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A new look at the Tool

Hi,

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Inez Dias Posted Yesterday, 11:45 PM
QUOTE (damski62 @ Aug 1 2008, 04:09 AM)
How do you add locators in blender? ... can't find any mention of them.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

What Maya calls "Locator" is named "Empty" in Blender - or at least it's a similar thing. When you hit space bar you have that in the menu of objects you can insert into the scene.
The plugin converts those to Locators. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Thanks Inez <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/doff.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":doff" border="0" alt="doff.gif" />

damski.
 
<!--quoteo(post=271459:date=Jul 31 2008, 06:01 PM:name=Inez Dias)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Inez Dias @ Jul 31 2008, 06:01 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=271459"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'm so sorry.. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blush.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":eek:ops" border="0" alt="blush.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Nothing to be sorry about, <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/doff.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":doff" border="0" alt="doff.gif" /> thanks for working on this! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bow.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":bow" border="0" alt="bow.gif" />

<!--quoteo(post=271459:date=Jul 31 2008, 06:01 PM:name=Inez Dias)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Inez Dias @ Jul 31 2008, 06:01 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=271459"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I have one comment though: I don't think you usually need to do the unbinding / rebinding steps when editing a model that comes from POTC n the first place: the bindinding to the armature (bone numbers) should stay intact when going to VRML and back - can't you import VRML from the TOOL right into Blender ?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

That's where the canker gnaws... <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/modding.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":modding" border="0" alt="modding.gif" />

Blender 2.41 can export VRML97 files, but there isn't a VRML97 Importer that I can find for Blender 2.41,
however,
There is a VRML97 Importer for Blender 2.45, but the VRML97 Exporter on Blender 2.45 doesn't work...
You see my dilemna. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mybad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":facepalm" border="0" alt="mybad.gif" />

The only way I can get it thru all my Rube Goldberg steps is by importing the model into Blender2.41 as a Wavefront Object, and exporting it as a VRML97. I concur with Damski62's comment above about losing the info by converting to .obj, I think that probably is the problem. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/334_flashing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":flashing:" border="0" alt="334_flashing.gif" />

I want to try something and I'll let you know how it works out, or not. I want to take the Python Script for VRML97 Export out of the Blender 2.41 set up, and try adding it to a Blender 2.45 set up to see if that enables me to export a VRML97 that I can open in TOOL. If that does work I'll try downloading the VRML97 Importer that I found online and see if that works. In theory I should be able to save a gm as a VRML97 in TOOL, import it into Blender, make changes, and then export it in VRML97 into TOOL where I save it as a gm, and it works just like a standard POTC gm. It would be nice if it does work because, at least for the POTC models, it would save a lot of time and effort not having to raise the arms. What would be even better is if the locators for the swords and pistols were in the correct places as a result of this! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/shoot.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shoot:" border="0" alt="shoot.gif" /> <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/danse1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":dance" border="0" alt="danse1.gif" />

Time permitting, I'll give it a try and get back to you on my results. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/type_1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":nk" border="0" alt="type_1.gif" />

Thanks again for all your work on this! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/william.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":will" border="0" alt="william.gif" />
 
Have no idea what woke me up last night, but for whatever reason I got up around two in the morning, and in my semi-concious state I managed to pull myself over to the computer and try some things out. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/8q.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":8q" border="0" alt="8q.gif" />

Like everything in modding, there's good news and bad news, but overall the news is good. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/beer2.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":beer" border="0" alt="beer2.gif" />

As stated earlier, the vrml97 export in Blender 2.45 doesn't work for me, (I'll just reiterate that I don't necessarily know what I'm doing, and let it stand for the rest of this post. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dunno.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shrug" border="0" alt="dunno.gif" /> ) but I was able to take the Python script for vrml97 export from Blender 2.41 and use it to replace the vrml97 export in Blender 2.45. the good news is that it worked and I can now export vrml97 files with Blender 2.45

Encouraged by this, I downloaded the vrml97 Importer from this site; <a href="http://www2.inf.fh-brs.de/~mgante2s/vrml97_importer.html" target="_blank">http://www2.inf.fh-brs.de/~mgante2s/vrml97_importer.html</a>, and I'm happy to report that this works as well! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/danse1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":dance" border="0" alt="danse1.gif" />

For those who are keeping score at home, this means that I can both import and export vrml97 files into and out of Blender 2.45. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbs1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":2up" border="0" alt="thumbs1.gif" />

The bad news is that I still can't use TOOL to export stock POTC character models into Blender, edit the mesh and then export the mesh back to TOOL and save as a gm without binding the model. I still have to raise the models arms for importing into TOOL to get the models to work mostly properly. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdown.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":2dn" border="0" alt="thumbsdown.gif" /> (This is not a gripe against TOOL, the TOOL is doing what it was designed to do. If anything it is an indication that I'm too cheap to buy 3ds Max, which TOOL was designed to work with. Either that, or I'm doing something wrong... <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blush.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":eek:ops" border="0" alt="blush.gif" /> )

The really good news is that I am set up for when Inez sets up the GM Exporter so it works on character models, I'm all set! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/buds.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":drunk" border="0" alt="buds.gif" /> In the meantime I'm planning on working on a new model so I can get the hang of the features on Blender 2.45, and also seeing about creating a talking head for the Davy Jones model that I'm working on. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/type_1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":nk" border="0" alt="type_1.gif" />
 
I´m working on a ship model with 3ds max and when i export the model to vrml and load it in to the TOOL the left model side change to right model side!

Is it normal? Is this the wronf lightning problem?? Can it be?
 
<!--quoteo(post=272340:date=Aug 7 2008, 06:49 PM:name=yo ho ho)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (yo ho ho @ Aug 7 2008, 06:49 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=272340"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I´m working on a ship model with 3ds max and when i export the model to vrml and load it in to the TOOL the left model side change to right model side!

Is it normal? Is this the wronf lightning problem?? Can it be?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


Yo Ho Ho, <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheers" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" />

That sounds like the lighting problem to me. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/modding.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":modding" border="0" alt="modding.gif" />

Are you game to try an experiment? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/diomed.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":dio" border="0" alt="diomed.gif" /> I've had a theory on this that I've wanted to try with Blender, but I haven't had time to set up what needs to be done to try it out.

In Blender, you can select the mesh and duplicate it and this produces a duplicate model with the normals reversed. I'm anticipating that 3DS Max has the same feature in its array as well. I'm prefacing this with this message, <b>DON'T SAVE WHEN YOU TRY THIS!</b> <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/piratesing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shock" border="0" alt="piratesing.gif" /> I don't want to mess up anything you've been working on, and I have no idea if it will actually solve the problem or not. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dunno.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shrug" border="0" alt="dunno.gif" /> What I'm suggesting is you select the mesh, only the mesh of the ship's hull, not the camera or light source if they are present, duplicate it, delete the original mesh, select all for export, as vrml97, (I know the mesh looks backwards in the modeling program, but that's why this is an experiment...) Having exported the mesh, open it up in TOOL, leave reverse normals unchecked and export it as a gm.

If that doesn't work, try the same thing with reverse normals checked in TOOL.

Let us know if this gets a model without the reverse lighting problem or not. Comments that Kazeite and others have posted have lead me to believe that the above might solve this issue, and your comment tells me that you are in position to try this out. I'll stress again, <b>DON'T SAVE YOUR 3DS MAX SESSION WHEN YOU TRY THIS! </b> <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/piratesing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shock" border="0" alt="piratesing.gif" /> Either that or save a new copy to use to try this experiment. What I'm suggesting won't mess anything up, but I'd rather not make you lose any work that you've done already.


I have another update on my Blender experiments with Blender 2.45; the vrml97 importer only lets me import one model or mesh, and if I try to import a second vrml97 file it deletes the first one. Not cool! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/urgh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":urgh" border="0" alt="urgh.gif" /> The reason this is bad is because I'll import a couple of meshes to combine the parts, the Mad Jack and Davy Jones models are good examples of this as they are made up of parts of other models put onto a POTC model that serves as a frame. I'm trying a work-around for this by importing wavefront object, obj files, for the parts I want to attach to the model I'm using as the body-frame. I'll work on this as time permits and post any progress or results in here. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/type_1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":nk" border="0" alt="type_1.gif" />
 
i will try what you suggest,

but I think the problem is that the TOOL changes the sides automatically.

Perhaps INEZ can take a look at the TOOL Code and fix it.
 
The problem you're having sounds like the exact same issue Kazeite had with the Black Pearl as well.
We still don't know exactly what's going on there. :wacko":
 
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