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

Started by Heffay, Dec 19 2012 09:07 AM
Art Misc

2252 replies to this topic

#1021 kuangmk11

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Posted 20 August 2014 - 08:43 AM

hey Heffay, do you think it would be possible to add a function to move all equipment/founder/cockpit related stuff to separate layers on import? It looks pretty simple but my python is not so good. I found these:

bpy.ops.object.select_pattern()
 
bpy.ops.object.move_to_layer(layers=(False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False))


these with an array of search terms and a loop or something? I might be able to figure it out but it would probably take me a few hours. I really should learn some more python.

#1022 Heffay

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Posted 20 August 2014 - 08:50 AM

View Postkuangmk11, on 20 August 2014 - 08:43 AM, said:

hey Heffay, do you think it would be possible to add a function to move all equipment/founder/cockpit related stuff to separate layers on import? It looks pretty simple but my python is not so good. I found these: 
 bpy.ops.object.select_pattern() bpy.ops.object.move_to_layer(layers=(False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False))
these with an array of search terms and a loop or something? I might be able to figure it out but it would probably take me a few hours. I really should learn some more python.


Yup, that should be possible. One of the problems is identifying which object should be moved to which layer. Right now I manually move them; cockpit to layer 3, and anything that is weapon related (which means it *probably* uses the variant uvmaps) goes to layer 2. But I select though through the item list, shift-clicking on anything that has a weapon in its name.

The cockpit one should be easy to identify programatically, but the weapon ones may be a bit more challenging. I'll need to keep a table of weapon names (and alternatives, because it's not unusual for the same system to have 2 different names), match to those, and move as they are created.

I'll trade it all in for an updated Cryengine plug-in though. <_< Then none of this (well, almost none) will be necessary. Ugh...

#1023 kuangmk11

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Posted 20 August 2014 - 09:31 AM

View PostHeffay, on 20 August 2014 - 08:50 AM, said:


Yup, that should be possible. One of the problems is identifying which object should be moved to which layer. Right now I manually move them; cockpit to layer 3, and anything that is weapon related (which means it *probably* uses the variant uvmaps) goes to layer 2. But I select though through the item list, shift-clicking on anything that has a weapon in its name.

The cockpit one should be easy to identify programatically, but the weapon ones may be a bit more challenging. I'll need to keep a table of weapon names (and alternatives, because it's not unusual for the same system to have 2 different names), match to those, and move as they are created.

I'll trade it all in for an updated Cryengine plug-in though. :) Then none of this (well, almost none) will be necessary. Ugh...

I was hoping that I could export complete obj from cryengine but alas it wont do whole mechs in one piece.

What I am working on is this. The front profiles are good but the side view is a little busy so I was thinking of doing a version with weapons removed. The thing is the blend file is at about 325MB and I am getting some serious lag. Hiding things individually is a going to be a pain. I could generate the search list. Looking through the files it doesn't look too bad. Even the "problem" mechs like the AWS with its non-standard naming scheme can be sorted out with "_laser","_ppc","_erppc","_lrm","_srm", etc.

Python mess to separate mech parts into layers in blender
this will put things into the following layers:
  • basic mech components




  • cockpits




  • weapons




  • founder, phoenix and hero items/geometry




  • first person props




  • blanks




  • damaged components




  • armature
You need to run it in 3 sections because I cannot figure out how to select a layer with python. Sections 2 and 3 return some weapons for mechs that only have weapon arms (CN9, AWS, DRG) and return blanks for mechs that would have holes or missing geometry without them.








Spoiler


actually that was pretty easy,but not very pretty. That list is not complete yet, but I need to go! I'll finish it later and organize the layers!

OK, updated. Hopefully complete, tested mostly. let me know of any problems

Edited by kuangmk11, 30 August 2014 - 04:17 PM.

#1024 Mech42Ace

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Posted 20 August 2014 - 03:54 PM

Again, please report for sticky!

#1025 xe N on

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Posted 21 August 2014 - 11:29 AM

View Postkuangmk11, on 17 August 2014 - 09:27 PM, said:


Posted Image


Nice. Cars seem a little bit tiny. More like a 1-seater. Would explain why mechs seem to be so large in MWO.

#1026 Ra-ul

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Posted 21 August 2014 - 12:06 PM

View Postssm, on 14 February 2014 - 03:02 AM, said:

I do know all of this - I just made this screenshot before any kind of cleanup to illustrate "black parts" problem. Fortunately, it looks as it's like Heffay said - it a display bug - When I export models into .stl to make some cleanup in netfabb, they do not appear there.

Maybe I can also shed some light on this issue (after quite some while). It is not a display bug, but a problem if not all of the faces are assigned to a material. To fix this, select the black object in the 3D viewport, hit tab to got to edit mode. Select all faces (usually press a twice), go to the material tab and click the "assign" button.

I'm not sure if this is a problem of the importer or vertex groups.

Hope that helps.

#1027 Andreas80

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Posted 24 August 2014 - 12:25 AM

View PostGraySho, on 18 August 2014 - 01:39 PM, said:

I'm not sure if this has been posted yet or not, but there's also an easy way to use the RGB or camo textures from MWO in Blender. The "seperate RGB" node will split the color information into red, green and blue channel, which then can be used as a factor to mix in any color (or texture) you wish instead.

Below you see how I set up my material with some comments on the important stuff you have to consider.



Eventually you end up with something like this (woodland camo):


Hey Greysho a couple of month ago i posted my blender cycles material. If you like, take a closer look!

View PostAndreas80, on 18 May 2014 - 03:16 AM, said:


You can give my material a try :ph34r:

https://www.dropbox..../mwo_camo.blend

#1028 Ra-ul

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Posted 25 August 2014 - 12:28 PM

View PostAndreas80, on 24 August 2014 - 12:25 AM, said:

Hey Greysho a couple of month ago i posted my blender cycles material. If you like, take a closer look!

Hey Andreas,

thanks for sharing, great minds think alike :D I was not following this thread quite as much recently and was not sure this was already posted or not.
On a direct comparison, my material looks a bit brighter somehow, which I guess is due to the diffuse map being brighter than just the solid black you use as a base color. But then it could just be me not knowing how to use your material to it's fullest.

#1029 hansdampf2k

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Posted 28 August 2014 - 04:25 AM

Hi everybody,

Just started reading this awesome thread hopeful to find knowledge and wisdom to print my own miniatures (or have them print).
Unfortunately I am totally unexperienced in using all those necessary editing tools buzzing around here.

So before I start digging in the matter, I thought I try the shortcut first:

Does accidentally anybody here have (or has? sorry, bad english... :( ) an idea, where to get ready-to-print files of a prime variant Dire Wolf, Timber Wolf and/or Warhawk? That would be incredibly awesome! ;)

In the meantime I start reading from the beginning.
Thanks a lot!! :(

#1030 Heffay

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Posted 28 August 2014 - 04:47 AM

View Posthansdampf2k, on 28 August 2014 - 04:25 AM, said:

Does accidentally anybody here have (or has? sorry, bad english... :( ) an idea, where to get ready-to-print files of a prime variant Dire Wolf, Timber Wolf and/or Warhawk? That would be incredibly awesome! ;)


Hi Mr Hansdampf2k!

Unfortunately most of us are very wary about handing out the game files, as it could be crossing a line that PGI wouldn't want crossed. They are fine with us discussing how to do it and helping teach others, but outright sharing of the files is probably not a good idea.

The good news is that there are scripts to make assembling the mech a lot simpler. Please watch the tutorial video series and read the initial thread (which probably needs to be updated badly), and let us know if you have any specific questions. Thanks!

#1031 hansdampf2k

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Posted 28 August 2014 - 05:09 AM

Hi and thanks for the fast response.
I have read the initial thread and just found the tutorials. Now I am curious.
Will be back when finished watching... ;)


Edit:
So, finished watching the youtube tutorials. They really really helped me through.

I did manage to import several mechs in blender and export them into nice .stl files.
Netfabb did the fixing.
So could I send those to a 3D printing service of my choice now?
I checked the internet for printing costs. 13 € (about 17 $) for a 50 mm mini seems reasonable. But unfortunately costs explode rather fast. A 150 mm miniature reaches around 270 € (360 $). So I better start saving money... ^^

One question though: There seems to be a problem with the warhawk. Blender displays several error messages, when I want to import the import.txt using the python console.
The other mechs I tried so far did not crash. Anybody else experienced the problem?

Again, thanks to Heffay for all the great work and efforts!!

Edited by hansdampf2k, 30 August 2014 - 12:34 AM.

#1032 Krinkov

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Posted 07 September 2014 - 04:24 PM

View Posthansdampf2k, on 28 August 2014 - 05:09 AM, said:


I checked the internet for printing costs. 13 € (about 17 $) for a 50 mm mini seems reasonable. But unfortunately costs explode rather fast. A 150 mm miniature reaches around 270 € (360 $). So I better start saving money... ^^



Internet 3d printing services charge by the volume of your model. If you double the size of a model the price increases by 8 if you triple it like you did the price goes up by 64. If you want to print something big for less, you need to do more work to the model. You could try making the mech model a shell that is a few millimeters thick with holes in the bottom of the feet.

If you do that you greatly reduce the amount of print material the company needs to use. If you want to see the difference easily, create a 6cm solid cube and a 6cm hollow cube with a hole in the bottom. The price difference will be drastic.

#1033 Valcrow

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Posted 08 September 2014 - 11:22 PM

As you get up in print size, FDM printers become more attractive. They are incapable of printing the small table top sized due to their minimum resolution on the XY plane. But around 150mm tall is ideal for FDM. It'll cost you about the same in filament as a table top one printed on shapeways. Unfortunately, prepping the model becomes a lot more challenging.

#1034 hansdampf2k

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 04:22 AM

Hey,
last week I got my first two printed minis. The result is decent. Due to a lack of quality in the model-files there are some detail issues. The Timberwolf lost its toes somewhere and both minis lack any cockpit detail.
But it is a start and nice to see what is possible and where to put additional modelling work.

Meanwhile my Blender skills have grown a bit and I know how to fix certain model design flaws. Most of them are related to non-manifold edges or thin walls in certain model components.

But one thing troubles me really bad. As Krinkov said, making the model hollow will reduce the costs immensely. But I haven't achieved a proper way to do so yet.
I tried things like the boolean modifier and the solidify modifier. But I can't get them to work properly. When I try to differentiate basic bodies from the main body to get something like a hollow object, parts of the main body just disappear. I don't know how to stop this. There must be a way to avoid this.

Edited by hansdampf2k, 15 September 2014 - 04:30 AM.

#1035 Heffay

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 06:43 AM

View Posthansdampf2k, on 15 September 2014 - 04:22 AM, said:

Hey, last week I got my first two printed minis. The result is decent. Due to a lack of quality in the model-files there are some detail issues. The Timberwolf lost its toes somewhere and both minis lack any cockpit detail. But it is a start and nice to see what is possible and where to put additional modelling work. Meanwhile my Blender skills have grown a bit and I know how to fix certain model design flaws. Most of them are related to non-manifold edges or thin walls in certain model components. But one thing troubles me really bad. As Krinkov said, making the model hollow will reduce the costs immensely. But I haven't achieved a proper way to do so yet. I tried things like the boolean modifier and the solidify modifier. But I can't get them to work properly. When I try to differentiate basic bodies from the main body to get something like a hollow object, parts of the main body just disappear. I don't know how to stop this. There must be a way to avoid this.


Note that I have NO idea if this will work, but...

Could you take one of the parts, duplicate it (shift D), scale it down (S, then mouse it down), and set the normals to face in? You could probably make a decent hole in the object that way.

#1036 Galorin

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Posted 20 September 2014 - 12:22 AM

Heffay, Noesis DL links are dead. Can you update the first post with new links to the installer?

#1037 Heffay

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Posted 20 September 2014 - 06:16 AM

View PostGalorin, on 20 September 2014 - 12:22 AM, said:

Heffay, Noesis DL links are dead. Can you update the first post with new links to the installer?


Will do. On vacation right now and can't do it on phone. Thought I updated the OP though?

#1038 Galorin

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Posted 20 September 2014 - 06:30 AM

If you did I couldn't see it. After trolling through the thread, I found someone else's copy linked to google drive (I think) and the CryEngine DLL.

Once you get back, no rush as it's going to take me a while to get up to speed... Is there any way of applying the rigging/animations to the models within Blender?

#1039 CrashieJ

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Posted 20 September 2014 - 08:35 AM

View PostHeffay, on 19 December 2012 - 09:07 AM, said:

Update 12/24/13: Added youtube video of this process (at end)
Update 1/24/14: Added part 2 (of 3) training video (at end)
Update 2/11/14: Mech Importer latest version
Update 2/24/14: Added supplement to part 2 of training video

This is a basic tutorial on how to access the PGI assets to create your own MechWarrior based fan art. PGI has given permission for this to happen for non-commercial purposes, so if you're interested in creating your very own Catapult complete with custom paint jobs and poses (or heck, even animation if you're so motivated) without being limited to just photoshopping the stock images, this guide will help get you started down that path.

This guide is focused on using free (as in beer) software. There are opportunities to use other software such as 3DS Max, which was originally used to create the models and will have correspondingly better results. However, for those people who don't want to invest $3000 in software, these free solutions will give you all the tools you need, but require a bit more effort on your part.


Software you will (probably) need: I


all I got when trying redownload neosis and the plug-in was "the senior is dead" "Casaroja is no longer. Noesis may still be on Rich's personal site."

#1040 Heffay

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Posted 21 September 2014 - 08:53 PM

Whoops. The text info showed the right destination, but the link took you to the old site. It's been fixed. The links should be live again.
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