Arma Toolbox for Blender - Arma 2/3 exporter script

[theevancat 277]

No, that cannot be. You are doing something wrong. You have the wrong object selected.

Wrong object? Do I need to copypaste it to the other layer? Because if I just shift-click it, it might just be the same object?

[Heinrich Kramer 172]

Wrong object? Do I need to copypaste it to the other layer? Because if I just shift-click it, it might just be the same object?

i am a bit confused as of what exactly you are doing.

The Layers in Blender are not like Oxygen-Lods, they are just another empty layer to put objects in it.

to create a second lod you need to copy your object/s with shift+d and then move the copy to the second layer (or leave it in the first one, wich i do not recomment at all).

there you can then edit the distancelod settings an on export the two objects will then be in 2 different lods.

by just moving the object without making a copy of it, you just move the one object from layer 1 to layer 2, leaving layer one empty.

activating a layer in editmode displays the activated layer as well as the layer where the object in edit mode is stored, perhaps that was the confusing part, make sure you are in object mode to move objects on different layers or simply to navigate through them.

[Macser 776]

Hello.

TheEvanCat,Blender has no awareness of BI's LOD system.It just so happens that Blender's layer feature

was a handy way of dealing with this.Each separate layer will count as a different LOD at export.

But the user needs to put the appropriate meshes into each one.

You can't define the layers themselves as LODs.It's the objects within those layers you're working with.

So for a resolution LOD,you would start on layer 1 with the most detailed external view of the model.

Once it's modeled,uv'd and textured,you can configure it with the tools that Al provides.Then you can use

shift-D to copy.Left click once to deselect.Then hit M and move this duplicate to layer 2.From there you

would apply a decimate modifier to reduce detail.And so on,down to the lowest detail version.

The objects/meshes are the focus of the workflow.The layers are just a good way of keeping things organised.

Al's addon will take care of the conversion on export.

Maybe spend a bit more time practicing with general Blender operations.It'll be worth it.

[astrospud 1]

Hi Alwarren. I apologise if this question is a repeat, but I get the error message as follows;

I'm trying to bring in armor_f_epb\APC_Tracked_03\APC_tracked_03_cannon_F.p3d, but I get no joy.

I'm want to bring in the FV-720 Mora so I can retexture in a Allegorithmic Substance Painter (on Steam, check it out!).

Am I unpacking the model correctly using PBO manager? (Can't see how I can stuff that up!)

EDIT: Revisiting the manual, I can't seem to get the Properties palette that configures Arma Tools. I can only find this:

And I can't change them to point to O2.

Edited March 11, 2014 by astrospud

[Alwarren 2767]

I'm trying to bring in armor_f_epb\APC_Tracked_03\APC_tracked_03_cannon_F.p3d, but I get no joy.

I'm want to bring in the FV-720 Mora so I can retexture in a Allegorithmic Substance Painter (on Steam, check it out!).

Am I unpacking the model correctly using PBO manager? (Can't see how I can stuff that up!)

The reason this doesn't work is that the models from the game's PBO are binarized. Binarized MDL's cannot be loaded anymore - well they could be de-binarized, but Arma Toolbox doesn't do that. The usual way is to ask the author for the model in MLOD format, which might be a bit difficult in this case.

However, AFAIK, all assets in Arma 3 have hidden selections for retexturing.

EDIT: Revisiting the manual, I can't seem to get the Properties palette that configures Arma Tools. I can only find this:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14694053/Blender/Arma%20tools%20Properties.JPG

And I can't change them to point to O2.

The palette you are looking at is the Tool shelf. The properties are in the properties panel obtained by pressing 'N' (if it isn't visible yet) on in the 3D view. It's on the right side of the 3D view, and pretty much at the bottom.See here.

Note that with the latest version, chances are high you don't need to mess around with the panel, since the Toolbox tries to guess the right location based on the Registry.

[astrospud 1]

Ah, that makes sense now, Thanks Alwarren. I've tried re texturing in photoshop, but I'm not getting the results I want, and was hoping that Substance Painter would get me into skinning models quicker.

As for Blender itself, I'm using 2.69, and hadn't had too much experience with it yet, still fumbling my way around it.

Cheers for the quick reply!

[Alwarren 2767]

Important

I have been swamped with questions about why the toolbox doesn't export any files. This is MOST LIKELY related to the fact that the names of the tools changed, most notably Oxygen 2 has been renamed to ObjectBuilder and the path names changed accordingly.

To remedy any problems, get the most current version of the toolbox, then go to

C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\<version>\scripts\addons\ArmaToolbox

and delete the file "Settings", replacing your user name and Blender version in the above line.

This should be enough to get it working again. Do not enter anything in the settings, since the automatic detection SHOULD work.

If this doesn't fix your issues:

Make sure that the path to the O2Script.exe is correct, but DO NOT SPECIFY the O2Script.exe itself. Only point the setting to the directory the file is in.

I hope this helps clear things up.

[Juhansson 1]

Am i doing something wrong here? Objects I make have multiple textures applied on them, then when i export and open in oxygen i find out that theres only one of those textures and its applied on all faces.

[Alwarren 2767]

Am i doing something wrong here? Objects I make have multiple textures applied on them, then when i export and open in oxygen i find out that theres only one of those textures and its applied on all faces.

Make sure that you create Blender materials for the combination of texture/RVMat. Assigning a face texture is not working, since it cannot carry enough information. Check page 8 ("Materials and Textures") of the manual.

[Juhansson 1]

Ooooh ok. Thank you very much. So for every texture its own rvmat? Or one for object? Could you send me a example rvmat? Im confused what kind of rvmat i need to set up for this. Not like this right:

surfaceInfo = "my_projects\project\wood.bisurf";

ambient[]={1.5,1.5,1.5,1};
diffuse[]={0.5,0.5,0.5,1};
forcedDiffuse[]={0,0,0,0};
emmisive[]={0,0,0,0};
specular[]={0,0,0,0};
specularPower=1;
PixelShaderID="NormalMapDiffuse";
VertexShaderID="NormalMapDiffuseAlpha";
class Stage1
{
texture="my_projects\project\woodtexture_co.paa";
uvSource="tex";
class uvTransform
{
	aside[]={10,0,0};
	up[]={0,10,0};
	dir[]={0,0,10};
	pos[]={0,0,0};
};
};

EDIT: Problem resolved by Alwarrens kind help. Problem was i didnt realise i had to assign the materials to their faces and not just unwrap. *facepalm*

Edited April 4, 2014 by Juhansson
Resolved

[Juhansson 1]

This is what happens: http://imgur.com/a/TcUnW

[Alwarren 2767]

No, if you look at O2, you'll see that per face, you can assign one texture and an RVMat. The RVMat can reference additional textures, but in essence, you have a color texture and an RVMat. These are done in Blender by creating a material, and you can use that material multiple times.

The easiest way is to go and import an existing model and compare the materials that are created by this.

EDIT: Basically, this is the window in O2:

(click for larger)

The circled area gives the texture and rvmat for the face(s) selected. The same panel in Blender looks like this:

(click for larger)

In theory, each face can have its own combination, but in reality, that never happens.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Alwarren

[Maslofski 10]

how can we import the P3D files from the samples? cant find a working importer anywhere

[Alwarren 2767]

how can we import the P3D files from the samples? cant find a working importer anywhere

Have you installed the latest version of the toolbox? If in doubt, use the one from Friedenhq.org, it's the latest one. Then go to file->import->Arma 3 p3d

[Bfoxalpha 10]

Hi, Alwarren

first, thanks for your great job

with V1.5 there is no "merge object in same lod" option available (as in V1.1) and it's very, very very useful ... is there a simple solution?

As i saw your very experiment, have you some elements, tuto, to create animation, (I'd to test your rtm

export) Wich skeleton , ... do you use ?

Thanks

Fox

[Alwarren 2767]

with V1.5 there is no "merge object in same lod" option available (as in V1.1) and it's very, very very useful ... is there a simple solution?

The function didn't fully work in the previous version, so I removed it when I re-wrote most of the exporter. I was too lazy to fix it, and I didn't really need it. If you want to achieve the same effect, you can simply join the objects together (using CTRL-J)

As i saw your very experiment, have you some elements, tuto, to create animation, (I'd to test your rtm

export) Wich skeleton , ... do you use ?

I use this one.

You need to make sure that you add enough keyframes to the animation, otherwise you'll get very jerky movement.

[Bfoxalpha 10]

The function didn't fully work in the previous version, so I removed it when I re-wrote most of the exporter. I was too lazy to fix it, and I didn't really need it. If you want to achieve the same effect, you can simply join the objects together (using CTRL-J)

ok, I know ctrl+j, ==> I'll use the V1.1 when necessary (it's for construct ,developpement and testing version)

I use this one

You need to make sure that you add enough keyframes to the animation, otherwise you'll get very jerky movement.

Thanks, I'll try with this one

Fox.

Edited May 11, 2014 by Bfoxalpha

[Alwarren 2767]

ok, I know ctrl+j, ==> I'll use the V1.1 when necessary (it's for construct ,developpement and testing version)

As I said, the feature didn't work correctly, most notably will the selections be messed up. I strongly advice against using it.

[cool=azroul13 14]

Hi Alwarren,

I have a weird problem with object imported in O2. It seems that my object is deformed.

It's a simple building, made in one block. I select the object on the object mode then click on arma object properties and export it with the default parameter.

I use the 1.5 version of your tool.

[Alwarren 2767]

Hi Alwarren,

I have a weird problem with object imported in O2. It seems that my object is deformed.

It's a simple building, made in one block. I select the object on the object mode then click on arma object properties and export it with the default parameter.

I use the 1.5 version of your tool.

Hm, did you make sure that all transformations are applied? I.e. make sure you have applied rotation and scale before exporting.

[cool=azroul13 14]

What did you mean ? I'm a complete noob at 3d modeling :p

I save my object, close blender, reopen it and directly export the object, nothing change.

[Heinrich Kramer 172]

I save my object, close blender, reopen it and directly export the object, nothing change.

Before you export: Go to object mode

üress CTRL+A and apply Location, scale and Transformation

[cool=azroul13 14]

@theSystem

Thanks it works !!

[odyseus 19]

HEY MY FRIEND. i AM USING YOUR GREAT WORK. BUT NOW THAT I HAVE MY MODEL DONE I AM HAVING PROBLEM SAVING IT AS P3D? I READ THE MAUAL BUT I CANT SEEM TO FIND THE PROBLEM. WHAT COULD IT BE?

THX

Ok guys i got it. now i am having another problem. when i export the texture related to each part is not staying like i had it on blender. some how it changes. what could it be?

Edited June 22, 2014 by Odyseus

[Alwarren 2767]

Ok guys i got it. now i am having another problem. when i export the texture related to each part is not staying like i had it on blender. some how it changes. what could it be?

DId you assign materials? It isn't enough to set the face textures, you need to set up materials.