Tutorial For Creating Carpets And Decorations In moove online

"Roomancer" moove online provides a terrific tool called DecoMaker (requires DirectX 9, download is available here ). With the help of DecoMaker you can now easily create carpets and decorations yourself. DecoMaker can be found in the moove "Shop" --> "Developer" tab.

To create your own carpets and/or decoration, resources like 3D objects (.SRF) and textures (.JPG) are needed. You create them outside DecoMaker using a 3D software and your favourite paint program (not provided by moove). Of course it's easiest if you use existing moove SRF files. You find them in the corresponding moove/ART/SRF folder. You can freely use moove’s SRF files for your own creations within moove “Roomancer”. If you want to use SRF files provided by 3rd parties however, make sure to ask the respective author(s) for their permission before you start using them. 3rd party developers often start their file names with abbreviations so you can recognize them more easily (like for example em_…..srf , SQ_…..srf , MrZ…srf, MW_…srf, IR_…srf and so on, these files are not by moove).
 

Decoration and carpets

In order to create decoration and carpets you need DecoMaker. This tool can be found in the moove "Shop" --> "Developer". Start DecoMaker by double clicking file "DecoMaker.exe" which should be placed in your moove Roomancer installation folder (usually c:\moove or c:\rose in case of long time users)..


At first please pick what you want to create: decoration or carpets. Click on "Mode" and then select"Carpet" or "Decoration".

 

Notes on creating decoration gadgets

English Name
defines the english name of the decoration how it will appear in the english version of moove Roomancer. This field can’t be omitted.

German Name
defines the german name of the decoration how it will appear in the german version of moove Roomancer. This field is optional. Use a translation service such as Altavista’s if you want to include a german name as well or ask your german buddies.

Download URL
enables the automatic download from a web server. Here you can enter the URL where the MPZ file will be available for automatic download. If for instance a guest of yours doesn't have this particular decoration, it will be downloaded automatically.

Surface
defines the 3D object (SRF/3DS/X - file) you want to use.

Orig. Vertices / Cur. Vertices
The surfaces are composed of three-dimensional room points - called Vertex. A high number of vertices signifies a detailed view, but a slower transmission and view. Hence DecoMaker allows to simplify a surface by reducing the number of vertices. Under "Cur. Vertices" please enter the wished number and click on "Do!". In the preview window you'll see the surface with the new number of vertices. "Orig. Vertices" reverts changes back to original values

Texture
defines the texture (JPG/BMP/TGA/DDS - file) you want to use for the object.

Stackable
defines, if the decoration is stackable and thus can be laid on another gadget. If this option is deactivated, these gadgets will “behave” like carpets, meaning they always stay on the floor.

Cast Shadow
defines if the decoration should cast a shadow.

Climbable
defines if the actor can climb on the decoration

Ground Height
defines the distance to the ground. Utilizing this option you can produce gadgets, which appear to be attached to the walls (e.g. the "torch").

either:



Software + Hardware Renderer (The texture must be preshaded)
sets the decoration to be used with the software- as well as the hardware-renderer, but in fact it's optimized for the software renderer. This basically means that the shading must be "painted" in the textures. The best results can be achieved using "hand shaded" textures. Alternatively you can use the automatic shading (vide "Automatic Diffuse Shading Calculation").

Automatic Diffuse Shading Calculation
shades the texture automatically.

Tessellate for Shading Calculation
tries to better the quality of the shading.

or (recommended):



Optimized for Hardware Rendering
optimizes the decoration for usage with the hardware-renderer. No need to manually put shades in the textures. Additionally you can select different "Shader", which affects the property of the material.

Shader
select special effects which will be applied to the textures. Not all shaders are currently supported and with some you might notice incorrect previews. Just test and play a bit with it :P

Width (X)
defines the width of the decoration.

Height (X)
defines the height of the decoration.

Depth (X)
defines the depth of the decoration.

 

Notes on creating carpets

English Name
defines the english name of the carpet how it will appear in the english version of moove Roomancer. This field can’t be omitted.

German Name
defines the german name of the carpet how it will appear in the german version of moove Roomancer. This field is optional. Use a translation service such as Babelfish if you want to include a german name as well or simply ask your german buddies for help with a german name.

Download URL
enables the automatic download from a web server. Here you can enter the URL where the MPZ file will be available for automatic download. If for instance a guest of yours doesn't have this particular decoration, it will be downloaded automatically.

Surface
pick a surface from a list of predefined ones.

Orig. Vertices / Cur. Vertices
The surfaces are composed of three-dimensional room points - called Vertex. A high number of vertices signifies a detailed view, but a slower transmission and view. Hence DecoMaker allows to simplify a surface by reducing the number of vertices. Under "Cur. Vertices" please enter the wished number and click on "Do!". In the preview window you'll see the surface with the new number of vertices. "Orig. Vertices" reverts changes back to original values

Texture
defines the texture (JPG/BMP/TGA/DDS - file) you want to use.

either:



Software + Hardware Renderer (The texture must be preshaded)
sets the carpet to be used with the software- as well as the hardware-renderer, but in fact it's optimized for the software renderer. This basically means that the shading must be "painted" in the textures. The best results can be achieved using "hand shaded" textures. Alternatively you can use the automatic shading (vide "Automatic Diffuse Shading Calculation").

or (recommended):



Optimized for Hardware Rendering
optimizes the carpet for usage with the hardware-renderer. No need to manually put shades in the textures. Additionally you can select different "Shader", which affects the property of the material.

Shader
select special effects which will be applied to the textures. Not all shaders are currently supported and with some you might notice incorrect previews. Just test and play a bit with it :P.

Width (X)
defines the width of the carpet.

Height (X)
defines the height of the carpet.

Depth (X)
defines the depth of the carpet.

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Digital signature & creating MPZ
To distribute your decorations / carpets to other moove online members, you can create MPZ files. MPZ format is self-installing, meaning by one click the file will be downloaded and installed automatically. The necessary files will be composed to packages and can be put on a website. The files are then available to other moove online members.

 

Digital signature
You can sign your MPZ packages with a unique digital signature. The signature confirms that the developer is known to moove and consequently gives you a guarantee that this package is provided by a certain member. To get a digital signature, please contact support@moove.com via email.

 



The digital signature can be entered and saved under "File" --> "Set Authorization". Under "Key File" enter the specific path to your digital signature (*.private file, for example c:\moove\MySig.private). Under "Author" you enter your nickname (Premium members please note: enter without **) and under "Author's Info URL" you finally enter the URL to your nickpage or website.

 

Creating MPZ
Click on "Create MPZ" to create a MPZ file. Choose a file name and click on "Save".



Important Notice: If you entered a URL under "Download URL", the file name DecoMaker generates must not be changed! Otherwise the automated download of the MPZ file will fail and the decorations / carpets won't be displayed.

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