View source for Creating an ASE model using multiple Materials

This tutorial is assuming that you've read the [[Modeling - Basic Tutorial]] which shows how to export a simple cube with a single material to ASE. If you want to use multiple materials your mesh has to be tweaked a bit, as mutltiple shaders require your model to be separated into several objects. This tutorial refers to Blender 2.43.

== Create and texture your Model ==
We're using a cube here as in the other tutorial for the sake of simplicity. We will apply two different materials to the faces. So basically, create the cube, enlarge it by a factor of 10 (it will be too small in-game otherwise) and unwrap it by switching to '''U/V Face Select''', selecting all the faces and and hitting {{key|U}}:

[[Image:ASE_cube.jpg|150px]] [[Image:ASE uv unwraped.jpg|150px]]

Go to the U/V editor (with all the U/V faces selected) and select the shader for your cube (Image > Open) - I used the '''blocks_008_editor.tga''' file directly from the repository:

[[Image:ase_uv_loaded_image.jpg|150px]]

Now we select a '''single''' U/V face to apply a different texture to it. Just right-click the according face:

[[Image:ase_uv_single_face.jpg|150px]]

In the U/V editor, select '''Image > Open''' and select a different image (here '''brick_004_editor.tga'''):

[[Image:Ase uv different texture.jpg|150px]]

Note: you can preview your textured model by going to the ''Object Mode'' and choose the "Textured" render mode:

[[Image:ase_textured_mode.jpg|150px]]

== Separate your Meshes ==
In order to export your model to ASE you will have to separate your meshes according to their textures. In our case we only have one face that is using a different texture than the rest of the model. Switch to '''Edit Mode''' and select that face. Hit {{key|P}} to separate the face from the mesh and create a new object out of it:

[[Image:ASE_separate_faces.jpg|150px]]

Go back to '''Object Mode''': This is what it should look like if you select the cube and move it - the separated face should stay where it is - this is just for illustration:

[[Image:ASE separated.jpg|150px]]

== Export your Model ==
Don't forget to hit '''Apply Scale & Rotation''' ({{key-ctrl}}+{{key|A}}) if you resized and moved your model and select the two objects (the cube and the single face). Now export the model using the '''Export > ASCII Scene''' menu and use these options:

[[Image:Blender ase export options.jpg]]

I exported this test model to <code>c:\games\doom3\darkmod\models\darkmod\cube.ase</code> as this is just a testmodel I will delete it anyway.

== Edit your ASE File == 
Open your ASE file using your preferred text editor and you should find two '''*BITMAPS''' entries. You will have to change both of them now to the according darkmod shaders (the right image shows the corrected shader references):

[[Image:Ase materials before.jpg|200px|Materials before the change]]
[[Image:Ase materials after.jpg|200px|Materials after the change]]

== Test your Model in-game ==
Now create a testmap and place your model into it. Load it into the game and voilà:

[[image:ase_models_cube_ingame.jpg|240px]]

{{tutorial-models}}