Blender Export for Blitz 3D
Community Forums/Developer Stations/Blender Export for Blitz 3D
| ||
| I recently started working with blender after getting Blitz 3D. I have textured a simple sphere with a picture of the earth after unwrapping it to an image and then putting the earth in the correct place etc. I then exported this to a 3ds file but when I load this in my blitz code I just get a grey sphere. How do I go about linking the texture information in the 3ds file or is this not part of the blender export. Like the fighter model from the geometrics samples (fighter.3ds pulls in fighter.jpg as its texture set) they are linked in some way in the 3ds file. |
| ||
| I take it you used the tutorial here: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/UV_Map_Basics Make sure you move a copy of the graphics file into the same place as the mesh file (in whatever directory you use in your game) Personally, though, I model and texture map in Blender, then export as a Wavefront (.obj) object. Then I use Ultimate Unwrap3D to convert directly to Blitz3D format (.b3d). Ulitmate Unwrap3D is worth the money, just because (while I don't use it for UV mapping much) you can go from just about any format to any format with a simple save. And it exports bones, lightmaps, etc. as well. Your route might have fewer steps, but what good is that if you keep having problems with it? So far, mine has worked well for me every time... |
| ||
| Yes that is the tutorial I was doing. I'll have another go and follow your advice. Ultimate unwrap sounds good! Thanks very Much! |
| ||
| Thanks for the help.... It's doing something useful now but the mapping isn't quite right... still counts as progress... thanks! |
| ||
| No problem. Took me a while to get UV mapping down, and I'm not even that good at it. One big trick is to take any surfaces that are going to share a texture and overlap them. That gets you more space on the texture map for the complicated stuff. Then all you have to do is move the rest of the surfaces on UV map around (I always have to do a vert-by-vert arrangment to get it just right) so that the texture applies itself correctly. Hopefully, you'll quickly end up better at it than I am (which wouldn't be too hard...). |
| ||
| That explains something I noticed about the fighter.3ds model in the geometrics free models. I noticed when you put text on the wing it also appeared on the underside of the wing (but in reverse-mirrored writing). Does this mean that the mesh for the top of the wing is sitting on top of the mesh for the bottom of the wing in the mapping or is this another technique? |
| ||
| Probably. If you import the model to blender (or run it through a pipeline so you can open it in a UV map software, etc.) and select only the wing underside tris, you'll see where it is on the UV map. Do the same with the top side, and you can see if they overlap. |
| ||
| I'm still not understanding this so I moved to a simpler model to see if I could work it out. I'm now just modelling a dice shape. When I export it as 3ds I still just get a grey object. When I load the graphic net (I split the cube in the shape of a cross) only the centre of the cross is textured correctly when I do LoadTexture and apply it. Conversely when I export in .x format everything is in the right place but the model is inside out. (showing only its internal geometry as surfaces) My brain is pickled slightly (Old dog - new tricks.....) Anyone spot anything obvious that I could try? |
| ||
| You shouldn't have to LoadTexture if you've already texture-mapped the image in Blender. Simply unwrap, open the texture file, move the UV map, then export to 3ds. Move the file and image into the correct directory. Let me work on an example... |
| ||
| Yes I don't have to load the texture for the .x model but it is inside out when loaded. I have gone too far ahead of myself by trying stuff before I got used to the Blender interface. I'm probably missing some simple action somewhere. Thanks for your help ..... I look forward to reading your example! |
| ||
| Try flipping the normals before you export. Also, because of the way it unwraps, your UV map might be facing down, so the textures look backwards. I've got it working, but the Blender exporter stinks. That's why I go through UU3D. Using it, it worked first time (to .b3d). I had to import & export several times to get the 3ds file working... http://home.comcast.net/~r0nin/dice.bb http://home.comcast.net/~r0nin/dice.3ds  |
| ||
| I'm off on a trip for a few days starting tonight so I might not get a look at it until Tuesday anyway but thanks very much for taking an interest! |
| ||
| Hi The r0nin, Do you create character animation in blender and then export to .b3d with Unwrap3D? Thanks in advance |
| ||
| Haven't done much with animation yet. I've heard that the pipeline works better exporting as a Direct X (instead of .obj), then using UU3D. I'll let you know if I find a good path (it'll be a little while before I get to that...) |
| ||
| The r0nin, looking forward to your good news! |
| ||
| Your dice looks great! There is somethiong wrong with my method. Is there a tutorial anywhere on making game models like this? I'm obviously doing something wrong. |
| ||
| Try some of these (just a cut and paste from my "Modelling" Bookmarks in Firefox): http://www.gamedev.net/reference/art/features/blender1/ http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro http://www.designertoday.com/tabindex-37/tabid-42/itemid-1817/DesktopDefault.aspx http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060622/ahearn_01.shtml http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051202/mader_01.shtml http://www.gamasutra.com/gdc2004/features/20040325/banninga_01.shtml Hope some of these are useful (not all are modelling or UV, but each has something worthwhile about visual design in it... at least to me...)! |
| ||
| I got the demo of Ultimate Unwrap and it showed that UV on my models was faulty (scrambled). Thanks for all the help. |
   |