Hey all,
So it looks like the only real problem I was having was being...careless...for lack of ...many... better words.
In my 3rd party plug-ins, I mistakenly had the Maya 2012x64 folder selected and NOT the 3DS Max one. Whoops! Just switched it over, restarted Max and what-do-ya-know - it worked!
Anyhow, my cube imported correctly into the HeroEngine, textures intact.
One question tho, I'm noticing an odd overlap on my textures, which I can clearly see is the UV map texture of the model that Cooper told me NOT to use. Well, I went with a simple Box and simple mats, but I didn't remove any of the old textures or model from the folder I saved my Export in. Could this be why there is overlap?
My path: R:\HE\Assets\Models
Contents include both Max files, the .HGM export file, 2 .DDS diffuse files (one for the old model, one for the test cube), 2 .DDS normal maps (one for old, one for cube) - perhaps this is why?
my only other thought is that I did NOT reset my scene when I made the cube, and simply re-pathed the texture into the Hero material slots (which still contained the texture from my other model).
I'm assuming it's the second issue, not that either one is difficult to fix, but knowing what the problem is always helps!
Also - in my folder structure, for organizational purposes, if I had a folder for EACH AND EVERY model containing the .DDS texture files AND the exported .HGM file, will that be ok? Just as long as the textures are with their respective exported mesh, correct?
Also, also - I've read in other threads that naming conventions are extremely important. Since my model imported correctly, I'm assuming my names are fine:
test_mat_01_export.hgm
test_mat_01_diffuse.dds
test_mat_01_normal.dds
good to go?
Anyways, thanks again for all your help!!!!! I will most likely be back here asking more questions down the road!