It’s been awhile since I’ve had to write a tutorial, but it’s time for me to get back in to the swing of it. This tutorial is on more of a specific subject instead of something general like my previous stuff. Today, you are going to learn how to successfully create a actor file (or .act) to be used in the game kit, Reality Factory.

Okay, first of all, allow me to present the few pre-requisites that I assume you know and/or have:

1. A copy of Reality Factory installed (LINK)

2. Milkshape 3D, the modeler that I’m using for this export (LINK)

2. A 3d Model that you are going to export.

This tutorial does not cover the basics of creating a model, texturing it, and so forth. This assumes you have already done all of that before you start reading this. There are also other ways of getting the file in to .act instead of Milkshape, but those are not covered here. Sorry.

Also, this is a basic tutorial and it’s only going to cover exporting a static object with no animations. I’m not familiar with animations enough to have ventured in trying it.

STEP 1:

Okay, first step. Exporting the model from Milkshape 3D. So, the simple thing to do now is to open your model file.

I don’t know how everybody else does it, but you want to make sure that you’re milkshape 3d file is in the same folder with your texture. We want to export the .bdy file in to the same folder.

Click File>Export>Genesis 3D BDY

This should be closer to the top of your export list assuming you don’t have a lot of plugins like I do. Good. You should see the following screen. Simply type in your model name including the .bdy (or just don’t add it and it will automatically add it to your file).

There you go. You’ve just created a Body file. This is the mesh of your file. What we need to do now is to convert it in to an actor file.

STEP 2:

First, let me explain what an actor file is. An actor file is a file that stores not only your mesh (the vertices making your model), but also your textures AND your animations (assuming you have any). This is all stored in to one nice, concise little file. So, unlike what I was doing before someone explained it to me, you DON’T have to keep your texture file with the actor file once you’ve created the actor.

Okay, what we need to do now is compile the BDY and the texture in to a .act.

You need to go to the location where the engine is stored. In my case I installed it at:

C:\Program Files\Reality Factory

Once you have found it, go to the tools folder and click on a file named AStudio.exe. This will bring up the following screen. This is the front screen. This is where you would click file>new and create a new project. Save your project file in to the same directory you have been doing your work so far.

You should notice a checkmark in the area that says “Use Project Folder”.

What that means, is that if you have it checked, it will look for EVERYTHING in that folder. If you try to point to a texture of animation outside of that folder it’s going to complain loudly. I use it cause it keeps all my files in a nice neat little folder.

So, for this tutorial go ahead and leave it checked.

Now that you have named it (I named my my_cube like the bdy file) you should see in the box that it now has the name of your file as a .act (my_cube.act). This is showing you what your file is going to be named when you compile it. Go to the Body tab and then make sure Genesis 3d BDY has a bullet in it. Click on the browse button and you should see your bdy file you made with milkshape 3d.

Once that is done, slap the Build button and watch it scrawl information. Once it says Build complete, go to your working directory and VOILA! You have a .act file.

STEP 3:

You want to see it? Well, go back to your Reality Factory tools directory and click on a nice little program named ActView It should be easy to see as it’s icon is a guy glaring at you.

Once it comes up, select the drivers you wish to use (doesn’t matter to me, I use the OpenGL driver the most) and once it plays the Genesis 3D logo, go to file>open and the select your .act file.

Using the little buttons the hand, ball, and magnifying glass you can rotate, look around, and see how your file looks. If it’s textured, then that means you did it right!

ENDING

Of course, this is an extremely basic tutorial on how to put a actor file together. There are multiple ways and also able to add animations (called motions) in to your files. That is beyond the scope of what I’m willing to write as I’m not successfully with those well enough that I would want to try to teach you how to do it.

Don’t worry, once I get proficient enough, you should see another tutorial from me.

Some links you probably would be interested in including the Reality Factory Forum. Those helpful people will answer any of your questions…even the ones created cause I confused you.

If you have any questions, suggestions, don’t hesitate to email me at Morg223@jtworld.net and I’ll try to answer you as soon as I can.

Look forward to seeing your work!!!