Blender 2.49 to COLLADA to pyrogenesis

[ecma262]

Hi all:

I created a simple cube in Blender, then used the COLLADA plugin to export it from Blender 2.49. But, when I try to load the COLLADA file from pyrogenesis. I ran into a few issues:

- Blender COLLADA plugin does not seem to export TEXCOORD, so I added a faked input with TEXCOORD semantic by hand.

- I was then faced with 'faces count does not match given entries', after spending an hour looking at the COLLADA 1.4 spec, I noticed that Blender exports face normals and not vertex normals. So, I created a simple COLLADA file using a text editor for a simple triangle and I was able to load it into pyrogenesis.

Any body is running into the same issue?

Thanks

UPDATE: never mind, I am not understanding what is going on and my conclusion above might not be right. If you are able to export Blender models into COLLADA and then use them from inside pyrogenesis (without any conversion), please let me know. Thanks

Edited September 18, 2010 by ecma262

[Mythos_Ruler]

Make sure it is all triangles. In MAX this is "convert to mesh". Not sure what it is in Blender. Are you making an actor, etc, so you can place it in Atlas?

[ecma262]

Mythos_Ruler:

Thanks. I read somewhere on the wiki that it needs to be exported as triangles and that is what I did in all my exports. Do you know of anyone who was able to take assets from Blender COLLADA and import them directly as meshes in pyrogenesis?

I am not an artist not even close just a hardcore programmer. I am evaluating pyrogenesis as an engine for my own personal project. So far, I am able to get pyrogenesis to do what I want, but I am at the point where I need to create some 3D models and use them in pyrogenesis. My understanding is that almost all the assets developed for 0.A.D are done using 3d max. I would love to know if there is anyone who is able to use Blender COLLADA plugin.

My only option for now is to go and read FCollada source code to try and understand what is going on

[Ykkrosh]

Have you tried Blender 2.5? It looks like that's had a lot of Collada-related changes, and in the long term it's probably much more useful to support that rather than 2.4. (I still don't know whether it'll work perfectly out of the box - I noticed a few importer problems but haven't tried exporting.)

By the way, converting to triangles before exporting shouldn't be strictly necessary now (I re-enabled code in the engine's importer to automatically triangulate meshes), but it's probably still best to do so - the automatic triangulation might do unexpected things (there's more than one way to triangulate a polygon) so it's safer to convert it and check it in the modelling program.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Is there an option to export to different versions of collada? 1.4, etc.?

[ecma262]

In Blender 2.49, the answer is yes and I used 1.4. In Blender 2.54, there was no version specified to export, so I am assuming it is 1.4.

I think pyrogenesis appeal will be a a thousand-fold greater if it was easy to use Blender with it.

[Mythos_Ruler]

As I use Max, I think ShieldBearer or Brighty, who use Blender, might be of better help. Hopefully they see this and comment. If I see them I'll bring this to their attention.

[Shield Bearer]

I had some kinda problem exporting with both 2.49 and 2.5, but i did succeed in exporting a untextured greek tower into pyrogenisis. I think 2.5 is broken a bit, haven't tried the beta yet, only the alpha. will check it out soon.

[ecma262]

If you don't mind, can you please post your .dae file and .blend file, it would help me debug my issue. Thanks!

[Shield Bearer]

lol, that'd be hard. i don't think i kept it, i overwrote it and then it stopped working. uhmm...can u see if the 'Vertex color' option is on? I think that was giving some trouble when i tried sending it to Michael.

[ecma262]

Great news for me!

I finally was able to get a textured cube to appear in pyrogenesis using Blender 2.54b. There is no option (as far as I know) to use triangles. As Ykkrosh mentioned, pyrogenesis can handle COLLADA with polygons meshes.

Next is to create a simple animation in Blender and try it in pyrogenesis. ( I love saying pyrogenesis over and over again)

[Mythos_Ruler]

Little known fact: our engine was originally called 'Prometheus' but we changed it to Pyrogenesis when we learned how many other projects were codenamed "Prometheus" (a lot). Pyrogenesis translates to "birth through fire."

[Shield Bearer]

ahh! how did it work? did u disable vertex colors?

[ecma262]

Here is what I was doing wrong:

I used Blender 2.49

I created a simple cube without textures

I exported the mesh using the triangle

I edited the .dae file manually to add the texture mapping coordinates

I kept getting 'face count does not match' error in pyrogenesis

Here is how I was able to fix it:

I used Blender 2.5b

I created a simple cube but this time I added an image texture

I exported the model using polygons (actually, I didn't have a choice)

I was able to load the mesh into pyrogenesis

Success!

I am attaching the blender file, the collada file, the texture image and a screenshot of what I was able to accomplish.

Thanks guys for your help

textured_cube.zip

[Mythos_Ruler]

Nice texture. Corrugated steel.

[ecma262]

I wish it was my own creation. But I got it from http://www.texturewarehouse.com/gallery/pic.php?id=481 just for testing purposes.

[WhiteTreePaladin]

I created a simple cube but this time I added an image texture

That added UV texture coordinates automatically, which might have been the problem