No, i'm not dead [Maintainer

#1 ...

#2 Nice!

I can't thank you enough for creating the exporter James.

I would like to see the "Yoon blend hack" incorporated. Or anything to make the blend animations work correctly (sofar I haven't been able to get them working for me, but that might just be me:) )

#3 James, you will have a credit in our game under Tools Programmer. You will also receive a complimentary copy, of course.

#4 Ok, an update for you guy's:

- I have created installer scripts for each platform torque supports (Windows, Mac, and Linux), which should simplify any installation issues any new users may have.
- I'm partway in coding in support for the dts morph code resource. Hopefully, i will be able to use this to support exporting Relative Vertex Keys from blender.
- I'm probably going to include VTK with the next release, so you can all use triangle strips in your models without cryptically trying to install it :)
- I'm aiming to incorporate support for generating TSE Materials.

Thats about it for now.

@ Joseph:

Looks like i'll have to redo the detail level code to compensate for that rather odd error :)

#5 ...

#6 Welocme back James... i've an idea that "should" (i'm not a programmer so i don't really know...;) ) be easy to add:

Reading here and there I've noticed that Blender has not smoothing groups or "hard and soft" edges, but i think there's a solution:
We have edge creases (from 2.35 on). Could you James take in account edge crease as a flag for deciding if it's an hard or soft edge?
E.g. when an edge has: crease=0.00 -> hard edge if it has crease>0.00 (or =1.00, your choice) -> soft edge.
What do you think about it?

Thanks for the exporter anyway, you gave great boost to my creativity!!!

#7 Andrea,

"Edge Creases" are only used in conjunction with the subsurf - if you want to emulate smooth groups, you should split your mesh up instead.

Although in the future, it would be interesting to generate normal maps of subsurf'd meshes and use their non-subsurf'd base mesh for torque - could open up some interesting possibilities (in TSE).

#8 Think i've not explained me well... I know that edge creases work only on Sub surfed meshes in blender, i was only proposing (now that meshes are edge based and not only vertex based) using that information (edge creases) to say to the exporter which edge is smooth and which not, even if blender interpretes it as something different... Excuse for my horrible english if I cannot make mysrelf explained.
It doesn't matter in which way blender understand the crease, is imporant how the exporter interpretates that information... hope made myself explained

thanks for replaying...
Andrea

P.S.: i've used the tecnique of splitting mesh, but i've come up with a problem, object farer are drawed over object nearer in torque, producing an ugly result!!

#9 Yet another update:

- Whilst i have preliminary support for the DTS Morph resource, blender currently doesn't seem to expose RVK's to the python api, so i'm pretty much stuck on that front.
- I'm re-organizing the gui to take into account new features that have arisen in the python api since i did the last gui retrofit (plus the code was starting to look ugly). If anyone has any suggestions on how to improve the gui, don't hesitate to tell me.
- I'm experimenting using blender's math functions in an attempt to speed up the export process (native code has *got* to be faster than python script).
- The in-built decimator (which was supposed to reduce mesh polygons for the "Auto Detail" code) stub has been removed; I will leave this functionality to other scripts.
- The detail level code has been altered slightly, with new "Collision" and "LineOfSight" markers deprecating the "Los" and "Col" markers. Detail levels are now also more strict about what goes into them (more on this later).
- The exporter code in general has been partially been rewritten to be a bit more modular.
- I have re-done the bone export code. I'm also aiming to address the "My armature just screwed up" problem if possible, but i've not got round to that bit yet :)
(NOTE: i'm waiting till the next blender release to address any new incompatibilities with the armature api)

#10 Great to hear, sounds like some good stuff.

#11

Quote:I'm partway in coding in support for the dts morph code resource. Hopefully, i will be able to use this to support exporting Relative Vertex Keys from blender.

Does this mean we will be able to export keyframed vertex animations? That would be really good, because then one could bake softbody animations for use in game......

#12 Nigel,

Whilst you can have vertex animation in a .dts, it takes up quite alot of space - plus its aparently not encouraged anymore (so, no, i'm not supporting that).
What is more interesting is Relative Vertex Keys, which pretty much act like Morph Targets in other modelling tools. You set keys in your mesh, and "fade" then in/out using keyframes in the Action editor, which is pretty much useful for, say, facial animation.

#13 What/Where is the latest version of the Exporter. I figured I would try to mess around with Blender.

Thanks

#14 Michael,

The current version is located at the resource page, located here.
I'm still working on the update, but when i finish it (with sufficient testing), i will update the resource page accordingly.

#15 Thanks. I saw that resource and didn't see the update farther down.

#16 Is the update still progressing, or has James been consumed by Constructor?

#17 Issues I've found:
in Torque Show Tool Pro it's not detecting a Pixel size for objects made with blender.
therefore it doest automatically change the levels of detail. you have to use the slider.
is there a neccessary detail marker for this that may be missed? like a node named something?

from what i've learned the "my model is just screwed up"
it usually happens when you try to edit the mesh or armature while its still parented.
so unlink the mesh from the armature, and unparent the armature from the detail node/empty before changing anything. then you will have to reparent it back once changes are made.
for some reason the children will adopt/use the Local cordinates and rotation of the parent;
so if you try to rotate X on a still parented child, it will rotate around the Parents X axis, not its (the childs) own X axis.

drooling and waiting for Morph Targets :)
dont get me wrong, Baking did work and yes it DID work for facial expressions/talking or cloth motion. That's the way all actions were recorded for Quake 1 if i remeber correctly. I see no reason to drop that feature.
if people dont want it, dont use it. but the option is great, Especially with Blenders new soft body capabilities. Torque has flowing clothes... flowing hair while running! ...but only with the baked actions.

@James, thanks for all you hard work. This tool is indespensible in my game content creation. I've switched to Blender because of it's ease. If this LOD issue gets solved, I know im sending you a large Paypal gift$.

#18 Any news James?

#19 Yes, please... :)
Will we have a new exporter for Blender 2.4 and TGE 1.4?