i need help making techs

[nazra]

i wish i could just make the 3d models for techs with gmax wouldve saved me alot of time but no so i have to use blender which is the most dumbest and confusing program ever! i was up all night just trying to figure out how it works and found the only ways to do things like multiple vertex selection and stuf is very VERY stupidly done and very hard to use

the whole ui is confusing i sitll cant figure out how to pan the camera when i need to and above all i cannot find out how to use import and export scripts for blender and there are no ttuorials on the internet that says how to. 1 forum said there was a hidden folder in the blender folder that has the scripts but there are no hudden folders in the blender folder and my computer allows hidden folders to be shown.

currently i have 2 questions and ill have more later mostlikley since blender is so hard to use (and i am NOT going to use 3dsmax)

1, how do you pan the camera? the hotkeys says ctrl+numpad8 to pan up but it doesnt work and ive tried just numpad8 doesnt work...

2, where do you put the import and export scripts in blender to use them in blender?

thanks for any help and please reply fast i wanted to get something done before morning now its morning and have nothing done... im going to sleep soon and i want to atleast make one model before i go to sleep

and when i tried to register to this forum it woudlnt let me it redireced me to the login page everytime i pressed register so i saw the adress bar and removed "xxx" and it took me ot the registraiton page

[wciow]

i wish i could just make the 3d models for techs with gmax wouldve saved me alot of time but no so i have to use blender which is the most dumbest and confusing program ever!

Blender is the only option for making Glest models right now. Dumb or not you will have to learn to use it to mod Glest.

i cannot find out how to use import and export scripts for blender and there are no tuorials on the internet that says how to.

Put the .py files in your Blender/.Blender/scripts directory and restart blender. Scripts should appear in the import/export menu.

The latest export script is here:
http://www1.inf.tu-dresden.de/~s1445051 ... _v0.1.7.py

 But you will need to add the Glexemel files to your scripts directory as well for it to work. Glexemel files can be found here: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/glest/ ... g_mirror=0

Reading this part of the Glestwiki will help you to get models exported correctly: https://docs.megaglest.org/Video_tutorials

1, how do you pan the camera? the hotkeys says ctrl+numpad8 to pan up but it doesnt work and ive tried just numpad8 doesnt work...

Shift+Middle mouse button If you are using windows. Linux uses slightly different keys which I can't remember off-hand 

[Idanwin]

what operating system do you use?

First of all: Blender is not dumb!!! (it is confusing however )
A lot of people have put work into it and they give it away for free!!!
Max costs 3500 dollar I heard. (Edit: 3495 dollars)
3d programs never are 'easy' to use. Every program requires a lot of work to learn to work with.
Don't talk that way about programs you don't know anything about.

There are a lot of online manuals for Blender.
these video tutorials could help a lot with modelling: http://http://forum.nystic.com/blender.php

On linux import and export scripts have to be placed into the .blender/scripts/ folder (hidden).
Glexemel is a program that converts .blend into .g3d. Glexemel is !not! a script.
On linux you have to use a terminal to execute it.

1)Make your model
2)goto export->xml
3)move filename.xml to the glexemel folder
4)open terminal, goto glexemel folder and type: xml2g filename.xml

[Omega]

Once you place the python (*.py) files in the scripts directory, you probably will have to reset the menus in the scripts window. Also, all faces must by triangle (select all with A key and hit Space Bar > Edit > convert to Triangles (or ctrl+t)) and the model texture has to be linked.
I'd recommend checking out blender, noob to pro (google it) for basics to modeling.

When I first looked at blender, I was totally confused. I spent like a week before knowing how to link textures, animate, model, and a bunch of other stuff! But once you know how to use it, you'll love it and probably never use another 3D modeling software again!

[nazra]

I did look at that tutorial (newb to pro) it said place it in the scripts folder like previously stated blender/.blender/scripts

and previously stated there is no .blender  folder in the blender folder and my computer shows  all hidden files and folders
why is that? shoudlnt it be c:/programfiles/blenderfoundation/blender/.blender/scripts ? or is it not in that folder?
(ps what i ment by dumb is that its really confusing)

thanks for the replies

[gameboy]

First off Blender is the best open source 3d modeling tool available.
second its very easy once you learn the basics, i spent six months playing with blender trying the features and all that, why i even stop doing my glest stuff.

[Yggdrasil]

what operating system do you use?

It's hard to help you without telling us. The paths you posted looks like windows. Which version?

http://http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Advanced_Tutorials/Python_Scripting/Export_scripts#Creating_a_script

Linux: ~/.blender/scripts
Windows XP: C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts
Windows XP (alt): C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts
Windows Vista: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts

[Omega]

Bingo, Yggdrasil. For example, for me, it's:
C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender
In that directory is the scripts folder. Kinda confusing, but windows loves making hard to find application data folders. Glest even saves its screen shots to a virtual store file in app data:
C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Glest_3.1.2

[Idanwin]

Am I glad I use linux...

[Omega]

Linux isn't neccesarily better, it's just that vista's app data is a pain. DOes make things faster for the casual user, but for more advanced people, it's bad.

And Nazra, since I can pretty much guarentee that you will ask about animating and texturing in glest, I'll go over them quickly. (NOTE: this is from memory. Might not be 100% accurate)

TEXTURING

• First of all, you should make a model, then in edit mode, select edges and mark them with ctrl + e. Choose to mark seams. The seems are the places that will be cut when blender 'unwraps' the model. Unwrapping is like cutting it open and laying it flat.
• Once unwrapped, split the window and open the image editor. Now select the entire model and hit u. Choose to unwrap. Now the image window should have a net in it. Choose uv and go to the top of the menu, where it says scripts or whatever. Now choose to export that as a tga. Do so.
• Now you can texture that TGA for your use. Once done, open the tga in the image editor window, and set the display mode (such as wireframe, solid, shaded) to textured. Now preview your model. If it looks good, we are almost done.
• Now we have to link the mesh. In the buttons window at the bottom, click the texture tab and make a new texture. Now set that texture to image and link it to your image. Now you can export it. Note that you will have to change the name of the texture in the tga. It will say something like C:\users\owner\deskop\texture.tga we need to change that to texture.tga. No file path.

ANIMATION

• Animation requires armatures. In object mode, make an armature, then switch to edit mode. Now select an end of the armature and hit e to make another extending from that point. now net out a skeleton shape covering the units moving parts, such as his arms, legs, head, and chest, then once the armatures are positioned, switch to edit mode.
• Now we need to link the armatures. In object mode, select the MESH, then the armatures (in that order, IMPORTANT!). Now select the bones and go into pose mode. Change the buttons window at the bottom to the timeline window. Now on each frame, starting at one, you can move the bones to a position. Copy and paste the beginning frame to the end and exclude that frame,  so that we have a flawless repeating animation.
• Finally, go back to object mode, export and test. It should work!

Now you're done, you know how to animate. A new version of the glest guide will be coming out soon (still working on improving it by doing it 100% in code) It will have a more detailed explaination with pictures. For now, happy modeling!

[mictes]

[list type=]Now we have to link the mesh. In the buttons window at the bottom, click the texture tab and make a new texture. Now set that texture to image and link it to your image. Now you can export it. Note that you will have to change the name of the texture in the tga. It will say something like C]

I don't understand this last point, could you please explain a littile bit more ?  

[Omega]

Well, that's the part where you click on the icon on the bottom (I think its a sphere). That'll bring you to a material menu. There should be another menu strip beside the old one. Click the coloured sphere (if you're aren't already there) and make a new material. Now click the camo icon to texture and set the texture type to image. Load the image and you're good to go!

[moorsalin]

blender aint that bad at all

just pull down the top bar and make text bigger, if the text size bothers you

then you can move all those button windows about and even enlargen them with num +/-

Blender is awesome and its free

but if its too difficult, use Misfit3d
its neat cause it makes triangle faced models, exactly what g3d wants

then you can export in obj or something and edit further in blender

[mictes]

Hi moorsalin, welcome to the forums !
That is funny enough ^^ I use misfit3d, too since it is the best free 3ds max alternative.
Blender is a something very own, I think I need more time to get involved. EDIT:

I got it, thank to omega !
But there is a "little" problem: Always I export a model it will be scaled to a very little one. What is the reason ? EDIT 2:

Problem solved !: It seems Blender have some trouble with obj. format. You need to rescale the model in blender:
You have to choose your model with right-klick. Than press "S" and scale the with your mouse. Confirm with "Enter" or abort with "Ecs" .

[Omega]

I got it, thank to omega !

Glad I could help.

I use misfit3d, too since it is the best free 3ds max alternative.

Slight mistatment. Blender can do everything that Misfit can, and more. But misfit does have easier UI. It is really all the question of wether you want to have an easier to learn program or a more complex one. If you may be doing modeling for more than just glest too, it never hurt to learn blender.