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Blender to FSX Toolset

Messages
99
Country
italy
*bump* I've added a "pre-beta" version of the exporter in the first post. Feedback welcome!

Ciao capt_x
forgive an old dull guy as I'm, but ... should I put the files
FSX_Material.py
FSX_Toolset.py
in the dir:
C:\Users\%Username%\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.69\scripts\addons

The directory/subdir
io_scene_fsx/__pycache__

has to be put in
C:\Users\%Username%\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.69\scripts\addons

or in
C:/Programs/Blender Foundation/2.69/scripts/addons/ ???

Thanks in advance :)
Paolo
 
Messages
588
Country
germany
has to be put in
C:\Users\%Username%\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.69\scripts\addons

or in
C:/Programs/Blender Foundation/2.69/scripts/addons/ ???

Ciao Paolo,

it really doesn't matter, Blender will find them either way. I tend to go for the first location because installing in the Programs folder may cause some UAC issues under Win7. And it's best to delete the __pycache__ folder, Blender will generate a new one for you (don't know how it slipped in the .zip folder anyway :duck:)...

If you need any more assistance, just ask.

Regards,
 
Messages
99
Country
italy
Installing addons is pretty easy.

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Extensions/Python/Add-Ons

Its covered here. This is just one way of doing it.

Thanks Kevin :) I was trying to install the addon the simple old way of 2.49 :)

It seems that the Blender developers are similar to BMW Bikes Enginners, who were uused to say:
"Why make things simple, if even the complicated ones do work !" :)

Eventually I was able to have the FSXTools and Exporter installed in 2.69, and had my first model exported in DirectX, which I was able to open with ModelConverter ... oooppps the texture scrambled (as the Blender built-in converter ro .X was doing !) ... after a while I noted that the texture was not actually that much scrambled: it was simply upside/down, and I remembered I saw some aircraft liveries made upside/down ... so it was quite easy to solve the problem !

Question to captain_X :
Would it be possible to include in the Blend>.X Exporter an algorithm mirrowing the UV map coordinates, so that it wouldn't be required to flip the texture ?

Question to all of you:
Would you help me to pull me out of the dead end where I'm stuck with the "double sided faces" and with the "alpha faces" ? Please :wizard:

I will put the question in the "Help" thread
 
Messages
588
Country
germany
Eventually I was able to have the FSXTools and Exporter installed in 2.69, and had my first model exported in DirectX, which I was able to open with ModelConverter ... oooppps the texture scrambled (as the Blender built-in converter ro .X was doing !) ... after a while I noted that the texture was not actually that much scrambled: it was simply upside/down, and I remembered I saw some aircraft liveries made upside/down ... so it was quite easy to solve the problem !

Question to captain_X :
Would it be possible to include in the Blend>.X Exporter an algorithm mirrowing the UV map coordinates, so that it wouldn't be required to flip the texture ?

Nice to hear that someone got it working. Have you tried to compile the model with XToMdl.exe ? Because that is actually why I'm making it, with support for FSX materials, animations and attachpoints. Of course you can handle all that with MCX, but then you wouldn't need another exporter, would you? Concerning the UVCoords, I will see if that works.


Question to all of you:
Would you help me to pull me out of the dead end where I'm stuck with the "double sided faces" and with the "alpha faces" ? Please :wizard:

"doublesided" is now a property of the mesh, look here:
doublesided_zps40709bd9.jpg


and I don't know exactly what you mean by "alpha faces", but look under the "textures" Panel:
alpha_zpse04dd1ee.jpg
 
Messages
99
Country
italy
tHANKS FOR THE HINT ABOUT THE "DOUBLE SIDED" faces, captain_x ... I will check it out shortly; hope it will work, because I just found out a tutorial which was quite crazy, about double sided faces ...

Alpha textures are the transparent ones... I may see the alpha channel in some of my blendes 2.49 model, imported in 2,69, but not all of them; in addition some of my old 2.49 files, imported in 2.69, show the alpha channel, but not all of them :(
 
Messages
1,693
Country
unitedstates
tHANKS FOR THE HINT ABOUT THE "DOUBLE SIDED" faces, captain_x ... I will check it out shortly; hope it will work, because I just found out a tutorial which was quite crazy, about double sided faces ...

Alpha textures are the transparent ones... I may see the alpha channel in some of my blendes 2.49 model, imported in 2,69, but not all of them; in addition some of my old 2.49 files, imported in 2.69, show the alpha channel, but not all of them :(

blender 2.49 used a different code to generate these things. Some aspects of 2.49 wont work in 2.69.
 
Messages
435
Country
senegal
Blender was the first 3d modeling software I used back in 2005. I gave up on it back then probably because of the unfriendly user interface and moved to learn sketchup. But I think they are making a new user interface for it. That will be awesome. I also wish the prepar3d SDK will be compatible with the latest version of 3Ds Max. Nice tool by the way, I will give it a try.
 
Messages
99
Country
italy
....

"doublesided" is now a property of the mesh, look here:
doublesided_zps40709bd9.jpg

... It DOESN'T work :(
I found a tutorial showing how to make a double sided face: it seems terrbly complicated, also because he was applying different materials to the two sides of the plane :eek:
Take a look here:
http://getblended.org/2012/07/double-sided-materials-and-textures/

This morning I tried to make the simplest of the things: a cube with texturized faces
1469987_10201750819226131_1009078886_n.jpg



... exported to DirectX ... the textures resulted to be a mess, completely scrambled.
1393662_10201750819266132_314737476_n.jpg


Probably I inadvertently hit some Blender button or whatever ... I thing I will give up with this Blender 2.69 and stay with 2.49 ... no animation export but it work perfectly !!!
 
Messages
588
Country
germany
... It DOESN'T work :(
I found a tutorial showing how to make a double sided face: it seems terrbly complicated, also because he was applying different materials to the two sides of the plane :eek:
Take a look here:
http://getblended.org/2012/07/double-sided-materials-and-textures/
If by doesn't "work" you mean doesn't "export", then you should check the options in the FSX Material Params section of your material. There is a "Double sided" option there that needs to be checked for export.
This morning I tried to make the simplest of the things: a cube with texturized faces
1469987_10201750819226131_1009078886_n.jpg



... exported to DirectX ... the textures resulted to be a mess, completely scrambled.
1393662_10201750819266132_314737476_n.jpg


Probably I inadvertently hit some Blender button or whatever ...

No. That's the way it behaves at the moment. You need to flip the textures vertically to display properly. That's the way it is done per the SDK and I'm trying to keep that consistent with the behaviour of the ACES exporter.
 

Dutcheeseblend

Resource contributor
Messages
1,541
Country
netherlands
In the old way (ie the way before capt_x released his FSX Toolset), I exported the model to MCX from Blender via .X. MCX, though, wouldn't display texturing (why, I couldn't tell), but in MCX I converted my textures from jpeg to dds using the Texture Converter, which automatically flips the textures. And they will appear in FSX correctly.

You'd try this out?

Err, someone knows why no texture at all is being displayed in MCX?
 
Messages
99
Country
italy
Sorry Capt_X ... indeed I forgot I had already noted that the textures must be turned upside down :rolleyes:

Doublesided surfaces and transparent(alpha) surfaces show up right, in the exported .x file ... but not in blender (may be I'm using the wrong setting in blender)

1469816_10201757748959370_1103116300_n.jpg


But haw do I export the animation ?? I'm not yet able to have animation in the exported .x file :(
 
Messages
1,693
Country
unitedstates
Blender was the first 3d modeling software I used back in 2005. I gave up on it back then probably because of the unfriendly user interface and moved to learn sketchup. But I think they are making a new user interface for it. That will be awesome. I also wish the prepar3d SDK will be compatible with the latest version of 3Ds Max. Nice tool by the way, I will give it a try.

Yea blender 1.6 was the version I remember getting more familiar. Ive still got it on a disk somewhere. It was even more of a pain back then. It was not friendly, but then again neither was Maya. Blender has had some recommendations and presentations of modified user interfaces, but I think it should be up to the end user how it should look. In other words, do a simplistic sketchup style ease of use as one suggestion, but also have the ability to switch to a look similar to its current resemblance for those who dont want a simple looking layout. I like sketchup, its easy, but it also looks introductory. Truspace was very similar in its simplistic layout, Wings3D was also pretty simplistic, however I just didnt like the 'toyish, childish, introductory' look of it if you understand my meaning. Even when flying, you eventually want to advance yourself to a more complex aircraft for more experience. Even though the basics are always the same, the look and layout becomes more complex and advanced.
 
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Messages
99
Country
italy
The exporter does not support animations yet. I'm working on it at the moment...:wizard: Quaternions and Vectors are driving me crazy!:D

Quaternions ??? Never heard about them, even if, according to wikipedia, they are on the scene since quite a lot of time:
" They were first described by Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton in 1843 ..." !!!

Please Capt_X go on with the animation export as fast as you can !!! :)
I'm in a desperate need of a Blender>DirectX exporter capable to handle animations :D : the Monte Bianco (Mont Blanche) scenery made by Frank Dainese ( http://scenarialpinifsx.blogspot.it/ ) needs the cableway operating before the official ski season opening ( Dec 7th) !!! Quite a lot of skiers are eagerly waiting for you !!!

Cableway upper station at "Punta Helbronner" (3,462 m (11,358 ft))
575369_10201709173265008_119279945_n.jpg
 
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588
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germany
I have animation support almost done.:wizard: But I want to integrate skinned mesh before the next update.:stirthepo So I'm trying to wrap my head around blender's armature objects, vertex groups, etc. right now.:banghead: I hope to have that finished soon.
 
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588
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germany
*bump* Exporter now supports animations. EXTENSIVE TESTING NEEDED!!! Next on the TODO-list are skinned animations. Is there any interest in the generation of placement files for BGLComp? I could put that on my TODO-list too.

edit. Is anyone willing to start a wiki-page for the Toolset?
 
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Messages
99
Country
italy
*bump* Exporter now supports animations. EXTENSIVE TESTING NEEDED!!! Next on the TODO-list are skinned animations. Is there any interest in the generation of placement files for BGLComp? I could put that on my TODO-list too.

edit. Is anyone willing to start a wiki-page for the Toolset?

*bump* I've added a "pre-beta" version of the exporter in the first post. Feedback welcome!

This is a terribly GOOD NEWS !!!

I'm eager to try it ... may be on sunday !
By the way, capt_x, I'm not sure Iunderstand the note in the first post;
Quote:
USAGE: File > Export > DirectX for FSX
To export LODs, say an LOD 400, create an Empty at the origin (0,0,0), name it "friendly_LOD_400" (obviously friendly being your model's friendly name) and parent it to all objects in that LOD.
To export an animation, the animated object has to be tagged with the Animation Tool first. Animations are exported to yourfile.XANIM. To be processed with XToMDL as per the SDK.
Unquote.

You know, I'm a novice to animation :confused: !!
 
Messages
588
Country
germany
You know, I'm a novice to animation :confused: !!

You should first read the "New Aircraft Procedures" document in the SDK (sections: Animation system, Tagging, Untagging). It explains the procedure of tagging and untagging an animated part for export.

In Blender, it is simple:
  • Animate your object (the animation has to start at keyframe 0 to display properly in the sim).
  • Then open the FSX Animation Tool in Blender's tools panel (accessed by pressing T in the 3D-view).
  • Choose the animation tag from the list displayed in the tool (Refer to the SDK's "Animation Tags" document for examples).
  • With your animated object selected, click the "Assign" button. You're done.
  • You can check that an animation tag has effectively been assigned to your object by checking the "FSX Properties" rollout in the object properties Panel.
I have not developped for scenery yet, but I think the animation tag for a generic scenery animation is "Ambient".

Compiling the animated model: With yourfile.X, a yourfile.xanim file is created, which is a XML file containing all the animation information of your model.
  • Copy both files to the folder where your XToMdl.exe is located (usually "SDK\Environment Kit\Modeling SDK\3DSM7\Plugins").
  • From the command line prompt (cmd.exe), in the Plugins folder, run the following command:

    XToMdl.exe \XANIM \DICT:..\..\bin\modeldef.xml yourfile.x
This should generate a yourfile.MDL model file in the "Plugins" folder which you can load in MCX for further processing or load directly in the SIM (i.e. as an aircraft).
 
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