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3 Dimensional Chat / Blender Export Animation

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dj trickdog
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Posted: 13th Feb 2008 02:10
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HEllo i have Blender (newest version) and Dark basic Pro. I want to export my animated 3d model which uses an armature. I read the sticky blender exporting but...the advice didnt seem to help. What are step by step instructions to export an animation compatable with DBP? I am also willing to upload my blend file.

thanks alot
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Opus
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Posted: 13th Feb 2008 22:47 Edited at: 15th Feb 2008 15:07
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You are out of luck if you expect a step by step Blender to DBPro animation information segment. If one of the Blender experts is posting and happens to read your post you might get some help, if you are willing to work with him and patiently explain step-by-step what you are doing and patiently understand and apply his explanations in return. But then again, nobody ever knows when someone really knowledgeable is going to be posting in this forum.

Unfortunately your best option is to grab a note pad and run through that sticky post about Blender and animation importing into DBPro, but this time take notes about possible problems and solutions to those problems as you go along and then give it a try and see what happens.

That's what I'm going to have to do when I'm finally ready to export my animations from Blender to DBPro, and so it goes. Now you may give it a try and make everything work perfectly on the very first try [unusual that] or you may be butting your head against the knowledge wall in that respect for a very long time to follow [much more common].

NOW some people are simply doing their animation work in Frogmotion [a different free program]. I may have to resort to that myself when the time comes because despite that sticky it's still somewhat trial and error when it comes to getting Blender and DBPro to work together . . . at least where animation is concerned.

FINALLY . . . IF the attachment feature is working and if you can open a Microsoft Word document I am attaching a doc that more or less stripped down the information in that sticky to something resembling what one might more or less need to know regarding exporting items from Blender to DBPro. I hope you find it useful.

Eternal student in search of knowledge. But will settle for the occasional epiphany.

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greenlig
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Posted: 14th Feb 2008 15:05
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great response there mate. Its a little bit temperamental that's all.

Ok I just typed out a heap on this jolly iPod touch and realized I would need to give it a try again dang it.

I'll have a look when I can after work tomorrow and make a tute...although I can't upload it till I get a net connection. Darn. If you can hold out for a week then she will be apples!

Regards
greenlig

Blender3D - GIMP - WINXP - DBPro
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Opus
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Posted: 14th Feb 2008 15:43
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Speaking for myself greenlig, anything you could produce by way of a tutorial on this subject would be wonderful!

Eventually I WILL get good enough with Blender to produced rigged and animated models; and I'd really like to be able to import them and use them in DBPro when that happens.

Eternal student in search of knowledge. But will settle for the occasional epiphany.
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greenlig
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Posted: 15th Feb 2008 07:47
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Mate I'm sure you will. Blender is the perfect tool beside dbpro, I have used it before for paid work many times. Once you get the exporter sorted you can do anything

I'll start on the tutorial for exporting and maybe a few others asap.

Greenlig

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hessiess
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Posted: 15th Feb 2008 13:48 Edited at: 15th Feb 2008 13:50
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make sure everything in the scene has at lest one key frame, including the mesh.
make sure every vertex is in a groop, even if it is not animated.

alt+a (apply scail and rotation) everything(this may destroy any animations you already have)

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Opus
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Posted: 15th Feb 2008 15:05
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That's good advice hessiess. I've included it in my notes for future use!

Eternal student in search of knowledge. But will settle for the occasional epiphany.
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dj trickdog
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Posted: 16th Feb 2008 04:20
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but does it work what hessiess says? alot of these short advices dont work. and at last resort, ill do what u said to do Opus


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Opus
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Posted: 16th Feb 2008 18:47
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Do remember to make a duplicate copy of your finished rigged and animated model and then use that duplicate copy to test for yourself what does and does not seem to work. That way if something goes terribly wrong, you will still have a back up copy of your work.

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you on this.

Eternal student in search of knowledge. But will settle for the occasional epiphany.
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dj trickdog
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Posted: 16th Feb 2008 19:07 Edited at: 16th Feb 2008 19:21
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yes i got backups...why?

edit: attached blend file


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Maxmax123
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Posted: 17th Feb 2008 03:21
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Hey im trying to get my animations to work too.

BTW Can someone tell my how to/if I can fuse meshs and/or add a single vertex to a face

this is my model

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greenlig
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Posted: 17th Feb 2008 12:06
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Not entirely sure what you are asking... But you can merge vertices. Select the two you want to be one and press 'w' that will bring up the mesh menu then select merge and bobs your uncle. To create a vertex, select the vertex you want to extend it from and hold control then left mouse click... Or just select the vertex and press 'e' to extrude it.

Greenlig

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hessiess
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Posted: 17th Feb 2008 12:56 Edited at: 17th Feb 2008 13:12
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dj trickdog:

i have cleaned up your blend file, the attached vertion will export and the file works in irrlicht, so should work in dbp.

it helps if you name your bones(bone names cannot contain a space).
don't use material indacies, for textures you will haft to UV unwrap it
key frame everything, the armature object was unkeyed. to avoid this problem select everything in object mode and press I- loc rot.
there were a few reundent vert groups.
the armature did not have a 'root' bone.

to export just select the 'anim' button and hit 'export all'. leave everything else default.
Quote: "
BTW Can someone tell my how to/if I can fuse meshes"

salect objects and press control+j to merge them
to merge verts presses alt+m.
add verts with ctrl+left mouse

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Maxmax123
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Posted: 17th Feb 2008 17:09 Edited at: 17th Feb 2008 19:29
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thank you very much, Im fairly new to blender and want to learn as much as I can so I can use it for dbpro
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dj trickdog
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Posted: 17th Feb 2008 20:29
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hessiess, i tried the metal.x u placed in the zip and the window opens then closes with no error.
here is my code:




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hessiess
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Posted: 17th Feb 2008 21:01 Edited at: 17th Feb 2008 21:02
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from my limited knowledge of DBP syntax, the code you posted looks OK.
becouse the file works with irrlicht I assumed it would with dbp, (I haven't used dbp for over a year)

you can try this, (quoted from exporter documentation)

http://xoomer.alice.it/glabro1/faq.html

Quote: "Most of the problems opening the exported files are created by the double vertices.To avoid this, open the exported file in Mview(DirectX8 SDK).Click on MeshOps-Vertex Selection and click over the object to select a vertex.Now click on MeshOps-Weld vertices.In the popup window select "Remove Back To Back Triangles" , "Regenerate Adjacency" and "Apply".Resave the file.This way will get a perfect DirectX File Format."


you may also be able to import it into something like milkshape, and re-expoert it.

hope it helps.

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dj trickdog
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Posted: 17th Feb 2008 22:19
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hmm milkshape cat import x files


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Opus
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Posted: 18th Feb 2008 00:15
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dj trickdog take a look at fragmotion. There is both a free and a pay version of this modeller/animator I'm pretty sure it imports and xports .x files

http://www.fragmosoft.com/

I'm not guaranteeing anything, but I know that several people on these boards have been happy with the way it exports x files to DBPro.

Eternal student in search of knowledge. But will settle for the occasional epiphany.
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FPSC Reloaded TGC Backer
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Posted: 18th Feb 2008 00:25
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Quote: "hmm milkshape cat import x files"


yes it can, You need to go to tools and then direct x mesh tools.


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Maxmax123
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Posted: 18th Feb 2008 03:55 Edited at: 18th Feb 2008 16:44
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next question : How do I use vertex groups for animation w/o making my model look like it got hit by a train? aka use the vertex groups i already assigned Also how do I use the bone the envelop thing?

Edit: already just figured outhow you make correct movemnet with vertex groups but the next thing I would like to know is how to use the action editor
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dj trickdog
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Posted: 18th Feb 2008 19:47
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fragmotion crashes when importing the animated .x
milkshape, you have to have a registered version

IS there any solution to this or is it another nightmare?


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FPSC Reloaded TGC Backer
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Posted: 18th Feb 2008 19:52
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I think the registration for milkshape3D was 28 bucks..not to bad at all for what it can do..


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hessiess
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Posted: 18th Feb 2008 21:04
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Quote: "Edit: already just figured outhow you make correct movemnet with vertex groups but the next thing I would like to know is how to use the action editor"


just split the view, chose action editor and it shows you what's keyed on which frame. keys can be moved using the g key, and constrained to frames with ctrl button

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kevinsbro
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Posted: 19th Feb 2008 21:52
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Hey just thought you guys would want to know that if you export to directX with the default exporting script, and then load it into fragmotion and exprt it from as directX there it works perfectly fine. However, sometimes it mirrors the bones and flips the normals, but if you just counter act it in blender before you export it, it should work fine. This method worked perfectly for what I was doing.
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Maxmax123
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Posted: 21st Feb 2008 01:42
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Ok Im trying exporting an x file to dbpro that has been processed in FRAGmothion.
animations
vertex group corrections
bone adjustments
faces flipped right side out

loads exe with model and animation

...looks...rubbs..eyes
Oh...my..gosh
(eyes shatter)
IT WORKS PERFECTLY!!!!

(sings portal song)

So I will tell everyone now that fragmotion will make blender models work with animations(after some processing) and maybe even phyics.

Im happy and relieved that it works
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dj trickdog
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Posted: 21st Feb 2008 03:04
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fragmotion crashes when importing my armatured models


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Maxmax123
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Posted: 22nd Feb 2008 00:55
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ugh just trying loading more complex animations, they work but my model is deformed

what a mood killer
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Opus
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Posted: 22nd Feb 2008 02:01
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Dj Trickdog, does Fragmotion have forums? If so have you explained your problem [crashes when importing armatured models]?

That aside, what sort of computer and graphics card are you using? It's beginning to sound as if you might have a graphics card problem or some sort.

Eternal student in search of knowledge. But will settle for the occasional epiphany.
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dj trickdog
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Posted: 22nd Feb 2008 16:26 Edited at: 22nd Feb 2008 16:27
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nvidia 8600gt
ill check if they have forums


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Maxmax123
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Posted: 24th Feb 2008 16:47
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Ok good news, I fixed the deformations just dont play the LAST frame of the animation in dbpro
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dj trickdog
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Posted: 24th Feb 2008 17:53
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why doesnt Dark BASIC Professional not load Blender's X files correctly? there has to be a real answer to this, not something that MIGHT work or MIGHT not. Whats the true answer? Will this be fixed in next version of DBP?


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Opus
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Posted: 25th Feb 2008 05:14
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Sadly, I don't think that the next upgrade to DBPro will be any more friendly to Blender animation than the current version. There are several possible reasons for this. For one thing, The Game Creators are in the business of making a profit from making games.

This means that they concentrate on making DBPRo user friendly with the 3d programs that THEY earn a profit from selling FIRST.

Then there is the fact that there are a goodly number of 3d programs out there and TGC simply can't spend time tweaking DBPro to work with all of them. It seems to be a fact that not all .x files being produced by different 3d programs contain precisely the same data, packed in exactly the same way, not even when it is the same animation being produced!

As far as they [TGC] are concerned this is the fault of the Blender people for not making their .x files more user friendly with DBPro; as if the Blender people have ever even heard of DBPro! The Blender people have set Blender to produce the best .x files their program can, but I guarantee that none of them would know DBPro from Milkshape.

Still, obviously, some people HAVE managed to get their Blender produced animations to work with DBPro. Apparently the animation has to be absolutely spot on the way that DBPRo wants it to be before it will accept a Blender made animation and work with it properly. That's just the way it is.

I don't like it anymore than you do. Nobody is happy about this, not really.

Eternal student in search of knowledge. But will settle for the occasional epiphany.
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Phosphoer
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Posted: 29th Feb 2008 09:27
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So I've been trying for a while to get animation to work in Dark Basic from Blender, with no success.

BUT! *A light shines*, I realized I was using Dark Basic 1.055, and the newest is 1.066.

Curious, I download the new version, do the annoying cd verification for the first time in like 3 years, re-compile...and..LO! The model animates! Beautifully even xD.

All I did was use the default Blender 2.41 direct x exporter than comes with Blender 2.45, for settings choose "Anim, Swap ZY, Flip Z, BL.Normals, and Export All" I had the mesh and the armature selected, with the mesh as the active selection. I dunno if that matters or not. My bone names were "Base, propa, propb, propc, propd", with Weight values of 1.0. All vertices were assigned to a group and bone, all bones had baked keyframes. My armature was composed of 4 bones, one in the middle with four bones parented to it (it was a quad-copter model). Oh, and also I applied the scale and rotation to both my mesh and my armature, so that their locations, rotations, and scale were all 0.0, 1.0 for the scale.

Then after waiting for a full moon, I exported and it DIDN'T work with DBPro 1.055 but after upgrading to 1.066 it DID work. xD

Hopefully that will help you. I've noticed also that if you keep re-exporting and replacing the same .x file, the file starts getting corrupted, so you have to delete the file each time before you export again. A minor inconvenience.

Good luck! I'm off to spread the good news to my team-mates!

This is a random sentence about squirrels.
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Opus
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Posted: 29th Feb 2008 22:04
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Phosphoer, that's good information. Between this thread and the one already stickied, we might just have enough general information for someone to begin cobbling together a Blender animation .x to DBPro troubleshooting guide.

Of course when a poster says 'someone' he really means someone else do this because I'm too lazy to tackle it! That's pretty much me in a nutshell. But I really do think that between the two independent threads we have most of the answers now and if no one else tackles it in the near future, then I just might take a stab at producing a little from Blender to BDPro 'how to' manual for people like me, the terminally dense and clueless.

Well, I am such, and I see no point in pretending otherwise on the point; most of 3d stuff and programming stuff confuses the heck out of me no matter how much study and effort I put in to it!

Eternal student in search of knowledge. But will settle for the occasional epiphany.
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