Welcome. MatsEd was developed to find nice materials for entities.
It generates the definition and writes it into a textfile.
MatsEd 2 is freeware, but you´re not allowed to resell it!
Let´s generate a material definition, so you´ll getting started:
-Click on "Load Entity".
-Choose a model or a sprite from any location.
-After loading, the "move_mode" is active. It´s the first button, "Move / Rotate / Scale".
-Scale the model with the mousewheel, till it fits with your screensize.
-The scale is printed in the upper right corner
-You can move the model if you hold down the left mousekey.
-You can rotate the model if you hold down the right mousekey.
-The model rotates around its brush.
-Click on "Adjust Values". The sliderpanel appears. It´s set to some default values.
-SLIDER DESCRIPTIONS:
"Dynamical Light RED, Dynamical Light GREEN, Dynamical Light BLUE"
-The colour of the dynamical light.
"Lightrange"
-The lightrange of the dynamical light in quants.
"Ambient RED, Ambient GREEN, Ambient BLUE"
-The basic colour of the entitiy.
"Diffuse RED, Diffuse GREEN, Diffuse BLUE"
-How much light the entity receives.
"Specular RED, Specular GREEN, Specular BLUE"
-The colour of specular highlights.
"Emissive RED, Emissive GREEN, Emissive BLUE"
-Self illumination colour.
"Power"
-The size and brightness of specular highlights.
"Bright, Flare, Overlay, Transparent, Alpha, Shadow"
-The entitiy flags. If you don´t understand them you should take a look at the Gamestudio manual.
"Mipmapping Flat / Shaded / Sprites, D3D_Mipmapping, D3D_Lightres"
-These are engine variables, you should know them.
The arrow buttons at the left and at the right are to set exact values.
Play around with the Values. You should notice an effect.
Among the sliders are four buttons:
"Default"
-This button will set all material related values to the default values.
"Randomize"
-This button will set all material related values to random values.
"Load Settings"
-You can load ".me2" files, which contain all slidersettings, not only the material values.
-In the folder are three saved settings: "opaque.me2", "metal.me2" and "plastic.me2".
"Save Settings"
-You can save ".me2" files, which contain all slidersettings, not only the material values.
-You´ll be asked for a name. With "Enter" you can save, with "Esc" you can abort.
Now it´s time to drag the light. Click on "Move Lightbulb".
-With the left mousekey you can move the bulb left / right / up / down.
-With the right mousekey you can move the bulb into the room or out of it.
-You´ll notice an influence at the entity.
Click on "Export Material Definition". You´ll be asked for a materialname, write e.g. "mat_1",
but without the quotes.
With "Enter" you can export, with "Esc" you can abort the export.
Look into "materials.txt" for the finished definition, copy and paste it into your script - done.
You can define as much materials you want - the old definitions wouldn´t be overwritten.