Importers

Reference

File:

File ‣ Import ‣ HEIO Formats

Important

All importers depend on the target game and will alter how the import is interpreted, so make sure to configure the correct target game before importing anything!

The addon currently supports importing 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 importers build on “previous” importers, e.g. the .model importer relies on the same import logic as the .material importer to import materials.

Tip

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

Material Import

Create undefined parameters/textures

If the shader used by the material is defined by the target game, all parameters and textures not defined by the target game for the shader will be ignored and lost after importing.

Enabling this option will import all parameters and textures, even if they are not defined. If that happens custom shader will be enabled.

Import images

Will attempt to load the images of a material into blender.

Note

If this is disabled, or the addon fails to load the specified image, then a 16x16 image with a solid color will be generated in its place.

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

Use existing images

If enabled, the importer will check if blender already has an image loaded with the exact name and use that instead. If no image exists, the regular logic applies

Active Material Import

The standalone material import creates the materials but does not add them to any object.

That is why a second material import is called, which allows you to import a material directly to an object:

Reference

Menu:

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

Model / Terrain model import

Vertex merge mode

How to merge vertices of the imported model.

  • None: Don’t merge any vertices

  • Per Submesh: Merge vertices per submesh (material+render-layer)

  • Per Group: Merge vertices per mesh group

  • All: Merge vertices across the entire model

Merge distance

Distance beyond which two vertices should not be merged

Merge split edges

Whether to merge vertices that would result in a split edge (may mess up normals)

Additional properties
Create render layer attributes

Import render layers as HEIO mesh properties, instead of relying on materials.

See Render Layers for more info.

Import LoD models

Import Level-of-detail models if the imported file contains any.

See LoD Info for more info.

Armature
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 import:

  • Auto: Determine the orientation based on the target game

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

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

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

Bone Length Mode

Files do not store a “Length” for bones, so HEIO has to calculate a length based on the distance to a bones children. This mode changes how the length gets picked.

  • Closest: Use distance to closest child for length

  • Furthest: Use distance to farthest child for length

  • Most Children: Use distance to the child with most children itself for length

  • First: Use distance to the first child for length

If a bone has no children, the parent bones length will be used.

Minimum bone length

Minimum length a bone should have

Maximum leaf bone length

Maximum lenght a bone without children should have

Collision mesh import

Merge vertices

Whether to merge vertices.

Merge distance

Distance beyond which two vertices should not be merged.

Remove unused vertices

Remove vertices that did not get used by any polygons on import.

Point cloud import

Models as instance collections

If an instance in a .pcmodel point cloud references a .model file, then that model will be imported and used as an instance collection. Otherwise, each instance in the point cloud will have its own armature object and mesh children.