Modeling with 3D Editor

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This is part of the Custom Track tutorial.

Using a 3D modeling program

If you have never made a 3D model before, it is recommended to use Google Sketchup 8, which is free and easy to learn to use.

Google Sketchup

First, you will need to download Google Sketchup if you do not already have it here: Google Sketchup 8 Download

You will also need this plug-in: OBJ Exporter download. Put the .rb file in the Plugins folder of GSU (found in your Program Files folder).

If you have never used Google Sketchup before, you should watch the video tutorials found here: Google Sketchup Video Tutorials

Now, it is time to create the track using the information you learned in the video tutorials. However, there are some important rules not listed in the video that you must follow for the model to be Mario Kart Wii compatible:

As a general rule, the road should be about 15,000' (or 4500m) across (you can use the Tape Measure tool to measure this, but make sure you are using the Simple Feet and Inches or Simple Meters template). This is the approximate width that an ideal road would have (for example, the width of the road at Fishdom Island). If the model is too small you will need to use the scale tool to make it all bigger.
The whole drivable road must be above the red and green axis in Sketchup. Mario Kart Wii enforces a fall boundary below these axis even if it is not in the course.kcl file. If you were to build a road on or below these axis you will respawn (be picked up by Lakitu) over and over again.
The exporter below only exports the front (white) faces of the model. Make sure the white faces are pointing in the direction you want to see them. If they aren't, right click on them and click "Reverse Faces." Of course, if the faces are textured you cannot see which way they are facing, so click "Entity Info" to check which side(s) are textured, or go to "View => Face Style => Monochrome" which disable the view of textures, you can always put texture view back on. If you want a face to be visible from both sides, you will have to add depth to it.
Lines in Sketchup will not be visible in Mario Kart Wii; only faces appear.
The OBJ file format does not support many of Sketchup's built in features such as camera animation, fog, shadows, or non-photo textures. These will not show up within Mario Kart Wii as they are controlled differently there. NEVER use solid colors unless they are an actual photo; they will appear black in-game.
To test the size and scale of your track in-game, use moon jump hacks (on Dolphin or with Riivolution and a Wii) or simply add solidity to the road portions of the track. You will also need to move the start position over the track. 1 unit in Mario Kart Wii (used within the KMP editor) is equal to 3.2808399 feet in Sketchup. But, it is actually more useful to use meters as the scale in Sketchup, as 1 meter in Sketchup is equal to 1 MKWii unit.

If you still need help scaling your track to the correct size, you can download any other Sketchup file for a custom track from the internet. All of BigOto2's track models are available on the Sketchup 3D warehouse: Fishdom Island and Volcanic Skyway are some of them. You can then compare your track's scale to these other custom tracks.

For more information on texturing, follow the Texturing tutorial.

Another 3D Model Editor

If you made your model in a 3D model editor that isn't Google Sketchup, you have to do it a little different. Just as in Sketchup you need to export it as OBJ file. Please be aware that you have to set your polygons, in 3DS Max MKWii polygons are equal to meshes; you can merge meshes using the collapse tool. The exported OBJ files are mostly not compatable with the SZS Modifier, but CTools fully supports it. So you have to import the models with CTools, which is recommended anyway as it can create BRRES files of any size. If you still want it in the SZS Modifier (to keep animated textures), open a CTools made BRRES with the SZS Modifier, export the model as OBJ and import in the BRRES file you want.

Importing Your Model

CTools Pack

Open the CTools Pack's BRRES Editor and click File-->New. The click File-->Import-->Wavefront OBJ. Use the '...' button next to the file path to open the OBJ model file.

If there is a problem with the OBJ file, a message should appear explaining what is wrong. If it is to do with materials, you can disable them using the Load Materials checkbox - but you'll have to import each texture manually later on. (the texture mapping goes OK, just the actual texture goes wrong) This should not happen if you use Google Sketchup and the plugin above. If it does, please send the OBJ file to Chadderz using Mediafire or post it on the Suggestions For Chadderz thread on the Mario Kart Workshop. This is for debugging purposes as CTools is still in development. Also, be careful not to flip through textures too fast with the arrow keys as this may also cause a crash.

If everything worked, more options should come available. If you are making a course model, be sure to check the Course Model box. DO NOT import map models here as the positioning will be glitchy (Chadderz is working on it). Normally you can leave all of the other settings alone. If any face(s) do not appear in game, you will need to reverse it in Sketchup so that the white face points in the direction that you want to see it from.

If your model is too big or small, use the scale feature to increase or decrease it's size. Typically a road in Mario Kart Wii is about 15000 feet across.

If your model appears rotated, or lying on its side, use the swap Y and Z check box to correct this problem. If you use Sketchup this will not happen, but any programs that use the Z axis for vertical will require this box to be checked.

After the OBJ model is imported, save the file as/over "course_model.brres" inside the SZS. If it is named anything else it will not appear in-game.