DOW Model Exporting Tools for Blender (Static Meshes)

[mudflap]

I can't believe I finally did it but here it is.

This set of tools is for exporting static meshes from Blender and putting them ingame.

Here is the download link. If anyone wants to host this somewhere else, please do and post it in this thread.

http://www.savefile.com/files/1074273

Blender Modeling Software is freeware under the GNU Public license and hopefully this will open up the modeling aspect of modding DOW
to more modders. Maybe it will even increase the longevity of DOW modding and interest in
Relic's excellent engine in the same way Quake II and Halflife modding lived on due to the availability
of inexpensve tools or free tools to mod those games.

So here are some screenshots of a static mesh exported from Blender (the big 3d text that says "FROM BLENDER",

.whm file ingame in Winter Assualt



.whm file in the Mission Editor



.sgm file in Object Editor



These tools allow you to create a .whm file for use ingame and in the Mission Editor, and .sgms for use in the Object Editor.
With this capability, modders can get static mesh models ingame. I am also working on getting animations ingame
so that modders can make units, but that version is not ready yet.

Here is how to use the tools to get your meshes ingame. The download includes a .blend file
so you can see what your file needs in order to export properly.

To get your model ingame you will need to know how to use the following:
1) Blender version 2.42a, download at www.blender.org
2) DOW Modtools Object Editor
3) DOW Modtools Attribute Editor
4) DOW Modtools Mission Editor
5) DOW Modtools Chunky Viewer
6) How to set up proper mod folders for DOW
7) How to make textures for your model and use IBBoard's texture tool to make .rsh and .wtp texture files
that can open in the Object Editor and ingame.

I made this program to get a file ingame using Winter Assault Modtools Version 1.41 I have not tested any of
this on Dark Crusade.

--------------------Install Details

1) Unzip the Mudlfaps Blender Export Tools .zip file wherever you want.

--------------------Blender Details

2) Model something in Blender (lots of tutorials on the web on how to do this, or use Mudflaps_whm_to_x_converter to get a .x file from DOW, or use a .x file from the Example Files folder, missile.x is the fastest)
a) make sure that the faces are tris only, no quads
b) the model can have only one mesh
c) the vertexes in the mesh need to be parented to bones in an armature
d) the vertexes in the mesh cannot be parented to the root bone of your armature or that last bone in your armature (see the .blend file included)
e) Vertexes can only be parented to a maximum of 4 bones.
3) Export your mesh to a .x file using the Blender Export DirectX(.x) function in the User Preferences/File menu. See the screenshot below
for the corrext export settings.

Screenshot of .x file export screen from Blender



-------------------Mudflap Conversion Tools Details


4) Use the Mudflaps_x_to_whm_converter.exe to convert your .x file to .whm. Doubleclick on it and the
top of the file browser boxes will tell you what you need to do as follows:
a) Select a .x file to convert
b) Save as .whm file.------------Browse to save it in the following path for your mod (my mod is "nurgling_mod" as an example) \THQ\Dawn of War\nurgling_mod\data_whm\High\art\ebps\environment\all\yourfile.whm
c) Select the texture file that applies to your model. This file must in your art/ebps/ mod path. you can select a .wtp, .rsh, or .rtx file.
5) Wait for the file to convert. It takes about 1-minute per 200 vertexes in your model. The "blender_text_scaled.x" model in the download
takes about 10 minutes, missile.x takes about 1 minute.
6) When the program shuts down your .whm file is ready. Open it with the DOW Modtools chunky viewer to see if it opens
correctly and if it looks right.
7) Convert your .whm to .sgm using the tool -- Mudflaps_whm_to_sgm_converter_for_blender_export.exe
Follow the instructions on top of the file browser boxes
a) Select a .whm file to convert
b) save as a .sgm file (with same name as your .whm file) in the following path -- \THQ\Dawn of War\ModTools\DataGeneric\Nurgling_Mod\Art\EBPs\races\chaos\troops\yourfile.sgm
8) When the program shuts down your file is ready. This program is fast. open your .sgm with the Chunky Viewer to make sure it opens correctly.

------------------Object Editor Details

9) Open the Object Editor
10) On the "File" menu select "new", open your .sgm. Your model should appear. YAY!
11) Close the Object Editor, when you do this, it will create a .whe for your file at: \THQ\Dawn of War\nurgling_mod\data\Art\EBPs\Races\chaos\troops\yourfile.whe
12 Move your .whe to \THQ\Dawn of War\nurgling_mod\data_whm\High\art\ebps\environment\all\yourfile.whe
(that is the same folder that has your .whm. .whm and .whe always need to be together and have the same name)

------------------Attribute Editor Details

13) Now is time make your model int an entity the game can recognize, you need the Attribute Editor for that.
14) Open the Attribute Editor
15) Open your mod in the Attribute Editor (lots of other tutorials for this)
16) create a new entity (like "blender_text" in the screenshot below)
17) under entity_blueprint_ext/animator ---- enter the path for your .whm (see screenshot below, "blender_text_from_execut" as example.

Attribute Editor Screenshot





18) save (makes a .lua of your entity)
19) save binary (makes a .rgd of your entity)
20) ignore perforce message

------------------Mission Editor Details

21) Now its time to put your entity in a Map
22) Open the Mission Editor (lots of tutorials on this)
23) Place your entity on your scenario and save it.

-----------------Impress Your Friends Details

24) Play your scenario with your new model, ingame.

-----------Done!---------

Next Steps for tools:

1) Fix bones
2) Enable Animations
3) Create Markers
4) Convert Multiple Meshes from one file

Other tools:

I have also included my other conversion tools in this download. Readmes are in the .zip file.



Disclaimers:

These tools are in no way endorsed by Relic, THQ, or Games Workshop. Although the Chunky Viewer was
very helping for understanding the chunk information.
The code for these tools can be read in the associated .py file using Python 2.4.
These tools are open source for any non-commercial purpose.
If you have any questions please feel free to email Mudflap at transhuman_space@yahoo.com
The maker of this tool is in no way responsible for any computer problems that users may have
when using this tool, Blender, Python, or IBBoard's Texture Tool.
This tool is in Beta form and created by a hobbyist using computers with
Intel processors and may not work as intended on all systems.

Have fun! Post your progress and questions please. I've only tested this on my rig.

Cheers,

Mudflap

[fneep]

Fantastic work!

Mirror 1

[cagecrawler]

Excellent! Modelling has been opened up to all!

Mirror 2

[Jaguar-Lord]

Mudflap strike again !! thanks for this wonderull tool. I can now start designing tables, chairs and desk for my inquisitor to work properly. I think i'm gona mak a DowSims mod....

[Templar Mikeel]

Yes! This is what I need! Thanks!

[mudflap]

thanks for hosting it Cagecrawler and Fneep!

[horusheretic]

Thats great!

[ibdead]

i love you!!!!

[Incarnate]

This is a landmark day for the community. Well done Mudflap!

Who needs santa when we have mudflap eh?

[Croaxleigh]

Holy crap on a pogo stick, it's done!

Someone buy this man a drink!

[ibdead]

damn it doesnt work for me tried every thing please help im trying to import .x files that i made with it to blender but it says pthon console error or near enough????

EDIT: NO WORRYS THIS IS ABSOLUTE GENEUS MY GOD!!!!

[Whodunnit]

hopefully custom maps will becoem a whole lot more interesting now

[Croaxleigh]

Well, if the stuff is going to be used in maps it would have to be included in a mod... there's no other way to use custom objects. But this will be a huge step forward for the modding community in general, as there's finally a way to make models that don't require a several-years-old-and-somewhat-outdated-but-still-very-expensive program in order to export things in a useable form.

[Jaguar-Lord]

I have not tested any of
this on Dark Crusade.

as somethign tested this on DC befor i loose two weeks trying to do it?

[elmslie]

As far as I can tell it partly works on DC. I can import DC guardsmen into Blender, however whenever I try to open them in the OE I get an

Unable to load model!

error.

Does this happen to everyone or am I just being a tard(tm)? Also, Any foreseeable fixes?

[Zany Reaper]

This' very interesting. You should be a senior member by now.

[Jaguar-Lord]

so, asking again if someone knows of any problem if i want to make a model (like a stupid chair) for Dark Crusade using this set of tool and method?

anyone?

[Promythyus]

Sweet Work Mudflap!! Any ideas about getting animated meshes into DoW via blender now?

I'll try this tommorow morning in DC if no-one else has

[roospion]

Nice work done here,

Not being assuming, is this meant for those without Max?

How will it help for those with Max? And for DC, is Max still required for proper work?

(My mates got Max 7.0 and I am thinking if this may help him in his modding job)

Hope for replies

[mudflap]

Hi Folks,

I am glad this tool is getting noticed. I guess I should finish it then.

Here is some info on versions of things that make up my rig and probably have alot to do with what tools work and what wont. Here are the versions you should have:



Modtools and DOW/WA patched to 1.51

python 2.4.3

Blender 2.42a


Maybe that is a good place to start. In the download I also included the example files so try to get those in the OE and game first. If that works, then try tweaking the Blender file a little by adding new objects and such. Once that works then upload your orignal models.


as for:

Any ideas about getting animated meshes into DoW via blender now?

yes I have lots of ideas but they are all wrong. The holy grail would be to make anims work. I am stuck on the rotations of the bones and associated rotation matrices. In my mind the first step is to get the animations out of the whm files and into an x file. Once I learn that, then it should be simple to get animations out of Blender. It is a long way coming though. There are so many rotations and corrections that need to occur that I still am a bit mystified by it. Santos tools give some hints but I still haven't got it right.

Can anybody tell me what a "euler angle" is?

Here are the rotations from Santos Script with my notes on what I think the Maxscript commands are doing:

Figuring Out Santos Maxscript for Bones:

---< POSITION & ROTATION >---


if bone_counter == -1 then																	-- First Bone - World Coordinates
(

----Make a quaternion out of raw radian angle floats from whm file
rotmat = (quat bone_array[i].rot_x bone_array[i].rot_y bone_array[i].rot_z bone_array[i].rot_w) as matrix3

-----Inverse the quaternion
rotmat = inverse rotmat

------create default identify matrix for the DOW worldspace 
mat = matrix3 [1,0,0] [0,0,1] [0,-1,0] [0,0,0]

-------multiply identity matrix by the inverse quaternion by the inverse of the identity matrix
newmat = mat * rotmat * (inverse mat)

------extract rotation from the new matrix as a quaternion
newmat = newmat as quat

---------get inverse of new quaternion
new_bone.rotation = (inverse newmat)

--------establish worldspace for DOW
rot = eulerangles 90 0 0


------------transform quaternion by euler angle 90 0 0 
in coordsys local rotate new_bone rot														-- Set Bone Rotation
new_bone.pos = (point3 -bone_array[i].pos_x -bone_array[i].pos_z bone_array[i].pos_y)		-- Set Bone Position
)
else																						-- Child Bones - Parent Coordinates
(
newmat = (matrix3 [0,0,0] [0,0,0] [0,0,0] [0,0,0])											-- Create Zero Matrix

bonequat = (quat bone_array[i].rot_x bone_array[i].rot_y bone_array[i].rot_z bone_array[i].rot_w) as matrix3	-- Turn Quat Into Matrix
newmat.row1 = (point3 bonequat[1][1] -bonequat[2][1] -bonequat[3][1])						-- Set 1st Row
newmat.row2 = (point3 -bonequat[1][2] bonequat[2][2] bonequat[3][2])						-- Set 2nd Row
newmat.row3 = (point3 -bonequat[1][3] bonequat[2][3] bonequat[3][3])						-- Set 3rd Row
newmat.row4 = (point3 bone_array[i].pos_x bone_array[i].pos_y bone_array[i].pos_z)			-- Set 4th Row

newrot = newmat as quat																		-- Get Rotation Part From Matrix
newrot.w *= -1																				-- Negate Rotation W

newpos = newmat.translationpart																-- Get Translation Part From Matrix
newpos.x *= -1

Now you feel my pain.

Senior member, i dunno, I suppose posting every two months isn't often enough

Has anyone gotten that Emperor Model ingame yet?


Cheers,

Mudlfap

[fneep]

An euler angle is just your standard way of defining rotations of angles. It has 3 components, an x rotation, y rotation and z rotation. (EG: 90, 45, 90). So by rotating (180 0 0), the model is turned 180 degrees round on the x axis.

[mudflap]

Hi Folks,

Thanks fneep!

Roospion has some questions about file formats so I'll sum up some information here for people new to the OE.


whm <- burned files for model base mesh and bone, yup this is the model and animations for the game. It will go in your mod folder path.

.whe <- This needs to go in the same folder as your .whm file. The OE creates it automatically and it has all the unit-specific information from the OE in such as actions, motions, events, etc.
.ebp <- from whe, for OE. This goes in the same folder as your sgm. When you open "new" and open a .sgm in the OE it creates the .ebp automatically with the same name as your .sgm. It will be in the datageneric path for your mod.

.sgm <- from 3DMax, needed for OE also. The first step for getting a model ingame. The you need this for the OE when you open "new". It goes in your datageneric mod folder.

.x <- for use in Blender , Also known as directx format. It is microsoft's direct x model format. From the way I understand it most games models emmulate what is in a .x file so that directx can process it on your PC. I like them because they can be ASCII format so you can easily see what is going on. Most games then take this info, make it binary, then do other tweaks to make the game run faster. For example all the model things in .whm and .sgm files are essentially from templates in the .x file (with lots of work on the part of Relic to streamline and make the binary file run faster and provide game-specific information). Now for a history lesson. Relic fist came up with .sgms for its game "Amazing Creatures" ( Go Buy it, an awesome game where you can combine creatures to make new creatures, quite a clever process I would love to see them do it again with chaos spawn or something). Anyway in the game the creature -morphing technology is called Sigma .... So for the game the models were called Sigma-Meshes -->.sgms. So that file type has carried forward until DC. I suspect because the they use an updated version of the same game-creating tools.

As for Blender, try opening the .blend files I provided. Blender has a steep learning curve too, but lots of online support because it is freeware and constantly improving.

For the OE, for some files, you can use my whm to sgm converter to make sgms to open in the OE. You can use my WHE to EBP converter to make an EBP you can open with your .sgm and see all the actions and anims and such. (careful the OE will crash if you play FX that are not in your mod folder. To fix that I extracted all FX and put them inthe mod folder I am working on). Another trick is to use my whm-sgm converter to make a .sgm. Then in the OE import all the anims from that .sgm into the model your are working on (assuming it has a biped skeleton with same bone names) most DOW units do).

Need Motivation....

If someone actually can get a model ingame with Blender and my tools (and post it here) I might try to get the anim exporter out sooner.

Cheers,

Mudflap

[Acronym2]

Mudflap, I have converterd some WHM to .X with your converter and opened them in Blender v2.45. The models at first seem to be missing pieces. At closer inspection, it appears that any duplicate symmetry is missing. (i.e., leman russ-a hull, turret, and only the ride side track and sponson.) Additionally the model object are "mirrored". (i.e., the driver's port, etc., is on the opposite side.)

Is this normal "packaging" for the modeling objects or is there something wrong with the conversion and import?

[fneep]

Sounds like he forgot to invert the x and y axis on import.

	vertex.x = -(ReadFloat file)
	vertex.z = ReadFloat file
	vertex.y = -(ReadFloat file)

The floats need inverting because DoW actually stores the models inside out.

[Gorb]

Wow, awesome work, I only just noticed this tool now. With any luck, this should allow me to learn to model for DoW! Bookmarked.

[mudflap]

Hi Fneep,

Inverted verts. Thats new to me. I'll tweak that and see if it makes a difference.

Can you go through the code on Post 20 and see if my interpretations of the max script are right. In most spots I have added -------------------shjkdhsajhd to indicate my understanding of whart the maxscript commands are doing.

Also, any other inverted data? Do SKEL bone positions or rotations get inverted?

Thanks

[Acronym2]

I am on a steep learning curve here and still have much to learn. The afforementioned problem is just an example of how a little piece of information makes a word of difference!

Mudflap, I tried a chimera and leman russ from Steel_Legion_DC and.......I believe the Leman_russ_codex and the problem was as I posted above. I have yet to try fneeps suggestion.

Why does DOW/DC store the models inside out?

[fneep]

mudflap: Hmm. Unfortunately, I only understand the rotations and animations about as well as you do. But your descriptions look pretty good. The issue is not really what is happening but why.

Acronym2: With regards to inside out models, I was actually quoting Beroc:

Oh, and some games use a backwards mesh. It was discribed to me as taking less processing time. This may be one of those games. I can just as easily flip the x or y axis on the tvert side. That way Max sees it correctly, and so does the game.

[Adovid]

I really don't have much experience with 3d stuff but heres a pretty cool tutorial on quaternions:

http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial...aternions.html

[CLR]

yes I have lots of ideas but they are all wrong. The holy grail would be to make anims work. I am stuck on the rotations of the bones and associated rotation matrices. In my mind the first step is to get the animations out of the whm files and into an x file. Once I learn that, then it should be simple to get animations out of Blender. It is a long way coming though. There are so many rotations and corrections that need to occur that I still am a bit mystified by it. Santos tools give some hints but I still haven't got it right.

Quick note regarding 3ds Max and DoW transformations. 3ds Max is old and badly designed. It displays axis (rotations) in the right-hand rule, however stores them internally with the left-hand rule. Why? No idea. Depending on how you input the transformation data from DoW, which as far as I remember uses the left-hand rule, you'll get mixed results.

I don't know how blender works, whether it uses the left-hand or right-hand rule, but you might need to read up on this and make any necessary conversions.

[mudflap]

Hi CLR,

Left hand rule....hmm. At this point I have a tool that reads rotation data out of whm files. So presumabley this means left hand rotation? So to convert this to right-hand rotation, if needed, do I just invert the rotation; make it negative? I could probably also acheive this by tweaking the frametransformmatrix.

Is right-hand rotation common for 3d software? I use Ulitmate Unwrap 3d to check my export results in my .x files. Maybe it has this right-hand rotation issue too.

Blender does not even have a .x file importer that imports bones, so I will need to build that later. I have not tried to open whm exports with bones in them in Blender yet. That is the next challenge. . Maybe I should just skip the import part and concentrate on getting an animated export from Blender into DOW without finding a way to pull out all the whm skeleton and animation data first. It would make more sense to get a simple model and simple rotation ingame first, then work my way up.

Cheers,

Mudflap

[CLR]

I think if the software's world axis is Z-up then you're in the right hand rule. Y-up is left hand rule. Don't quote me on that though...

Converting from one to the other involves inverting the matrix or in this specific case the quaternions.

After browsing a bit I found what you would need. Blender uses python, and all of the basic math functions are available.

http://www.blender.org/documentation...rix-class.html
http://www.blender.org/documentation...ion-class.html

I also noticed blender has an armature system which can be used to animate. In theory this would allow you to import the rig and animations onto a blender rig.

Sounds like a fun project. Good Luck!

[Hectichermit]

well hmm is it possible to get the animations into 3d max I think blender might support an importer/exporter 4 3d max hmm wonder if you can convert the files 2 3d max then 2 blender with animations...just an idea....yea not the first time this problem has came up with modders...civilization modders have been tryin 2 get blender 2 import/export animations 4 awhile....dont know the exact url but the name of the site is civfanatics......maybe you'll find somethin useful there....

[mudflap]

Hi Folks,

I am back on this thing again. I have some script that reads all the anim data out of a .x file from blender. Now I am working on spitting it back out into whm format. Then I need to test it in DOW. I think I am about a month away from something crude.

[Hectichermit]

Well I tried your converter and the mesh data is there but What I also need is the texture data. Hmm I think theres a script for 3d max but I was thinking maybe you could look into a blender version...Also I notice that when I import the X files..(insert theme music)lol... that the mesh is seperated into groups... mabe that as to do with how the files are read but I think that if you want animations and such that this might cause a problem....hmmm because you would have to make each group work together and have bone for each...also Blender has several ways to animate...I dont know them all because I Just got into animaton as a hobby but here is 2
1. ipo curve
2. shape keys

...I think "actions" is another just got to look at all those different windows hmm just tell you one thing animation is alot harder than modelling...my meshs usually animate like their made of paper

also you may want to check out the newer version of blender...you were usin 2.42..I think tey moved on to a newer version of python
now it 2.45 there might be some new feature you missed...

hmm well I dont know how DOW animates but I know that the civilization importer allows bones to be imported...they use nifskope and not 3dmax

Hmm maybe this link could help...NIF Tools

[mudflap]

Textures you can get from IBBoard's texture tools. You can convert tga files to whms or rshs. That is a challenge on its own and needs to be completely mastered independently of my tools. Try making a new texture for an existing model in the game. This can be done without 3dsmax. Just look in the forums and tutorials for guidance on texturing.

Once you have mastered IBBoard's texture tool, then try my tool for blender. During the export the tool asks you for which .rsh or .wtp file you want to assign as a texture for the model. Once you do this, and all your files are in the right spot, you can get a static mesh ingame.

As for my whm -x exporter the UVs are exported so if you use IBBoard's texture tool the other way, you can convert a .rsh or .wtp to a .tga then use that .tga and the exported model from my tool in graphics programs.

As for other texture information like "materials" or "shaders" I have not created a way to write those from Blender, for now the shaders grafted from a space marine whm will have to do.

As for animation from Blender, the .x file exporter in Blender spits out the Blender "Armature" data in terms of bones. My tool takes this bone data in the .x file and puts it in the SKEL folder for whms. Directx files record the animation data in terms of 4by4 matrixes that transform the bone and all verts skinned to the bone (my tool also has the skinweights in it).

Just for yuks, here is what animation data looks like in a .x file (my notes in parentheses):

Animation { 
  { Bone }
  AnimationKey { 
   4; (Directx code indicating that animation is in a matrix)
   5; (number of key frames)
(data lines below show the frame, number of data point in matrix (16), and 16 numbers for the 4X4 transform matrix)

   1;16;-0.999700,0.000000,0.025300,0.000000,-0.025300,0.000000,-0.999700,0.000000,0.000000,-1.000000,0.000000,0.000000,0.000000,0.000000,7.000000,1.000000;;,
   20;16;-0.988900,0.000000,-0.148700,0.000000,0.148700,0.000000,-0.988900,0.000000,0.000000,-1.000000,0.000000,0.000000,0.000000,0.000000,7.000000,1.000000;;,
   39;16;-0.999900,0.000000,0.017100,0.000000,-0.017100,0.000000,-0.999900,0.000000,0.000000,-1.000000,0.000000,0.000000,0.000000,0.000000,7.000000,1.000000;;,
   60;16;-0.980400,0.000000,0.197200,0.000000,-0.197200,0.000000,-0.980400,0.000000,0.000000,-1.000000,0.000000,0.000000,0.000000,0.000000,7.000000,1.000000;;,
   79;16;-0.999700,0.000000,0.025800,0.000000,-0.025800,0.000000,-0.999700,0.000000,0.000000,-1.000000,0.000000,0.000000,0.000000,0.000000,7.000000,1.000000;;;
   }

So now my challenge is to convert these matrixes to the coordinates and quaternion rotations the DOW ANIM chunks use using python cgkit. ....... and I am pretty close.

cheers,

mudlfap

[Hectichermit]

thx mud flap..well I wasnt really thinkin bout moddin DOW just
using models and textures as a base, maybe try and create a high res renders of DOW

[space_dwarf_guy]

Hey Mudflap, just started tinkering w/ blender for a MOD I want to (someday) complete, you are a really cool person for doing what you're doing, good on you man!

[mudflap]

Hi Folks,

Exciting update! I got animations to export out of Blender and into the OE and Ingame. I will be posting the executable file hopefully before July 4 weekend, so you can skip the fireworks and start modeling new units.

The new exporter exports:

1) mesh
2) armature and one animation
3) creates markers from each bone so you can add FX in the OE.
4) has methods for making bones stale and for making meshes visible/invisivble.


I recommend everyone who is in interested, to DL my static mesh exporter for Blender and get everything set up if you haven't alraedy installed Blender. My new tool follows pretty much the same work flow. Model in Blender, export .x file. Convert .x file to .whm, convert .whm to .sgm.

Here is the version of Blender I have been using to develop this. I haven't tried it on newer versions yet.
http://download.blender.org/release/Blender2.42/

My most recent tools can be downloaded from the whm converter link in my signature. I release all the tools together each time.

Cheers,

Mudflap

[TheManFromMars]

Hey
Why has no one responded to this thread in 5 months??!
I think the rules state no re-opening after 6 months so i'm fine to do this I htink! This is very exciting, I did loads of modelling for Civ4 that someone mentioned above (the community actually got blender working fine like 2 1/2 years ago btw, not six months ago...) and this looks very promising and great! It kind of weirds me out that no ones posted back on this, did I like miss the notice about the party or something?? And I shouldn't be posting here or you've all moved on In fact i'd just yesterday taken a big sigh and accepted I might have to model using 3dsmax and learn it from scratch (i find blender and 3dsmax phenomonally different) and had just installed the trial version and was gearing up to go (when I got sidetracked by an OE issue) and now I stumbled on this! I honestly think Blender is more powerful and it is much quicker to do fun things to, especially deforming bodies, just some quick manipulations.

It is also of course FREE! Any further updates Mudflap? Or any one else for that matter, I think this should be looked at again. Also what about someone making a step by step tutorial for modelling in blender? I think the only ones we currently have are for 3dsmax and they are quite out of date.

I'm sure it'll be more confusing than 3dsmax modelling (the tuts seem quite slick and quick) but still damn, it'd be great.

Anyway, anyone whats going on here and what do people think of this and the tut suggestion?

[Reaper297]

Tutorials can be found at blenders official homepage. They have lots of them but be warned some of them are kind of vague. There is also a blender wiki that has tutorials to. Some me be vague but I don't go there often so I couldn't tell you.

It would be nice actually to hear some news on this. I mean we were told there would be a new exporter for animations back in July, yet there has been no news at all on it's progress. Maybe RL issues have gotten to mudflap but really some info as to whether this is a dead project or not would be nice. It would at least put my mind to ease.

Edit1: Just checked but mudflap hasn't been on the forums since August so we'll be lucky if we actually here from him anytime soon.
I'll send him an email to see if we can get any progress on it. Until then I guess we just have to wait.

[TheManFromMars]

Yeah,
Thanks for the tuts post though what I mean by harder was the whole screwing around with the importing exporting workarounds etc or the tools. In other words it looked like more tools would be needed to get things in and out of blender for this game than 3dsmax, if not simply because there isn't even an animated exporter yet, you see what I mean? I meant things are alway rustier at the start and 3dsmax import/exporting stuff is old now.

I can actually model reasonable well in blender, I went through the pain of those tutorials a couple of years back for Civ4 stuff etc. I can certainly do better than 3dsmax, which is me sat there squinting at the screen trying hard to get anything to do as I ask it - I click on an arm, it selects the head... etc etc etc. Anyway I digress, I just find Blender strangely more user friendly, once you work through some of the basics its amazing actually how flexible and how quick you can do stuff, I was a total modelling noob when I first starting working with it and was able to get some good results in just a few hours. I like its armature structure too. I dunno its all about personal preference but i'd love to be able to model in it again for this game. I'm using 3dsmax currently and am tearing my hair out over it.

Yeah it would be nice to know about this, hence I posted! I'd searched for this before, never found anything I was quite excited reading how recent the posts were getting and was surprised to see it just stop in the summer. But I hope you do get a reply back and we can see where this is. If the tools works great (the anim export) I think there will be a big boom in the number of models being produced.

Anyway its all very either exciting or ... oh bugger its dead, how boring...we'll see.

[mudflap]

I am glad to see some interest. A few months ago I got really close to getting an animation from Blender ingame but the rotation is still not right.

[Reaper297]

hey mudflap. Of course this has interest. There are people like me who don't have 3DSMax or just prefer to use blender. Thanks to you it's more possible to make models with blender for DOW. Sucks about the rotation issue though, but hey you'll figure it out someday. Anyway good to hear from you again and I wish you luck.

[TheManFromMars]

Hello again,
I keep dropping in and out of this thread to make sure it stays alive and to see if Mudflap has made progress. Well over 7+ months ago he/she stated they'd gotten animations to work, I was curious to see how this is going and if we'll see at tutorial for it or see screenies? I'm still shocked at the lack of response considering most people bitch about 3dsMax and its cost (who doesn't? and rightly so) and every complains about not having it, you'd think the prospect of being able to use an extremely powerful 3d modelling tool like Blender which is FREE and use it to get units in game would be setting the wannabe modellers (not a bad term btw), those with experience but don't have the money or wish to steal 3dsm, and those who are already experienced and even have 3dsmax into overdrive with delight at such progress. Apparently not! I'm not sure people can bitch about modelling (or the inabiliy thereof) and then not apparently even bother to push this progress along, give mudflap the encouragement they need and to at least try their static mesh tutorial etc first.

Ok, pot calling kettle black, i've not done it either - but i've been monumentally busy and in all fairness can't even get my bloody OE to work currently - so i'm having doubts about doing this first.

Especially for the Map Mod team (myself included) this shoudl be very exciting, since static meshes is at the moment all we need for our scenery (at the mo). Plus i'm fairly sure that those with 3dsmax could add some simply sway animations if needed to the blender models anyway.

So it'd be good to see an update from mudflap and I think his work on this is amazing so far and it'd be good to see some 'static' meshes being uploaded and discussion about this being furthered.

Also I haven't noticed Mudflaps 2008 tools being posted anywhere on Adeptus Modificatus - maybe they were not meant to be but I stumbled across them on Google the other day and they have things like the fixed whm to sgm converter and a whole host of stuff that seems over my head. I may post a link to this on the mainpage sometime.

Anyways I'd luv to hear how this is all going.
Cheers

[mudflap]

I dont know if its against forum rules to necro dead threads or whatever but I am at it again. The animations still stumped me so I am trying a different approach. I am doing a Blender to whm export script that you run in Blender. This way processes much faster and I have more control over what is getting written where and more powerful tools to tweak animations. I just got something out of Blender that looks like a whm but its still not opening in the OE. More toubleshooting is in my future and I will post if I make anything work.

Cheers!

[Grotkilla]

nice ta hear this threads still going (kinda ),
getting the whole package ingame with blender would be a godsend, i'd use it over max any day.

please keep up the good work!

[Sodeem]

Hello Mudflap, just adding my voice to those who are still interested in what could be a great addition to our MODers toolbox

[Danimator]

Have you burnt a new whe to match your new whm?

Have a look in your mod folder, i.e. for Blood Angels it would be:

D:\DoW\Dawn of War - Dark Crusade\Blood_Angels_DC\Data\Art\EBPs\races\blood_angels\troops

in there there should be a matching whm and whe so check the dates are both very recent.

If the whe is an old one you need to open the model in the OE and change something, anything and change it back and then you can save your changes, this burns a new whe check the date/time again to make sure it's saved and in the right place.

I hope this helps, if not hopefully someone else can

[AceAngel]

Question: Are the Dark Eldars and SOB still working or they suffer the same issues from the DOW-Max importers? (EI, not being imported, losing hierarchy, corruption of mesh, etc...)