWAY. BRING THEM TOGETHER IN 3DSMAX.

5. YOU CAN OPTIMISE IN 3DSMAX, USING THE OPTIMISE MODIFIER, BUT THIS WILL REALLY ONLY HELP WITH CURVING SURFACES. ORTHOGONAL SURFACES WILL BE OPTIMISED WHEN SAVED OUT OF SOLIDWORKS AND ANY ATTEMPT TO OPTIMIZE THEM FURTHER WILL ALTER THE GEOMETRY...POSSIBLY SIGNIFICANTLY. HOTKEY "7" WILL GIVE A POLY COUNT.

6. REMINDER OF THE EXPORT > IMPORT PROCESS

A) IN SOLIDWORKS BEFORE YOU SAVE CHANGE THE UNITS TO INCHES
B) SAVE AS *.STL FROM SOLIDWORKS (TRY ALTERING DETAIL SETTINGS UNDER OPTIONS)
B) IMPORT INTO 3DSMAX AND MAKE MINOR SCALE ADJUSTMENTS AS NECESSARY. SCLAE AGAINST A BOX 90 x 50 x 35.
C) CREATE A MATERIAL BY ASSIGNING A TEXTURE (USE A UT3 COMPATIBLE TEXTURE, I RECOMEND ONE OF YOU CREATE A CHECKER TEXTURE 512 x 512 THAT YOU CAN ALL USE. THIS WILL HELP YOU TO SEE THE LEVEL OF DETAIL IN THE TEXTURE ON YOUR OBJECT i.e. IT'S EASIER TO SEE THE UV's WHEN IT'S NOT AN HOMOGONOUS TEXTURE, LIKE YOUR BOXBOARD IDEA) TO THE DIFUSE COLOUR CHANEL OF A STANDARD MATERIAL.
D) ASSIGN THE MATERIAL TO THE WHOLE OBJECT (I'M RECOMENDING A SIMPLE MODEL WITH JUST ONE MATERIAL AS A GOOD STARTING POINT).
E) CHECK SHOW MATERIAL IN VIEWPORT IN THE MATERIAL EDITOR (HOTKEY = M TO OPEN THE MATERIAL EDITOR)
F) APPLY A UVW MODIFIER. ADJUST TO SUIT.
G) BRING TO A BOIL. KIDDING.
H) EXPORT AS A *.ASCii FILE. CHECK BOXES TOP LEFT 2, BOTTOM LEFT 2, MIDDLE TOP 1.
I) IMPORT TO UT3. GENERIC BROWSER > FILE > IMPORT.
J) OPEN IN STATIC MESH BROWSER. UNDER "LOD" UNCHECK ALL COLLISION TYPES EXCEPT "SIMPLE LINE COLLISION". WE MIGHT MAKE COLLISION BOXES LATER IF THIS LEVEL OF COLLISION (THE HIGHEST) GET TOO MUCH FOR OUR COMPUTERS TO HANDLE IN GAME.
K) ASSIGN YOUR "BOXBOARD" MATERIAL TO THE MATERIAL SLOT.

DONE

LEAVE QUESTIONS AND TIPS FOR MODELING IN THE COMMENTS

base model

Ok guys after a bit of stuffing around i have a few suggestions, mainly to make my life easier to insert 50 poles. I have added them all to jacobs solidworks base model as an assembly as it is easier to place them correctly being able to see the google earth image.
I have a 3d max file that combines the base model with a box with the google earth image on it but i couldn't figure out how to see the texture in top view.
*Is there a way to view the texture instead of wireframe
The solid works assembly can be imported into 3d max but not in one go, when it is saved as an sdl it saves all the objects in it individually. This means that you need to individually import each sdl file (56 in total) into 3d max, but they do remember where to go so that got around the problem of not being able to see the google earth texture.
So now i have a 3d max file with 50 poles, the base model and an extrusion of the cadastre to help with building positions. But two attempts at importing it into unreal editor yeilded no result, just froze for about 15 minutes (as long as could be bothered waiting)
*How do you check the poly count in 3d max, i can't remember
So given that the solidworks assembly appears to be too big to import to unreal i am after suggestions on the best approach. should i delete parts of the 3d max model to break it down into groups, say of the site surface, poles on anzac, poles on flinders, poles on south dowling etc, or some other organisational system and import them into unreal? Ideally it would be good to import all the poles individually into unreal so they appear as individual static meshes that are able to all be edited individually, but i can't think of a way to make that anything but very time consuming.
Also currently i have been fairly inefficient in that every pole has its own saved part in solid works, instead of poles that are the same just having one part that would be copied and placed as required. This was mainly to help me keep track of which ones i had done but now that they all are i am wondering if it is really worth tidying this up. There are not too many that really are identical and i like the look of little variations. Parking signs are really the only ones that have multiples the same. I think i can remember a comment about saving memory in unreal if one static mesh is repeated as opposed to having multiple static meshes but is it really worth it?
I will try and post all that i've got to file front so you guys can download it and hopefully use it as the new master so i never need to import 50 poles again, i've just got to fix a few of the above issues first.
Thanks for your attention
Jules