Exporters

Reference

File:

File ‣ Export ‣ HEIO Formats

Panel:

Properties ‣ Collection Properties ‣ Exporters

Important

All exporters depend on the target game and will alter how the export is structured, so make sure to configure the correct target game before exporting anything!

The addon currently supports exporting several different file formats:

  • Material files ( *.material )

  • Model files ( *.model )

  • Terrain model files ( *.terrain-model )

  • HE2 Collision mesh (or bullet mesh) files ( *.btmesh )

  • HE2 Point cloud files ( *.pcmodel, *.pccol )

Some exporters build on “previous” exporters, e.g. the .model exporters relies on the same exporters logic as the .material exporters to export materials.

Tip

All exporters print a progress bar to the console, which can help estimate how long the export is going to take until completion!

Common Export Properties

Most exporters collect a batch of objects to export, which can be limited with a range of properties, each reducing the objects to collect.

Selected Objects

Ignore all unselected objects

Visible

Ignore all hidden objects

Active Collection

Ignore all objects outside of the active collection

Active scene

Ignore all objects not part of the active scene

Material Export

Automatic SCA parameters

Add default SCA parameters to the material if missing (defined per target game).

Not available for games released before Sonic Lost World.

Image export mode

Lets you control how images are handled on export

  • Overwrite: Export all images, even if they already exist in the output directory

  • Missing: Export only images that dont already exist in the output directory

  • None: Export no images at all

Invert Y channel of normal maps

Inverts the Y (Green) channel on normal maps.

  • Automatic: Inverts if the target game uses Hedgehog Engine 1

  • Invert: Always inverts

  • Don't invert: Does not invert

Active Material Export

Reference

Menu:

Properties ‣ Material Properties ‣ Material Specials ‣ Export HE Material (*.material)

Exports only the active material.

Common Mesh Export Properties

Export options that apply to all model file formats.

Mesh Mode

How to export the collected objects.

  • Separate: Collected object trees get exported to individual files, like when exporting point clouds. File names are picked automatically.

  • Merge: Export all collected objects to a single, specific file.

Apply modifiers

Apply modifiers to objects before exporting.

Apply Poses

Apply armature poses before exporting. Otherwise export with rest-poses.

Model / Terrain model export

General
Automatic SCA parameters

Add default SCA parameters to the model if missing (defined per target game).

Not available for games released before Sonic Lost World.

Export Materials

Whether to export materials and their images.

Bone Orientation

Different target games have different ways of orienting bones. HEIO corrects the bone orientation so that armatures can be properly posed with mirroring and more.

For this purpose, the bone orientation can be specified on export:

  • Auto: Determine the orientation based on the target game

  • X, Y: Bones in the file should be X forward and Y up

  • X, Z: Bones in the file should be X forward and Z up

  • Z, -X: Bones in the file should be Z forward and negative X up

Advanced
Use Triangle Strips

Whether to export polygons using triangle strips instead of triangle lists.

Files will be much smaller, but can cause a tiny bit of performance loss ingame.

Only available for games released after Sonic Forces. Sonic Forces and older can only use triangle strips.

Optimized Vertex Data

Vertex data can be stored in different ways, often depending on the game. By default, data is stored with optimized / compressed formats, but doesn’t have to.

Not available for HE1 PC games.

Collision mesh export

No unique export options for collision mesh export.

Point cloud export

Cloud type

Type of point cloud to export.

  • Terrain: Exports collected object trees as a .pcmodel file, as well as corresponding .terrain-model and .model files.

  • Collision: Exports collected object trees as a .pccol file, as well as corresponding .btmesh files.

Write Resources

Whether to evaluate and export resource files (like .terrain-model). Otherwise exports only the point cloud file.