Change shaders on Epics models

[Autocon]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if there is a possible way to change/replace the material on some of the already in place models in UDK.

In reality I just want to replace them with a grey material so I can study smoothing groups of things like rocks as I want to see how epic dose it to maintain the nice hard edge look without using unique textures and lots of chamfers.

Seeing the models with normal maps and difuse maps make it down right impossible to tell how smoothing is working. I tried just plugging in a custom material into the model but it dosnt update with the new material showing up in the model previewer or in game.

If anyone knows a way around this it would be great. Or if anyone knows how smoothing is handled on some of the UDK rock/cliff faces that would also be great.

[kdm3d]

You should be able to copy the static mesh into a new package, create a gray material, assign it to the new static mesh and drop it into the world. Or just view it in the static mesh editor...

[Autocon]

Hmm I copied it to a new package and tried to assign the grey material but unfortunately it would still not replace the original material : /

[Jesse Moody]

Um you could probably do a manual material over ride. Also check to see if some packages are maybe set to read only?

[Autocon]

Ah I was able to edit some of the original materials and just over ride them. Didnt think/remember that being possible.

[DBo]

Not sure if this is what you are talking about, but if you put the static mesh into the editor you can do a manual material override by going to the

StaticMeshActor Properties then going to

StaticMeshActor/Static Mesh Component/Rendering/Materials

Than you can just add a new item and add what ever material you wish and it should override what ever you have in there. I hoped this helped, might not be what you are looking for though.

[moose]

You can also turn on the "Lighting Only" view mode in the persp viewport to see un-textured meshes with lights on them.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2976372/bb/udkLightingOnly.jpg

You can also:

- Rclick static mesh in level
- Select > Select All Static Mesh Actors
- Open Properties window (f4)
- navigate to Static Mesh Actor > Static Mesh Component > Rendering
- Under "Materials" click the {} icon "Clear all items in array"
- Click the plus symbol
- Assign your gray material

In looking at it, you'll get the same results by just hitting the Lighting only box in the render modes buttons on the viewport.

If you want to turn off ao, you can do so in the viewport, by clicking the down arrow in the upper left, Show > Post Processing Effects