How to create openable door when it is not a separate piece of model?

[Anonymous]

Hello!

I have a house model from FBX file, it has several doors in it, but the doors are not separate so I cannot make it open in game.
Is there any method I can cut out the door make it separate and then make it open in the game?

[Steve_Curley]

Doors in games are generally separate objects, placed into the correct position relative to the opening in the wall. If you have doors which are part of the FBX you may need to Detach them from the main object. It would be possible to animate the vertex positions to make them open, but it depends entirely on whether the game engine you're using supports that kind of animation.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply!

My house fbx model doesn't allow me to detach the door because the entire front house walls doors windows are one piece.
I can not detach this way, but there must be a method to cut out yes?

[Steve_Curley]

They may all be part of the same object, but it should be possible to work out which Polygons are the Door as opposed to those which are part of the walls. If you select just those polys you can Detach them to a new, separate object (assuming the object is an Editable Poly or Editable Mesh object). You may well find you have to clean up afterwards, both on the original and on the new door object because there will likely be "holes" in both which need to be filled in.

Can you post a screenshot of the front of the model so we can see what we're dealing with please.

[blakestone · Accepted solution]

You can use Bones or Helpers combined with the Skin modifier to rig your model to allow specific parts, such as a door, to move. I have setup a very basic scene showing how this can be achieved. I have included the MAX file (requires 3ds Max 2011 or higher to open).