Elendir on 13/7/2011 at 22:02
Quote Posted by R Soul
Yes, that would work fine.
All right, so there is a new version 0.1.1 available for download from (
https://sourceforge.net/projects/darkexporter/) Sourceforge.net.
Details are included on (
https://sourceforge.net/apps/wordpress/darkexporter/2011/07/13/quick-update-to-0-1-1/) my dev blog.
Please test it and let me it if it's ok. I've tested it in Blender 2.57 and 2.58.
Quote Posted by R Soul
It's unfortunate that the current version of Blender does not seem to be willing to read .gif images.
Well, this is a very sad and disappointing news. It simply means that the last version that supported GIFs via Apple Quicktime was 2.57. The reason of this change is the licensing issue between QT and GPL. (
http://blenderdiplom.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=47:interview-nathan-letwory-on-quicktime-in-blender&Itemid=55&lang=en) Under this link you can read more on that subject.
I really hope someone will soon write a plugin that would force Blender to work with GIFs again. I've already asked about any possible solution on official Blender forum, but I don't expect to get a reasonable answer soon.
Anyway I think I could make it possible via Dark Exporter. It's not an elegant solution, but well...
The user would need to convert GIF files to a format suitable for Blender 2.58, e.g. PNG. PNG can be used and displayed in Blender properly. Once the modeling is done, user exports the model through Dark Exporter addon that would translate all references of PNG files to GIF files.
As the last step the user would need to copy GIFs (not PNGs) to \txt subfolder of Thief game.
What do you think about this approach?
seventyfour on 14/7/2011 at 11:12
Sounds good to me, beats having to change all texture references manually with each export.
Just keep in mind that Dark engine, in addition to GIF, also supports TGA, which would suggest using a system similar to the one used to decide shader model:
[Blender] [Dark]
.PNG -> .GIF
.TGA -> .TGA (unchanged)
(+ possibly one extra format if someone sees the need of using PCX textures, althought that might be superflous.)
It's not uncommon that I use both texture formats on a single model, due to their different advantages.
Elendir on 14/7/2011 at 11:55
OK.
But since PCX is also not supported by Blender, I'd propose the following mapping:
Code:
[Blender] -> [Dark]
PNG -> GIF
TGA -> TGA
JPG -> PCX
There will be two new options in Export Window:
PNG -> GIF
and
JPG -> PCX
What do you think about it?
seventyfour on 14/7/2011 at 12:48
That looks good and logical to me, the version numbers are just racing by. :thumb:
Will do as a nice solution until someone decides to give blender native GIF support - which I honestly doubt will happen anytime soon, considering the strong responce you got at the official Blender forums. :p
Elendir on 14/7/2011 at 13:08
Quote Posted by seventyfour
That looks good and logical to me, the version numbers are just racing by. :thumb:
Good! :thumb:
I hope to find some time tonight to code it.
Quote Posted by seventyfour
Will do as a nice solution until someone decides to give blender native GIF support - which I honestly doubt will happen anytime soon, considering the strong responce you got at the official Blender forums. :p
That's why in one of my previous posts I wrote "I don't expect to get a reasonable answer soon."
R Soul on 14/7/2011 at 22:44
That looks good. pcx may have nothing to offer over gif, but the option is still useful if we need to modify an object that uses such a texture.
R Soul on 19/7/2011 at 21:50
Managed to export a jointed object!
Two things that surprised me:
* The base object, sub-object and axle must all be selected
* All parts must have a material, even the axle
Neither of those issues are disasters, but they are easy steps to forget, meaning we may export once, look at in in Dromed, then have to do the process again.
edit:
Had a bit of trouble setting phong shading. Turned out to be that the object name and mesh names needed to be the same:
Inline Image:
http://i912.photobucket.com/albums/ac326/rsoulinternet/Dromed/blendermats.gifElendir on 26/7/2011 at 12:50
Sorry for the delay but I'm on vacation. The beach, the sun and almost no Internet access... Today I found a little time to look at the source code to answer to your post.
Quote Posted by R Soul
Managed to export a jointed object!
Great!
Quote Posted by R Soul
* The base object, sub-object and axle must all be selected
It's been explained in the official documentation. I prepared that mechanism to let the user decide which meshes are to be exported. In other words you can have a complex multiobject model but you can easily tell Blender that you want to export for example only three specific elements. It's very handy 'coz it makes model debugging easier. I would call it a feature!
By the way, it's a matter of just one simple shortcut (in most of the scenarios) to select or deselect all meshes on the current layer in Blender. That's why I originally didn't plan to make any corrections here and leave it to user.
However, I want this addon to be user friendly, so I think I'll add one more toggle in the options. It's gonna be called “Selection only” (to be compliant with 3DS format export options). If enabled it would export only objects selected by the user. By default this option will be OFF making Dark Exporter to process all the objects on the current layer.
Quote Posted by R Soul
* All parts must have a material, even the axle
It's been explained in the documentation too. And it's true for VHOTs, but I'm curious why you mentioned axle!? I'm creating vectors (axles) as curves with two points. In this case it's not a mesh therefore it doesn't matter weather it has a material or not. Objects which aren't meshes are not included in any calculations in Dark Exporter, so please explain what technique you used to create an axle?
Again, it's been explained in the documentation, so it shouldn't be any surprise. And it's not about the shader alone, but about most of the things you can set in Blender. It's a part of the analyzing algorithm. It doesn't mean however that I couldn't make it easier for the users. I thought of a shortcut in which user only needs to change the object name and Dark Exporter would take care of renaming object data name to be the same.
Summary:
In version 0.1.3 I want to add a new option
Selection only. One of the members of Polish Thief Fan Forum discovered a little bug in recently added PNG → GIF renaming, so version 0.1.3 will also address that issue.
In version 0.1.4 I want to cancel the necessity for axles and VHOTs to have a material applied. I can easily do it for VHOTs but you have to explain which Blender object you use to create functional axle (as mentioned above I use curve/path – this is a link to my (
http://www.bytehold.com/index.php/playground/415-beczka-z-ruchom-pokryw) Unofficial Dromed 1 Documentation in which you can see how I create axle witch two point curve/path object. It's in Polish only, but you should be able to figure out most of the things just by looking at the snapshots or by running the text through some web page translators. The chapters dedicated to Blender refer to 2.49b but this should be a problem).
In version 0.1.5 I want to lift the constrain of keeping the same names for object name and object data name. These two names will still have to be identical, but Dark Exporter will take care of this during export process. User will only need to change object name. I think it'll be more intuitive.
I hope to release version 0.1.3 by the end of this week, because on weekend I should already be at home...
R Soul on 26/7/2011 at 14:06
Quote Posted by Elendir
so please explain what technique you used to create an axle?
I'd imported a 3ds file so the axle was just two vertices. I filled them (F key) to make a line so I could see it.
I haven't made any jointed objects from scratch in Blender - I used to use Anim8or until fairly recently. I imagine I'd copy the sub object, and if necessary use subdivision to find the exact centre of the top and bottom faces (cylinders already have this) and then delete all but those points and scale them up a bit. I don't know if it's necessary but I'd join the vertices as mentioned above.
