Cmc

CMC

CMC is a commandline tool for semi-automatic clipping of models for Q3map2 map files. The approach carried by CMC is to automatically insert clip brushes into a map file following a "clip model" (ie, a standalone map file) provided by the user. CMC consists of a python script and is licensed under beerware revision 42. Beware, the licence will be strongly enforced.

Don't blame the tool if you forgot to backup your map...

Usage

Requirements

CMC requires a working Python environment, and the argparse library (shipped with Python starting from version 2.7).

For Python versions prior to 2.7, easy_install is a convenient way to install python library (may require root privileges).

   easy_install argparse

Installation

Download CMC from Custom Map Makers. The Zip archive contains a one file python program. Unzip and copy it to a convenient location.

Creating a clip model

Create a new map, import the model to clip for reference and place its origin at the centre of the map (ie, at coordinates 0 0 0), do not rotate or scale the model. Create the clip brush around your model, once finished you can remove the model and save the clip model map.

Commandline argument

Getting help

   python cmc.py --help

display a help message:

 usage: cmc.py [-h] (-ls | -c model:pattern | -u clip/shader) [-o ofilename] [-d] [-v] ifile

 Q3map2 map model clipper

 positional arguments:
   ifile                 q3map2 map file

 optional arguments:
   -h, --help            show this help message and exit
   -ls, --list-shaders   list all shaders
   -c model:pattern, --clip model:pattern
              clip models with clip pattern file
   -u clip/shader, --unclip clip/shader
              delete brushes using "clip/shader"
   -o ofilename, --output ofilename
              output file
   -d, --debug
   -v, --version

  I map therefore I am

Clipping a model

   python cmc.py --clip models/mapobjects/mymodel/mymodel.md3:maps/clip_pattern.map \
     --output maps/mymap_clipped.map maps/mymap.map

   maps/mymap.map

This is the path to the map to process.

   --output maps/mymap_clipped.map

This instructs CMC to output the new map into the file "maps/mymap_clipped.map" (highly recommended). Without this option, CMC will overwrite the input file

   --clip models/mapobjects/mymodel/mymodel.md3:maps/clip_pattern.map

This instructs CMC to clip every instance of model "models/mapobjects/mymodel/mymodel.md3" (This is not the path to the md3 file, but the model name as it appears in the entity window in GtkRadiant), according to the clip model from file maps/clip_pattern.map.

Clipping multiple models at once

   python cmc.py --clip model/mymodel/mymodel.md3:maps/clip_pattern.map \
     --clip model/mymodel/anothermodel.ase:maps/clip_anotherpattern.map
     --output maps/mymap_clipped.map maps/mymap.map

CMC accepts any number of model/clip_pattern pair using multiple "--clip" options

Tutorial

In this tutorial, we will cover how to use CMC in order to clip a model semi-automatically. We will show how to do so in a way that facilitates modifying or removing the clip brushes even after modification of the map file.

Set up

For this tutorial, you need to set up a map "test.map". This can be a simple rectangular room (Mapping:Create your first room). Add a model into your map (Radiant:Using#How_to_add_a_model), this can be any kind of model (eg, md3, ase). In this example we have a rectangular room containing two instance of a brazier model "model/test/brazier.ase". One instance is scaled/rotated in an awkward fashion, to illustrate CMC features.

Cmc-test-map.png

Creating the clip model map

Let us now create a clip model map. A clip model map is a set of brushes that CMC is going to use as a pattern to clip our brazier model into "test.map".

Create a new map called "brazier_clip.map".

To help us draw our clip brushes, import one brazier model into the map, and place the model origin at the centre of the map (ie, coordinates (0 0 0)). It is important that the model must not be rotated or scaled here.

Now create the clip brushes around your model. It is not necessary to precisely cover every detail of the model. The purpose of a clip is to be accurate enough without being too complex. In our example, only the rough form of the base has been clipped.

Apply a "clip" shader to the newly created brushes. A clip shader is provided in the "common" shader script. But for CMC, we recommend using a dedicated shader only for CMC purpose. We will later see that this will become handy for future modifications. Here, we used a new shader called "textures/test/autoclip":

   textures/test/autoclip
  {
    qer_trans .4
    surfaceparm nodamage
    surfaceparm nodraw
    surfaceparm nolightmap
    surfaceparm trans
    surfaceparm nomarks
    surfaceparm slick
  }

Cmc-clip-model.png

You can optionally remove the brazier model. CMC will ignore it anyway.

Save the clip model map

Clipping the map

From this point, let us assume you extracted the CMC script into your "q3ut4" directory. Relative to the current directory, your map file path should be "maps/test.map" and your clip model map should be "maps/brazier_clip.map" run the following command:

   python ./cmc.py --clip:models/mapobjects/test/brazier.md3:maps/brazier_clip.map \
    --output maps/test_clipped.map maps/test.map

If you followed this tutorial, you should now have a new map "test_clipped.map" where CMC has automatically insert the clip brushes over your model, as shown in our example.

Cmc-test-clip-map.png

Because nothing is right the first time

You might realize later that your clip model brushes need some modifications. Or you may want to add new instances of your model and want CMC to clip them for you. Sadly, as of today CMC has no way of tracking models that have been clipped or replace clip brushes with a new pattern. With CMC you must first remove the clip brushes before reapplying a new clip model else you map might have duplicated clip brushes.

Hopefully, if you followed this tutorial recommendation to use a dedicated clip shader, CMC will help you do that. CMC allows you to remove every brush that has at least one face with a given shader from you map. To do that run the following command.

   python ./cmc.py --unclip textures/test/autoclip \
    -o maps/test_unclipped.map maps/test_clipped.map

Maps built with CMC

• Azurea: ut4_azurea_a1 is a jump map and the main motivation for building CMC. The flameholders that are also used in this tutorial have been clipped with CMC.
• Bus Stop: ut4_bus_stop_b2 is a frag map by JohnnyEnglish. Johnny used CMC to clip various models (buses, seats, garbages).

Most recently

• Nightmare xmas, a map with a lot of small models (trim, coffins, lights. presents), 12 clips used with 170 models