• Alamo Object Exporter for 3D Studio Max 6, 8 and 9 (735 kB)
  Languages: English

To ensure that the exporter works properly, please make ensure the following prerequisites are met before installing and using the exporter:

• If you're using 3ds Max 6, install Service Pack 1
  If you've already installed SP1, it should say so in the window title when 3ds Max is started.
• If you're using 3ds Max 8, install Service Pack 3
  If you've already installed SP3, it should say so in the window title when 3ds Max is started.
• If you're using 3ds Max 9, install Service Pack 2
  If you've already installed SP2, it should say so in the window title when 3ds Max is started.

This download is a compilation of exporter from various sources, for your convencience. The sources, and in what formats they export, is as follows:

The exporter consists of a single file, max2alamo.dle, which should be placed in the "plugins" directory in your 3ds Max installation.

To export the objects in a scene, use File > Export and select the "Alamo Object" file format.

The objects and animations in a scene have special properties, meaningful to the game engine, that can be set through the Alamo Utility panel. To open this panel, go to the Utilities panel, click "More" and double-click "Alamo Utility". You might want to use the "Configure Button Sets" button to place the Alamo Utility in the list for easy access. The panel is shown to the right.

Node Export Options

These options are object-specific. This sub-panel always affects the currently selected object(s) only.

• "Export Transform", when enabled, exports the selected object's gizmo as a bone. This is the default and a prerequisite to billboarding the selected object.
• The eight billboarding options control how the selected object is billboarded in-game. Read the Understanding Billboarding article to find out what this does.
• When "Export Geometry" is enabled, the actual vertices and faces of the object are exported. This can be disabled for objects whose only importance is its location (i.e., it's bone)
• When exporting the selected object, collision information can be stored for it by selecting "Enable Collision". Without, any in-game objects will pass through it.
• To initially hide the object, select "Hidden". This is useful for dedicated collision meshes. Hidden objects can be shown and hidden again in-game through Lua scripts.
• "Alt Dec Stay Hidden", or, in full, "Alt Decrease? Stay Hidden!" only applies to exported Alamo Proxy objects and prevents them from otherwise becoming visible if the ALT level decreases. This is most often used in damage explosion proxies; when the ALT level increases (i.e., the building becomes more damaged), the proxy should become visible. On the other hand, when the ALT level decreases (i.e., the building is being repaired), the proxy should stay hidden.

Quick Selection Utility

These buttons select all object in the scene that match the various properties. So clicking "Export Transform" will select all object with the "Export Transform" flag set, and so on.

Animation Settings

All animations that should be exported have to be stored in this list. Each animation has a name and a start and end frame. Use the "<<", ">>", "Add" and "Del" buttons to change the current animation, add a new animation to the list or delete the current animation from the list.

To make the current 'active', i.e., shown in 3ds Max' time frame, click the "Display Current" button. To display a list of all animations, use the "Display All" button.