Arma Toolbox for Blender - Arma 2/3 exporter script

[shinkicker 5]

Played around with it tonight and was not sure about a few things;

So the work flow is:

1. Convert all texture files to paa / tga format.

2. Select Object / Edit Mode

3. Select each face and hit the 'Make Arma Object' button.

4. Assign paa texture created in step 1.

5. Repeat for every face.

A few questions.

Judging the above is correct, should you export under object / edit?

Edited July 18, 2013 by shinkicker

[Alwarren 2767]

I am an idiot and RTM this time. I was trying to load the script instead of the zip archive.

Excrement happens :D

---------- Post added at 03:11 ---------- Previous post was at 01:29 ----------

3. Select each face and hit the 'Make Arma Object' button.

That part you got wrong. You do not select faces, you select the object and hit "Make Arma Object". There is no need to select individual faces for this. Basically:

1. Add an object (e.g. a cube)
   
2. Without going into edit mode, press "Make Arma Object"
   
3. Create a material
   
4. Assign the texutres/RVMats to the material
   
5. Assign the material to the faces you want it to appear on. If you just add a material, it is automatically assigned to all faces.
   
6. Go to File->Export->Arma 2/3 .P3D and export it.
   

I suppose I should make a video tutorial about this.

[shinkicker 5]

ok, I totally get it now.

Will try and record something.

Edited July 19, 2013 by shinkicker

[shinkicker 5]

Hi Al,

I keep having this issue where textures will not appear until the player is really close?

I don't understand this as I have all of my LODS set up (0.00 to 5.00).

I understand its not likely due to the blender script, but thought I would check anyway to see if you ever had this happen

Here is a video:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r6i36j7f158hikh/lod_issue.mp4

And My BI thread:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?159622-Frustrating-LOD%28-%29-issue

Edited July 22, 2013 by shinkicker

[Alwarren 2767]

Hi Al,

I keep having this issue where textures will not appear until the player is really close?

I don't understand this as I have all of my LODS set up (0.00 to 5.00).

Did you assign the material to all of your LODS as well?

[shinkicker 5]

Within oxygen? Yes..

What I did was started with a 0.00 LOD.

Within that LOD I did a control A (select all) / control c (copy.

Created new LODS for 1.00, 2.00 etc and control P (paste) into each LOD.

The above has normally worked for me?

---------- Post added at 15:59 ---------- Previous post was at 15:56 ----------

I also did some more testing.

1. create a cube in blender.

2. make arma object

3. added material and assigned both a png under blenders material editor and under the Arma Material Editor I added a converted PAA file.

4. Exported to Oxygen 2 and then opened Oxygen.

5. Added a range of MLODS, geometry and land contact.

6. Created a PBO

7. Loaded it as mod.

8. Went into the 3d editor (alt-e) and added a unit and then Vehicle -> Test-model -> Cube

9. Here is the result

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9j02csdu9phzx4o/My%20Movie.mp4

Here are the files if you need a reference (PBO also contains blend file)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p32o3pxuxgcpyme/test.rar

A few other observations.

The model often is of the wrong rotate transform, so I need to correct it. Also quite often the Material paths are wrong, they start with // and miss the root directory (for example P:\mymodel)

EDIT: Something else just occurred to me. When you say "Did you assign the material to all of your LODS as well? ", do you mean the RVmat or the texture which I loaded into the Material editor in Blender and then shows up as an assigned texture in Oxygen 2.

EDIT 2: Tried with an rvmat in both blender (under the toolbox material section) and then again under Oxygen 2, same issue persists :(

Edited July 22, 2013 by shinkicker

[Alwarren 2767]

A few observations:

- Don't use non-power-of-two textures sizes. Yours is 800x600.

- I wonder why you don't create the LOD's in blender as well? I usually place each lod n their own layer

- LODs normall start at 1, not 0.

- Your 3.00-LOD seems empty

- On the blender side of things, I have never tried what happens when you select the Cycles engine. I have always left it on Blender internal.

you might want to try removing the 0 lod and use power-of-two textures, and try to stick in Blender internal. I'll see if cycles changes anything in that respect.

[shinkicker 5]

- Don't use non-power-of-two textures sizes. Yours is 800x600.

Good point, i forgot about that arma quirk.

- I wonder why you don't create the LOD's in blender as well? I usually place each lod n their own layer

Looks like this could be a misunderstanding on my part, I thought the script only carried over 1 LOD (Custom)?

- LODs normall start at 1, not 0.

Yes, I have tried at 1.00, it was the same. Oxygen defaults you to a 0.00 LOD on a new file, so I figured it was there to be used.

- Your 3.00-LOD seems empty

Its not this, I have made around 10+ models trying to resolve the issue, likely I got careless after the 1.00 + LODS, as the issue is always when the player is greater then 10 Meters + away from the model.

- On the blender side of things, I have never tried what happens when you select the Cycles engine. I have always left it on Blender internal.

I will check that tonight, that could well be it as well.

[Alwarren 2767]

Good point, i forgot about that arma quirk.

That's not ARMA specific. Most games and graphics cards (including Arma) can handle non-power-of-two textures, but most hardware has limitations, like no wrapping.

Looks like this could be a misunderstanding on my part, I thought the script only carried over 1 LOD (Custom)?

No, when you export it will collect all objects in the scene that are marked as "Arma"-objects and will export them to the appropriate LOD in the resulting P3D file. In theory, it will also merge equal LODS, i.e. if you have two memory lods it will merge them into one memory LOD in the result, bur I haven't tested that really.

I will check that tonight, that could well be it as well.

That's about the only thing I could imagine, although the result DOES have the textures applied. Other than that, I've done a lot of stuff with the export script and so far I never ran into this issue.

[shinkicker 5]

trying it out.

Edited July 22, 2013 by shinkicker

[Alwarren 2767]

ok, solved it.

It was from using the newer cycles render.

Thanks for your help. Maybe when you get time still and you can do a video. It would be good to see how you set your lods and work with the script. Quite often with something that has a complex UI such as blender, a video can give that extra insight needed.

Great app, and big thanks!

I'll check if I can make it work with the Cycles engine as well. And yeah, I should probably see about that video.

[shinkicker 5]

Still no more failures, so looking good.

Edited July 25, 2013 by shinkicker

[Heinrich Kramer 172]

Hi,

my first real project comes in it's ending phase, and i recognized that the toolbox doesn't export named selections that are spread to multiple objects (by using the same name for several vertex groups).

it is not a big hassle, since i can redefine the selections in O2, but i thought i let you know if you want to have a look into it.

MfG, SYSTEM

[Alwarren 2767]

Hi,

my first real project comes in it's ending phase, and i recognized that the toolbox doesn't export named selections that are spread to multiple objects (by using the same name for several vertex groups).

it is not a big hassle, since i can redefine the selections in O2, but i thought i let you know if you want to have a look into it.

MfG, SYSTEM

Thanks, I'll have a look at this :)

[norsk2277 96]

I got a problem! I cant export to "Arma 2 object .P3D" it just dosent export even when i say too! i tried others export format and that worked, but this isint working

---------- Post added at 19:55 ---------- Previous post was at 19:39 ----------

in console it says

[Alwarren 2767]

Weird... Is that path actually correct? Did you follow the tutorial on the web page?

[Heinrich Kramer 172]

it looks like you didn't give him the folder path, but the path to the .exe direct.

i had the same problem, so i just gave him the folder, without directly pointing to the .exe and it worked

(if I remember correctly, it has been a while)

my path looks like this:

D:\Program Files (x86)\Bohemia Interactive\Tools\Oxygen 2 Personal Edition

[Heinrich Kramer 172]

Hi, Alwarren

Does the toolbox work with the new Blender 2.69? anyone tested it yet?

[Alwarren 2767]

Hi, Alwarren

Does the toolbox work with the new Blender 2.69? anyone tested it yet?

Yes it does. I'm using 2.69 already, I usually update as soon as the new version comes out so I notice if something breaks :)

[Heinrich Kramer 172]

this is great news, thanks.

[Rastadogg 10]

So, I downloaded this, but it wont let me enable it.

I've tried installing it twice with the same problem, not sure what I'm doing wrong.

[Alwarren 2767]

So, I downloaded this, but it wont let me enable it.

I've tried installing it twice with the same problem, not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Look on the console for an error message. If you don't see the console, go to Window -> Toggle System console in Blender's main menu.

There is a tutorial on our page on how to install the addon, make sure you follow it step-by-step.

[Rastadogg 10]

Look on the console for an error message. If you don't see the console, go to Window -> Toggle System console in Blender's main menu.

There is a tutorial on our page on how to install the addon, make sure you follow it step-by-step.

Well to start, I don't have the "Install from File" button, mine is just "Install Addon", but I just figured that to be the same thing.

It adds the addon to the list, but whenever I click the button to enable it, this pops up in the console.

http://puu.sh/5nBpN.png

I'll try redownloading again and report back.

Yep, just tried again, still wont let me enable it.

[surpher 1]

Have you tried updating Blender.

[Alwarren 2767]

Well to start, I don't have the "Install from File" button, mine is just "Install Addon", but I just figured that to be the same thing.

It adds the addon to the list, but whenever I click the button to enable it, this pops up in the console.

http://puu.sh/5nBpN.png

I'll try redownloading again and report back.

Yep, just tried again, still wont let me enable it.

As surpher said, update Blender. The current version is 2.69, the addon might not even work anymore on 2.63. It requires at least 2.66.