MegaGlest Forum

Modding and game content creation => Tools => Topic started by: -Archmage- on 23 September 2009, 13:49:28

Title: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 23 September 2009, 13:49:28
Welcome to the Blender Help Center.


Video
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Here is a simple video about making a hut in blender, made by Eliminator.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky9SJwiALhs

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Hectate's video:
In this video:
Basic unwrapping functions (including keyboard shortcut buttons)
Basic UV manipulation
Exporting a UV to an image for manipulation

Programs required:
Blender3D (version 2.48a used)

Watching this in HD is recommended.
Youtube Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEVFzyS4Xog (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEVFzyS4Xog)



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Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Kung Fu Panda on 23 September 2009, 14:39:10
Oh yes we should - since I'm one too ;D
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 23 September 2009, 14:47:37
Well, I'm just hoping that someone like the following, people who are experienced in Blender, will made tutorials for people who are having trouble with Blender.

-Omega
-John.d.h
-gAMeboy(your animation isn't that great, but it's good)
-Titi
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Hectate on 23 September 2009, 14:50:13
Ideally we should have an art or design subforum. Right now everything goes into the mods forum and either is out of place or gets pushed down as new mods and other posts show up.

It would be a logical place for a Blender/Gimp sticky post.

I suppose an alternative would be an actual website. Glest Guide could be expanded, or it could go elsewhere, if it's not Glest specific (which Blender skills aren't).

Update: Agreed Arch. I'm doing some tutorials, partly to help others, but also because the fastest way to learn something is to teach others (assumming you do it well).
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 23 September 2009, 15:00:50
Right here, is where people should submit Blender help and stuff like that, because I think it would be nice to have a center for help instead of a string of topics.
So Hectate, should I just put your Blender videos link on here or what.
I plan I make a video on basic modeling just to get people started.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 23 September 2009, 15:52:27
Ok, I created a video, it's not that good, but it should help a lot of newbies.
It's on the first post.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 23 September 2009, 16:21:34
Hold on for the video I have to upload it still.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Hectate on 23 September 2009, 16:46:54
That's fine. I'm probably going to update my website with the tuts as they come out. Linked here is just as good. Make sure you also post the details from my post about contents and such. Later we can update to have a central page on my site if needed.

Anyone that posts a video tutorial should be sure to detail
1. The goals/result
2. Prerequisites, if any
3. Programs required to reach/complete the goal, and versions used in the tutorial (in case version features differ)
4. Link(s) to download samples, results, or starter files
5. Any special information otherwise needed (special thanks, credits, copyrights, etc)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: gameboy on 23 September 2009, 16:54:11
here is a very helpful tut for low poly modeling, u can use the reference pictures here to build ur human model on. of course some experience is needed to fully understand the tut.

Code: [Select]
http://poopinmymouth.com/process/character_tutorial/character_process.htm
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Hectate on 23 September 2009, 17:37:34
I read that tut before and, IIRC, it's not entirely Blender compatible. Some great info in there though.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 23 September 2009, 18:54:00
Um, dude, the Archives of the GG (Trying to upload now, but the DAMN site ain't loading!!!) will make it possible to do this, and anyone can make articles (which are scanned for porn and spam codewords).

Of course, its not uploaded yet. I honestly can't figure this out...
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 23 September 2009, 20:07:50
Well, he's some motivation to help you.
If you get it done, we'll all be so grateful.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 23 September 2009, 20:29:23
I'll try to put together an animation tutorial when I get some time, since I think that's what I'm best at.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Hectate on 23 September 2009, 20:35:32
If anyone has a good tutorial but can't record it, let me kbow and we might be able to team us on it.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 23 September 2009, 23:28:31
Man my tutorial is too long I have to plan ahead more, and not go over so much stuff.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Hectate on 24 September 2009, 01:55:14
Planning is key. I've had to do a lot of teaching and similar work; here's a few tips (not that I'm the best at any of these).
1. Have an outline. Scripts are good too if you have specific things that need to be said, but an outline is key. It keeps you on track and if it's well-prepared your lesson will flow nicely.
2. Practice. You literally need to go over the entire lesson, Out Loud, at least once - more often if it's complicated or you have issues with a certain section. This is a good time to tweak your outline too.
3. Tell your audience what will be covered up front - they need to know the goal of the lesson. Obviously the pre-tutorial notes (as I mentioned before) are perfect for this but it doesn't help to give a sentence at the beginning about it either.
4. Time yourself while practicing. For you, this will keep it under the 10 minutes (or tell you where to break for multiple segments). In a classroom setting though you'd have to worry about class times, breaks, and especially keeping their attention.

If you're doing animation - put a tutorial in for rigging (segment 1) and then just keep expanding it with further segments. I assume that after having a model, rigging is first. Correct?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 24 September 2009, 04:35:45
If you're doing animation - put a tutorial in for rigging (segment 1) and then just keep expanding it with further segments. I assume that after having a model, rigging is first. Correct?
Correct.  Making a good armature can go a long way to make animation a lot easier.  A while ago I redid a couple of animations for one of Dark Magic's units, and I had to mostly redo the armature because I could barely make sense of the other guy's work.  I'll be sure to make this the first part of my tutorial.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 24 September 2009, 11:10:38
I use bone heat, but now, because of experience, I double check by looking at the vert. groups.
Yes, John is right, a good armature makes an animation a lot better.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 24 September 2009, 16:18:50
I just can't figure it out... I try and I try, but I can't get 110mb to logon on the school computers. It works at home... I blame IE!
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 24 September 2009, 16:31:26
Well, I was just seeing what happens if you visit your site on IE, and it works for me at least.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 24 September 2009, 18:05:15
Yeah, but I mean that I can't logon. Without the ability to logon, how can I upload???

I'm going through a few proxies that I know...

Grr. Firefox is the obvious answer, but the school computers are WAY too limited. I mean, they won't even let you RIGHT CLICK. It runs some sort of VB script at startup. Anyone got an idea to stop it? (Yeah, its probably against the 'rules', but so?)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Hectate on 24 September 2009, 18:17:49
Try firefox portable on a flash drive, or even boot an OS from one. Live CDROM booting might work too. Depends if they didn't disable other booting options and the availability of USB and CDROM.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 25 September 2009, 21:06:16
OT:
It limits the filetypes... No exe's will work... Hmm. Proxies all failed me too.

HUH??? I just tried it now and was unable to logon using firefox at home... I just don't understand...

I was unable to logon to their forums... Kept saying 'invalid password'

Couldn't reset password, wouldn't recognize the email.

BAH!

EDIT//
YES! YES! YES!!!
Finally got it to work. Had to use Firefox's FTP thingy (FireFTP) and managed to get it to work there. Only problem: I'm still stuck with having to use MY computer to do this. Unless anyone knows a FTP website (?) or anything that I could access from a school computer... Is that even possible?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Kung Fu Panda on 26 September 2009, 15:45:34
I need help - when we add any object it's supposed to be in edit mode right? When I add any object and I'm in object mode, the object I add is also in object mode! ???
Plus suppose I go into side view and suppose I add a circle, its face is toward the top view (It doesn't have a face I just said that for better understanding). Which means If I try to view it from front or any side, it's just a line. Is this normal?

and John.d.h did you try the video tuts of the website I mentioned in Off Topic?
For others who don't know,..
Code: [Select]
http://www.animationforcreation.com/2008/09/lesson-one-basics-of-blender.htmltry it out - scroll down and view the flash videos
   
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: gameboy on 26 September 2009, 16:03:56
Umm.. u can just go into edit mode by pressing 'TAB'.

Yes, unless ur in edit mode the circle always faces the Z axis when u create it, if u go into any other view i.e. num 3 or num 1, it appears to be a line, that's because all its verts are on the same plane.
1 shows the circle in side (num3) view.
2 shows the circle from top view (num7).
3 shows the circle in from another view (not sure what to call it).

(http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/1928/tutjw.th.png) (http://img36.imageshack.us/i/tutjw.png/)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: gameboy on 26 September 2009, 16:14:00
If you're doing animation - put a tutorial in for rigging (segment 1) and then just keep expanding it with further segments. I assume that after having a model, rigging is first. Correct?
Correct.  Making a good armature can go a long way to make animation a lot easier.  A while ago I redid a couple of animations for one of Dark Magic's units, and I had to mostly redo the armature because I could barely make sense of the other guy's work.  I'll be sure to make this the first part of my tutorial.

Sorry for the double post, but was the guy me :D, if so please correct my mistake, tell me what i did wrong. :)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Kung Fu Panda on 26 September 2009, 18:24:47
Quote
3 shows the circle in from another view (not sure what to call it)
It's called side view :P
anyway, thanks.
BTW, I made the model of the front half of a submarine! (it's part of the tutorial) and it took me more than 4 hours!
You know why? If I give a command to a group of vertices such as 'extrude' IT TAKES A MORE THAN 20 FREAKIN SECONDS FOR IT TO RESPOND! You know what? I wasted a full 5 minutes trying to save the half finished model! (it was the 1st time so it would take some time but NOT THIS MUCH!)
I have a Pentium 4 computer 1.5 GB RAM, 80 GB internal HDD  (but I have an external portable HDD drive of 120 GB ;D), a 3.2 Ghz Processor :( sooo ... even if I learnt blender I wouldn't be able to help you guys out coz I NEED ANOTHER MACHINE and dad isn't agreeing - says I'm still too small and I'm 14 years old!
lucky archmage101  >:(
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Hectate on 26 September 2009, 22:35:21
That shouldn't be right. I've successfully run recent versions of blender on a 600mhz Athlon Gateway computer that I bought in 2000 (yes, the year) with less than a gig of RAM. Rendering was much slower than I'd like, but I was doing 3D modelling with POVRAY on a 486 years ago and that was "Go get something to eat and watch a TV show, it'll be done later" slow (at least a full resolution render, like 640x480  :D ).
You should do some checking on your computer to see if there's something bogging it down. Spyware and the like is the first suspected culprit. Maybe even do a fresh install, if it's an option. Wipe that drive!
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Hectate on 26 September 2009, 22:38:28
Umm.. u can just go into edit mode by pressing 'TAB'.

Yes, unless ur in edit mode the circle always faces the Z axis when u create it, if u go into any other view i.e. num 3 or num 1, it appears to be a line, that's because all its verts are on the same plane.
1 shows the circle in side (num3) view.
2 shows the circle from top view (num7).
3 shows the circle in from another view (not sure what to call it).

(http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/1928/tutjw.th.png) (http://img36.imageshack.us/i/tutjw.png/)
It's pretty close to what's called "Three-quarters view" (3/4 view) that's used frequently in RPGs (like the original fallout, for instance). Nothing like a diagonal angle to fake the third dimension!
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 27 September 2009, 00:40:38
Sorry for the double post, but was the guy me :D, if so please correct my mistake, tell me what i did wrong. :)
Yeah, actually it was.  ;D

Mainly the things I noticed that made it a little more complicated were the way you rigged the legs and that you made all the animations part of one action.  I find it a lot more convenient to put each animation as its own action.  Also, if you use IK solvers for the legs and extrude a bone down from each heel, you can use that bone as a "handle" for the whole leg and it makes positioning the legs and feet a lot easier.  Also, it helps if you name all your bones so you can more easily select them from the action editor.

I found the following tutorial to be very helpful in this matter.  I'll try to incorporate this into my own tutorial when I get around to making it.
Lower body armature (http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Tutorials/Animation/BSoD/Character_Animation/Lower_body_armature)
Final rig adjustments (http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Tutorials/Animation/BSoD/Character_Animation/Final_rig_adjustments)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: gameboy on 27 September 2009, 07:45:39
WOW! nice tuts. i learned animation almost by myself, so yeah i'm a bit crappy at it :) thnx for the tut XD
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: modman on 27 September 2009, 21:46:04
Ideally we should have an art or design subforum. Right now everything goes into the mods forum and either is out of place or gets pushed down as new mods and other posts show up.

You are sooo right!  I was thinking the same thing.  Martino! 
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 27 September 2009, 23:33:33
Well, my dad see's me doing lots of work on the computer, so he knows I can manage a computer very easily.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 1 October 2009, 23:23:22
Okay, so I think I'll start putting together a video tutorial this weekend (if I can get through my already-massive "to do" list).  So far I think I'll just follow the outline of the animation tutorial I linked earlier, but in video form and tweaked more towards Glest (it should still be helpful for other stuff too).

Outline:

Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 1 October 2009, 23:38:28
John, as you once told me: "Google is your friend".
(Although, I don't agree with them supporting Al Gore's Global Warming theory :P)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 2 October 2009, 00:22:04
lol Yeah, you got me. :P

Well you're one of the people trying to learn to animate, so is there anything specific you want/need me to address?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 2 October 2009, 00:30:51
Well, how about...........anything about animation, that you don't have on that list! ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Hectate on 2 October 2009, 00:34:14
John, I've had good success with CamStudio. Youtube limits videos to 10 min, but youtube isn't a requirement, just handy. It took me about 45 min to upload my 8 minute video, but it was at full desktop resolution with sound. Not to mention that my connection might be worse (or better) than yours.
I dunno about topics because I haven't an idea of where to start. Thats what I need, an absolute beginner's introduction to blender animation. I can model and texture, but hep meh!
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 2 October 2009, 00:40:56
Sounds good.  I'll try to include everything from that tutorial that pertains to Glest, and anything else helpful that I've learned, and try to make it so someone who has never even thought about animating before can create something decent looking.  I think I'll add something about creating reference videos, but that's going to be a bit harder for me, because I'll have to edit together different clips, and I've zero knowledge on how to do that yet.  That part will probably have to wait.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 2 October 2009, 00:43:50
I look forward to seeing the tutorial, and hopefully, making some really awesome animation in Blender. :)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Hectate on 2 October 2009, 00:52:24
Windows Movie Maker works for editing but it exports to WMV and lower quality than I liked. I didn't find any open source alternative for Windows that was a good option. Blender can do it, but it's beyond my current skill. Tutorials exist though. It'd be neat to try.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 3 October 2009, 04:29:13
I bought a new mic for my computer because the built-in one sucks, but this one doesn't even fit the jack, so it looks like I'm going to have to record the video and then do the voice later when I get a better recording device.  I'll start tonight or tomorrow, I think.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 3 October 2009, 04:36:43
Man would I love to do sounds, my mom always told me I should be an actor, because of all the weird voice I can do.
To bad my built-in sound isn't that good either..... :P
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Hectate on 3 October 2009, 13:18:48
I had a friend that bought a high-quality mic just for podcasting, but I haven't seen him in years. It did great sound though, USB plug in actually. Very high-end.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 3 October 2009, 14:30:21
Actually my built in sound is pretty good.
I just have to get that sound converter program I found a while back.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Hectate on 3 October 2009, 20:26:39
I'll need to add this to the free software thread, but did you mean Audacity?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 3 October 2009, 20:35:00
Quote
did you mean Audacity?

Me, no, I haven't used audacity before........
It's some Windows program that was sooooooooooo helpful, and so basic. I had it running under WINE, but we'll see if that works, otherwise, I might take a look at Audacity.......
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 4 October 2009, 22:02:01
For recording, I use my rock band mic. Very effective.

For video, I STRONGLY recommend commercial software. I myself use Sony Vegas Movie Studio, very nice. Worth the $40 CAN that I paid a year and a half ago.

BTW: When you finish any tutorials, why not post something on the Glest Guide's archives (which are up by the way). If you need to make a custom post such as say, embedded youtube, just email me.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 18 October 2009, 03:01:41
I've recorded the first of my tutorials.  It should take the viewer through the process of adding a single-bone armature and applying it, weight painting a simple object, and making a ridiculously simple animation.  I'll work on the second in a little while, which should show how to build a more complicated (humanoid) armature.  I should have both uploaded some time tomorrow.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 18 October 2009, 03:06:21
I look forward to seeing it! :)
And hopefully I'll be able to present something interesting.
Working on something right now! :D
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 19 October 2009, 00:23:23
Okay, so I have to redo both my videos because they were too big.  Fantastic.  ::)

I guess we'll just have to wait a little while longer then.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 19 October 2009, 00:35:52
NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
You have just cut short my plans for world DOMINATION!!!
Just Kidding. ;D

Just upload the videos, you don't have to put them on youtube.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 19 October 2009, 02:03:01
I was going to try uploading them to ModDB or MediaFire instead, but they're too big.  I'll have to re-record them in a different format and shorter time.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 19 October 2009, 03:58:40
Why not filefront?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: titi on 19 October 2009, 16:43:52
@John d.h.:
The videos are too big? Which OS do you use? Which recording software?
Avidemux, mencoder , DrDivx .....there are several possibilities to shrink(recode) and cut video material ( I only know open source stuff :) ).
I really know a lot about Video coding and I'm shure I can help you with recoding things to small webfriendly formats ( mpeg4/xvid/divx ... ).

Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 19 October 2009, 18:17:39
I used CamStudio to record it in AVI format, but it can also record in SWF, so I can try that as well.  I tried using Avidemux, but it doesn't work so well on my computer.  I'm using Windows Vista, but I can potentially do my video editing on Kubuntu since I also have that installed.  However, Kubuntu gives me a lot of graphics trouble, so I don't know how well that will work.  My best bet is probably just to make each video shorter.  I'm sure I can build a rough armature in under 10 minutes if I hurry, and then the next video can be about adjusting it.  That will probably be my best bet.  Hopefully that will also get it under 100mb, so I can also put it on ModDB.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: titi on 19 October 2009, 20:25:11
Yes, avidemux doesn't run to well in windows. What about DrDivx?
Here you can see what I think is possible ( I made them using the commandline tool mencoder):

This has quite good quality and has a size of 7MB and a playing time of 1:51 minutes resolution is 1280x1024:
http://www.titusgames.de/film/firstModel.avi

This has lower quality and has a size of 17MB and a playing time of 9:34 resolution is 800x600.
http://www.titusgames.de/film/simpleAnim.avi

One of the Tricks is to only record at 15 fps refresh rate whats really enough for a blender video! Maybe you can go down to even 10 fps, its not a real movie its a blender tutorial. Lower the bitrate of the audio quality ( 54kbps is enough! ) and choose a low video bitrate of 400kbps for example.
Here are the mencoder options which resuls in such a video. But this doesn't change the framerate!!
Code: [Select]

This is a two pass coding you have to run both lines!:
mencoder.exe inputvideo.avi -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vhq:vbitrate=400:vpass=1   -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=56  -o outputvideo.avi
mencoder.exe inputvideo.avi -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vhq:vbitrate=400:vpass=2   -oac mp3lame -lameopts cbr:br=56  -o outputvideo.avi

I didn't find a download for commandline mencoder for windows....
So you can also try these settings in another program. DrDivx is one I used in windows, but it only creates divx files.
For lower framerates you have to take a look at your capturing program.

Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 19 October 2009, 21:27:18
I took a look at my video options in Cam Studio, and I figured out how to lower the frame rate from 20 to 15.  I can also set it to record just a single window, and I can make the window fairly small, so that should help.  I have no problem doing the re-encoding in Linux.  Hopefully I'll be able to have a video uploaded some time tomorrow.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: titi on 19 October 2009, 22:58:42
dont lower the resolution size too much! 800x600 is very hard for a blender video you should really not do something like 640x480. I would say 1024x768 is ok.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 19 October 2009, 23:21:47
Try any video converter. It's free (though asks if you want to upgrade upon convert, but that's no big deal). Really good program.

I used it a lot before I got Wondershare, which is NOT free, but well worth it.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 21 October 2009, 21:17:42
Grrr... the power is out at my house, so it looks like you'll have to wait some more.  Then again, all of you should know by now that when I say "by tomorrow", it really means "within the next two weeks if you're lucky".  ;D
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 26 October 2009, 18:06:11
*Whistles*
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 26 October 2009, 20:29:55
I redid the video, so now it's in two parts.  Part 1 is the basic structure of the armature and part 2 is adjusting it so it will actually work.  Now I just need to encode and upload.  I can't really do a good weight painting tutorial because I can't get the X-mirror feature to work for me.  I turn on the X-mirror button, but it still only paints the one side and I have the bones named properly, so I have no idea why it doesn't work. :-\

Anyway, the videos should be up soon on Youtube and ModDB.

Edit: Here they are!

Part 1: Click here for Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KROzdvOksEA) or here for ModDB (http://www.moddb.com/members/johndh/videos/building-a-humanoid-armature-in-blender-part-1#imagebox).
Part 2: Click here for Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEegdfGkagE) or here for ModDB (http://www.moddb.com/members/johndh/videos/building-a-humanoid-armature-in-blender-part-2#imagebox).

Get the blend files here:

The model I started with: http://www.mediafire.com/file/jrizyzyywdt/guard_starting.blend (http://www.mediafire.com/file/jrizyzyywdt/guard_starting.blend)
The model after building the armature: http://www.mediafire.com/file/dgz3mmmtyw2/guard_basic_armature.blend (http://www.mediafire.com/file/dgz3mmmtyw2/guard_basic_armature.blend)
The model after adjusting the armature: http://www.mediafire.com/file/whyjnjmmtjn/guard_armature_adjustments.blend (http://www.mediafire.com/file/whyjnjmmtjn/guard_armature_adjustments.blend)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 28 October 2009, 13:24:08
Will try very soon.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 28 October 2009, 13:30:55
K, watched part 1, it taught me a few other useful things I didn't know.
Watched part 2 as well, quite a few things I didn't know there.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 29 October 2009, 02:59:11
Okay, good.  The next step would be weight painting, but I can't really get that to work right for me (the X-Mirror won't actually mirror anything and I don't know why :-\) so I think people would be better off learning that from somewhere else.  I guess my next video should be how to do a basic pose.

Edit: If somebody would put together a good tutorial on UV unwrapping, I'd greatly appreciate it.  I know how to do it but currently I suck, so I could really use some pointers on how to make it look good.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 30 October 2009, 17:21:47
Anybody want to update the first post?
When you make a video ask for the code to the first post, and add your video info and links in there.

Latest Code:
Code: [Select]
Welcome to the Blender Help Center.

[hr][hr]
MODELING SECTION
[hr][hr]

[color=red]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/color]
[hr][hr]
[size=15pt][u][b]TEXTURING SECTION[/b][/u][/size]
[hr][hr]

Hectate's video:
In this video:
Basic unwrapping functions (including keyboard shortcut buttons)
Basic UV manipulation
Exporting a UV to an image for manipulation

Programs required:
Blender3D (version 2.48a used)

Watching this in HD is recommended.
Youtube Link:
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEVFzyS4Xog]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEVFzyS4Xog[/url]

[hr]

[color=red]--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/color]

An "ANIMATION SECTION" Size: 15 bold and underlined needs to be added.

I'll leave updating this up to whoever wants to add stuff in.
All you have to do is ask for the code and I'll post it.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 30 October 2009, 18:03:14
Well, I'm just going to ask someone who is very good at Blender to make this.

Candidates:
Omega
John.d.h
gAMeboy
Titi

Candidate Requirements:
Good at describing things.
Has the patience/concentration to create long/detailed posts.
Has good modeling, texturing, and animating abilities.
Puts forth good effort in work.

There are a lot of people who miss these requirements by just a tiny bit.
How can you judge people wen you don't do them your self.

Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 30 October 2009, 18:40:54
I've seen there productions.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mark on 31 October 2009, 01:00:21
Well, I'm just going to ask someone who is very good at Blender to make this.

Candidates:
Omega
John.d.h
gAMeboy
Titi

Candidate Requirements:
Good at describing things.
Has the patience/concentration to create long/detailed posts.
Has good modeling, texturing, and animating abilities.
Puts forth good effort in work.

There are a lot of people who miss these requirements by just a tiny bit.
How can you judge people wen you don't do them your self.
He is not judging in the sense that he is punishing or making a weighty decision, and I am sure if you can prove it he will change his list, being the good and well-informed citizen he is.  ;)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: titi on 31 October 2009, 01:45:06
@john: good video!
Also they are more blender than glest related ( but everyone of us has to learn blender to model  ) we should collect them in the wiki.

We should recycle this site:
Code: [Select]
https://docs.megaglest.org/Video_tutorials
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 1 November 2009, 21:52:07
I would, but for the time being, videos are just too difficult to upload. Then again, I can filefront an upload at 7MB a second... Hmmmm... I'll give it some thought. If I were to make a video, what would it be on. Give me a suggestion. I still have some time on my hands, so perhaps I can make a video. I am very skilled when it comes to video (though I don't think you've seen any of my good productions. The only thing you've probably seen is that lousy glest trailer a LONG time ago (maybe I'll remake it someday, If I can think of how to make it).

But right now I go no clue what to make a video of. Blender is a very interesting subject, so could someone (arch?) give me a few ideas (preferably a short list, to give me a few choices) of possible video topics? Thanks.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 1 November 2009, 21:55:42
Overall Basic Texturing.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 1 November 2009, 22:55:57
Blender is a very interesting subject, so could someone (arch?) give me a few ideas (preferably a short list, to give me a few choices) of possible video topics? Thanks.

If somebody would put together a good tutorial on UV unwrapping, I'd greatly appreciate it.  I know how to do it but currently I suck, so I could really use some pointers on how to make it look good.
^ That, please. :)
Title: G3Dviewer help!
Post by: Seanachaidh on 19 April 2010, 22:38:50
Hello, I'm having some trouble exporting my blender files.  I got the exporter as well as Gleximal (i've also reinstalled them,as well) and I've exported my models file.  But when I open the file in the g3dviewer, nothing's there:
(http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab155/Seanachaidh/Problem2.jpg)
 and when I check the normals option a bunch of lines resembling my model show up:
(http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab155/Seanachaidh/Problem.jpg)
 I'm confused, can anyone helps with this?

Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 19 April 2010, 22:39:54
crap! sorry for the HUGE pictures.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 19 April 2010, 22:49:34
This might sound silly, but did you actually have your mesh(es) selected when you exported?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 19 April 2010, 23:05:00
yeah i had it all selected in object mode.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 20 April 2010, 05:00:54
Did convert quads to triangles? You half to for it to work in Glest.

See here:
(http://www.katsbits.com/images/tutorials/sketchup_export_blender_import/imported_models_convert_to_quads.jpg)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 20 April 2010, 15:12:10
To add and to simplify what Eliminator said, just go into edit mode, select all(a key), and triangulate(ctrl+t). ;)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 20 April 2010, 16:38:47
yeah I have. And it still hasn't worked.  I just tried it on a different CPU as well.

Archmage,

This is actually a textured version of the low poly unit you gave me, if that helps. I haven't animated it yet.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Zoythrus on 20 April 2010, 18:22:23
are you sure that you followed the tutorial to the period? you may have missed something...
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 20 April 2010, 18:25:44
Could I see the .blend?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 21 April 2010, 02:37:42
are you sure that you followed the tutorial to the period? you may have missed something...

hey man, you asked me that in person, earlier today before you left school early.  I told you then that i did.

Your confused or somethin'?   :confused:
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Zoythrus on 21 April 2010, 03:14:09
Can't you take a joke?  ;D
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 21 April 2010, 10:48:38
So......
Could I see the .blend?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: titi on 21 April 2010, 12:07:53
I think you forgot to set the material? Or did something wrong with setting the material?
Maybe all your textures are transparent ( in the material not in Blender! )
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: wciow on 21 April 2010, 14:53:46
Make sure all of your normals are facing outwards  :P
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 21 April 2010, 14:59:52
So......
Could I see the .blend?
 

I pm-ed you w/ a link to the file.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 21 April 2010, 16:36:00
I don't think normals mater in glest.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 21 April 2010, 19:57:53
Quote
I don't think normals mater in glest.

I think they do..............



Quote
Quote from: -Archmage- on Today at 07:53:26
So......
Quote from: -Archmage- on April 20, 2010, 15:30:32
Could I see the .blend?
 

I pm-ed you w/ a link to the file.

I don't have any new PMs......
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 21 April 2010, 20:10:56
I believe normals affect lighting in Glest, but the polygons still show up no matter what direction the normal is facing.  What Titi said about the material is also a possibility, so try removing the material and re-exporting.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Zoythrus on 21 April 2010, 20:51:57
now, Seana and i are having another problem. Somehow we got it working in the G3D viewer, but there is no tex. we think that we are linking it wrong...(so, how do you link it?)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 21 April 2010, 21:14:37
https://docs.megaglest.org/Texture_material (https://docs.megaglest.org/Texture_material)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: titi on 22 April 2010, 00:09:45
or in general:
https://docs.megaglest.org/Glest_Blender_Hints
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Zoythrus on 22 April 2010, 16:38:46
not helping much, sorry to say, its just not working. we think that somehow it went inside out. if you want the blend and the tex, just ask Seana and he will give them to you (maybe you can find our problem...)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 22 April 2010, 16:58:27
I'm about ready to start from Scratch on this model and created a new uV Map and Everything, so if anyone wants to look at the model, please PM me.

Note: I tried exporting a different file w/ a texture and the same thing happened, I'm thinking that my Blender program might not be exporting correctly.  I'm gonna reinstall the program and see if anything changes.

Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 22 April 2010, 19:35:54
Yah the texture is on the inside of the model, I flipped some normals and stuff, but the model simply needs to be re-unwrapped, and maybe re-textured.

Seanachaidh, if you're going to re-unwrap the model, please let me fix it up some more.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 22 April 2010, 20:41:34
Yah the texture is on the inside of the model, I flipped some normals and stuff, but the model simply needs to be re-unwrapped, and maybe re-textured.

Seanachaidh, if you're going to re-unwrap the model, please let me fix it up some more.

K, I'll try to UV map the medium Infantry model I have for the time being, Thanx.   ;D
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 23 April 2010, 13:15:26
No problem. :)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: jda on 25 April 2010, 04:51:58
Yah the texture is on the inside of the model, I flipped some normals and stuff, but the model simply needs to be re-unwrapped, and maybe re-textured.

Seanachaidh, if you're going to re-unwrap the model, please let me fix it up some more.
If all the faces are facing inwards you can just select everything in Edit mode and do Ctrl+F and 1 to flip them all at once... Works even better than Ctrl+N! ;D
So I gather the normals are probably not all turned inside... or there's some other problem too.  ::)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 25 April 2010, 07:08:30
From what I know about normals, whether they're inside out or not shouldn't make any difference in whether or not you can see them.  Go ahead and try it, but I'm 90% sure it's not going to change anything.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 26 April 2010, 05:59:37
Yah, It dosen't mater in glest I am 100% sure.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 26 April 2010, 12:01:24
Guys, if you saw the model you'd see that flipping normals wouldn't fix the problem.

Seanachaidh, you mind if they see the model?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: jda on 26 April 2010, 12:06:21
Yah, It dosen't mater in glest I am 100% sure.
Yep, I just confirmed that myself. :)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 26 April 2010, 16:26:03
yeah, I don't mind.  I need all the help I can get w/ this one.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 26 April 2010, 17:40:12
If you want PM it to me and Ill check it out.
Title: Animation Videos
Post by: Seanachaidh on 29 April 2010, 16:51:25
Hello again, does anyone know of some very good tutorials about animating in blender?  I have an idea of how, but it never hurts to learn a few techniques to make things easier.  I've actually seen one, but it was only on how to make the armature.  I'm pretty sure there are videos out there, I just haven't found them yet.  

Any links would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: jda on 29 April 2010, 16:56:57
Check the wikia. There's a "simple animation tutorial" video in there. ;)
But the key to good animations really is good armatures, so learn them well. ;)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 29 April 2010, 20:04:32
Quote
But the key to good animations really is good armatures, so learn them well. Wink

No that's about half the key, the other half is developing skill.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 29 April 2010, 21:23:51
If you want to know how to make the rig you could look a JhonDH's video.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 29 April 2010, 22:52:16
Where I learned most of what I know about Blender is right here:

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Tutorials/Animation/BSoD/Character_Animation (http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Tutorials/Animation/BSoD/Character_Animation)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: jda on 30 April 2010, 09:59:25
Quote
But the key to good animations really is good armatures, so learn them well. Wink

No that's about half the key, the other half is developing skill.
True. But you'll develop it much better with a good rig (for which doings will require developping skill too ;D ). :)

The link posted by John.d.h is excellent!  :thumbup:
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 30 April 2010, 16:02:25
Where I learned most of what I know about Blender is right here:

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Tutorials/Animation/BSoD/Character_Animation (http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:Tutorials/Animation/BSoD/Character_Animation)

Hey thanks for the link. I haven't read all the way through it yet, but it seems to be very helpful.  I especially like the fact that you can download it as a PDF, since, my internets like to act up on me, thanks

Check the wikia. There's a "simple animation tutorial" video in there. ;)
But the key to good animations really is good armatures, so learn them well. ;)

Thanks, I'm definitely gonna check out the video.

....
P.S. Any more suggestions are always appreciated.  :D
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 30 April 2010, 23:07:46
Check the wikia. There's a "simple animation tutorial" video in there. ;)
But the key to good animations really is good armatures, so learn them well. ;)


Does anyone have this video in something other than AVI?  I'm unable to view and AVI at the moment, I'm havin a hell of a hard time finding the correct codecs.  
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: jda on 30 April 2010, 23:16:49
Download vlc, it packs its own codecs, is one of the most (if not the most) solid/stable video players out there, it's opensource free and works on Linux, Mac OSX, Windows and serveral other operating systems:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
If you don't like it as a videoplayer (its interface or whatever), you can just use it as a converter and convert that .avi to some other format (it can do that too! ;) ).
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Zoythrus on 2 May 2010, 00:03:49
hey, im doing the animation for some units and i have a question - how do make parts of the model move off of their normal axis? (i can make the parts spin, but i want them to move around in the anim).
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 2 May 2010, 05:10:33
I got your blend and I made the texture UV, redoubled it, converted quads to triangles, made the name of the texture have no spaces or capitals, and it works fine.

[Elim, Sean seems to be keeping this kinda secret, I removed the pic and sent it too Sean via PM. Just trying to keep it more of a secret, the way it has been so far. Sorry for editing your post, I know you hate it when I edit one of your posts. -- Arch]

Next time PM me, ok?

Sorry it was under immediate threat of being revealed, I couldn't wait. For future reference, I take immediate action when necessary.
Title: Thanks, Eliminator!
Post by: Seanachaidh on 2 May 2010, 22:12:44
Hey,thanks for doing that. Could You send me the files?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 3 May 2010, 05:37:25
O, sorry you are trying to keep this a secret?

And ok Ill PM you the blends.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Zoythrus on 3 May 2010, 13:45:15
sorry to "bump" my question, but im kinda on a deadline and would like assistance...
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 3 May 2010, 16:14:11
Could you rephrase it?  I'm not sure what you meant.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 3 May 2010, 16:25:58
O, sorry you are trying to keep this a secret?

And ok Ill PM you the blends.

Although the project is probably gonna have to come out into the open a little bit as we try to recruit a few more people to help with this faction, me and Zoy are trying to keep it under wraps at least until we finish off the most basic parts of ths factions, which will probably be about summer vacation.    ;D
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 3 May 2010, 16:38:23
Are you looking for work-force, or expertise?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 3 May 2010, 16:42:56
Check the wikia. There's a "simple animation tutorial" video in there. ;)
But the key to good animations really is good armatures, so learn them well. ;)


Does anyone have this video in something other than AVI?  I'm unable to view and AVI at the moment, I'm havin a hell of a hard time finding the correct codecs.  


I'm bumping this because I accidentally had put my question within the quotes.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Zoythrus on 3 May 2010, 17:14:05
Could you rephrase it?  I'm not sure what you meant.

i need a part of the model to move, like a ball being tossed in the air (it doesnt stay on it's normal axis)

also, how do you guys make a bunch of anims with only one .blend? (do you just save the same .blend with different poses? and i hope this makes sense to you guys)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 3 May 2010, 20:15:02
You put each animation in a separate action, I can cover animation for you guys if you want. 8)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Zoythrus on 3 May 2010, 20:16:50
feel free Archmage, but i will tell you that i have the standing anim down quite fine

hey, does anyone know if a vertex can be linked up to more than one bone?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: wciow on 6 May 2010, 10:19:23
There are two ways to use animations.

If you have a model which will have unique animations not used by any other unit (a building for example) then you can create all the animations in one action e.g frame 1-10 is idle, frame 11-20 is produce etc.

If you have a skeleton which is used between several models like a biped skeleton then you can save each animation as a seperate action and import them between .blend files using only actions that you need. 

@ Zoythrus  - Yes a vertex can be part of as many vertex groups as you want. The position of the vertex will be interpolated between all the bones it is assigned to. However this is not generally a desirable situation. I find it much better to assign each vertex to a single bone and use auto IK to move the other bones for a more realistic movement  ;)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Zoythrus on 16 May 2010, 01:20:58
hey guys, having a problem. read the bottom of this thread.

https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=5428.msg48984#new
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 16 May 2010, 03:08:41
Could you be more specific about your export problems?  Are there any error messages, etc?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Zoythrus on 16 May 2010, 04:13:37
there is no error message, and in the G3D viewer, not even the normals show up
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 16 May 2010, 04:16:09
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Zoythrus on 16 May 2010, 05:09:53
yes, and yes

feel free to try your hand at it, i left a link on the other thread
Title: Medium infantry anims
Post by: Seanachaidh on 19 May 2010, 04:01:47
Hello again,

as stated before in an earlier thread, me and zoy are having some trouble w/ the medium infantry unit.  I think this is because the anims were on another blend that hadn't even been textured yet, and had a different UV map than the blend w/ the finished texture.  What we tried to do was put the texture on that blend instead. The reason why I'm saying this is because the blend w/ the finished texture (and no anims) shows up fine in the G3D viewer when I export it.  I was wondering if there was a way to transfer anims to the blend w/ the finished texture, instead of transfering the texture over to the one w/ the anims.

P.S. this is typically geared towards Archmage, since he made the anims, (great job BTW), but if anyone else knows if this is possible, please speak up.
Title: Re: Medium infantry anims
Post by: John.d.h on 19 May 2010, 04:07:17
I was wondering if there was a way to transfer anims to the blend w/ the finished texture, instead of transfering the texture over to the one w/ the anims.
Open the blend with the texture, File > Append or Link > navigate to the file with the animations > append/link the armature > repeat for each action you want to import > ??? > Profit!

Edit: Regarding the g3d problem, the only thing I could find is that your material is mapped to Orco instead of UV, but I don't think that would produce the problem you describe.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 19 May 2010, 16:11:40
Quote
Open the blend with the texture, File > Append or Link > navigate to the file with the animations > append/link the armature > repeat for each action you want to import > ??? > Profit!


Thanks, I'll be trying that.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 19 May 2010, 22:00:12
It there a way to disconect the vertex groups from te bones that they were assigned to.  I gave up on the transfering the anims, and instead I need to resize parts of the UV Map, but because the bones are connected, I can't resize individual parts of the UV Map.  (I'm such a newb at blender -_-
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 20 May 2010, 08:13:55
because the bones are connected, I can't resize individual parts of the UV Map.
Uh... what? :confused: That shouldn't be even remotely true.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: titi on 20 May 2010, 12:32:23
you can modify the vertices although they are connected to bones. But maybe you loaded an existing g3d and see this effect?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 20 May 2010, 15:15:09
you can modify the vertices although they are connected to bones. But maybe you loaded an existing g3d and see this effect?

I didn't import it from a G3D, It was a blend file.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 20 May 2010, 15:19:20
srry, I figured it out, for some reason the proportional editing option was on.  -_-
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 5 June 2010, 04:07:47
hello everyone, srry for not posting in a while. finishing up highschool. 

anyways, just one wuick question, what is the best way to have blender recognize the alpha in your targa, whenever I save a texture as a targa in photoshop. instead of having those alpha cubes I get a stark white background.  I know in SSBB that the background on the targas are bright purple. would I need to do something lke that?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: titi on 8 June 2010, 08:56:31
sometimes its shown white, sometimes black. If ou are shur you have transparency in the tgas, just ignore what blender displays in this case.
But if someone knows a trick how blender properly displays transparency ( at least in object mode ) it would be great.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 8 June 2010, 16:53:06
sometimes its shown white, sometimes black. If ou are shur you have transparency in the tgas, just ignore what blender displays in this case.
But if someone knows a trick how blender properly displays transparency ( at least in object mode ) it would be great.
Yah, its always wacky for me.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 8 June 2010, 19:48:31
The targa on the medium infantry we were making is supposed to have the team color showing through the "circuit" patterns, but the targa covers that up, instead of recognizing these "circuits" as alpha. 

It's weird.  D you guys think that it could have something to do w/ my version of Photoshop (CS3)?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 8 June 2010, 21:25:02
you could PM it to me and I could look at it.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 8 June 2010, 21:26:39
Does it only look wrong in Blender, or does it also look wrong in the G3D viewer and/or in Glest?  If it only looks wrong in Blender, you can safely ignore it.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 8 June 2010, 23:40:15
Does it only look wrong in Blender, or does it also look wrong in the G3D viewer and/or in Glest?  If it only looks wrong in Blender, you can safely ignore it.
Yes, definitely.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 9 June 2010, 03:16:19
you could PM it to me and I could look at it.

It's in this thread which I made a little while ago, it's the same texture, I'm just trying to get the alpha to show through the white parts.

https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=5428.msg48987#msg48987 (https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=5428.msg48987#msg48987)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 9 June 2010, 05:33:05
I don't see any download there?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 9 June 2010, 06:01:58
Maybe the white is on a layer underneath the alpha in the targa?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 9 June 2010, 16:05:43
Maybe the white is on a layer underneath the alpha in the targa?

Before I saved it as a targa, I deleted the white layer that was underneath it, until there was only the skin, and there was alpha showing through the lines when it was in photoshop, that's what's got me so confused.

Elim: The link to the download is in the OP of that thread, but here's the link anyways:
http://www.mediafire.com/?tntjgybtjhi

P.S. I'm starting work on the Command Center right now, so if anyone wants to help out on that, please let either me or Zoy know.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 9 June 2010, 18:54:33
I know nothing about Photoshop.  Sorry.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Zoythrus on 15 June 2010, 02:44:19
P.S. I'm starting work on the Command Center right now, so if anyone wants to help out on that, please let either me or Zoy know.

actually, if you want to know what we are making and want to see where we are going (we have concept art, techtrees, and stuff); then just let us know. we need all the help we can get here...
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 15 June 2010, 12:05:41
Guys, if you're going to open this to the community, then make a new topic, don't do it here.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Ghost on 22 June 2010, 18:11:31
Hi Community
The Blender Script for exporting a model to g3d does'nt work on my Win XP Professional. Blender 2.49.
Can anyone help me? (No error message)
Ghost
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 22 June 2010, 19:29:43
Could you elaborate a bit on how it's not working?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Gabbe on 22 June 2010, 21:52:26
yes, post screenshot of error message.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ultifd on 22 June 2010, 23:04:44
Well, he said there was no error message...  ::)
So, Ghost, please just elaborate on what the problem is... because right now, I think we all are like,  :|
Good Luck...
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Gabbe on 22 June 2010, 23:10:57
If he uses megaglest g3d viewer, no error, i have same, when i use regular, i get the error "bad allocation" when in mega G3D, it just disappears..no error message
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 22 June 2010, 23:12:09
Why not send us your blend model?

Common problems:
-Not converting faces to triangles (select all in edit mode and hit ctrl+t)
-Not selecting the objects in object mode when exporting (only selected objects are exported)
-I've heard rumours that the exporter needs a certain version of python? I'm not sure... To my knowledge, the 2.6x series of python is backwards compatible (but NOT the 3.x series, which is used for blender 2.5). Possibly try installing python 2.5
-Descriptions?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Ghost on 23 June 2010, 11:22:59
Why not send us your blend model?

Common problems:
-Not converting faces to triangles (select all in edit mode and hit ctrl+t)
-Not selecting the objects in object mode when exporting (only selected objects are exported)
-I've heard rumours that the exporter needs a certain version of python? I'm not sure... To my knowledge, the 2.6x series of python is backwards compatible (but NOT the 3.x series, which is used for blender 2.5). Possibly try installing python 2.5
-Descriptions?
Sorry for my late answer... and Thank you for this list. I'll try now converting the triangles and then i will you post the result. I have Python 3.1. At the moment i haven't much time, so i try it in a hour or two. I work also by SuperTuxKart. And (here is it a bit of a problem, i tihnk :| ) i use Mac os x (i have installed win xp too).
I hope my english is correct, because i'm from swizerland :D . And when it doesn't work, i post some screenshots.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Gabbe on 23 June 2010, 11:25:38
I did convert to triangles and selected object, got 2.6 i think...
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Ghost on 23 June 2010, 14:39:40
I made the Triangles but it doesn't work...
(click to show/hide)
then...
(click to show/hide)
But on the desktop is nothing. I tried (don't know the past simple from "try", is it correctly?) V3 and V4. Nothing happens.
Ghost
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 23 June 2010, 18:24:33
Ohhhhh, you're using the export script! ;D  That one was eventually supposed to do both import and export, but only the import got finished.  You need this script instead: https://docs.megaglest.org/Exportscript (https://docs.megaglest.org/Exportscript)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 24 June 2010, 04:12:14
Yah, that one dosen't work.  :)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 13 July 2010, 05:03:57
Hey guys,

I finished the command center, but I'm having some trouble with the animations.  I posted about it in the official thread:
https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=5622.msg56552#msg56552 (https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=5622.msg56552#msg56552)

I mean, it looks fine, but it's still a little jerky, it will be fine for the beta.

but I had some trouble with the rotating animation for the ring.  after the animation is finished, the ring slows down and sometimes stops momentarily before beginning the animatioin again.  I'm pretty sure I've seen continuous rotating animations on Glest before, so I was wondering what the best way to do a smooth continuous rotating animation.  Any ideas?

Thanks in advance! :)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 13 July 2010, 05:38:51
Hey guys,

I finished the command center, but I'm having some trouble with the animations.  I posted about it in the official thread:
https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=5622.msg56552#msg56552 (https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=5622.msg56552#msg56552)

I mean, it looks fine, but it's still a little jerky, it will be fine for the beta.

but I had some trouble with the rotating animation for the ring.  after the animation is finished, the ring slows down and sometimes stops momentarily before beginning the animatioin again.  I'm pretty sure I've seen continuous rotating animations on Glest before, so I was wondering what the best way to do a smooth continuous rotating animation.  Any ideas?

Thanks in advance! :)
Sometimes this is the result of an overlap.  For example, if your object rotates 360 degrees in 13 frames (i.e. 0 on frame 1, 30 on frame 2 ... 360 on frame 13) and you included all 13 in the export, then it would play frame 13 as 0/360 degrees and then loop back to the beginning and play frame one as 0 degrees as well, so it appears as a momentary "hiccup" in the animation.  That could be what you're experiencing.  If so, the solution is to export all except the last frame (in this example, 1-12, but not 13).
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 14 July 2010, 02:56:47
Another thing that should be mentioned is that glest is bad with rotating round objects, so you should make it rotated in small amounts, such as 18 degree increasements (19 frames for 360). Why 19 instead of 20? Because like John mentioned, you need to cut out the last frame, since it is the same as the first frame, and would otherwise cause you to be in that position for longer than the other positions, making it appear to slow down.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 14 July 2010, 04:32:50
John D. H.: what do you mean by hiccup, cause what i'm getting is more of a smooth "stop," if that makes any sense

Omega: I put it in moderately small increments, and the rotation itself looks fine, but I'll check and see if the last key needs to be deleted, like John said, thanks guys.   :D
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: wciow on 14 July 2010, 07:55:01
post a link to the .blend and we will solve your problem much quicker  :)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 15 July 2010, 12:40:20
Quote
John D. H.: what do you mean by hiccup, cause what i'm getting is more of a smooth "stop," if that makes any sense

That's what he meant.



Quote
Omega: I put it in moderately small increments, and the rotation itself looks fine, but I'll check and see if the last key needs to be deleted, like John said, thanks guys.

Don't delete the last frame, just don't export it. ;)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Zoythrus on 15 July 2010, 16:19:23
Sometimes this is the result of an overlap.  For example, if your object rotates 360 degrees in 13 frames (i.e. 0 on frame 1, 30 on frame 2 ... 360 on frame 13) and you included all 13 in the export, then it would play frame 13 as 0/360 degrees and then loop back to the beginning and play frame one as 0 degrees as well, so it appears as a momentary "hiccup" in the animation.  That could be what you're experiencing.  If so, the solution is to export all except the last frame (in this example, 1-12, but not 13).

Seana, isnt this what i said? ;)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 18 July 2010, 05:03:21
Sometimes this is the result of an overlap.  For example, if your object rotates 360 degrees in 13 frames (i.e. 0 on frame 1, 30 on frame 2 ... 360 on frame 13) and you included all 13 in the export, then it would play frame 13 as 0/360 degrees and then loop back to the beginning and play frame one as 0 degrees as well, so it appears as a momentary "hiccup" in the animation.  That could be what you're experiencing.  If so, the solution is to export all except the last frame (in this example, 1-12, but not 13).

Seana, isnt this what i said? ;)

I don't think so, man.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mark on 9 August 2010, 02:09:31
My previous debacle may have been caused by a faulty export script.  Can someone please direct me to the latest/greatest one?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 9 August 2010, 23:42:52
I believe the latest version is available on Titi's website (http://titusgames.de).
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mark on 23 August 2010, 22:07:51
Thank you.  It helped.  I used it to make some new models for the new Dark Magic download (https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=4402.1150).  You can check the spoilers for proof it works. 

Now that I am able to apply textures to new models properly (though I can't fix all the existing ones, which is a source of continual mystery to me), I would like to learn how to animate.  I can do some animating, though only with one bone.  I have seen titi's tutorial (which was, like his others, very informational), John.d.h.'s tutorials (lots of new info), and Omega's glest guide tutorial (good, but lacking some stuff).  I the thing is, how long is learning supposed to take?  Longer or shorter than texturing?  I seem to recall once I got titi's texturing video I was set within about 2 days.  After a couple weeks I had experimented enough to be able to pretty much texture everything I wanted to.  I have easily spent three times as long working on animating.  So, I would like to know if anybody has any ideas for tutorials.   
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 24 August 2010, 06:20:19
To put it one way, I still haven't mastered the finer points of texturing.  For me, animation was quite a bit easier to learn.  I mean, I look at most two-dimensional art and think to myself "gotta be witchcraft", so maybe that's just me.  You can learn the basics in mere minutes (grab bone, move it where you want it... easy, right?), but what takes a lot of time is getting better at making more realistic poses and animations, and doing more complicated rigs.  My advice is to get a good reference of whatever action you're doing, and really study how the different parts of the body move when doing it.  When walking, the arms and legs are the obvious movers, but the spine twists, the head bobs a little, the shoulders move, etc., and all those are things that would be easy to miss, but make a walking animation look very bad if absent.  Sometimes you can find a good video online, or even record yourself doing the action, and use that as a reference.  There are probably a ton of methods, so feel free to experiment and find what works for you.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mark on 25 August 2010, 00:11:30
Yeah, when I went to yellowstone, I took a couple videos and pictures of bison butting heads.  Actually, one of them came onto the road, stood about 2 feet from the car, and looked at us.  Modman took a photo of that.  What I mean to say is, since all bovine ungulates walk similarly, when I learn, I can make a good looking walking bull animation.  About all the intricacies, yeah, I know.  I took a video of a person walking quickly and they did a lot of things-their heads bobbed, their arms swung in curves, their shoulders moved up and down.  I guess I can see why some walking animations don't seem realistic-it's almost impossible to get it to that!

About how you say you haven't learned everything about texturing, I suppose that is to be expected, considering how complicated blender can be.  I do 'project from view way more than anybody else, judging from the texture maps I see.  That shows you how lazy I can be, but it looks much neater in-game in some circumstances, and in others you wouldn't know I had done it from in glest.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 21 November 2010, 19:56:54
hey guys, it's been a while since I posted on here, anyways,  I know the models for glest need to be low poly, I'm finishing up work on the anti-air unit for the Crincillin faction, and was a little worried because I have used a little more polys that usual,  anyone know a good amount of polys that one should shoot for, and if so, ow would I check the number of polys on my model, thanks in advance.

Hope If you need clarification just say so. :)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 21 November 2010, 21:03:46
hey guys, it's been a while since I posted on here, anyways,  I know the models for glest need to be low poly, I'm finishing up work on the anti-air unit for the Crincillin faction, and was a little worried because I have used a little more polys that usual,  anyone know a good amount of polys that one should shoot for, and if so, ow would I check the number of polys on my model, thanks in advance.

Hope If you need clarification just say so. :)
The polygon count is shown in Blender here:
(http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8108/screenshotzuh.png) (http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshotzuh.png)

The g3d viewer also shows the polygon count, so you can take a look at some units from other tech trees, like Magitech, to get a good idea of what a normal polygon count is.  Really, you're safe using more polygons than standard Magitech units, as some of Wciow's dwarven units have something like three times the polygon count and don't cause many people any problems.

Additionally, some are shown in the galleries on the main site:
http://glest.org/en/gallery-buildings.php (http://glest.org/en/gallery-buildings.php)
http://glest.org/en/gallery-units.php (http://glest.org/en/gallery-units.php)
The number next to the red triangle on the images is the polygon count (after triangulation).
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 21 November 2010, 23:04:16
Tanks John, found that I had over 2100 polys on it, and that's witout the head yet, hehe, -_-, anyways, after I get the model done, I think I'll go and simplify it a little bit, but I'll look as Wciows models first, so I can use that as baseline.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 10 January 2011, 14:27:10
Hey Guys,

I'm having some trouble with the paladin texture. I was trying to preview the texture by pressing f12after linking it, but I can't do that because the Materials window is just blank, so I can't set it to conform to the UV map, heres a screenshot.

(http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab155/Seanachaidh/Material_Buttons_Trouble.jpg)

I was able to link the texture just fine, although I did have some problems with buttons missing there, too, until I click one of the buttons, and then it was fine, I ust can make it conform to the UV map.

I don't know what's going on, is there some setting that I need to change or add?

thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Gabbe on 10 January 2011, 14:45:26
have you actually selected the model?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 10 January 2011, 19:58:26
Do you have problems with other buttons/menus not showing up, and things of that nature?  If so, it might just be a graphical glitch.  I used to get them a lot on certain operating systems when using Blender.  I don't really know what you can do about it, though.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 11 January 2011, 14:02:25
to john: I haven't had any problems with any other buttons, although it might be a glitch, I'll take a look at some of the other buttons.

Gabbe: I'm fairly sure that was the first thing I looked at when I was having the problem, It wasn't it.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 11 January 2011, 17:35:53
The best I can do is wild guessing at this point.  Maybe there's no UV map?  I can't think of why there wouldn't be, but I've seen other people have problems because of that.  If you haven't unwrapped or anything, in edit mode try U, reset.  If you have already unwrapped, then this isn't your problem.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 11 January 2011, 22:30:15
Hi, I'm new to blender and finding it very frustrating. I'm trying to get just one model into GAE as a test. I cheated by building in Google Sketchup and importing from .dae. I intend to temporarily swap out a castle.g3d from one of the mods I currently have loaded as a test.

I downloaded the export script from Titi's site and g3d is an export option now, but no file seems to get saved.

The model has no skin - is that required by the export script?

Also, with this model I seem to have lost the option of viewing as anything other than Object View, so I cannot convert to triangles - no idea if it's triangles or not. Might have curves.

(http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/15a63eb1dc.jpg) (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Any help much appreciated. Sorry that these are remedial questions but I learn better by trial and error than tutorials.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 11 January 2011, 23:07:10
Well I seem to have stumbled past the Edit View problem, and maybe got further with the export but still breaking. Blender Console says Error 193, %1 is not a valid Win32 application. Any ideas?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 11 January 2011, 23:16:26
Please post your blend files (upload to a site like mediafire) so we can see. This will often help a large bit. It's hard to help someone just from descriptions.

I know you fixed the issue, but just so you know what was wrong, your model was not selected in that screen shot. The object has to be selected to go into edit mode.

As for this issue, I can only guess again. Options:
-Redownload export script, it could be broken
-Make sure ALL files for the export script exist, particularly the exe
-Make sure the script is in the correct directory (instructions should be in a comment on the script).
-See if the exe works when run manually (from the command line, with a valid XML to convert. If the problem is just in the converter as it seems (it's the only exe), then the XML should still be exported under a name like "tmp.xml" or similar.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 12 January 2011, 19:14:43
It still won't export - here's the blend file http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?2opk3f2p9rnna60

If someone can try exporting to g3d to confirm it's not the model itself that'd be really helpful and appreciated.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Psychedelic_hands on 13 January 2011, 01:05:20
That's the .bend1 file. We need the .bend file  :|
Don't worry, I've done that too before.  :P

BTW, it looks really nice. My sketch-up skills are pretty much nonexistent :O
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 13 January 2011, 05:38:25
Blend1 files work perfectly fine. They are backups, and are simply the full file with a different name (.blend*, where * is the backup number. By default, only one is created. I disabled these because of the clutter they caused). Just rename it to be blend for it to work.

EDIT: Works fine to me. G3D and image are below. As I mentioned before, setting solid colors won't work, so there's no texture.

(http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1451/imagejwj.jpg)
Download G3D (http://www.mediafire.com/?5loijy8o6ed6ndi)

Nothing wrong with the blend that I could see, though I did merge the model into one object, out of personal preference.

EDIT2: This should explain how to set up the exporter well enough: http://glestguide.co.cc/blender_tutorial4.php
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: will on 13 January 2011, 06:55:56
(Side note: https://github.com/williame/GlestTools/raw/master/g3d.py shows how to read a g3d in python; it ought to be straightforward for anyone who is  proficient in blender scripts to modify titi's script so it writes the g3d files directly rather than via xml perhaps?)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Yggdrasil on 13 January 2011, 12:02:43
When Blender 2.5x leaves beta we need to rewrite the whole export script anyway because the python api changed. And still changes as long as it's in beta. It would be nice to have then a pure python direct export.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 13 January 2011, 21:21:12
Indeed, that's true... Will, my friend, you seem very skilled in python... ;) ;)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 14 January 2011, 21:01:22
Blend1 files work perfectly fine. They are backups, and are simply the full file with a different name (.blend*, where * is the backup number. By default, only one is created. I disabled these because of the clutter they caused). Just rename it to be blend for it to work.

EDIT: Works fine to me. G3D and image are below. As I mentioned before, setting solid colors won't work, so there's no texture.

(http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/1451/imagejwj.jpg)
Download G3D (http://www.mediafire.com/?5loijy8o6ed6ndi)

Nothing wrong with the blend that I could see, though I did merge the model into one object, out of personal preference.

EDIT2: This should explain how to set up the exporter well enough: http://glestguide.co.cc/blender_tutorial4.php
Thanks man, really appreciated. At least I know that the problem is my install of scripts not the model itself.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 15 January 2011, 03:59:43
thanks guys, I haven't figured it out, but it does sound just like some random thing, I'll worry about it another time, I have ways of getting around it.
Title: Still cannot get the Blender Export to work
Post by: Mr War on 16 January 2011, 14:59:30
I tried reinstalling the export scripts but same problem persists

(http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/14e8df4df6.jpg) (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Any ideas? - or any other export scripts I could try?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Yggdrasil on 16 January 2011, 19:24:12
There's no other script for blender.

Somehow the script can't call the converter in a correct way. Could you please post the whole output? Post it on pastebin.com (http://pastebin.com) and only post a link here.

Do you really have xml2g.exe in the scripts directory? It should just export the xml if it can't find the converter but who knows...
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 16 January 2011, 19:51:27
Thanks I really appreciate the help   :)

I'm not sure what you mean by the whole output. :-[     It does output an XML now that i looked for that. I uploaded the XML here.

http://www.mediafire.com/?46y6midwgqrs3v9

Is there a way to convert the xml to g3d now that it's outside Blender?  

For reference, the model (I'm hoping) looks like this:
(http://i53.tinypic.com/2nqd63r.jpg)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 16 January 2011, 21:00:39
Thanks I really appreciate the help   :)

I'm not sure what you mean by the whole output. :-[     It does output an XML now that i looked for that. I uploaded the XML here.

http://www.mediafire.com/?46y6midwgqrs3v9

Is there a way to convert the xml to g3d now that it's outside Blender?  

For reference, the model (I'm hoping) looks like this:
(http://i53.tinypic.com/2nqd63r.jpg)
First thing I noticed when downloading your file was that it was 3 megabytes... For a building... Remember to set the start and end frames to one!

Secondly, you expect a texture, but the XML shows there's no texture coords linked. http://glestguide.co.cc/blender_tutorial2.php

Finally, running it through the converter threw a normal error on every line, and with 255 frames, it's Blender wasn't happy. I'd recommend you post the BLEND file, not the XML file. We can't solve the problem with just an XML. Out of curiosity, did you model this yourself or is it imported from another format? The normal errors are consistent with a badly imported file (importers are fickle things).

Also, what's with the paths in your command line? python26.zip? Huh?

And as a final note, you have the correct version of python installed, right?

Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 16 January 2011, 22:39:06
Thanks, I had no idea about the frames. I am new to Blender/Glest so this is all trial and error. I updated the frames etc.

The building is completely made in Blender (I gave up trying to texture imported sketchup models) and is just a test for scale/skins etc. I haven't played with the normals yet, although I just applied the blender auto-recalc off the back of your comment.

Blend file: http://www.mediafire.com/?3t8gq3wrkvux7vb
XML (latest) http://www.mediafire.com/?fnvc07hpj0du0bn

I have:
python 2.6
python 2.7
python 3.1
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Yggdrasil on 17 January 2011, 00:13:34
I'm not sure what you mean by the whole output. :-[     It does output an XML now that i looked for that. I uploaded the XML here.

No, not the xml. You posted a screenshot of the console showing some (error) messages/output of blender and the export script. I just want to have the whole thing as your screenshot misses some interesting parts.

You can convert the xml manually but the converter is just a command line tool and needs to have g3d.dtd in the same working directory. So, this is just a workaround.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 18 January 2011, 00:00:16
Exported fine for me. Oddly, it threw a bunch of indices errors, but still exported the model, which works fine. Again, you suffer the problem that you did not include your texture, so that could not be linked, but here's what I got:

Image:
(http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/3193/captureixb.jpg)

Download G3D (http://www.mediafire.com/?k3lrqj3qj746tl4)



Issues: You never sent the texture, so I could not link that, as well, I'm not sure about the size of the model. Seems very big.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 18 January 2011, 18:51:28
Yggdrasil, the output is:

running glexemel
['C:\\Users\\admin\\AppData\\Roaming\\Blender Foundation\\Blender\\.blender\\scr
ipts\\xml2g.c', 'C:\\Users\\admin\\AppData\\Roaming\\Blender Foundation\\Blender
\\.blender\\scripts\\tmp.xml', 'C:\\Users\\admin\\Documents\\GLEST\\Models\\Test
Garrison1.g3d']
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Users\admin\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scrip
ts\g3d_xml_exporter_v1.1.py", line 500, in fs_callback
    p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
  File "C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\subprocess.py", line 595, in
 __init__
    errread, errwrite)
  File "C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\subprocess.py", line 804, in
 _execute_child
    startupinfo)
WindowsError: [Error 193] %1 is not a valid Win32 application

How do I do it via command line?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Yggdrasil on 18 January 2011, 19:54:08
Ehh, please remove any .c or .h file in the scripts folder. These are the C source files and aren't needed. It confuses the export script because it thinks xml2g.c is the binary of the converter. You only need xml2g.exe, all dll files which came with glexemel and g3d.dtd.

Or reinstall the converter. Get http://www.glest.org/files/contrib/tools/glexemel_win32_0.1a.zip and copy all files from the bin folder in the scripts folder of blender. Make sure there's only the file xml2g.exe starting with xml2g, no other file.

Maybe we should provide a newer all-in-one package for windows. xml2g doesn't need all these libraries, just libxml2 (i'm puzzled how Qt got there).
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 18 January 2011, 20:55:32
Thanks Yggdrasil, removing the .C files did the trick. :D

However now I put the model in the game (GAE) I have a skin complaint...
(http://i55.tinypic.com/28t9s1u.jpg)
(note I swapped out the castle.g3d in Hagekura's excellent Japanese Mod which is a fav of mine at the moment)
The g3d is here http://www.mediafire.com/?nykgfovsdp6md9c

Any suggestions what I've done wrong?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 18 January 2011, 22:03:51
You failed to link the texture.

How to texture a G3D (http://glestguide.co.cc/blender_tutorial2.php)

How to export your model properly (http://glestguide.co.cc/blender_tutorial4.php)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 18 January 2011, 22:58:21
ah, I hadn't saved the linked files in the appropriate folder. Sorry to be so inept but slowly getting there.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Hagekura on 19 January 2011, 02:31:16
Hi,war.
Your building models looks elegant.glad to see another potential glest modder friend.
btw What kind of mod are you planning to create? historical?fantasy,sci-fi?or something completely new? :|
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: will on 19 January 2011, 12:52:10
https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=6437.0

The script in this thread shows how to load G3D models in pure python; it ought to be straightforward to also export G3D models in pure python, rather than going via the XML and an external tool...

Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 19 January 2011, 17:29:57
Hi,war.
Your building models looks elegant.glad to see another potential glest modder friend.
btw What kind of mod are you planning to create? historical?fantasy,sci-fi?or something completely new? :|
Thanks!
I am toying with starting a 'learning mod' along the lines of medieval Europe but with fantastic contraptions added in, like flying machines etc. So not accurate historical, but less fantasy as say the Magic faction. I have so much to learn though, but everyone is so helpful so there's hope yet! I also thought of doing ancient/medievil China.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 19 January 2011, 23:20:06
What color do you use on TGAs to show as team color?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 19 January 2011, 23:35:26
What color do you use on TGAs to show as team color?
Alpha/transparency.  In case you don't know how to do that, just add an alpha channel and erase the area you want to make into alpha.  Partial transparency also works, making things partial team color -- useful for making it darker or adding detail to it.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 21 January 2011, 02:53:09
What color do you use on TGAs to show as team color?
Alpha/transparency.  In case you don't know how to do that, just add an alpha channel and erase the area you want to make into alpha.  Partial transparency also works, making things partial team color -- useful for making it darker or adding detail to it.

To add an Alpha channel in GIMP simply right click in the layers box and click 'Add Alpha Channel'. ;)
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 21 January 2011, 03:48:02
Also, for Paint.NET, the eraser does that, and there's a number of plugins to give further control over transparency. Partial transparency can be given by making your primary color partially transparent, which controls the strength of the eraser. The black and white checkerboard pattern is the universal sign for transparency.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: ElimiNator on 3 March 2011, 06:20:23
There is a typo in the first post:
Here is a simple video about making a hut in blender, amde by Eliminator.
Title: texture does not work
Post by: wecl0me12 on 22 March 2011, 00:51:02
I was trying to do a multicolored cube cube, using the starting cube and with these instructions:
http://glestguide.co.cc/blender_tutorial2.php

I used 6 different solid colors for the sides- and even though it looks correct in texture mode, when I export it to g3d it becomes this:

(http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/6598/cubet.jpg)

I have never drew those circles. I drew solid colors, however, that's what is happening.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 22 March 2011, 01:25:29
You're using the GAE G3D viewer I assume. That's the default texture GAE uses if it can't read/find the texture file.

Make sure you have the texture file in the same folder as the G3D file.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 25 April 2011, 06:33:13
Ha! Skimming the last few pages of this thread reminds me how much help I've received getting to where I am now. I'm sure threads like this took months off my first mod.

I'm going to try to add bumb maps to some units, anyone know how to do that it blender in such a way that it works in MG and GAE?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 25 April 2011, 16:16:19
Ha! Skimming the last few pages of this thread reminds me how much help I've received getting to where I am now. I'm sure threads like this took months off my first mod.

I'm going to try to add bumb maps to some units, anyone know how to do that it blender in such a way that it works in MG and GAE?

I thought you were all about performance, bump maps are costly. You can do fake bump maps in GIMP(0 cost to performance), or get in touch with silnarm because I believe he knows how to turn diffuse textures(regular) into real bump maps. Also I do not believe MG supports bump or specular mapping at this time...
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: will on 25 April 2011, 18:52:22
I'm going to try to add bumb maps to some units, anyone know how to do that it blender in such a way that it works in MG and GAE?

Unsure how to make the bumpmap.

In the G3D format there is support for multiple textures, including mtNormal.  Whilst I can see that some generic load code in MG does do stuff (computeTangents()) based on this, I can't spot it otherwise being used.  MG also tries alternative extensions for images that it cannot load.

In GAE, I think it ignores any bumpmap specified in the G3D file.  Instead, it looks for a file with the same name as the diffuse texture but with _normal injected 4 characters from the end, e.g. worker.png would be worker_normal.png.  The file extension must be the same, and its best if the extension is 4 characters long.

Neither seem to try hard to cope with case-insensitive filenames on *nix.

It occurs to me that this has to be tidied up in the merge - I favour the engine using exactly as specified in the G3D file and nothing else, but coping with case-insensitive filenames on platforms that are case-sensitive.  (My Python scripts do have code to do a case-insensitive search; it's quite do-able).

So please make bumpmaps with _normal in their name, and then post screenshots of before-and-after side-by-side!
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 25 April 2011, 20:09:29
This here is the best normal map plugin I've ever used:
http://tinyurl.com/3lfkgn8

Example of Tech's castle bump map:
(http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/1848/texturecastlenormal.png) (http://img848.imageshack.us/i/texturecastlenormal.png/)

Very versatile, works flawlessly.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 25 April 2011, 20:33:37
That tool looks interesting. For me, creating the bump map itself is the easy part as I hand draw them in paint. What seems harder is actually using it in Glest. In GAE I tried naming the bump map _normal etc, no apparent effect. The bump map I'm using is greyscale - is that the problem?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: wciow on 25 April 2011, 21:41:12
I'm not sure that grayscale bump maps work in GAE  :look:

Using coloured bump maps looks like this:
(http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3538/normalcomparison.jpg) (http://img151.imageshack.us/i/normalcomparison.jpg/)

The bump maps are actually pretty bad since the automatic normal map generator is very poor compared to properly generated normal maps  :( It only works acceptably for solid areas of colour.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 26 April 2011, 01:28:23
Have you tried doing the bump map in Blender?
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Mr War on 26 April 2011, 06:21:13
I'm not sure that grayscale bump maps work in GAE  :look:

Using coloured bump maps looks like this:
(http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3538/normalcomparison.jpg) (http://img151.imageshack.us/i/normalcomparison.jpg/)

The bump maps are actually pretty bad since the automatic normal map generator is very poor compared to properly generated normal maps  :( It only works acceptably for solid areas of colour.
How did you get them to show in game? And can you share some of the actual bump map images? Thanks man
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 26 June 2011, 17:45:16
I hoped that i didn't need to do this because i was on a roll and just wanted to get the thing done.  But I'm having some trouble figuring out some of the new controls in blender 2.58.  I've googled and wiki'd my @$$ off, and I can seem to find any satisfactory answers.

For my first question, I'd like to know how to figure out how to choose the number of vertices of a mesh when I add it, in the previous version, it asked you to input the # of vertices by default, but now when i add and object, it doesn't ask me that, and I get stuck with the default number of vertices for i.e a circle (32 btw), and I can't figure out how I could make a circle with 16 vertices.  I'm guessing this is a fairly simple question, but I can' figure it out.

For my second question, I was wondering if there is a way to push multiple objects outwards from a point while still keeping their proportions and sizes intact? for example, I want to push the tops of for cubes away from the center on the z axis, and still maintain the same size and proportions of them. you can do this with single vertices, because the don't have any proportions or sizes to be altered.

Any help on this would be appreciated.  if they exist, please include the hotkeys as well. Thx

P.S. Also, I apoligize for not posting on the forums in awhile.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 26 June 2011, 19:07:33
For my first question, I'd like to know how to figure out how to choose the number of vertices of a mesh when I add it, in the previous version, it asked you to input the # of vertices by default, but now when i add and object, it doesn't ask me that, and I get stuck with the default number of vertices for i.e a circle (32 btw), and I can't figure out how I could make a circle with 16 vertices.  I'm guessing this is a fairly simple question, but I can' figure it out.
I'm afraid I'm still using 2.49, so I haven't a clue.

For my second question, I was wondering if there is a way to push multiple objects outwards from a point while still keeping their proportions and sizes intact? for example, I want to push the tops of for cubes away from the center on the z axis, and still maintain the same size and proportions of them. you can do this with single vertices, because the don't have any proportions or sizes to be altered.
Extrude? Again, no clue how it's done on 2.5x, though it was hotkey "e" on 2.4x...
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 26 June 2011, 23:18:03
Quote
Extrude? Again, no clue how it's done on 2.5x, though it was hotkey "e" on 2.4x...
I think I may have not been clear on my second question, I don't want to add faces, I just want to move multiple unconnected meshes away from a center point without extruding, or changing the size, kind of like how you can take 2 points that are on the opposite sides of a mesh and scale them so that they're farther apart. Does that make a little more sense? I'm not entirely sure how to put it, it is a rather specific action, but hopefully not too specific.  If it's unclear, I'll try using a picture.... :/

Thanks for trying with the other question though, hopefully somebody else will know.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 27 June 2011, 01:53:11
I'm afraid I'm also at a loss when it comes to 2.5+.  I messed around with the sculpting tools for maybe half an hour and that's about it.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: -Archmage- on 27 June 2011, 19:01:37
Same. Stick with the 2.4x series dude, we all know it. :|
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: John.d.h on 28 June 2011, 02:28:42
I prefer "finish up your current project(s) with 2.4x and then update".  If you want to continue using Blender, eventually 2.4x will be obsolete and the knowledge base for 2.5x will be stronger, but I wouldn't go learning the new software in the middle of working on something.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 31 October 2011, 05:20:04
Hey Guys, I'm finally starting to get back into the constellus Problem but I'm having some trouble with a School Project I'm working on and could really use your help.

I'm trying to make an environment, and I've made pretty much everything.  However, I'm having trouble with rendering it.  Ya see, I used I height map on a grid in order to build the terrain I want, and I had some trouble there, basically I had to manually make it actually fit the grid through trial and error but that's beside the point.  My problem is that now, when I tried to texture the thing, it won't even render!  I just get a blank blue Screen!  I've checked the camera and lighting, made sure the normals were in their proper directions, and tried rendering it in both my version of Blender (2.5 and 2.49). Either it's not rendering because it's too high poly, and my computer can't take it, or I pressed something I shouldn't have and made it invisible.  Any ideas?

not rendered:
(http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab155/Seanachaidh/th_NotRender.png) (http://s859.photobucket.com/albums/ab155/Seanachaidh/?action=view&current=NotRender.png)

Rendered:
(http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab155/Seanachaidh/th_Render.png) (http://s859.photobucket.com/albums/ab155/Seanachaidh/?action=view&current=Render.png)
Any help is appreciated, and Hopefully Progress will finally be made on the mod soon!

P.S. the little stonehenge is models I made separately and then appended, so I know the render window's working, I'm confuzzled. -_-
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 31 October 2011, 06:02:56
Upload the blend file, please.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: wciow on 31 October 2011, 14:35:27
Either it's not rendering because it's too high poly, and my computer can't take it, or I pressed something I shouldn't have and made it invisible.

Its (almost) certainly not that your computer cannot render your model. However it is likely that you pressed (or didn't press) a button somewhere. I'm not too familiar with height mapped meshes in Blender, but its very hard to know without a .blend file.
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Seanachaidh on 31 October 2011, 15:12:26
File here:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/j7idfl4a850htuj/Environment.zip

File I'm referring to is Swamp.blend
Title: Re: Blender --Help Center--
Post by: Omega on 31 October 2011, 19:17:10
Would you be able to just upload the file in particular? I'm afraid I can't be bothered to download 50+ megabytes of data on this connection.