2252 replies to this topic

[Sparks Murphey]

Shar Wolf, on 30 December 2014 - 07:33 PM, said:

I just noticed the skull in the Orion's torso...

Dammit, now I'll see that every time!

Thanks for the new script, Heffay! More blueprints around the corner, once I've recovered from New Year's.

[Cimarb]

Kojak2000, on 30 December 2014 - 08:27 PM, said:

It is 1.5% of scale (about 27cm) and is fully articulated, however I still need to cut it up a bit better for a cleaner print. It also warped slightly on the print bed (lower left arm), so I've gotta work on the print settings.

How much did all those materials cost, and how long does that take to print something that large? (I have no frame of reference for 3d printing, sorry)

[K0JAK]

Cimarb, on 31 December 2014 - 08:37 AM, said:

How much did all those materials cost, and how long does that take to print something that large? (I have no frame of reference for 3d printing, sorry)

It weighs about 450g, which works out to about $15 worth of plastic. Total print time (excluding screw ups) was around 22 hours.

The most time consuming part is cleaning up the models for printing. Even using the powershell script, it took me well over to 100 hours to clean up and print without errors. Unfortunately I haven't found a reliable method to eliminate unwanted faces & intersections on a print this large. The best (but slowest) method for me was to import the model into blender, convert to a collada file, open in sketchup, and then recreate only the verticies that were required. Whilst very, very time consuming, the model is extremely clean.

[Heffay]

Kojak2000, on 31 December 2014 - 09:07 AM, said:

It weighs about 450g, which works out to about $15 worth of plastic. Total print time (excluding screw ups) was around 22 hours.

The most time consuming part is cleaning up the models for printing. Even using the powershell script, it took me well over to 100 hours to clean up and print without errors. Unfortunately I haven't found a reliable method to eliminate unwanted faces & intersections on a print this large. The best (but slowest) method for me was to import the model into blender, convert to a collada file, open in sketchup, and then recreate only the verticies that were required. Whilst very, very time consuming, the model is extremely clean.

Have you tried any of the 3D printing tools that come as mods for Blender?

[Sparks Murphey]

Adding a note of my own, I also had PowerShell 2.0.1.1, but already had .NET 4.5.2 on my computer. Reinstalling it didn't update PowerShell. What I did find was a Microsoft page pointing me in the direction of Windows Management Framework 4.0, which contains PowerShell 4.0, and that works.

http://social.techne...rshell-4-0.aspx

[Sparks Murphey]

sneeking, on 31 December 2014 - 10:15 PM, said:

Mech importer latest version ( dropbox link ) is giving me 404.

Is this no longer available ?

I have a rostock max v2 kit comming my way soon, it has quite a large build volume and im looking to run up super sized models of some my favorite mechs.

Printed in parts a 2ft tall cent should be possible.

That's because it's pointing to the wrong URL, despite the update tag. Try this: https://dl.dropboxus...ch-importer.ps1

[Mech42Ace]

Kojak2000, on 31 December 2014 - 09:07 AM, said:

It weighs about 450g, which works out to about $15 worth of plastic. Total print time (excluding screw ups) was around 22 hours.

The most time consuming part is cleaning up the models for printing. Even using the powershell script, it took me well over to 100 hours to clean up and print without errors. Unfortunately I haven't found a reliable method to eliminate unwanted faces & intersections on a print this large. The best (but slowest) method for me was to import the model into blender, convert to a collada file, open in sketchup, and then recreate only the verticies that were required. Whilst very, very time consuming, the model is extremely clean.

Very cool , though could I ask one thing? Is the print hollow?

[K0JAK]

Mech42Ace, on 31 December 2014 - 10:42 PM, said:

Very cool , though could I ask one thing? Is the print hollow?

Not really. The outer shell is about 4mm thick, with the interior being a tightly knit honeycomb structure. Solid as a rock.

Heffay, do you have any links to the blender 3D print tools? I'm really quite a blender noob.

[Heffay]

Kojak2000, on 01 January 2015 - 12:58 AM, said:

Not really. The outer shell is about 4mm thick, with the interior being a tightly knit honeycomb structure. Solid as a rock.

Heffay, do you have any links to the blender 3D print tools? I'm really quite a blender noob.

It comes with Blender. Call up the User Preferences window, go to the Addons tab, and search for 3D Print Toolbox.

I've never used them, so not sure how functional they are. But it may save you a bit of time.

[Seijin Dinger]

So I played around for a few moments and made this out of a Hellbringer, Ice Ferret, and Gargoyle

[Agent Cooper]

Say Kojak, would you allow me to make use of the Orion pattern? I have access to a 3d printer and would love to add to my collection.
https://www.flickr.c...nd/14976490489/

[HlynkaCG]

This is probably a dumb question but is there a way to apply custom colors, camo-specs etc... to a mech in blender?

[Heffay]

HlynkaCG, on 05 January 2015 - 08:40 AM, said:

This is probably a dumb question but is there a way to apply custom colors, camo-specs etc... to a mech in blender?

Yes, there is. Andreas80 posted up a really good node layout for this, and I generally replace the one I create with Mech Importer with his. It's a fairly simple process; you only need to copy and paste the layouts into the <mech>_body and <mech>_variant layouts after you append the MWO_Camo material to your blend file.

I know he posted a link to it somewhere in this thread. I'll see if I can dig it up.

In the future if I can get a good python script to recreate that layout, I'll change mech importer to use that instead of the version I used. Not sure if there is a way to go from a node layout to python commands, but I sure could use something like that!

edit: Found this addon which may help!
http://blenderartist...ort-node-groups

It exports a node group to a file that is just a bunch of python commands. Will experiment tonight, and may possibly have a much better node group layout for Mech Importer.

Edited by Heffay, 05 January 2015 - 09:26 AM.

[Ovion]

So I've skimmed the thread, I've got Noesis going, and I've extracted the mech files.

I want to pull up the Locust, but I can't find a Locust.cgf file, and I've clicked on every Locust file visible in Noesis and nothing brings up the mech.

Have I done something wrong, or is there another way I need to do it, or am I just too tired for this and I should have gone to bed a good 1-3 hours ago?

[Heffay]

Ovion, on 07 January 2015 - 04:26 PM, said:

So I've skimmed the thread, I've got Noesis going, and I've extracted the mech files.

I want to pull up the Locust, but I can't find a Locust.cgf file, and I've clicked on every Locust file visible in Noesis and nothing brings up the mech.

Have I done something wrong, or is there another way I need to do it, or am I just too tired for this and I should have gone to bed a good 1-3 hours ago?

You need to use the mech importer tool, which will take all the .cgf files and put them in the right place. There is no master mech _scale file anymore, so you have to build it from the components. Mech Importer automates this process.

The third tutorial in my series goes over how to use it, although it's been updated quite a bit. I need to make a new one, but it should have enough info to get you started. Let me know if you have any problems using it, and I'll try to clarify.

[Andreas80]

Heffay, on 05 January 2015 - 08:43 AM, said:

Yes, there is. Andreas80 posted up a really good node layout for this, and I generally replace the one I create with Mech Importer with his. It's a fairly simple process; you only need to copy and paste the layouts into the <mech>_body and <mech>_variant layouts after you append the MWO_Camo material to your blend file.

I know he posted a link to it somewhere in this thread. I'll see if I can dig it up.

Here is my Shader Layout:

https://www.dropbox....o_v3.blend?dl=0

I've made some changes recently and added 3 values for correcting the glossy-roughness with applied camo pattern.

Now you can change the roughness of all 3 camo color individually.


Short How-To:

1. Save blend file to hdd.
2. Open your blend file containing you mech model
3. File - Append - mwo_camo_v3.blend - materials - MWO_CAMO - Append from Library
4. Change the mech material to MWO_CAMO
5. Select the textures for your desired camo pattern
6. Adjust colors and roughness

Edited by Andreas80, 08 January 2015 - 05:04 AM.

[Nightshade24]

Hey question guys... Is it relatively easy to make art using the PGI mech things?

I kinda want to replicate a few of my fave variants in BT on mechs in MW: O....

And also want to copy the Solaris/ Prototype mechs from MW4 mercs.



I've just been quite a fan of Solaris and I want to replicate some of the cool Solaris mechs from MW4 mercs and also want to go play around and make cool looking weapon combinations on a mech as well as as replica of the widowmaker, lone wolf, etc in there good looking glory. (not the sad looking thing in my mechbay... poor widowmaker)

[Heffay]

Nightshade24, on 08 January 2015 - 06:48 AM, said:

Hey question guys... Is it relatively easy to make art using the PGI mech things?

I kinda want to replicate a few of my fave variants in BT on mechs in MW: O....

And also want to copy the Solaris/ Prototype mechs from MW4 mercs.

I've just been quite a fan of Solaris and I want to replicate some of the cool Solaris mechs from MW4 mercs and also want to go play around and make cool looking weapon combinations on a mech as well as as replica of the widowmaker, lone wolf, etc in there good looking glory. (not the sad looking thing in my mechbay... poor widowmaker)

Well... it's *relatively* easy, but even if you get the script running and import the mechs into Blender for further work, you have to learn how to use Blender (or whatever tool you want to use) to do cool and interesting things with them.

The MW4 models may be available somewhere, but not exactly sure where. You can definitely kit-bash with the existing parts fairly easily, but you still have to have at least a basic familiarity with the tools to be able to do that. Personally I think learning how to use Blender is incredibly useful, although it does require a significant time investment to become proficient in it to the point where you can use the PGI assets effectively.

That's probably not a very clear answer. I guess the TL;DR is "It depends."

[Sparks Murphey]

Ovion, on 07 January 2015 - 04:26 PM, said:

So I've skimmed the thread, I've got Noesis going, and I've extracted the mech files.

I want to pull up the Locust, but I can't find a Locust.cgf file, and I've clicked on every Locust file visible in Noesis and nothing brings up the mech.

Have I done something wrong, or is there another way I need to do it, or am I just too tired for this and I should have gone to bed a good 1-3 hours ago?

You'll also need to rename the .cga files to .cgf

Remember, do not do this to your actual MWO install, that will muck up your game something chronic.

[Ovion]

Between work and life, learning how to get this to a usable part for myself is going to be long winded...

Would it take long / be much work for someone already familiar with the process to extract the files for the locust and its variants + weapon options and convert them to a file type readable by Solid works?

And if it isn't too hard, could someone be super nice and send me those files, so I can start work on a print ready Locust?