Blender import / export plugins

[Leopotam 10]

TRexian, before exporting, you must reset model transform (rotation, scale). Press Ctrl+A in 'OBJECT' mode and make your choice. All vertex coordinates are exported from the center model! 'Center' means Origin or Pivot - marker of center in any model (Or press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C to move this point :) ).

P.S. Upload your project to any file hosting and send link to PM.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Leopotam

[TRexian 0]

hehe

Thanks! Sorry - I missed that in the vid - I *did* watch it, though! :D

I'll try that before I waste your time. Your effort and support for this is MUCH appreciated. (Look to be credited in any 3d models I do from now on!) :D

Oh and Gnat - I was curious... what in the world have you been modeling with all this time that you would now come to Blender?!

[[aps]gnat 28]

Oh and Gnat - I was curious... what in the world have you been modeling with all this time that you would now come to Blender?!

LOL .... only O2 of course!

"now come to Blender" ..... yeh, after a time you get sick of the modeling limitations (its not a huge list, but some missing features are at times critical) of O2. Time to learn some more skills ;)

And Leopotam, to echo TRexian, your effort and support for this is MUCH appreciated.

Edit:

Why arent there more people using this and commenting?

Blenders free and I would have thought many people would be into it.

Probably too many copies of that "free" 3DSMax software going around .......

Edited August 18, 2010 by [APS]Gnat

[TRexian 0]

Dude, without drawing too much off-topic, what you've produced with just O2 is epic. I mean, like you say, O2 isn't a *bad* app, it just never clicked with me.

I'll PM you some Blender links. You're actually getting "in" at a good time. It looks like the 2.53 build changes alot about the interface, so I'm learning new stuff, too!

[TRexian 0]

Ok, some more substantive feedback, although I'm still re-learning bits of Blender for this. :)

First - I did get the rotation/scale-from-origin thing sorted, THANKS! The models now appear to transfer appropriately. Great job simply in doing that. My current problem, other than what may be beta-bugs (BTW, where's a good place to post those?) is the exporting of the lods. Could you go through that in a bit more detail? I duplicated the 0lod, then reduced the polys, and set the lod distance. And, the lod distances exported perfectly, but the lods themselves had the same number of faces as the original.

Second - it is worth noting (I think) that the LOD Distance box doesn't accept enough zeros to enter the decimal value for the non-visual lods. But, entering the float value works. That's probably intentional, but wasn't immediately obvious.

On to feature suggestions/wish list?

How feasible would it be to use Blender to design animations? I've used the Blender anim parts a bit and found them pretty easy to use.

Overall a very solid tool, I think!

[Leopotam 10]

First - I did get the rotation/scale-from-origin thing sorted, THANKS! The models now appear to transfer appropriately. Great job simply in doing that. My current problem, other than what may be beta-bugs (BTW, where's a good place to post those?) is the exporting of the lods. Could you go through that in a bit more detail? I duplicated the 0lod, then reduced the polys, and set the lod distance. And, the lod distances exported perfectly, but the lods themselves had the same number of faces as the original.

'Decimate' modifier? :) If yes, you must press 'Apply' button for bake modifier changes on result model.

Second - it is worth noting (I think) that the LOD Distance box doesn't accept enough zeros to enter the decimal value for the non-visual lods. But, entering the float value works. That's probably intentional, but wasn't immediately obvious.

On to feature suggestions/wish list?

Hm, Very hard to enter valid value from biwiki table? :) ok, I think about it.

How feasible would it be to use Blender to design animations? I've used the Blender anim parts a bit and found them pretty easy to use.

Overall a very solid tool, I think!

Animations have two types: axis-based (stored in config) and skeleton-based (rtm). For each - new exporter needed. May be both of them will be realized in future, may be no one, I dont know :)

Edited August 19, 2010 by Leopotam

[Leopotam 10]

Exporter v0.3.2:

* Add lod distance presets.

* Remove arma panel if no selected model

Importer v0.2.1:

* Fix crash on invalid uv data (add exception wrapper).

Edited August 19, 2010 by Leopotam

[TRexian 0]

Excellent! :)

I actually had another question. (You will end up hating me soon!) Some of the non-visual lods (like shadow lod?) don't need the texture. Does this tool remove that, if we just duplicate the "main" lod, or is that something we need to do manually in O2? Or, in terms of workflow, I suppose we can turn "off" the duplicate texture setting, then the non-visual lods won't have the texture copied?

Will check out the decimate/apply problem. I will also try not to turn this thread into a Blender 2.53 Tutorial thread. :)

[Leopotam 10]

Model copy as is, vertices and faces. UV stores in faces only. And UV data is not problem for O2.

[TRexian 0]

Excellent.

Someone asked me a question elsewhere regarding selections. If I import a p3d with selections, are those saved within Blender as a vertex group or some other way? If it was in the import video, I missed it. :doh:

[Leopotam 10]

Yep, each selection will be converted to vertex group.

[TRexian 0]

Excellent. :)

Ok... just going through the workflow... any chance of being able to apply mass to vertices, for the Geometry lod? :)

(I LOVE the dropdown menu to select the lods.... that is slick!)

ÐžÑ‚Ð»Ð¸Ñ‡Ð½Ð°Ñ Ñ€Ð°Ð±Ð¾Ñ‚Ð°!

[Leopotam 10]

Exporter v0.3.3:

* Can export mass data (Mass interpolated between vertices based on vertex weight).

Video list in first post updated.

Edited August 19, 2010 by Leopotam

[TRexian 0]

:dancehead:

Uh... for my next feature request, I'd like for it to make my dinner and fold my clothes? :D

Edit:

Just watched the video, and have a question (which might be answered later tonight when I try it). I already have 1 vertex group/selection called "Component1" and have added another one with "#Mass#" - they will both be exported?

Fantastic work.

Edited August 19, 2010 by TRexian

[TRexian 0]

Sorry for the double-post. Here's a pic of my first model taken straight from Blender to O2, with only minor tweaking in O2 (more on that later), then in-game:

Ok, not much to look at, but it is something. :)

There was a problem exporting with the selection name and #mass#. I'd tried to enter 5000 or something huge for the vertex weights, but the dos box said something like Invalid mass weight value. It still did a fine job including the non-visual lods I'd specified, so all I did was add the weight in O2.

Anyway - still very excited about this. Am even considering creating a very simple n00b tutorial for Blender and using these tools. It'll help me figure some stuff out, too, and potentially draw some more people to Blender!

[Macser_old 0]

Nice to see Blender getting in on the action.It's a powerful app,whatever version

you're using. :)

@Leopotam

Has the poly reducer script been updated in the Blender build you're using?

The major difference between it,and the decimate modifier,is that it maintains

UV mapping.There's also a bit more control over the process.It's absence is

one of the reasons I still use 2.49b.

In any case.Very nice work.

Edited August 20, 2010 by Macser

[Leopotam 10]

TRexian

1. Only one correct case for mass selection: #Mass#

2. You must assign all vertices to #Mass# selection and correct weights in "Weight Paint" mode. You can see "Invalid weight" message when #Mass# selection have no assigned vertices.

Macser

Decimate modifier lose UV and selections. And in 2.5 no poly reducer script.

Edited August 20, 2010 by Leopotam

[[aps]gnat 28]

Decimate modifier lose UV and selections. And in 2.5 no poly reducer script.

Arh! Crap!

It was one of the main reasons I was swapping from O2 to Blender. The ability to easily create supporting Resultion LODs :(

[Leopotam 10]

Add tool to separate model to sub-models, based on vertexgroup data.

---------- Post added at 08:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:39 AM ----------

[APS]Gnat, but you have tool with fast automatic mesh simplification. :)

---------- Post added at 09:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:51 AM ----------

Bad news: python api changed (http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=194921)

All plugins updated for compatible 2.53.1 r31467.

Edited August 24, 2010 by Leopotam

[TRexian 0]

@ Leo - mate, I must ask - are you involved in Blender development? :) If so, I want to thank you for that contribution, too!

I will take another look at how I did the vertex weights.

[Leopotam 10]

Exporter v0.3.4:

* Now any selection weight export correct (Can be changed in 'Weight paint' mode in same way as #Mass# selection)

TRexian, no I'm not blender developer.

Edited August 20, 2010 by Leopotam

[TRexian 0]

Been using this more over the weekend - still really good stuff.

Another question/feature request: it seems like texture data is exported for the non-visual lods (like geometry/shadow), but is there some way for these lods to have those stripped away. This is a MINOR thing, though.

Fantastic work.

[Leopotam 10]

All lods always contain information about uv - no differences in p3d-format for different lod types.

---------- Post added at 07:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:46 PM ----------

Exporter v0.3.5:

* Non graphical lods (>= 1000.0) do not export materials and textures.

* Now, if you want export material, you must assign it in blender with correct name.

[TRexian 0]

Excellent responsiveness! :)

Thank you!

Edit, rather than doublepost, because it is arguably off-topic:

Link to a Gimp plugin that creates normal maps. If you have Blender, Gimp is a great resource, too. :)

http://code.google.com/p/gimp-normalmap/

Edited August 24, 2010 by TRexian

[TRexian 0]

Hey Leo-

Been doing more with this, and I think there are only a few things I do now in O2. :) (The less, the better.) ;)

It seems to me there should be Blender tools/commands that do certain things, but I'm not sure what they are:

- "Make edges sharp" - for the shadow volume

- And the find convex and find non-closed topology selections (for geometry lods)

Does anyone know what those corollaries are in Blender?