2252 replies to this topic

[Muzakman]

I realized that I didn't provide usage instructions for the Gist of Heffay's script.

Before running the script, make sure that you've (in the very least)
A) made copies/extracted the .PAK files into a scratch dir
Ran the batch exporter in Noesis to convert the .CGA/CGF -> .obj - this is a key element in the aforementioned assembly of the dynamic hardpoint stuff
C) renamed .DDS -> .JPG (or .PNG) *this may be optional at this point, but its tough for me to tell since I don't know a lot about 3D modeling and this thread's been around long enough to reach a pretty poor signal : noise with regards to finding most current info.

To "install" the posh-let and make the cmdlet accessible from the prompt, you'll simply invoke the script with the dot operator:

Ex:

C:\mwoassets>. .\mech-importer.ps1
C:\mwoassets>Get-MwoBlenderMech banshee -Path .\ | out-file import.py -encoding utf8
(processing)
(returns a string)

[Muzakman]

An aside about the usage of the -encoding parameter to out-file:

Blender is just as good (which is to say bad) at handling file encodings, and I had some early difficulties with some strange characters appearing in the pasted script which I traced back to the output file encoding being utf-2 (?!?).

[Nakamura Takeshi]

Cinema 4D info (my 3d program of choice):

https://forums.rober...-or-mental-uv-s

I'd like to thanks all who contributed to this both here (Heffay you rock man) and at RSI, it's well worth a look over at the threads there since they are facing similar issues. I've heard of a Maya version as well, but haven't seen it.

[Cimarb]

Have the Clan mechs been added to this yet? Being able to skin my Dire Wolf like I have in my signature may just push me over the edge to relearn this 3d modeling stuff....

[Nakamura Takeshi]

Cimarb, on 30 May 2014 - 01:14 PM, said:

Have the Clan mechs been added to this yet? Being able to skin my Dire Wolf like I have in my signature may just push me over the edge to relearn this 3d modeling stuff....

I haven't checked but you piqued my curiosity. I would suggest getting a head start and maybe try some non-Clan 'mechs as practice. Why wait!? Never hurts to work on your 3D skills, I know I need to improve mine greatly.

[Cimarb]

Nakamura Takeshi, on 30 May 2014 - 01:51 PM, said:

I haven't checked but you piqued my curiosity. I would suggest getting a head start and maybe try some non-Clan 'mechs as practice. Why wait!? Never hurts to work on your 3D skills, I know I need to improve mine greatly.

Problem is I spend far too much time on this game as is, lol. The Dire Wolf may just be enough to force some time reallocation, though.

[Nakamura Takeshi]

Cimarb, on 30 May 2014 - 05:22 PM, said:

Problem is I spend far too much time on this game as is, lol. The Dire Wolf may just be enough to force some time reallocation, though.

If you can make something from it and learn a skill (3d or Video Editing, etc.) all the better .

Edited by Nakamura Takeshi, 02 June 2014 - 11:17 AM.

[Cimarb]

Nakamura Takeshi, on 02 June 2014 - 11:14 AM, said:

If you can make something from it and learn a skill (3d or Video Editing, etc.) all the better .

I really did want to get into 3d modeling and animation for a while, but the learning curve back then (10+ years ago) and lack of jobs made it highly difficult. Now, even though there are a lot more jobs, it is still something that has a high learning curve and there are no "on the job training" opportunities - everyone wants experienced people - so it's something that is really cool as a hobby, but nothing I plan on ever making a career out of.

[Nakamura Takeshi]

Cimarb, on 02 June 2014 - 12:03 PM, said:

I really did want to get into 3d modeling and animation for a while, but the learning curve back then (10+ years ago) and lack of jobs made it highly difficult. Now, even though there are a lot more jobs, it is still something that has a high learning curve and there are no "on the job training" opportunities - everyone wants experienced people - so it's something that is really cool as a hobby, but nothing I plan on ever making a career out of.

I think that today is the time to get into 3d, back then 3d was primitive. One of the BIG movies I watched was "The Last Starfighter" back in the day, very primitive and simple. It costs so much back then, now you can do the same effects at home. I grabbed a 3D model of the Starfighter, C4d, and it didn't take too long animated it along a path with a simple planet in the background.

I think it's easier than you think if you focus on specifics on what you want to do rather than the thing as a whole. You can branch out into other areas of the program later, there is a "one day" tutorial for C4D that teaches you enough to get you going and inspire you. As for jobs you can learn it in your spare time (even on the job...shhhh shhhh) and build up a reel of the work you've done.

[Cimarb]

Nakamura Takeshi, on 02 June 2014 - 12:49 PM, said:

I think that today is the time to get into 3d, back then 3d was primitive. One of the BIG movies I watched was "The Last Starfighter" back in the day, very primitive and simple. It costs so much back then, now you can do the same effects at home. I grabbed a 3D model of the Starfighter, C4d, and it didn't take too long animated it along a path with a simple planet in the background.

I think it's easier than you think if you focus on specifics on what you want to do rather than the thing as a whole. You can branch out into other areas of the program later, there is a "one day" tutorial for C4D that teaches you enough to get you going and inspire you. As for jobs you can learn it in your spare time (even on the job...shhhh shhhh) and build up a reel of the work you've done.

I actually watched The Last Starfighter 14 times in a row (literally, I'm not exaggerating) during the summer it first came out on video - amazing movie.

About 8-10 years ago, I actually got a computer built specifically to run Poser (can't remember which version it was at the time) for Christmas and spent months playing around with it. It was amazing what that program could do at the time, especially with hair and clothing.

I lost interest eventually due to the time it took to do anything, and the increasing fun quotient of video games (isn't that the story of most of our lives?...). I recently installed all of the stuff for Heffay's tutorial and tried fiddling around with it, but he combination of difficulty re-learning and none of my preferred mechs being available (missing files or not in game yet) meant that I quickly lost interest. Hopefully the Clan models will shift that balance and I will give it another go some weekend.

[Nakamura Takeshi]

The Last Starfighter was a classic man, think I even bought a poster and need to get it framed. I also played around the Poser, but C4D is it for me since I love using Aftereffects. I think setting aside 30 minutes ado to dabble/learn pays off, I have to reign back my playing a bit myself too to work on it.

I gotta confess my two vices right now are MWO and Mass Effect Multiplayer (yeah I know), I need to budget/schedule my time .

[Seijin Dinger]

I finally got through all the mechs, and have imported them into blender, saving them off with all weapons in place, will remove excess weapons for specific varients later.
I am not all that good in any 3D software, but the Shadowhawk presented an issue I am not able to correct, I deleted the import file, closed blender, re-ran the mech imported, rinse and repeat and still have the issue. The UAC_5s that go in the L Torso seem to be split and I cannot seem to move the barels into place without moving the other part out of place. I am wondering if you had this issue as well. Including a screenshot as well

https://www.dropbox....whawk-issue.jpg

Edited by Seijin Dinger, 04 June 2014 - 12:46 AM.

[Heffay]

Yup! That is one of the known bugs of the Cryengine plug-in for Noesis. It's technically for CE2, and the "exploded geometry" issue is pretty well known. It doesn't impact MWO objects too much, but it does crop up every now and then. Star Citizen suffers from this a *lot* though, and it's quite annoying.

To move the barrels back to the mech, select the object, go to edit mode, select only the barrel vertices, and drag them to the proper location. When they are there, go to object mode and they should stay in position. You probably want to recalculate the origin, as it may have some weirdness when you rig it though. If you don't plan on rigging, it should be ok as is.

[Seijin Dinger]

Thanks, Im not worrying about animating them, Im just prepping them to 3D print for myself (if I ever get access to a printer) for the occasional game here and there

[Heffay]

Muzakman, on 27 May 2014 - 08:24 PM, said:

An aside about the usage of the -encoding parameter to out-file:

Blender is just as good (which is to say bad) at handling file encodings, and I had some early difficulties with some strange characters appearing in the pasted script which I traced back to the output file encoding being utf-2 (?!?).

I promise I haven't forgotten about your script. I haven't had a lot of time to look it over yet and see about consolidating it. I love how you made it into a cmdlet; that will definitely help out in the future!

[Krometheus]

[Muzakman]

Heffay, on 04 June 2014 - 02:12 PM, said:

I promise I haven't forgotten about your script. I haven't had a lot of time to look it over yet and see about consolidating it. I love how you made it into a cmdlet; that will definitely help out in the future!

Thanks Heffay - I wanted to give back, and it was a good excuse to refresh/learn more posh goodness (is there anything you can't do with Powershell?!?). I just finished and released an update for my app, so maybe I'll try to change the pace by taking another look at this stuff.

On the immediate to-do list:
refactor script to generate a list of file names it will need (with paths)
Check existence of files, warn user or abort if not found (I found that missing files were my worst enemy, and running the python script in blender won't give you errors that occur early on in the script)

[Heffay]

Looks like the mech-importer script doesn't work for the new clan mechs. Will have to look at that and see what's going on. Probably files getting moved around and the like.

NM, it works fine!

Edited by Heffay, 12 June 2014 - 06:34 AM.

[Sentinel373]

I'll just leave this here





The legs arent as bad as i initially thought, the devs just had some weird fov stuff going on.

[Heffay]

Yah, the script is actually working. I'm just a noob sometimes and forget to do things I'm supposed to do.

Will get a gold mech up in a minute!!