exporting the demo soldier to blender ?
by lokii · in Artist Corner · 07/21/2014 (7:24 am) · 17 replies
I wish to export the demo soldier provided with torque 3D MIT into Blender (collada format). The aim is to design objects with this character as a size refeference so that all the objects (plants, houses, etc.)are scaled into blender directly according it.
I used the "export to collada" command provided in the file menu but the file seems to be empty.
Does someone has any idea if
1) this is possible to do this
2) if the answer is yes, how to do this
Hope someone could help
I used the "export to collada" command provided in the file menu but the file seems to be empty.
Does someone has any idea if
1) this is possible to do this
2) if the answer is yes, how to do this
Hope someone could help
About the author
Basically an traditional artist (graphics, sculpting) I'm now turning to learn 3D arts (sculpting, 3D design, texturing, rigging, etc.).. I also wish to apply these arts to computer games.
#3
.fbx support seems to have more priority by far right now.
08/22/2014 (8:27 am)
last time I tried, the mesh imported fine but the rig and animations had issues due to an incomplete collada imported in Blender. There were some significant changes to it a while back, IIRC around 2.63, I had some better results with previous versions, so yeah the collada support in Blender is a work in progress and not too much is going on in that regard..fbx support seems to have more priority by far right now.
#4
Brut its true that it would be useful for me to import the complete rig (to learn the way it is rigged and armature/rig structure...).
If I understand well ... better import the collada model into another 3d modeller (e.g. maya), and then save it as a FBX.Then import it in Blender...
Blender is now on version 2.71 and is quickly changing. It would be interesting to assess regularly this point important because import/export is a crucial one.
08/22/2014 (8:51 am)
fortunately I use this model only for size reference...Brut its true that it would be useful for me to import the complete rig (to learn the way it is rigged and armature/rig structure...).
If I understand well ... better import the collada model into another 3d modeller (e.g. maya), and then save it as a FBX.Then import it in Blender...
Blender is now on version 2.71 and is quickly changing. It would be interesting to assess regularly this point important because import/export is a crucial one.
#5
Works fairly well.
08/22/2014 (12:49 pm)
Autodesk makes a FBX->DAE converter tool - http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?siteID=123112&id=22694909Works fairly well.
#6
When I try to convert the dae to fbx then import it in blender I only gets the models (no armatures).
08/22/2014 (2:34 pm)
humm... seems not to work... In blender when I try to import the dae I get the models and an armature (riggd and skinned). Not the animations though. When I try to convert the dae to fbx then import it in blender I only gets the models (no armatures).
#7
08/22/2014 (2:48 pm)
Hmm. I was exporting the other direction - 3DS MAX 7 -> FBX -> new FBX -> DAE.... lol
#8
08/22/2014 (3:40 pm)
Don't know much FBX (don't use it much). You mean there is an old and a new FBX format?
#9
08/22/2014 (4:39 pm)
Yup - that converter only converts newer FBX formats to DAE. Fortunately, it also converts older FBX formats to newer formats....
#10
08/25/2014 (5:33 am)
Did you try converting the dae to fbx with the tool linked above? Might be possible to import the animations into blender this way.
#11
It seems to me that the best result is import directly the dae : at least you get the armature (the model is rigged and skinned ready to be posed)... With the fbx you don't have the armature (as far as I can see).
Concerning the animations : i tried to import 2 of them in blender and got very short action sequences... But Did not explore too much in this direction...
Also sometimes actions have to be rescaled in time...
08/25/2014 (8:04 am)
I did both : importing directly the dae and the fbx into blender (using the converter to get the fbx file). It seems to me that the best result is import directly the dae : at least you get the armature (the model is rigged and skinned ready to be posed)... With the fbx you don't have the armature (as far as I can see).
Concerning the animations : i tried to import 2 of them in blender and got very short action sequences... But Did not explore too much in this direction...
Also sometimes actions have to be rescaled in time...
#12
08/25/2014 (8:44 am)
Yeah looks like better .fbx support is in the next (2.72) version of Blender I now read.
#13
Importing fbx seems to have much lower priority for the Blender developers, so don't hold your breath to have it working soon.
There is another fbx importer that uses the autodesk sdk though... have not tried it yet, but I am doubtful it will work much better:
http://blenderfbx.render.jp/home (Edit: Tried, doesn't import animations either, just the start frame; tried converting in various ways with noesis also but it doesn't work either).
11/18/2014 (4:16 pm)
Ok I converted it with the autodesk fbx tool and tried to import it into Blender 2.72b, but the rig is still pretty mangled up, so no luck yet.Importing fbx seems to have much lower priority for the Blender developers, so don't hold your breath to have it working soon.
There is another fbx importer that uses the autodesk sdk though... have not tried it yet, but I am doubtful it will work much better:
http://blenderfbx.render.jp/home (Edit: Tried, doesn't import animations either, just the start frame; tried converting in various ways with noesis also but it doesn't work either).
#14
Would be great if someone could help with that! Thx.
11/20/2014 (7:34 am)
Ok right now there seems to be no way to get it into Blender, which is a real pity. The only thing I could imagine might work is if someone with a 3DSmax license would export the animations to the Valve .smd format, because the importer for that works nicely in Blender the last time I checked. Would be great if someone could help with that! Thx.
#16
Edit: Ahh I see, the one included (but disabled) in the latest Blender release. Let me try it with that one.
Edit2: Ok that one works a bit better, but also only imports the first frame of the animation it seems (although it could be that the .dae to .fbx convert removes the other ones as the file size is only half; but that might also be because of the more efficient binary .fbx format?). The rig is also not very re-uasable as the bone orintations are all wrong with that importer; but it looks like this is on the right track.
11/21/2014 (6:40 am)
No, the other one I mentioned was an older one based on the Autodesk SDK. Which is the "experimental" one you are talking about?Edit: Ahh I see, the one included (but disabled) in the latest Blender release. Let me try it with that one.
Edit2: Ok that one works a bit better, but also only imports the first frame of the animation it seems (although it could be that the .dae to .fbx convert removes the other ones as the file size is only half; but that might also be because of the more efficient binary .fbx format?). The rig is also not very re-uasable as the bone orintations are all wrong with that importer; but it looks like this is on the right track.
#17
Maybe its just a problem of where the anim is on the time line (some anims seems to be very far away in the time line)... (to grab it near the first keyframes grab the entire keyframes : g key in the dope sheet)
Also in the dope sheet try to zoom into the anim keyframes to see if the anim is not too much compressed in time... In this case the anim must be rescaled in time...(s key in the dope sheet)
I'm just at the beginning of my way to learn the anim in blender... maybe I'm wrong on this point... check it on your side...
11/21/2014 (7:39 am)
Did you check in depth the animations keyframes?Maybe its just a problem of where the anim is on the time line (some anims seems to be very far away in the time line)... (to grab it near the first keyframes grab the entire keyframes : g key in the dope sheet)
Also in the dope sheet try to zoom into the anim keyframes to see if the anim is not too much compressed in time... In this case the anim must be rescaled in time...(s key in the dope sheet)
I'm just at the beginning of my way to learn the anim in blender... maybe I'm wrong on this point... check it on your side...
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