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Alwarren

Arma Toolbox for Blender - Arma 2/3 exporter script

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What values does the object have for the location, rotation and scale, as in the image above?

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Scaling and rotation looks ok. So with the object selected, hit CTRL-A. Then apply "location".

 

Confirm that this sets all the values to zero for location. Then try exporting it again.

 

It's likely the mesh will be sitting up higher than you'd like. But sorting out the distortion is the main thing for the moment.

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That appears to have been the issue with that part! Thanks for the help. As far as the textures not appearing in game, do you have any suggestions?

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I'm not actually modding for A3. So there's a limit to how far I can take you. Does the model have any materials applied?

 

Check page 9 of the user guide for the toolbox for more info on paths for materials/textures.

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I applied some materials, exported that UV mesh to a GIMP profile. Then I created the specular and normal textures as well as the base one. I exported those back to Blender, where I used the A3 Toolbox to assign the correct texture and RVMAT file before exporting them to O2, and then turning them into a .PBO. 

 

Quite the process!

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How did you convert your textures? Did you use the correct naming conventions for them?

 

The suffixes are important. They tell the convertor exactly what kind of texture is being processed. Diffuse, alpha, normal etc.

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That appears to have been the issue with that part! Thanks for the help. As far as the textures not appearing in game, do you have any suggestions?

 

Have you checked the paths? If you load the model in O2, does the texture appear as a question mark icon? That would suggest the path is wrong.

 

I also need to apologize for not maintaining this addon properly. I am actually doing quite a bit of work on it, but haven't released anything. I did, however, find a pretty serious issue with geometry lod weights, so I am trying to update this ASAP, with the caveat that I have not enough time to write documentation for it so it will be a bit trial-and-error for some of the new features.

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No need for apologies. Even in it's current form I'm sure it's responsible for more animations and models than you're aware of.  :)

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Is there any comprehensive tutorial/video of a complete workflow from Blender -> Arma 3 directly?

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Is there any comprehensive tutorial/video of a complete workflow from Blender -> Arma 3 directly?

Not from me, I'm afraid. I generally suck at explaining or making vidoes.

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Is there any comprehensive tutorial/video of a complete workflow from Blender -> Arma 3 directly?

Look for Game Dev Byrne add on tuts on YouTube.

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Hello. I'm working on a new uniform model created from the Arma 3 sample in blender. I did some voodoo dark magic in order to import the model into 3ds max, so I can use the "skin wrap" modifier (about 90% is very similar to the sample), with saved me the slog of rigging the whole thing. Then I exported the rigged model from 3ds max into .dae format and got it into blender again. It seems everything is there and the rig was also imported.

 

Now, is it possible to use this rigged model in order to export to .p3d or o2? I really don't want to rig the whole thing by hand in o2.

 

http://imgur.com/a/Nouh4

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If it has the relevant vertex groups you should be ok. The exporter will take the those as selections when converting to P3d.

 

If that for some reason doesn't work, you can use the data transfer modifier. This will allow you to transfer the weights directly from the character sample P3D directly to your uniform.

 

From there, if needed you can tweak the weights. If you use a pre-rigged (Functioning armature) character you can pose it to check the deformation of the uniform is happening correctly.

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Damn, I can't find a good tutorial on character creation. The sample in .max format does not seem to have all the needed stuff like hitpoints, collision etc. I also couldn't find info on character exporting in the blender toolbox manual (maybe I just missed it).

 

I can post my model here for experimentation, as I do not mind it being used by others (I'm planning on releasing it as an open source material anyway).

 

So close, yet so far....

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The exporter doesn't differentiate between model types. It simply sees the objects tagged as having Arma properties. There's nothing needed on that side to tell either Object builder or the engine what it's dealing with. The P3d and the configs take care of that.

 

If you're just doing a uniform, all you need are the weights from the character transferred to your mesh. After that you duplicate the mesh onto another layer, and reduce it manually, or use the decimate modifier, to get your resolution LODS. The weighting and UV co-ordinates will be retained.

 

If the samples are representative of clothing, then the main concern is the resolution, Shadowvolume and geometry lods.

 

Use the data transfer modifier to grab the vertex weighting from the character and have them applied to your uniform.

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After that you duplicate the mesh onto another layer, and reduce it manually, or use the decimate modifier, to get your resolution LODS. The weighting and UV co-ordinates will be retained.

 

Agreed, I use the decimate modifier most of the time and it does a good job, at least up until LOD 4.0... 5.0 is mostly a bit problematic, but then, there is hardly anything left on screen of that lod.

 

I usually go for 0.5, 0.25, .15 and 0.1 or less for the LODs, trying to push polygon counts in the >3 as far as possible for performance.

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Thanks for the tips. For now I only want to get the new uniform into the game to see what works and what not. This my first such project in blender and in arma so I have problems.

 

Alwarren, would you happen to have any uniform model in blender ready for export? I would love to take a look and study it.

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you can import the character example p3d from the sample files, it will be completely set up.

 

i use it as reference for uniforms and to copy the weights too

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Import the sample p3d into blender or merge my exported model p3d with it? Sorry I'm really new to modding arma at this level, is there any good tutorial for all of this?

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Alwarren did you ever release an updated version of you're toolbox?  In the youtube video comments you mentioned that you had created a newer version allowing you to delete proxies but that you hadn't released it.  I was looking around to see if I could find a newer version and the only one I could see was v1.5.  Thanks again for the toolbox its a great help.

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