Blender BZ2 exporter testers needed

[OvermindDL1]

Please go here to see the main thread.

I am needing testers to test various things in the exporter.  How it exports, textures, animations, especially animations (as I just did them).  Read this post to see the main thing I need tested with regards to animations.  I need to know if translating the matrix and using the rotation in it for the animation is necessary or if I should save the animation rotation with an untransformed matrix (I would think so...).  If animation rotation is off by -90 on the Y-Axis, then tell me and I'll remove the transformation.

[Red Spot]

Just downloaded Blender, what I'm basicly looking for now is an importer ..

I mean if I can import an existing .xsi and than export it its basicly nothing else but comparing files and looking for things that are diff.
(next to that, on a side note, I'd like to modify some existing models .. )

A friend of mine still has 3DS Max v5(iirc) wich hes willing to sell to me for a few euros, but would that A) still allow me to use Pandemics plugin (cant find any decent "readme" ...) and B) allows me to export to a format Blender is able to import ??



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[OvermindDL1]

Comparing files will not work.
I export in a *VERY* BZ2 only format.  I doubt they would even have a hope of opening anywhere else.  Because of this though it is more reliable, faster to program, smaller files, faster loading files, etc...

And Blender supports a rather huge amount of importer/exporters.  More are listed on their site for download as well.

[Red Spot]

yeah have been working with Blender most of the day, but ... er .. dont like it ..

couldnt even get as far as making a basic model .. so I started up Gmax made a basic model, saves as 3ds, inported into Blender and exported as .x ... (wich I can understand and manipulate into .xsi ..)
For now I'll be trying to get my hands on 3ds max v3 (I "understand" it and v3 makes life a lot easier ...)
than make 2 .xsi's of them (1 reg 3ds export, 1 similair as the Gmax method using your xsi-exporter) and compare them ingame ..

too bad I couldnt have been of more use up to now, could have made my life a bit cheaper as well ... 



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[OvermindDL1]

Couldn't make a basic model?  I don't know the program at all and I am throwing together basic mesh's, manipulating them, heck, adding animations as well.  Blender is anything but hard (well, harder then milkshape, but meh).  3dsMax is something I can't figure out.  Probably just what you are used to, but there are many professionals who use Blender even though they have the many thousands of dollars worth 3dsmax.

Just be sure to turn dummy-frame on, and get the latest version I just posted.
And test animations, that is the main thing I want tested right now, vertex animations (which just happens to be what 3dsmax uses as well).

EDIT:  Speaking of which, anyone have a clue as to why that with a dummyframe it comes out fine, but without a dummyframe then it is sitting on its nose?
Also, I know that dummyframes are required in some circumstances, but are there any circumstances when they are not?  Is it fine to always have a dummyframe?  If so then I'll just keep it in...

EDIT2:  Does anyone have an odf I could use to test out animations in an xsi?

[Commando]

Overmind, do you have the xsis completed, with animation?

If so, I could quickly throw together an odf for it, if I was given the xsi names and a description of what each is.

[Red Spot]

EDIT2:  Does anyone have an odf I could use to test out animations in an xsi?

just use the turret odf's, as far as I understand there are 3 types(kinda) of animations in BZ2 (left/neutral/right movement, deploying, walker .. er .. stuff)
the turrets have the ability to use the animations for movement (left/neutral/right) and those for deploying


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[OvermindDL1]

I have a couple with different names, but the name of the main testing one tends to always end up being renamed to untitled.xsi (as that is what the current test odf is using).

[Zero Angel]

There were some errors with the script on Blender Linux (the first 3 import commands didnt work), but I got around them by commenting them out. Its exporting files, but the interface is too difficult for me to figure out right away so i'm currently looking for .blend models to export.

[Avatar]

From my experience you can always have a 'dummyroot', or top level frame.  Nothing I've done yet has been harmed by having one, although depending on the class of unit it can have an effect on things like altitude, deployment, that sort of thing.

For animations there are basically two types in BZ2, and "loop" and "deploy" would be good basic labels for them.

Basically "loop" looks good when, er, 'looping', as in a power lung or generator motion, a walker walking, an antenna rotating..  where the object ends up back where it started.

'Deploy' is a one-way animation, such as when a turret deploys or a Constructor constructs.

So I'd use two ODF's for testing...  "ibpgen" for loops and "powered" for deploying.  Both will just play when the object is placed in the engine, although the "powered" will play only once.  OTOH you can specify both types as the 'loop' and drop a power generator class object in the engine and just watch the deploy play over and over again, but it'll look a little odd when it snaps back to start and might not give you a good idea of what it'll look like.

-Av-

[Zero Angel]

OK, speaking as a total Blender/modelling newb. I downloaded a simple file (this 9-volt battery) and opened it in Blender, than I exported it to XSI format and tried to place it in game.

The mesh appears in game but there are no textures. I looked at the XSI text and it doesnt seem to even mention texturenames (ie there's no SI_Texture2D entries). So maybe this is because the exporter is so new? or have I done something wrong?

[Dianoga4]

I don't think the UV mapping part of the exporter is complete yet.

Dia

[OvermindDL1]

The uv mapping should be done, as are the texture entries, but it will not output them if they don't exist.  BZ2 only supports UV textures, so the model needs to be uvwrapped, not any of the other texture modes will work.  And of course, there must be a texture file, shaders and such don't work either.  I'll download that model and take a look at what it exports.

EDIT:  Checked the model, well done it is, but it is not uvmapped, nor does it have any textures, ergo... yea... it will be plain in BZ2. 

EDIT:  I posted some pictures of the battery at this link.  The top one is the .blend just as I downloaded it.  The second is the battery as a unit, but with a black texture, uvmapped (just a quick uvmap using the auto thing), and the third is me driving around in this micro-vehicle-battery-thing (micro wars?  This thing feels fast in comparison   Hmm, lego building, upgrading buildings adds on to them like lego's).

[Dianoga4]

Ok well if you can get something UV mapped to show up in the editor please how you do it because I have things uv mapped and they will not show up. I have tried a few different things and still nothing shows but a plain color.

Dia

[BNG Da BZ Fool]

Hey OM, I downloaded your BLENDER XSI exporter for testing. Like you, however, I have limited time to actually test it out but wanted to let you know that the endeavor is worthwhile and may eventually yield something useful for BZII. Where do I install the downloaded file? I've worked with BLENDER just enough to understand it's basic operation but it seems easy enough to learn just like any other 3D model making program. I think that making simpler animated cube sequences is probably the best approach to work out the bugs in the exporter as more complex animation sequences will just complicate a debugging process...BNG.