You can export your textures straight from 3ds Max to Source using the Wall Worm Model Tools. This is a convenient way to get your textures into the Source Model Viewer, Hammer or in game. This page is a general overview of textures. Also, see the complete explanation of all the mapping between 3ds Materials and Source Materials.

There are two different methods of texture exporting. The first is via WWMT to export the textures on your models. The second is to export world textures that are on your world geometry and displacements via the Wall Worm Displacement Tool.

• Exporting Model Materials/Textures
• Exporting World Materials/Textures

Exporting Model Textures

Exporting of model materials is done through the WWMT UI. If you have a model in the WWMT UI, you can export just that model's textures in the main rollout. You can also export the textures of multiple scene WWMT helpers all at once by using the Utilities rollout.

To export model textures, the following criteria have to be met:

1. Your model needs to have a material applied to it. More specifically, it needs to have a Standard, Multi/Sub-Object or Shell* material.
   • *The Shell Material is only fully supported by the WWMT internal SMD Exporter. When using the Wunderboy SMD Exporter, the name of the Shell Material is used for the name of your SMD face materials; with the WWMT SMD Exporter, the Baked Material is used for the model's material. (Version 1.7 of the Wunderboy SMD Exporter may match the WWMT SMD method.)
   • For all materials, you are required to have TGA Bitmap in the Diffuse map slot! For Multi/Sub-Object, each slot should be a Standard Material that, in turn, has a TGA Bitmap in the diffuse slot. (So when making textures with Render To Texture, make shure the bitmaps are saved as TGAs.)
   • The bitmaps must use the same Mapping Channel as is used by the UVW. The channel you use for the UVW must match the bitmap mapping channel and must match the Mapping Channel shown in the Model & Basic QC Rollout.
   • The texture exporter will also make VTFs (Valve Texture Files) for bitmaps that are in the Bump, Specular, Ambient, Displacement and Self-Illumination slots. Please refer to this page on what material types, slots and other tips regarding texture application.
2. You must assign your model to the Wall Worm Model Tools. See Picking Your Model.
3. Set the model's local Material Folder Path in the Export Options Rollout. Note: The path should be relative to the material root of your mod. This means that for a game like Counter-Strike Source, you would already assume (and leave out) the path through steam > CS:S > cstrike > materials ... Only enter something like myprojects/thisproject/props
4. You should make sure that your target material destination (folder) already exists before you run WWMT.
5. Make sure to set the Material Root Folder in yout WWMT Configure Settings floater!

Once these steps have been taken, you can export your textures.

How to Export

Exporting is simple. You can click the Export VTFs button in the Model & Baisc QC Rollout (or, in the Texture Utilities Rollout, click the Export Textures Button). You will see a new floater listing all bitmaps to export.

1. Check all those that you want to send to the Compiler.
2. Click the Export Selected button to run the export.

When you've clicked the Export Selected button, the following things will happen. Please read the hints carefully.

1. Copies of the bitmap (only TGAs) are sent to your SDK > mod > materials > Model Material Path (as defined with the WWMT Material Root + Model's Material Folder).
2. A batch file is created next to the TGA. The batch file's name will match the TGA name but have a ".bat" at the end instead of a ".tga".
3. If you have Steam Running, the textures will compile. If this fails, it is likely that Steam is not running or you haven't made the correct folders for the files before the exporter runs.
   • There is currently no confirmation that the action finished. But if the auto-compiling is set up correctly, you will see one or more DOS consoles that will require your input to compile the textures. If you do not see those prompts, then the compiler did not run.
   • If the compiler does not run (because you do not have Steam Running) start Steam and re-run the compiler; you can also do it later: you can browse to the SDK > mod > materials > Model Material Path and run the batch file(s) for your texture(s).

• You can also click the Export VTFs button in the Model & Basic QC Rollout or, if the model has custom gibs, the Compile Gibs VTFs in the Prop Data and Custom Gibs Rollout.
• If the model has custom gibs, the textures for the model's custom gibs will also be listed in the textures to compile. Note that if those gibs also have their own custom gibs (nested gibs), the gibs' gibs' textures won't be listed.

Exporting World Textures

The world material exporter is built into the Wall Worm Displacement Tool. When you open WWDT, there is a button labeled Export VTFs. Clicking that button will allow you to export all scene materials as world textures for use on world geometry in Hammer.

The World Materials have some special rules. Since world materials must have a relative path to the material from your Source engine material path, but there is no assignment tool for the path to the materials (like the Material Path for WWMT models), you must set the path of the material in the name section of a world material.

• The name of the diffuse Bitmap file becomes the name of the VTF/VMT. For example, if the diffuse bitmap is myworldtexture.tga, then the exporter will make: myworldtexture.vmt and myworldtexture.vtf .
• The name of the material becomes the path to the VMT/VTF. So if the name of the material in Max is myProjects/thisMap, then the bitmap will be exported to steamdir/username/gamemod/materials/myProjects/thisMap.
• If our material named myProjects/thisMap has a diffuse bitmap with the filename myworldtexture.tga, then there will be the following files:
  • steamdir/username/gamemod/materials/myProjects/thisMap/myworldtexture.vmt
  • steamdir/username/gamemod/materials/myProjects/thisMap/myworldtexture.vtf
• All of the maps that you can export for models can be exported for world texutures except for phong and ambient occlusion.
• World texures are exported as LightMappedGeneric shaders in Source. If you need a different Source material, open the VMT and change the shader.
• All materials used in the scene will be part of the export dialog.