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How To: Create Your Own Art Using Pgi's Mechs

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#1961 Max Immelmann

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Posted 01 October 2016 - 02:24 AM

View PostGhogiel, on 30 September 2016 - 04:50 PM, said:


The vids aren't really all that much outdated except in the fact you can use this https://github.com/M...ngine-Converter to convert the mech CGA/CGFs to OBJS instead of Noesis.

My mech files are in "C:\Program Files (x86)\MWO Public Test\MechWarrior Online\Game\mechs" you should find the pak file of the mech you want by it's name. After that you have OBJ files which can be directly imported into any 3d app or you can use the blender import script linked in the OP.


yeah, that was one of the problems. a 2015 update said no noesis, but after 32 pages of thread, i never found a replacement.

i have copied all the .pak files to another location, so i can mess them up all i want. i just do not understand that powershell. it seems i can not navigate to a folder that has 2 words in it, like Blender Projects. i had to change the name to BlenderProjects, just to navigate to it.

i will look further to try and find the mech CGA/CGF files, but so far, all i find are the .anm. is this a new extension used by PGI, or am i just not finding the CGA/F files?

thanx for your time and help.

#1962 Max Immelmann

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Posted 01 October 2016 - 02:33 AM

Ghogiel, sorry to ask a noobish question, but i am completely new to 3d graphics, but i went and got the cryengine converter you mentioned, unzipped it where i want it, and i do not see a .exe file to start it up. looked thru the website where i got it, do not see any tutorials on the website or youtube.

can you spend a moment and give me the basics?

thanx again

#1963 Max Immelmann

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Posted 01 October 2016 - 03:52 PM

ok. i think i understand PS a little bit. when you have a two word directory, like i had Blender projects and had to make it BlenderProjects, you can use instead, Blender.Projects?

was able to get the .cga converted to .cgf.

going to use noesis as that other converter made no sense at all, and just no tutorials. unless som one has a better idea?

#1964 Max Immelmann

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Posted 01 October 2016 - 06:03 PM

ok. so i got noesis. i put input extension as cgf and output as obj. set the -flipUV. made sure i was in the right folder. edited output path to $inpath$\$inname$.$outext$ ran the conversion and all jobs were not exported. checked folder and all .cgf are still .cgf

Posted Image

no idea what i did wrong. any help?

edit: never mind. saw i needed a plugin. Posted Image

Edited by Immelmann, 01 October 2016 - 06:17 PM.


#1965 Max Immelmann

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Posted 01 October 2016 - 07:11 PM

ok. got all the cgf converted to obj. now i fire up blender and navigate to the individual mechs. used the commando as in the video, there is no com_scale.obj took a look at the awesome, and there is an awesome_scale.obj was able to open that in blender and get what is shown in the video. went back and looked at the original unpacked commando, and there is no com_scale.cgf or cga there. do i need to add the parts individually?

#1966 Ghogiel

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Posted 02 October 2016 - 07:11 AM

View PostImmelmann, on 01 October 2016 - 03:52 PM, said:

ok. i think i understand PS a little bit. when you have a two word directory, like i had Blender projects and had to make it BlenderProjects, you can use instead, Blender.Projects?

That's an old thing you would have ran into in the DOS days. Using underscores eg "blender_projects" fairly usual.

Quote

went back and looked at the original unpacked commando, and there is no com_scale.cgf or cga there. do i need to add the parts individually?
Only some of the old mechs iirc had scale model. AFAIK, the powershell script is for blender and that will help automate the import process and assemble the mech in a blender scene. You could manually import the parts if you can't get it to work.. but whhhhyyy?

#1967 Volt

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Posted 02 October 2016 - 03:39 PM

@Immelmann after converting the CGA/CGF files to OBJ run the mech_importer.ps1 in PSv3 or higher from the mech's folder, ie ..\objects\mechs\<mechname> and then the script will output an import.txt file. open that and paste the content on the python console window of blender. the script will import ALL OBJ files it finds, even the cockpit parts, LOD parts and damaged parts, unless you delete those beforehand.

#1968 Max Immelmann

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Posted 02 October 2016 - 07:24 PM

View PostVolt, on 02 October 2016 - 03:39 PM, said:

@Immelmann after converting the CGA/CGF files to OBJ run the mech_importer.ps1 in PSv3 or higher from the mech's folder, ie ..\objects\mechs\<mechname> and then the script will output an import.txt file. open that and paste the content on the python console window of blender. the script will import ALL OBJ files it finds, even the cockpit parts, LOD parts and damaged parts, unless you delete those beforehand.


ok. thanx. in the tutorial #1 he has us remove the LOD's so those are gone. so in blender, i would have to delete the damaged parts, and stuff i do not need? seems just adding what i want would be the way to go.

i am making some head way, with a little from product9 (player). the mech is all me, he helped me get the terrain done correctly.....

Posted Image

Edited by Immelmann, 02 October 2016 - 07:25 PM.


#1969 Heffay

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Posted 03 October 2016 - 06:03 PM

Sorry I didn't see this sooner; been out on vacation. I do need to update the initial videos, but am waiting to get the cgf-exporter program handling armatures and (possibly) animations as well, so I don't have to redo it multiple times.

However, I probably should just make an interim video with the way things are now, since it really is getting a bit dated.

Keep asking questions though, since we're happy to help out!

#1970 TheSkiDog

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Posted 04 October 2016 - 07:07 AM



So I finished work on this shader thing I've been working on.. Any good file sharing sites out there I can use to get this out to the community?

Edited by TheSkiDog, 04 October 2016 - 07:08 AM.


#1971 TheSkiDog

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Posted 04 October 2016 - 07:03 PM

View PostTheSkiDog, on 07 September 2016 - 02:24 AM, said:

So I did some work over the weekend and came up with this. test render.
There is some procedural texturing to show wear on edges, and grime in other areas.... all adjustable. Had to pull apart Sparks Murphy's node setup, and apply a simple subsurface modifier to the mesh to get it to work the way I wanted, but the results show some promise. When I finish grooming the node setup I'll make sure to post it.


okay, so here it is. try it out, suggestions, comments, etc.

https://www.dropbox....ADER.blend?dl=0

don't like drop box... or just don't know how to use it yet... suggestions on a better file share site anyone?

Here it is on Google drive
https://drive.google...ew?usp=drivesdk

Edited by TheSkiDog, 05 October 2016 - 05:31 PM.


#1972 Max Immelmann

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Posted 05 October 2016 - 02:59 AM

ok, got the mech imported and finished the 1 of 3 tutorial. then, with some help from product9 (player), with years of blender experience, i was able to bring in mwo texture/environment .png for terrain

here is what i got so far....

Posted Image

basic stuff for most of you, but i am learning from scratch. it is the same as the previous post, but done in a more simpler method.

now i took a look at the next tutorial, and i am completely lost. i do not understand how to use this mech-importer at all. it looks like javascript to me, something i have a little experience in, but what do i do with it?

Edited by Immelmann, 05 October 2016 - 03:06 AM.


#1973 Max Immelmann

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Posted 05 October 2016 - 11:15 AM

still no luck with the mech importer. if i remember my javascript correctly, anything with the # in front of it is just information on the following script. for me, when i used javascript, it was put into an HTML, which i would open up in. now this was my college days 20 years ago, or so. the campus had a server that we used to upload to. with this mech importer, where does it go? i am thinking powershell uses it, but again, no idea where to put the script at.

#1974 TheSkiDog

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Posted 05 October 2016 - 05:00 PM

View PostImmelmann, on 05 October 2016 - 11:15 AM, said:

still no luck with the mech importer. if i remember my javascript correctly, anything with the # in front of it is just information on the following script. for me, when i used javascript, it was put into an HTML, which i would open up in. now this was my college days 20 years ago, or so. the campus had a server that we used to upload to. with this mech importer, where does it go? i am thinking powershell uses it, but again, no idea where to put the script at.


What version of Windows are you using? Just a thought, because some of the problems you are having are similar to the ones I was having while using my computer at work running XP. All those problems disappeared when I finally got some time on my win 7 computer at home.

Edited by TheSkiDog, 05 October 2016 - 05:04 PM.


#1975 Max Immelmann

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Posted 06 October 2016 - 07:14 AM

View PostTheSkiDog, on 05 October 2016 - 05:00 PM, said:

What version of Windows are you using? Just a thought, because some of the problems you are having are similar to the ones I was having while using my computer at work running XP. All those problems disappeared when I finally got some time on my win 7 computer at home.



i found some one to help explain this mech-importer. i mean i had literally no clue what to do with it. i have it working now thanx to the other person.

#1976 Max Immelmann

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Posted 06 October 2016 - 09:05 AM

ok, here is how i am using mech importer. i have the script on my desktop. when i want to work on a particular mech, i copy/paste the script into the mech folder, the one that has the body and cockpit folders, plus the .mdf, cdf, and xml files. i then right click the script and in the menu select "run with powershell". that generates the import.txt, which is what i copy and paste into blender's python. now, with that said, here is what i end up with in blender. does not look the same as the tutorial. it seems i got all the different weapon mounts, but everything was in it's correct place, unlike the tutorial where a few objects had to be manually moved.

Posted Image

have i done some thing wrong? why do i have all the weapon mounts?

#1977 TheSkiDog

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Posted 06 October 2016 - 10:37 AM

View PostImmelmann, on 06 October 2016 - 07:14 AM, said:



i found some one to help explain this mech-importer. i mean i had literally no clue what to do with it. i have it working now thanx to the other person.


Did you watch all the vids?
Each weapon is a separate object.
If you select the objects you don't want and hit m, you can move them to another layer by clicking one of the boxes that come up.

I think this is covered in vid #2

#1978 Max Immelmann

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Posted 06 October 2016 - 10:56 AM

View PostTheSkiDog, on 06 October 2016 - 10:37 AM, said:

Did you watch all the vids?
Each weapon is a separate object.
If you select the objects you don't want and hit m, you can move them to another layer by clicking one of the boxes that come up.

I think this is covered in vid #2


yeah, watched vid 2, but like i said, in his vid, he does not get ALL THE WEAPON MOUNTS, as you can see in my image, i did. i can not believe i have to go through and delete all the unwanted meshes, or put them in another layer as you have stated.

#1979 TheSkiDog

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Posted 06 October 2016 - 11:23 AM

It's a lot of work, I know, all the meshes are there because of the different configurations in the game.
But when you get done with it you end up wit stuff like this

http://theskidog.dev...MO-02-632987631

Sorry about the link, I can't post pics from my phone for some reason.

Edited by TheSkiDog, 06 October 2016 - 11:26 AM.


#1980 Max Immelmann

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Posted 06 October 2016 - 12:00 PM

ok. guess i go thru by hand and eliminate what i do not need.





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