Aurora Base

• Model
  this is the same as the name of the AuroraBase, which is the name of the exported model. So if your model is named 'c_monster' , it will export as 'c_monster.mdl' .

• Super
  supermodel of this model. A model using a supermodel will use animations of the supermodel if available. This is on a per-part base. So you have to name parts of your model you want to use the supermodel's animations the same as in the supermodel. You can override single animations of the supermodel by having animations in this model. Only enter the name of the model without extension here (eg 'a_ba' instead of 'a_ba.mdl')
  (Quote from Bioware)
  Animation data accounts for huge amount of a model's total size. In order to steal animations from another, pre-exported, model we use this function. When a model is assigned a supermodel, the game engine simply loads the animation data from the super model on to the pieces that have the same name in the current model. We can then, for example, create and animate a complete model for a panther, but only create the model for a leopard and reference the panther's animation. We can also over-write either one or a group of animations from the merged animation track by animating them separately on the current model. A good instance of this in our game was the "old man" animations for Neverwinter… where we used the main human animations in general, but added pausing and moving animations to the old man model.
  If you have any problems with this there are a couple of things to check:
  • 1. Make sure the names of the parts match.
  • 2. The position and rotation of the pivot points with respect to the two models should be close. It's often best to make a new model that shares an animation from a copy of the old file.
  • 3. Position keys will not scale with a different sized model. For example, we did use the human animation as a supermodel for the dwarf characters. Rotation animations do not need any scaling in order to be transferred to a smaller character, but position keys do. The only thing we can do to change the height characteristic of a shorter/taller supermodel recipient is calculate the ratio of height change and enter that into its Animation Scale value on the Aurabase.In this case, you can animate the position of the "RootDummy"
    
    This solution does work for different sized models, but you may have to tweak some settings or override some animations for the feet to be correctly placed in any movement animations.

• Classification - the type of model. NWN knows a number of model classification which will all be handled differently. Tile models are considered static geometry basically, while Character models are considered dynamic for example. This also sets what animations are available and the engine will look for in a model.

• Export Section
• The top of the export section shows the current export path for this model. Each model can have it's own export path. Yu can either enter a path in the textbox , browse a path or reset to NWmax default export path.
• Export Model and Anim
• Export Geom only - these two buttons will export the model to the set export directory, given it does not fail a sanity check. 'Export Model and Anim' will export the model 'as is' - so it will export all animations(if any) and geometry. 'Export geom only' will ignore all animations.
• Compile Model will convert the exported model into a binary model using NWNmdlcomp
• Do Sanity Checks' - if enabled, NWmax will perform the enabled sanity checks for this base. Sanity checks are used to check if your model will perform as expected in game. If a sanity check pops up, you have settings in your model that aren't valid.
  See also: NWmax Sanity Checks .
• Copy TGA - when enabled,this will copy all the tga textures used in this model to the same dir as the model when you export it.
• View Sanity Checks - by pressing this button the sanity check file for this model will be opened so you can read details about the failed checks (if any). Note that you need to have exported the model before and failed at least one sanity check to have a sanity check file.

• Animation Parameters
• Animation Scale with this parameter you can scale animations to adjust them to your model if needed. You can use this with the supermodel parameter.
• The box lists all animations in this model, it's name and parameters. The format is ANIMATIONNAME|STARTFRAME|ENDFRAME|TRANSITION|ENABLED|ANIMROOT .
  By doubleclicking an entry, the aniamtion bar will be adjusted to show the selected animation range.
• add - see Animation Dropdown below
• delete - delete the selected animation
• zoom - zooms the animation range to the selected animation
• Reset Zoom - turns the animation range back to the default
• Move Up / Move Down - allows you to sort the animation entries
• All Active / None Active - quickly turn all animations on/off
• Animation Dropdown - This dropdown is a list of all available animations. This list is based on the setting of the modelbase type. You'll only get the animations that can be used in tile models if you have selected 'Tile' for example. By selecting one then pressing 'Add' above, a new animation with that name will be added.
  You can also use this to rename an animation by using the Apply Edits button below.
• Start Frame / End Frame - The start and end frames for the selected animation. Set these before adding a new animation and the values will be used in your new animation.
• Transition - The NWN engine can 'fade' one animation into another to prevent sudden changes in the animations. This value is the time the transition to this animation will take.
• Export animation - if the selected animation will export.
• Anim Root - (quote Bioware) - 'This is similar to the supermodel idea, except you can override a selection of hierarchy (from one node down) in your current model for another model's data file. For example, you can take the bicep piece of a model, and give it the name of another model, which has the bicep moving in the way you want it to. This is how we created overlapping torch holding animations for when the character walks, run or does any other animation.'
• Apply Edits - whenever you select an animation entry you can edit it's settings, name, start/end frames etc. To apply the changes you made press this button.

• Events Section - events are signaling certain circumstances to the engine, to trigger the sound of a footstep or an explosion for example. There is a number of commonly used 'Quick Events' available to the user on the AuroraBase panel.
• Event List this is a list of the events of this model, similar to the animation list
• Name enter the name of the event you want to use, set a keyframe where the event should occur then press 'add' to add it to the list.
• Quick Events - this is selection of commonly used events. Pressing one of the buttons will add an event at the currently set animation frame.

'Sanity Checks

• these are the checks that are active on this modelbase. See NWmax Sanity Checks for more .