Chiblue

Thanks, this is model is one I used for 3DWS and it worked very well... but I have many like these I built in 3D studio max a few years back, but now my version of 3D max does not work with Vista or windows 7 (version 2.5) and I am not going to pay $1,500 to upgrade.. It may have been the way I converted the models from 3D studio Max .max files... Anyway thanks a bunch and I look forward to more of your tutorials...

thanks

Attached is the blender file and dds, if I sent the wrong one let me know, I have been in and out of blender with these things trying different things.. By the way, what key do I use to set the origin position of a blender model? Also can you post your blender tutorial somewhere so I can download it I use it all the time for reference but the site it is on the active X or java plugin used does not allow positioning of the playback so I have to sit and wait for it to get to the appropriate point... sorry I got side tracked... bombedstable2.zip

I have a building model I created in blender, I then used UU3D to align the texture and export to GMF, I then created a MAT file for the texture.. But when I load the model into editor all I see is the model, i.e. no texture, infact if I deselect the model it disapears... in modelviewer I see nothing.. I attached the images from both uu3d and editor, this is the contents of my MAT file.. texture0="abstract::bombed_farm_buildings_D2.dds" shader="abstract::mesh_diffuse.vert","abstract::mesh_diffuse.frag" I know I am doing something wrong, I tried to attache the GMF but could not due to authorization..

Ok, thats cool... so I basically say I have a building that I want to be 1 story... 3metres or so, then scale it so the height it 3 grid block? Also, I imported my objects to blender, textured them, saved them as both a 3ds and a fbx, run them through the tools converter... then when I use them in editor, I do not get the texture image applied, I know I am doing something wrong, but what?

I am using blender to work on some .x objects I have been using the DBpro, the problem I have is that these objects come into blender very large, and to fit into the editor scale I need to scale them down... any suggestions on a starting point for this scaling would be helpful...

Do we have a fix to support the collisions on trees? this would be very helpful, also is there a work around? Still working on understanding this but is is not possible to just define the mesh as the collision object?

I enjoy C++ but I my favourite language is Java, not tried it, and not sure if it would be efficient enough for gaming.. maybe when I have some free days I will try it.... like thats going to happen...

I replaced the .phy with the one from the SDK and everything is working now...

Basically DP works for the most part, that said, the problems I had were with gravity and raycast, firstly gravity was extreme difficult to get right, you would up it to increase your model falling speed, but then you could not move objects... It was just a difficult thing to get the right feel with, the second issue and what really threw me off it was it's raycast, basically it does not work, it does not recognise collisions always, so you will be casting at a wall meshm some parts you get a collision other times not... if you change the angle the hits change.. So then I tried to use NGC and Sparkys both have raycast but no Physics, so I spent a few weeks trying to get one of them working with DP, it was a pain and would not work together well.. plus TGC never responded to me bug requests which was the last straw..

I am working through the models tutorial and I have my collisions and bodymass set, but the drums are not falling, I have also set the gravity high but still not happening... I did the character controller tutorial and the gravity worked perfectly, so what am I missing???

Very nice, I sneer mokingly in the general direction of Dark Physics But isn't that the point, you focus on gameplay and graphics not on building work arounds for bugsa in the physics engine...

Now that is the coolest thing, I love the momentum created by the movement... very nice... by the way it works now...lol

Actually I tired the positioning, but did not know about the bodymass but makes sense, thanks..

Now I feel really dumb... When I try the char. controller code... just after adding the character controllers.. I get the following screen, different from the one in the tutorial and the controller will not move... This is the code although at this point I copied and pasted the code as I could not see why... #include "engine.h" int main(int argc, char** argv) { Initialize(); //Create a graphics context Graphics(800,600); //Create a world if (!CreateWorld()) { MessageBoxA(0,"Error","Failed to create world.",0); goto exitapp; } //Create a camera TEntity cam=CreateCamera(); CameraClearColor(cam,Vec4(0,0,1,1)); PositionEntity(cam,Vec3(0,2,-10)); //Load a model TModel scene=LoadModel("scene.gmf"); if (scene==0) { MessageBoxA(0,"Error","Failed to load model.",0); goto exitapp; } EntityType(scene,2); Collisions(1,2,true); //Create a light TLight light=CreatePointLight(); PositionEntity(light,Vec3(0,5,0)); //Create a render buffer TBuffer buffer=CreateBuffer(800,600,BUFFER_COLOR|BUFFER_DEPTH|BUFFER_NORMAL); TController player=CreateController(); EntityType(player,1); float move=0.0; float strafe=0.0; DebugPhysics(1); //Main loop while(!KeyHit(KEY_ESCAPE)) { //Player movement move=KeyDown(KEY_W)-KeyDown(KEY_S); strafe=KeyDown(KEY_D)-KeyDown(KEY_A); //Set controller input UpdateController(player,0.0,move,strafe); //Update the world UpdateWorld(); //Render the scene SetBuffer(buffer); RenderWorld(); //Render lighting SetBuffer(BackBuffer()); RenderLights(buffer); //Swap the front and back buffer Flip(); } exitapp: return Terminate(); }

Thanks guys I'm impressed with the turnaround... I though I had an excuse to waot till tomorrow...lol

Maybe it's me, but I seem to be struggling with media missing from the different tutorials... 1. The Power Tutorial, does not include the bamboo.dds file discusses, this also does not exist in 3DWS as I own a licensed copy... 2. The Character controller tutorial download does not include the concrete_floor01.mat file, giving me a white floor... This is all and I know it's minor but when you are trying to learn this stuff it's a little frustrating when you have to stop working through the tutorial to see if you messed up.. Or maybe there is something else I need to download.. Thanks, sorry to be a pain..

One thing I always seem to struggle with it timing in my animation sequences, when I have a character walki v or running say, it always seems too fast to too sloe does anyone have any information that would give me some clues on how to place the key frames so that my animation flows at normal speeds?

As a side not, I have not tried this yet for LE Editor, so what is the best method to get models and animation from blender into Editor, or in the LE Engine, I did not see a GMF export option on blender?

Many of the Model packs also have reasonable buildings in them, these are basically tectured models which have no inside detail, but to fill out a landscape they are very useful... there is on Arab/eastern pack that has several middle east building in it... Quality is ok, but like I said as fillins to populate a scene they are useful...

One thing I struggle with is all the key shortcuts... do you have a written up page or so of all the most used ones, I found several online but they are all 10-12 pages and what would be cool given you experience is the shortcuts you find the most useful to remember... the Alt-B was a great hint.... did not kow about that... and man does it help..

It works ok, for animations and models? also what formats?

I have FPS creator and a few model packs, for the most part the weapons are ok, they are much better in quality than those available in the Dark Matter packs. Personally my favorite is the G3.. from my days running around multiplayer maps in COD4... As far as using in a game, I find that the animations are a little limited... like there is no FPS crawl, Sighted, running etc... the other gotya is that the HUD model for these weapons, that include the hands and the animations are all different hand/arm textures... So when you go in and clean up the gun, you should look at this to consider the clothing of your character... I have also found that the only way I have been able to load the models and animation intact was into FRAGMotion ($50). But as I said the animations are a little limited, I will also take the models, load them into blender and than build my own animation sets to get a more applicable set of motions... also I add the muzzle flash, smoke, cartridge expelling into my blender animation, these are all done within the FPS creator game engine and can be a challenge to position then affectively... especially if you want more from your animation.. As far as formats, they are normally in .x or .dbo.. FRAGMotion will load the .x intact but it does strange things with the DBO files.. I have tried multiple other tools to load the .x like 3DS, Truespace, Blender without any luck, most error out on the import... so if you want to play around with these go get FRAGMotion you can use it for free for 30days... I was also told that "milkshape" will load them, I have not tried that...

Niosop, thanks what an awesome tutorial, clear, concise and amazingly helpful.. I used to do commercial archictural work in 3DS Max, about 10 years back (version 2.5) when I started looking at game development, I was going to use my 3DS Max (paid for in full $3,500)... But it will not run on Vista or Win 7, so I contact Autodesk and I was told upgrade oh and by the way the upgrade will be $1,500... Nice! So I have been looking for an animation and modeling tool that was inexpensive (given the fun aspect of this endeavor, not to mention the Wife.. ).. Anyway I looked at Truespace, not much luck with that and if you think the blender interface is complex, try truespace, and the bones system is very tricky to use... So I found blender, love the interface and the tools, but was struggling to get bones to attach to the mesh, now with your help.... got it immediately.. and I now have my animated character... So thanks for the tutorial and effort you put into it...

I should kick myself, when I was looking for a tool, I looked at many including LE, but because of the C base I was a little concerned, although I have several years of commercial C experience I did not want to get into the trap of focusing on technology, and sometimes that is unavoidable with C... well the **** we convince ourselves of.... At that time I was in a mental struggle between TGC and LE... and to this day I really don't know why I chose TGC, I think becuase of using DBPro custom GUI instead of MS VS GUI, funny thing is now all the reason I chose DBPro are the same reasons I like the LE product... go figure...