Blender import / export plugins

[Leopotam 10]

2TRexian

1. "Make edges sharp" - may be - in next build.

2. "And the find convex" - it's not requirement for any lod.

3. "find non-closed topology selections" - in edit mode in vertex submode press space and type "Select Non Manifold" or press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+M (in current builds). All holes will be marked.

[TRexian 0]

Well, a couple of the geometries need to be closed and non-convex.

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Validating_Geometries

Will try the manifold thing, though! That'd be great!

Edit:

Also might be having a minor problem with the roadway lod, but it is probably a user error right now. :)

[Leopotam 10]

Exporter v0.3.6:

* Export sharp edges. In O2 vertices for "flat" faces stored as doubles of main vertices list. I dont want rewrite half part of exporter code for this issue and propose to use the following workaround: mark faces as flat, export, open in O2 and press Ctrl+S (overwrite exported file with O2 internal correction). After this O2 will show smoothing groups correctly.

[TRexian 0]

Great solution!

Uh.... how do you mark faces as flat in Blender? :)

[Leopotam 10]

Select faces and on left shelf (Press T to open / close panel) press "smooth" or "flat" buttons.

Edited August 28, 2010 by Leopotam

[Leopotam 10]

Importer v0.2.2:

* Compatible with 2.53.1 r31638.

All blender builds older r31638 not supported.

Importer v0.2.3:

* Fix uv-texture filling for compatibility with r31638.

Exporter v0.3.7:

* Fix uv-texture reading for compatibility with r31638.

Edited August 30, 2010 by Leopotam

[Leopotam 10]

Video: "How to copy texture from near to distance lod." (8Mb, x264)

Edited August 30, 2010 by Leopotam

[TRexian 0]

Great stuff, Leo.

Couple things, though:

- tried downloading a new build, but I think they are coming down corrupted or something? Got a good build now! :)

- did you change codecs or something for your vids? The new one isn't playing in my mPlayer. Well, it looks like it starts for a second, then goes gray. Funky stuff happens if I fastforward.

Thanks!

Edit:

Actually, the new test build is giving me an error - "OpenCL.dll not found" - will try googling for awhile and see if I can sort that out.

Edited August 30, 2010 by TRexian

[Leopotam 10]

- did you change codecs or something for your vids?

libx264vfw (6 jul 2010). But I want to downgrade. Try VLC (http://videolan.org) - plays everything without codecs.

Actually, the new test build is giving me an error - "OpenCL.dll not found" - will try googling for awhile and see if I can sort that out.

It's not problem. There is new GPU-accelerated physical-corrected render - LuxRays, based on LuxRender. And for access to GPU on videocard OpenCL libs needed. Just ignore. :)

P.S. Or if you want to test luxrays:

1. for nvidia, opencl.dll installed with last drivers.

2. for ati, you must install ati stream sdk from official site.

[TRexian 0]

Ah yes, my VLC won't start for some reason! :) Will try a reinstall of that.

But, my blender build won't start without the opencl.dll....

[Leopotam 10]

But, my blender build won't start without the opencl.dll....

Very strange... And builds from first post not work too?

[TRexian 0]

Correct.

I just tried this one, too:

http://www.graphicall.org/builds/builds/showbuild.php?action=show&id=1525

Now, I did notice it also has a blender-with-opencl.bat. I tried that, and it runs the DOS bat and gives the same error.

This application has failed to start because OpenCL.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem.

However, reinstalling does not fix it. And, I have ATI here, and no admin privs to install the SDK.

The first Win 32 x86 version you linked to worked, but it was an earlier version that apparently does not support your new versions.

Will see if I can find something that works.

Edit:

This one appears to work on a quick test....

http://www.graphicall.org/builds/builds/showbuild.php?action=show&id=1531

Edit2:

Holy texture baking, Batman! If I were braver and would risk the wrath of a penalty for double-posting, I would!

Just grabbed the latest VLC (which works) and watched the vid! Absolutely awesome technique for getting the textures on the distance LODs.

Edit3:

My problem now is not being as brilliant! As I went through the vid, when you Smart Unwrap the new LOD, you place the cursor around the Save As, but I didn't see the dialog to actually save it, and it looks like it still says Untitled. Do you save this? Also, it appears that the baked texture is relying on this new texture, which means including it in the pbo separately? In other words, each distance lod will need its own texture?

Edited August 31, 2010 by TRexian

[Leopotam 10]

Do you save this?

In video - no, but you must save for each lod.

In other words, each distance lod will need its own texture?

Yep, but resolution may be lower than in nearest lod.

Edited August 31, 2010 by Leopotam

[TRexian 0]

Ok.

I have some experience stitching together 4x512 UV mapped textures to 1x1024, but not in Blender. Do you know if there is some function like that?

I'm also thinking that the Smart Unwrap is good enough for simple objects to just use that on the distance lods on the original texture.

Either way, great work!

[Leopotam 10]

You can use single texture in many lods with manual placement uv-parts

[TRexian 0]

Hey Leo-

Can you confirm that the mass function is still working? I can see the text label for it, but it does not appear to have a place to enter the value.

Thanks!

T

[Leopotam 10]

Don't use "Properties" or "Items" panel, but "Arma Params" panel only. Select mesh object and try to find this panel on Properties shelf.

[TRexian 0]

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

Can you explain this, or post a video? I think I'm doing something wrong. It worked before, but I don't know what I'm doing differently. Now, I get a preprocessor error 7 regarding a texture.

Thanks! :)

[Leopotam 10]

Moderators, please, close this topic. Development stopped due to low demand.

[TRexian 0]

Dude.... can you give it just a bit more time? :) I'm almost ready to do a tutorial for beginners to get their Blender stuff into ArmA! It takes time for some of this stuff to sink in....

At least just post something about the textures?

Regardless - thanks for what you have done. It really helps my workflow, even if you don't make any other changes.

:thumbs:

[Dwarden 1125]

i'm pretty sure there is demand for Blender related stuff ... i'm small fan of Blender myself :)

[[aps]gnat 28]

:( Love your work anyway Leopotam

I haven't done any modeling work for weeks because I'm traveling for work, never home.

Very surprised no one else has posted.

HONK IF YOUR A USER!

[PuFu 4600]

I am not using Blender myself, but i find those sort of plugins very beneficial for this community, especially since i find O2 hard/weird to work with(sorry Dwarden mate, but that's the truth).

I am pretty sure it is needed/wanted by a lot more than those who actually posted here

[pathetic_berserker 4]

Whoa! I remeber seeing this plugin mentioned way back, and had been hanging for a release. Now I find I've had my head in the sand for over a month, thankfully its Friday and i have the weekend to catch up.

[TRexian 0]

Hey - has anyone sorted out how to properly do the materials? I still need to do considerable fixing in O2 with textures.

Still an improvement over my old workflow, though! :) Just getting it into p3d with the UV maps and non-visual lods is fantastic.