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[Neil]

I'm a broke college student who is in debt, so I can't even afford the educational version of Convexity. Using WWMT Anvil without Convexity, would I be able to build a level in Max (at least the layout) to get it into Hammer? Would all the models I place in my scene be exported as static geometry? Assuming I have Generic Units with my Home Grid set to a power of 2 and all the basic 3DS Max setup done.

[wallworm]

Yes, you can export 3ds Max scenes directly into Hammer with just Wall Worm. Doing so requires that you tell Anvil what objects should export as world geometry--which you can do by using the Tags rollout. You can tag an item as a brush or as a func_detail. Also, if you create a layer in the Layer Manager named Convexity Walls, then all objects in that layer are assumed to be part of the world geometry (so don't add models or any complex geometry into that layer).

You can consider adding a keyboard shortcut to the Tag functions by looking in the wallworm.com category inside your 3ds Max Customize dialog.

Anvil will also export the scene lights, layers (as visgroups) and WWMT models/proxies as props.

Using Convexity does have added level design tools like Pipemax, Entity Toolbar and the Wall Side-View Editor. I use the latter two tools a lot. Even if you have Convexity, however, I still use Anvil for the VMF exporting as Convexity will not handle a scene well if you have concave geometry as it wants to export the entire scene as world geometry.

[Neil]

If I add some complex geometry like chandeliers and book shelves (part of the world), would that cause a problem? If I put all my static geometry in Convexity Walls.

[wallworm]

Generally speaking, the best tactic if you are not using Convexity is to simply avoid using a layer named Convexity Walls and take the time to tag geometry.  You can select an arbitrary set of objects and tag them as world geometry.

Then for your complex geometry, turn them into WWMT models. Those will export as prop entities.

What I do is create a root WWMT model then create proxies of that model with the proxy tools in WW. Then you can place those props around the scene (reuse them). You can also then create different skins for your model by making new materials for the various proxies.

Hopefully that makes sense. If not, I'll detail it more in the future.

[Neil]

Yes, that helps a lot. Thanks for your hard work!