Model

Interface 

  1. Quick Access Toolbar for Modelmode

  2. Toolbar
  3. Viewport
  4. Timeslider

Overview

The model editor allows you to change collision properties, textures, materials, add locators and texture presets, edit animation tags and other animation properties using the Model Tool.

While in this mode, you're "locked" to the selected model. All changes made to the model will affect all instances of that model, across all levels.


Quick Access Toolbar for the Model mode. 

IconDescription

New. Creates a new model.

Open. Opens the necessary model from the list or chooses from the recent.

Reload. Reloads the current model.

Save All. Calculates the covers and saves changes. Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + S.

Save As... Saves your model in the new folder.

Reveal In Explorer. Opens an Explorer window to let you quickly access the model.

Undo. Cancel the last operation/s.

Redo. Redo the last operation/s.

Skin. Choose a skin.

Exit. Exits the SDK.

A drop-down menu with all the aforementioned options.

Toolbar 

Edit

IconDescriptionShortcut
Select. Upon moving the cursor over the model, it will be Highlighted by markers (bounding box). To select the Phys shell, click it with LMB. That makes it Selected.S
Move. When the model is selected and the Move mode is activated, the coordinate axis pivot is displayed. Drag the axis with your LMB in order to perform the action relative to this axis.T or W
Rotate. When the model is selected and the Rotate mode is activated, the coordinate axis pivot is displayed. Drag the axis with your LMB in order to perform the action relative to this axis.Y or E
Scale. When the Phys shell is selected and the Scale mode is activated, the coordinate axis pivot is displayed. Drag the axis with your LMB in order to perform the action relative to this axis.H or R

Game camera style.

Hold SHIFT or MMB WASD + mouse movement

Arcball camera style.

Hold ALT+MMB

Zoom. Zooms the camera to overlook the model.


Zoom Selected. Zooms the camera to the selected model.

Home
Pivot Mode.  Increases/decreases the size of the pivot.

Edge align. When the option is on, bounding to the polygon edges is performed. 

Hold F + LMB

Normal align. Aligns model on the X, Y, or Z axis. 

Hold F + LMB
Select Axis. Select which active Axis to apply when Moving, Rotating, or Scaling an object (while not dragging the pivot directly).(numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0)

CS Type. Select which Coordinate System to apply when Moving, Rotating, or Scaling a model - WorldLocal, or Screen.

(numbers 1, 2, 3)
List of Views. Select which Viewport Preset (in relation to the Selected Model) to activate.

View and Render 

Icon\OptionDescriptionShortcut

Render mode. Allows you to analyze different channels of the render.

 

Note that you should press every number key multiple times while you're still holding Shift to cycle through different variations of each Render mode.

    • Final Render (Shift+1
    • -=RBR Check=- (Shift+1,1)

Check your PBR material – Shift+1,1. Generally, if you see Red, your albedo is wrong. If you see Green, you have incorrect reflectivity (F0). If you see Blue, you have incorrect gloss. If you see another color, there are multiple issues and these materials will need to be resolved. Small colored areas are not bad.

Colors are ordered by importance, R-G-B: Red = critical issue, Green = moderate issue, Blue = small issue.

  1. Render quality
  2. Exposure mode
  3. Exposure multiplier (0 = neutral exposure, -2 = darkest, 2 = brightest)
  4. Ignore portals (special debug feature, mainly used to work more easily with interiors)
  5. Ignore ghosts
  6. Shape wire mode (Regular / On top / Solid)
  7. Resolution factor. Use 2x for a clearer picture (especially if you're an artist). Use 1/2x for better performance
  8. Resolution / Aspect ratio mode.
  • Shift+1 (Final Render / PBR Checker)
  • Shift+2 (Diffuse+AO / Diffuse Clean)
  • Shift+3 (Lighting only)
  • Shift+4 (Normals)
  • Shift+5 (Gloss / Reflectivity)
  • Shift+6 (Full AO / Static Precompiled AO)

Quality Level. Change the quality of the scene 

  • Low
  • Normal
  • Good
  • Super
  • Extreme.



Enable/Disable Tesselation.
*unavailable* 
Change the exposure type of the scene. Should be kept in "Game" for most cases.




Exposure Levels. (0 = neutral exposure, -2 = darkest,  2 = brightest).


Will ignore portals occlusion. See SuperStatic to learn more.
Will ignore meshes setup as a ghost.
Shapes Wire Mode (Regular / On top / Solid).
Factor. Use 2x for a clearer picture (especially if you're an artist). Use 1/2x for better performance.
Resolution. Changes the Resolution / Aspect Ratio.

Library

This is where you can access specific auxiliary smaller-scale in-house editors, which can be integrated into Exodus SDK.

 

Windows 

WindowsOpens a context dialog with a list of all model editor windows.
Log (<number>)

Message Log window access; the number in brackets shows the current number of important errors found; Log is also the place where you input console commands.

This is common sense, but not all errors are to be attended by every developer personally; some should be attended by you, especially if you know how to fix them right away, whereas others should be reported to the appropriate departments. Keep that in mind when interacting with the Log.

ScriptOpens the AS Editor.
PresetsOpens the Texture Preset.
Preview

If enabled, a preview of a model will draw with the selected texture preset in the Texture Preset. If disabled, the preview of the model will draw without the selected texture preset in the Texture Preset.

Locations

Icon\OptionDescription
To add a location bookmark.
To remove the currently selected location bookmark.
To access additional navigation options.
  • Go To Pos...
Lets you specify the location manually, with camera Position & Rotation coordinates.
  • Go to Player
Moves you to the current player location.
  • Go to Tag...
Lets you specify the screenshot, which contains the coordinates in its original filename, and move to that location.

A more effective way to use screenshots as location bookmarks would be the following:

1) Navigate to the camera location you want to save in the screenshot and hit F12. The screenshot of the location will be created in your folder \temp\screenshots.
2) Drag and drop the screenshot - provided it still has its original complicated name - directly into the Viewport. Exodus SDK will navigate to that location.

Sharing and/or uploading screenshots, which were created in the editor with the F12 key, is a convenient way to communicate camera positions between team members, be it programmers investigating a bug or artists decorating your carefully crafted gameplay sandbox.

Utils

OptionDescription
AllSave All.
ThumbnailCreate a thumbnail for the mesh.
Export To MELExport a skeleton to a *.MEL file.
ModelCheck Model.
All ModelsAll Models for errors. (ALL MODELS WILL TAKE A LONG TIME AND MAY CRASH).
Ph From DaePh from Dae allows to import physics shells from a *.DAE file.
by MeshAllows you to search in the library for models by Mesh.
by TextureAllows you to search in the library for models by Texture.

Model

OptionDescription
AORecalculate AO (Ambient Occlusion) for the model.
OBBRecalculate OBB (Oriented Bounding Box) for the model.
StripifyStripify Check for Material errors (e.g. non-approved materials).
Rebuild from SourceRfS Re-import mesh.
Shadow IndicesShadow Indices: Rebuild Shadow Indices for model.
Affect Pivot OnlyAffect Pivot Only: Allows you to move the pivot only (good for pivot correction).

LOD:

  • Auto

Allows you to manually see LODs for the mesh.

Auto will automatically change.

  • 0,1,2
0 = Original Mesh / 1 = First LOD / 2 = Second LOD.

Debug Draw

IconDescription
Draw Debug. Draw Debug mode (for options below).

Show All Bones. Draw/show all the bones in the model. (Entities only.)

Draw Bones. Draw/show all the bones in the model. (Entities only.)

Preview Part Selection. Allows you to view a preview selection of the mesh when selecting materials in the Model Explorer Window.

Draw Phys Shells. Show Physics shells/links for the model. (Entities only.)
Draw Phys Links. Show Physics shells/links for the model. (Entities only.)

Misc

Icon\OptionDescription
SquintApply a specific debug-only Blur effect to the viewport; its purpose is to help assess the "readability" of the level design and/or color-coding.
Enable FOVApply the specified FOV multiplier to the viewport; its purpose is to help compose the scene designed for a special FOV, e.g. a special cutscene or scripted gameplay effect.
FOV

Refers to the button "Enable Fov". First, enable it, then you can change the value between 0 and 2. (1 and more will increase the Field of View. 0 or less will decrease the Field of View.)

Below the viewport, there is a timeline for the preview motions. With this option enabled, you can set the integer values.

Puts the camera relative to the preview of the model as if it were standing on the player.

Time slider

Allows you to slide the motion time. 

RMB Utils 

OptionDescription
Append TagAdds a new tag for the selected frame.
step_leftLeft foot step.
step_right Right foot step.
step_right_handRight hand step.
step_left_handLeft hand step.

If you disable "Snap to Frame" on the Misc, you can set fractional values.


Exodus SDK © 2005-2023, 4A Games Limited. Developed by 4A Games®.
4A Games® is a registered trademark, and 4A Games Limited, Exodus SDK and their respective logos are trademarks of 4A Games Limited.
Published by Deep Silver. Deep Silver is a division of PLAION GmbH, Austria. Deep Silver and Plaion are registered trademarks of PLAION GmbH.
Metro Exodus is inspired by the internationally best-selling novels METRO 2033 and METRO 2034 by Dmitry Glukhovsky.
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