Planet Descent

Development => Descent Development => Topic started by: (LL)Atan on November 12, 2010, 08:59:54 AM

Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: (LL)Atan on November 12, 2010, 08:59:54 AM
Topic split from 'Descent 3 Advanced Tutorials...' (http://www.planetdescent.net/index.php?topic=544.0) and quote added by WillyP
Yeah, but I really don't think D3Edit really needed to be that complicated, and I know there are people out there who agree, or at the very least can relate. Like I said, Blender can do a lot of the same things and more a heck of a lot easier.

And the thought has already crossed my mind to just build it all in Blender then piece it together in D3Edit, as that would be much easier for me. Unfortunately, there is the issue of converting files so that both programs could read them, and the sad truth is that I don't know many means of doing it, at least not with Blender. Granted, I once found a converter program that could do it, but it'd cost me fifty bucks to get the full version just so I could use it, and I wasn't willing to pay it.  :-X

Maybe that can be Atan's next project, figure out some way to get D3Edit to work around that issue...whatever the case, if it can be I would be forever indebted to that person. :P


if I translate and understand it right, you would like to own an importer tool (D3Edit-function) to read in / convert an blender object (Room) into D3Edit.
And you are talking about something like a room-shell, no objects inside etc. Did I understand that well?
Hm, I must think over that, needs to understand Blender specs first, and as I read a way down: time, lot of time :)

As for the usage of D3Edit, the day I started with D3Edit, I throw this program out of the window.
It wasn't that what I learned to use, tons of hours before, I mean usage of Devil and DMB II.
I couldn't produce a simple cube, I couldn't make a face and crash over crashes. I just was really frustrated and went back to Devil and D2/D1.

In the meantime we are far far away from such issues. Nearly one click only, and you own your complex room /object structures. And it's easy to put these parts together for a level/mission.
No doubt, this tool needs some time to be ready to handle it well, but it's a very complex tool, containing a lot of functionality you may find in high cost soft only.
On the other hand, it's exactly this what makes D3Edit not easy to use because you need to find out how to use these fine things first.
I try to write some things down and place it at Fischleins, but there comes the time factor into the game again...

But the very basics you may produce in such a short time these days, just give it a try. :)


Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: Pumo on November 12, 2010, 10:52:49 AM
Just as a side note, Pumo Mines' robots, reactors and turrets were made on D3Edit ;)

It's not the greatest interface ever and is not easy either, but when you compare it to Polytron, D3Edit is heaven. :)

Although I had to use lot of convertors to export the models to D2, it worths it.
All with its ups and downs, D3Edit is a pretty decent program (at least for me).
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: Skyalmian on November 12, 2010, 11:21:36 AM
Heh... I find this site/thread after making this post earlier today...:

Quote from: Skyalmian @https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=852227#p852227
The Toshiba mk3263gsx 320GB HDD has Windows 7 on it with only 1 primary partition.
The Hitachi hd20500 500GB HDD that has Arch Linux 64 on it has  4 primary partitions (/boot (ext2), swap, / (ext4), /home (ext4)).

Although I considered it for a long time back in April 2010 when I was getting ready to set up the new Hitachi hard drive, I decided that if I really want to to play games, or do level design and testing for them, I can just swap out hard drives. As of late I've been on the Windows drive for just that reason. I have 7+ year old Descent 3 projects I had abandoned in 2003, zipped into a file, given to a friend, and subsequently forgotten about, until this year. Plus, restarting them but using Blender instead (in Arch of course) and in the process learning said utility would be educational. :)

Of said project, the first level was 100% finished in 2003, the third was 80%, the second was around 50%, and the fourth was around 10%. I don't remember why it was abandoned exactly, but it undoubtedly had to do in part with 1.4 model bugs and probably being "too lazy" at the time to simply have all custom models match vanilla ones...

Hmm.

In the event that I decide to drop it again, I'll just archive and post everything [needed to recreate / continue it] online this time.

^ I have no issue doing that with Lunar Outpost MN0019 which I was making an "extended" edition of at the same time, but which I don't intend to resume now or in the future. It was more of the same, basically, but in the vein of being more complete to reflect the 30-floor "Lunar Outpost MN0012" mine from the novel Descent.
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: SaladBadger on November 12, 2010, 11:39:38 AM
It's not the greatest interface ever and is not easy either, but when you compare it to Polytron, D3Edit is heaven. :)
Polytron is an absolute mess and if I get off my butt and actually work on my new set of D2 editor tools, I intend to simply provide export scripts for popular modelers. I don't understand how anyone ever used Polytron, to be honest. The workflow is just senseless.

Using exporters would save many a ton of sanity.
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: Skyalmian on November 12, 2010, 04:29:34 PM
What I'll do for proper scaling in Blender: 1) export the default Pyro-GL model 2) export a perfect 20x20x20 unit cube created in D3Edit. Then scale Blender grid as necessary and use snap-to-grid.

If I remember right "dxf2orf" has this nasty bug where half of all imported orfs have their normals/faces facing the wrong way... I had spent a lot of time flipping faces in D3Edit from that...
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: Babylon on November 12, 2010, 08:10:55 PM
Face normals are perfectly preserved when converting from Blender to D3 Edit.  Just make sure that they're pointing the right way in Blender and they will point the right way in D3 Edit (i.e. turn off Blender's double sided normals so you can actually see which way they are pointing in Blender).  You will want to triangulate your faces before exporting, though; 1) so you don't exceed the 3,000 polygon .orf limit, and 2) because square faces export as triangles, meaning that you will have to rebuild them (easy to do, time consuming in practice).  The only thing strange about the import of a Blender model into D3 Edit is the orientation of the model - it will end up rotated 90o downward (on its face) and mirrored along the x-axis.  Both are simple issues to fix, though.

The size scale remains exactly the same, so you can save yourself the time of converting the Pyro and importing it into Blender just by knowing the radius of the model (6.79 units, ~7u).  Since Descent 3 does collision detection by spheres, just create a sphere in Blender with a radius of 7 units, and that should serve perfectly as the model to scale your creations by.

...yeah, I think I'll draw up tutorials for all this stuff, and more.  Like seemingly everyone else, the issue will be finding time.  xD  I hate working Saturdays.  :<
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: Skyalmian on November 12, 2010, 11:00:02 PM
I didn't blame Blender there, and didn't use it back then (2003) at all. (Miscommunications.) It must have been the to-dxf export tool I had at the time that exported Descent 1/2 cubes (that's what was used to make all the Descent 1-like tunnels in MN0019), not the dxf-to-orf mention. :-X

Quote
The size scale remains exactly the same, so you can save yourself the time of converting the Pyro and importing it into Blender just by knowing the radius of the model (6.79 units, ~7u).  Since Descent 3 does collision detection by spheres, just create a sphere in Blender with a radius of 7 units, and that should serve perfectly as the model to scale your creations by.
Did not know; t.y. :)

Quote
so you don't exceed the 3,000 polygon .orf limit
I definitely remember that; when I hit it several times working on Lunar Outpost MN0019... I don't remember any other limitations; is there a list somewhere?
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: Scyphi on November 13, 2010, 08:44:39 AM
@ Atan: yeah, that's what I'm saying exactly. If you can't pull it off though, that's okay. :)

@ Pumo: I buy that, I never did figure out how to use Polytron no matter how hard I tried, so I could see how D3Edit would be much better. :P

@ Insanity Bringer: Yeah, we could use a new set of D2 editing tools. Most of the already existing ones don't even seem to still work on modern systems anymore (at least all of mine don't) including Hoggle, which is a pity, as I loved that program. 'Course, DLE-XP can do the same things already, but hey. :)

@ Babylon: Wait...you mean to tell me that it's already possible to open up D3Edit files in Blender? How? Last time I investigated this, I was told it couldn't be done unless the files were converted in such a way before opening it up in either one of the programs. I mean, you could open up the file in one program, but not the other, until you converted it into a certain format. And like I said earlier, I did not know of any tools that could make the necessary conversions save one, the one that would've cost me fifty bucks to buy.

@ Skyalmian: I think he was referring to me with those comments.

Now, @...oh no wait, that's everyone, never mind. :P
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: Babylon on November 13, 2010, 03:48:53 PM
If I remember correctly, the limits of an .orf are 3,000 polygons, 10,000 vertices (64 vertices max per face), and 2600 unique textures.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Yeah, if a converter straight from any of Blender's exports to .orf was made, I'd be happy beyond measure.  The current way I convert is exporting a .raw from Blender, importing that into MilkShape and exporting it then as a .dxf, ending with using the DXF2ORF converter. (Blender -> .raw -> Milkshape -> .dxf -> DXF2ORF -> .orf)  It's a shame that although Blender does export .dxf files, their type is different than the one used by DXF2ORF.  I'm sure there are other methods of conversion around, but I haven't felt like scouring the internet for one when the method I use works well for me.

My to-do list, then:

(Easy) Creating Basic Room Geometry: Working with Vertice/Face Modes
(Easy) Creating More Geometry with D3 Edit's Tools
(Easy) A Guide to Understanding Portals
(Easy) A Guide to Level Textures: Alignment and Lights
(Hard) Terrain and the Geometry Thereupon

(Easy) Importing Custom Assests

(Easy) Creating Textures
(Hard) Creating Animated Textures
(Advanced) Creating Textures with Transparency

(Easy) Creating a Basic Energy Weapon
(Hard) Creating a Missile with Spawns
(Advanced) Creating a Muzzleflash
(Advanced) Creating a High-Rez Beam Weapon

(Easy) Creating Powerups
(Easy) Creating Clutter Objects
(Hard) Creating a Custom Door
(Hard) Creating a Custom Robot
(Hard) Creating Cascades
(Advanced) Creating Breakable Glass (non-scripted)

(Hard) Creating Fake Light Volumes
(Advanced) High Detail Level Lighting
(Advanced) Preserving and Enhancing Level Shadows

(bugs) How to Avoid/Fix "Error: couldn't find a free polymodel"
(bugs) Saturation Washout: What It is and Tips to Avoid It
(bugs) Saturation Washout: Tips to Exploiting It

(Reference Library for Texture GAM Entry)
(Reference Library for Weapon GAM Entry)
(Reference Library for Door GAM Entry)
(Reference Library for Generic Object GAM Entry)
(Reference Library for the Generic Object GAM "Animations" Section)

Let me know if there was anything else that you didn't understand, or wanted to know.
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: (LL)Atan on November 14, 2010, 03:14:25 AM
Here the values I put together over the years.
I'm not 100% sure if all is correct, but it's better than nothing so I believe.
Sorry for the bad formating, I just copy and paste the list.
You may find this and other information at http://www.descent3fischlein.de/home.html -> D3Edit too.
I didn't translate all tutorial and info stuff into English there, just look into, and see what's possible maybe of interest for you. (D3Edit-Users)


Quote
Mine:

MAX_LEVELS_PER_MISSION     30
   
MAX_ROOMS                           400   // 0-399 ( Mine rooms )
MAX_PALETTE_ROOMS            50    // max number of loaded rooms (400-449)
MAX_OBJECTS                           1500   // total number of objects in world

MAX_POLY_MODELS            1000   // total number of POLY_MODELS in world

MAX_ACTIVE_DOORWAYS   100   // specific doors inside mine
MAX_DOORS                            60    // predefined Doors useable by Editor
MAX_TRIGGERS                   100   

MAX_PATHS                           100   
MAX_PATH_PORTALS           40   
MAX_GAME_PATHS                   300   
MAX_NODES_PER_PATH           100   

MAX_GOAL_ITEMS                   12   
MAX_LEVEL_GOALS                   32   
MAX_GOAL_LISTS                   4   
MAX_WAYPOINTS                   25   

MAX_SOUNDS                           1000   
      
Rooms:      
      
MAX_REGIONS_PER_ROOM   200   // Facestructures, not connected to room shell
MAX_FACES_PER_ROOM           3000   

MAX_VERTS_PER_ROOM           10000   
MAX_BNODES_PER_ROOM   127   

      
Faces:      
      
MAX_VERTS_PER_FACE           64   

Textures:      
      
MAX_BITMAPS                           5000   // Mine
MAX_TEXTURES                   2600   // Room
MAX_VCLIPS                           200           // OAF
VCLIP_MAX_FRAMES                50           // oaf-Frames
MAX_BUMPMAPS                   500   
MAX_FORCE_FIELD_BOUNCE_TEXTURES   3   // TF_FORCEFIELD
MAX_SPECIAL_FACES           13000   // TF_METAL + TF_MARBLE | TF_PLASTIC
      
Objects:      
      
MAX_MODEL_TEXTURES          35   
MAX_POLYGON_VECS          2500   
MAX_DETAIL_LEVELS          3   
MAX_PROP_LEN                  256   
MAX_NAME_LEN                  32   
MAX_GROUND_PLANES_PER_MODEL   10   
MAX_GUNS_PER_MODEL          64   
MAX_SUBOBJECTS                  30   
MAX_POINTS_PER_SUBOBJECT   300   
MAX_WB_GUNPOINTS         8   
MAX_WB_FIRING_MASKS         8   

MAX_WB_TURRETS                 8
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: Skyalmian on November 14, 2010, 06:15:12 AM
* scratches head in perplexity.

I wonder why Outrage did that... Those values are so low and artificial that they have me wondering why they even bothered going through the process of making them. It would not make sense for them to be specifically for graphical, memory, etc. issues crashing the game due to low hardware, as over time hardware improves and crashes etc. are not 100% preventable anyway. Maybe these were their own in-house development limitations forced into the game and all future additions to...or the Fusion engine is not a very solid one in spite of its advanced state at the time. I still disagree; plain integers with default values such as 32768 or 65536 should have worked fine then, unless I'm missing something 1998-hardware-wise that would be cause for these. Either way, the less limitations, the more active and longterm third party development is over time... What was the cause for 1.4 custom model issues? -- I don't remember exactly but I think it was going over an internal limit caused by the Mercenary expansion filling up most of the slots. If correct, that's one good example.

Quote
Here the values I put together over the years. I'm not 100% sure if all is correct, but it's better than nothing so I believe.
Thank you for this list. :)
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: Scyphi on November 14, 2010, 06:21:18 AM
Quote from: Skyalmian
...or the Fusion engine is not a very solid one in spite of its advanced state at the time.

What clued you in? :P Sorry, but it's been pretty well know for awhile now that the Fusion Engine has always had it's...issues that the Descent community has just had to deal with for now. :)
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: (LL)Atan on November 14, 2010, 09:47:21 AM
Could someone offer me one or two descent3 related .blend file(s) for some tests please?
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: Babylon on November 14, 2010, 12:26:51 PM
http://www.wikiupload.com/XYIP4FR5074SXZQ

One is simple geometry, the other is complex geometry that exceeds 3,000 triangles.  Hopefully this helps.
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: (LL)Atan on November 15, 2010, 07:29:12 AM
Thank you, I downloaded the file.
Will take some time to start with that importer. Let's see if I can do that one then, not sure about.
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: (LL)Atan on November 22, 2010, 11:13:19 AM
hmm, not really what you did in blender..
It's just a first try..
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: Scyphi on November 23, 2010, 07:58:22 AM
Ooh, but this looks promising nonetheless. :D
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: Babylon on November 24, 2010, 04:59:59 PM
Actually, that looks exactly like what I did in Blender (besides the axis alignment).

I'm amazed!  You really work wonders, Atan.
Title: Importing to D3Edit from Blenderrials...
Post by: (LL)Atan on November 26, 2010, 10:38:14 AM
This should be better placed inside development I believe :)

The Axis problem is solved, and better.. I had some more progress today.
While importing the mesh I reduced as may triangle-faces to quad-faces as I could. (where possible)
This way I reduced the max face count so I could import your ship now.  You would still have to eliminate the faults out of your orf file now. I hope you can see the text inside the verify list box.
Double verts, concave face, t-joints and so on.
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Babylon on November 26, 2010, 02:07:53 PM
Awsome. :D  It already looks like a perfect converter.
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Scyphi on November 27, 2010, 08:26:35 AM
Looking very nice, this appears to be working out a lot better than I was expecting. :D
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: (LL)Atan on November 30, 2010, 07:36:20 AM
@Babylon & Scyphi

Do you any texturing with Rooms/Objects created for Descent3 inside Blender?

And, you should scale your planned oof's >= 20 units !!
and not to the real size it should own inside Descent3 later.
This is very importing because D3Edit can't handle such small things well.

You can/ you should resize the Object with OOFEditor later to the wanted small size. Please keep this in mind.
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Scyphi on November 30, 2010, 07:41:04 AM
@ Atan: I have not actually made anything in Blender to use in D3 as of yet, due to the conversion issue (that you have now resolved, thank you :D), but I imagine I would only build the models in Blender then texture them in D3Edit.
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Kaiaatzl on November 30, 2010, 10:54:19 AM
I'll have to start learning Blender now (it is freeware, right?  That's the impression I got from my google search.)

It's about time I learned it...
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Babylon on November 30, 2010, 04:14:57 PM
I hate Blender's method of texturing; I always texture in D3 Edit instead.  Blender is just my modeling tool when I want to make something complex.

@Alter-Fox: Yes, Blender (http://www.blender.org/) is entirely free.
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Scyphi on December 01, 2010, 07:41:08 AM
That's what's so cool about it. :D
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: (LL)Atan on December 01, 2010, 09:56:11 AM
Quote
That's what's so cool about it
that's D3Edit too, zero costs :)
and almost all the things you need for Descent-D3-Editing can be done with it. You would need no other tools if you would take the time and learn the usage.
Be aware which version of Blender you will use, if your idea is to import things for D3 later.
The D3Edit Blender converter supports up to latest stable 249 Blender version (only).
There are changes in the new versions > 249 which will make importing by D3Edit impossible for now. Maybe I can fix that, if there will be a stable final 2.5, later.

@Scyphi  &  Babylon
As I can see there would be no need for importing Materials and UV's, this makes it easier.
I have still to implement a switch so you can choose between Quad- or triangle faces while importing
and sure some mores 'fuses' so D3Edit will not crash by incoming values which not fit into the Descent3 system.
Maybe I will do a little tutorial how to use this new function and some related things around.
I'll give you a note if I will throw a Import-Blender beta. You may have seen that D3Edit own an update feature, that's the moment to try it out then :)

I used a few clicks with D3Edit texturing features to produce this little example. Not release-able, just to show some texture alignments with  the converted ship.
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Babylon on December 01, 2010, 07:11:25 PM
D3 Edit is an amazing tool for modding Descent 3.  I still use it for most of my level geometry.  Where it fell short for me was in creating detailed geometry, or level concepts.  That's when now I turn to Blender: whether I need to model a complex electricity explosion or a smooth cave interior with stalagmites, it's just easier to use Blender.  Importing right now is a little complicated and time consuming.  That's the main reason I'm so excited about this converter.

...and it looks awsome and ready to go.  ^^;
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Scyphi on December 02, 2010, 07:52:24 AM
For me, it's just a simple fact that I figured out how to use Blender sooner than I figured out D3Edit, so it'd be easier for me to just use Blender for the building. :P
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: (LL)Atan on December 03, 2010, 09:28:35 AM
One more example to see.
Here I converted 3ds file to blender (249) and imported to D3Edit.
With D3Edit I cleaned, textured and aligned the orf then.
Done that, I copied all faces, mirrored the orf, and inserted the marked faces again.

The importer looks for too much vertices and faces, let you choose triangle or quad faces to construct.
I will do some more test before I release the beta.
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: -<WillyP>- on December 03, 2010, 09:37:10 AM
Now that would be a scary d3 bot... a giant pair of hands coming down from the sky *smack*!
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: (LL)Atan on December 04, 2010, 05:24:25 AM
@ WillyP
 this reminds me on the Bot I did for BlownStarship where it was just designed as deco.
One day I made it walking and more, and inserted it into one of the MaS testlevel without telling something about to Dark.
So he was test-flying the level and turning around a corner and suddenly this Bot stand in front of him.
Dark told me that he was flying near to the bot to see how it looks like as this bot-guy suddenly moves one of his arms and throw Dark a mortar grenade directly in his face.
Wow, what a cool moment that was.., I believe ;)

@ Babylon and Scyphi
I uploaded the D3Edit build 48 to the upload server and mailed Fischlein a new tutorial about the Blender Mesh Import function.
I don't believe that the tutorial is needed because the function is very easy to use.
But you will see the needed rules to follow there again.

Hope I could help you ahead with this importer, it's not perfect for sure, but it should do it's job so I hope.
Let me know if this new function will work, as it is, for you both now.
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: -<WillyP>- on December 04, 2010, 06:48:12 AM
lol on the bot!  Would like to see the look on his face!
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Scyphi on December 04, 2010, 09:01:38 AM
Point me to a download link (in English preferably) and I'll download that straight away, Atan. :)
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: (LL)Atan on December 04, 2010, 10:02:11 AM
Sorry, there is no place to download D3EDIT AV41 Build 2.1.41.48 directly. (in the moment)
Seems you don't own the latest public version D3EDIT AV41 Build 2.1.41.47 ?
With that version you'll be able to update (look at Menu Help)  to build 48, or all coming next versions. Try it out.

Look for 47 i.e. here at
http://www.descent3fischlein.de/home.html
you'll find it there on the right side, called  -> D3EDIT AV41

On the other hand you may download it here too:
http://www.descentforum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2577

or, maybe you would like it the best, at:
http://www.descentvalhalla.com/

If that update function possible doesn't work for you (it should), in this case, please  PM me your email address.

Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Scyphi on December 05, 2010, 06:55:02 AM
Quote from: Atan
Seems you don't own the latest public version D3EDIT AV41 Build 2.1.41.47 ?

Uh, I don't know off hand actually, I forgot I could've just told D3Edit to search for updates. Probably would've been easier to do it that way now that I think about it...  ::)

Though now that I think about it, I don't think it was build 2.1.41.47 anyway...and I wanted to download the zip to a server computer so I can install it on more than one computer (if need be) rather than have it just automatically be installed on one computer, so this works out. :P

Whatever the case, I've downloaded it, will open it up and experiment with it the next chance I get. :)
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: (LL)Atan on December 05, 2010, 07:18:41 AM
Which version you own is easy to look for. Just look into Menu->Help->About D3Edit.

Update is implemented just as a feature and not as a must..
If the importer would work well enough for you both, I will upload the version to the known places but I would like to wait until I have inserted some more stuff.

On the other hand, if you update, you will own that newest D3Edit which you can place on every computer as often you want. It's just an exe file, nothing else needed.
But If you, in general, don't like to update by D3Edit (or any other prg) itself, so we can talk about sending that beta version to test out the importer via mail or privat dl-link.

BTW in the meantime I try to implement a 3ds importer. First tests are looking good but it will take some time as ever...
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: (LL)Atan on December 05, 2010, 10:26:42 AM
I finally could import a 3ds file including some sub-objects now.

Same rules for this 3ds importer :

10000 vertices
3000 faces (polygons)

Means that you can use low poly objects only.
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: -<WillyP>- on December 05, 2010, 12:38:44 PM
Truly amazing stuff, Atan!
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Babylon on December 17, 2010, 05:48:27 PM
I finally got a chance to do more building this week, and I have to say that I LOVE this converter.  It's perfect, in my opinion; so much better than the old way.  (I also got to try out the new AV41 texturing options; those are pretty sweet, too  ^^;)

On an unrelated note, though, I noticed that CTRL+U no longer works for unselecting marked vertices/faces.  Is this just a bug that cropped up?
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: (LL)Atan on December 18, 2010, 03:19:14 AM
Hm, I really can't remember if, or when I changed that.
Inside which version worked this Ctrl+U last?

To unselect, just hit u.

Here some key strokes from Toolbar "Key"  (Shortcuts), hope this will help ahead, if not, please give me a note.


Mark items in vertex, face, and object modes
   mark selected = space
   unmark all = u
   invert markings = i
   mark all = m
   mark worldview = m

Vertices:
   place vertex (vertex mode) = ins
   Rotate around current vertex = CTRL+NUMPAD1 / CTRL+NUMPAD3
   Rotate around current face center = CTRL+ALT+NUMPAD1 / CTRL+ALT+NUMPAD3
   Copy marked verts  =  ctrl + c
   Paste verts = ctrl + v
   Paste verts on top (of copied item) = ctrl + shift + v
   Mark all Verts in face = ctrl + m

Faces:
   n = flip marked face(s)
   copy face = ctrl + c
   paste face = ctrl + v
   paste on top (of copied item) = ctrl + shift + v
   place face (face mode) = ins
   place face (vertex mode) = shift + ins
   combining co-planar faces = CTRL+SHIFT+CLICK
   propagate texture alignment = CTRL+CLICK
   center current face = Shift + c
   Mark all reachable Faces from current = VK_NUMPAD0
   Mark all marked faces Verts: ctrl + m


As for the Importer, glad you like it!
Explore more of the new functions, I think there is a lot new stuff inside to look for.
I.E. Menu-> File-> New

Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Babylon on December 18, 2010, 11:01:12 PM
CTRL+U last worked in AV40 (the previous version).  I've changed to using SHIFT+U, but maybe that only works because I'm pressing U?

Either way, it's not really important at all, so don't worry about it.  I just find it awkward to change something after using it for so long.  xD  This old dog shall just have to learn new tricks.
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: (LL)Atan on December 19, 2010, 02:29:43 AM
Quote
This old dog shall just have to learn new tricks
:)

I believe it's me who should double that, don't know who's older :)

I think you are right that's it nothing to worry about,  but I did a quick look for ctrl+'u' either.
I went back to 1.1[beta9] to see how this worked there, you just needed 'u' but it works sure with ctrl+'u' or shift+'u' too because it wasn't checked, all is like typing 'u' only.
Since AV41 I added the key-stroke ctrl+'u' for terrain handling  "Use Occlusion\tCtrl+U" because I didn't found that this key-combo was in use anywhere.

So I believe you learned a 'wrong trick' that time and I hope you may have no big trouble at all using the 'u'-key only now.

Thank you for your feedback Babylon !!
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Scyphi on December 21, 2010, 11:27:07 AM
I also have been poking around with this new version of D3Edit, and have thus far learned that I am terribly out of practice with using it. :P

Beyond that, I also learned I can't figure out how to import the Blender files. Atan, you alluded to a tutorial existing for that, but I can't find it, so can you again point me in the right direction? I'm very anxious to try it out. :D
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: (LL)Atan on December 21, 2010, 11:57:54 AM
No problem, go to:
http://www.descent3fischlein.de/home.html
don't worry if you see it's in German language, just  look for -> Micro-D3-Edit Tipps 5.
You'll see that on the right side of the screen.
A click will let you jump directly to the Import Blender tut. (I call this micro-tuts because these tutorial are very short)
Then you will find this text:
Quote
Wenn Ihr Euch diese Anleitung ausdrucken wollt,
Deutsch: Word, PDF
Englisch: Word, PDF

Then you may download a word or pdf file of this tutorial. I tried to translate this stuff, could be done better, I know :)

If you would like to see all new tut's related to D3Edit[AV] look on the menu at the left side of the start screen.
There hit onto -> D3Edit and then choose -> D3Edit von (LL)ATAN
and you'll find 16 little tutorials I wrote in the meantime.
I didn't translate all, I believe I did the last 3 ones only, must have a look again.
If there is something you would like to read in English let me know, I'll try to translate and place it there too.
On the other hand, if anyone would like to do any better translations of these tut's there, feel free :)
You may send this to Fischlein then.

And for sure this D3Editing needs practice with using it, even if it's much easier to handle these days,  just give it a try :)
Just a little hint, Tab switches between Verts and Faces...
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Scyphi on December 22, 2010, 07:38:51 AM
K, I've got it, much thanks! :D

EDIT: Okay, got a problem now. I can't import any blend files, because I can't find the option to do so in the menus. It's NOT where the tutorial says it should be.

Maybe I got the wrong version somehow? It's v2.1.41.47.
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: -<WillyP>- on December 22, 2010, 12:21:27 PM
Under 'Help', use check for updates to update to the latest, which is 50.
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: (LL)Atan on December 22, 2010, 12:29:49 PM
if you don't wanna update by D3Edit itself look at Fischleins
http://www.descent3fischlein.de/home.html
 -> Tools

or at Descentforum.de
http://www.descentforum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2577
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: -<WillyP>- on December 22, 2010, 01:41:03 PM
It's easier to just let it update itself.
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Scyphi on December 23, 2010, 07:35:24 AM
True, but the computer I ended up installing it upon doesn't have Internet access, so can't do it that way. :P

Downloading new version now. :)
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: TechPro on December 23, 2010, 08:58:28 AM
True, but the computer I ended up installing it upon doesn't have Internet access, so can't do it that way. :P

Downloading new version now. :)
Did you know that computer has Internet access at certain hours?  (I know, I set it)
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: SaladBadger on December 23, 2010, 09:23:23 AM
Kids spend too much time on the internet sometimes?

:P
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: -<WillyP>- on December 23, 2010, 02:17:24 PM
The cat's out of the bag now! ;)
Title: Re: Importing to D3Edit from Blender
Post by: Scyphi on December 24, 2010, 06:37:13 AM
Actually, if us kids wanted to use the Internet, there are currently two other computers we could use that do have Internet access (usually three, but one of them is under the weather at the moment). And yours truly has his own laptop with wireless Internet access that he could use (but I wouldn't put D3Edit on it, as it's lousy video card would probably choke and cough on it just trying to boot it up). :P

The reason this one particular computer does not have Internet access (save certain times of the day that you'll note that Techpro did not say when) is because it's located in a more secluded part of the house than the others.