Blender 3DS export project

spiked said:
Hello, newb here.

I know blender well enough to be dangerous, but not make a living with it. I decided to tackle an Enticement as my first attempt at a RF model. I took detailed pics for modeling and textures, got the basic plane modeled. I learned a few do's and dont's for the next more serious effort, but before I did too much I decided to see if I could get what I have into RF.

I am running into problems after the export script. The kex file gets created ok, but when i try to import it into RF i get an 'error finding texture file'. The texture is a 1024x1024 non compressed TGA in the same dir as the kex file, as it was when used as a texture in blender. I also tried looking at the nexstar blender demo, and it will not even make it through the converter - 0 bitmap files used.

So i was sondering if someone could point me in some direction to resolve the import problem. Maybe just a sample that will actually import that I can compare to. Once I see something positive in RF I hope to get motivated to go do more detailed modeling.
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What version on of RealFlight might you be running?

Welcome BTW, have a good one! :)
 
spiked said:
So i was sondering if someone could point me in some direction to resolve the import problem. Maybe just a sample that will actually import that I can compare to. Once I see something positive in RF I hope to get motivated to go do more detailed modeling.
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Most likely the issue is the length of the filename for the texture. 3DS texture files are limited to 8.3 filenames maximum - anything longer will give you problems.

So make sure the filename is no longer than "12345678.tga" and you will be OK.

I have noticed some other apps such as Deep Exploration will rename and make a copy of your texture file automatically, but have not gone there with the script (yet).
 
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I encountered the name length problem earlier on - so at this time my texture name is small - entice.tga.
Although I will admit there may be another older filename still in the blend file. It seems very difficult to get rid of references to unused files. I think I have them all out, but im not 100% sure.
 
In terms of the texture file used for export this is only the UV-texture. There is a material texture file you can set up in blender but that is ignored by the exporter.

I am not aware of any way to make the process less tedious determining, for each object, how all the faces are texture mapped and to which file. Though if you were texture mapping to multiple files you would instead get an error "Only 1 texture file supported" (or something close to that).

Could you verify you are using UV-mapping with texture file rather than the material texture? You need to go to UV-face select mode then have another window open to map each face to a part of the fle.
 
im really not getting it :(
I just went and deleted all materials, just to be sure.
then I edited each component, made sure the image is set to my texture map. I didnt bother lining up the textures.
Now when I export I get the 'Model used too few bitmap materials' error - just like the blender nexstar sample gets. It apears that the script (or ke) requires use of materials.
I think if someone just posted a sample that worked (from a blend/tga combo through RF) I could look at it and see what I need to do but so far every sample i've seen also will not work (probably created for previous versions?).
 
there is really something simple going on here, but i dont know what it is.
I decided to back up and try some expeirmenting.
1) I created a cube, UV mapped it to the same tga i was using for the enticement.
It exported correctly and to my amazment loaded into RF. OK flew the cube around a bit. That was interesting.
2) Next I stretched the cube this way and that to give it some shape. Re-exported, flew it around a bit.
3) Ok, next I added an elevator. UV mapped it to same tga. Parented it to the reshaped cube. renamed it ~CS_elevator - reexported it. RF gives the 'cant find texture file' error when importing.

So what is it between 2 & 3 that would cause this?
 
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Only thing I notice is when I add a new object it defaults to having no material. You mention UV-mapping the elevator, did you also assign it either a new material or the same material used by the parent cube?
 
@spiked: Please post the .blend - file, .sup, and .kex - file here. I received this error too but cannot remember how I solved it. At least I can remember that I deleted the whole aircraft using "Manage User Files - method", but after your report the problem seems to lay in blender's capability of deleting 'once time used' materials with "old" texture files applied on it.

I'm aware of this problem and to get away old materials entries, it worked very well for me to import all aircraft parts into a new, completely empty .blend - file and to re - assign the UV-Modifier with the correct texture - path/name.

How do you do that? - > File -> Append or Link (Shift F1)

Greets,

Max
 
thanks for the suggestion max. Im a little embarrased at the model in its current state, as i said this was sort of an exploratory effort.

Im not sure what state the files are in - they are just kinda were i left off and started from scratch with a cube. The problem seems to very random. I can do some things to it, like just change a mesh shape and i get the error. I go back and delete materials and re-uv map and the error goes away - then add a new component the same way twice and once it works and once it doesn't. Very difficult to figure out what is causing the problem.

hmm, I cant seem to get the attachments to show up. I even tried renaming it to a g3x instead of zip :( What's the trick?
 
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spiked said:
thanks for the suggestion max. Im a little embarrased at the model in its current state, as i said this was sort of an exploratory effort.
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Hey man, no need to be embarrased. We all start somewhere and it's not always going to be the way you want it. just glad to see another person picking up on the modeling
 
Hey Spiked - You can just take the .blend file and rename to .g3x then add this as an attachment to a reply.

One thing that Max and I have been discussing is the possibility to put more verification/checking into the blender script so it will warn you about texture problems, incorrect parenting, unknown or incorrect NUP parameters and so on. Maybe I could use your blend file and have a look inside the script to see where things go wrong and lead to the error you are seeing in RF.
 
I fixed the problem by re-importing all objects into a new empty .blend - file like I said before. Make sure your blend - file is only referring to one texture file, and only one texture file is selectable in the UV-Editor. Than everything should be run.

Greets,

Max
 
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thanks for the effort

thanks for the effort guys, but i give up for now.

Max fixed the file up and it imported ok for me into RF. I tried the same thing with an updated model, I re-imported to a clean blend file, and i still get the same error. Some where I have a mis-matched version of something and well, i don't have much patience these days.

I already tried renaming the a zip file and it still would not attach. There is still something flakey with attachments on this board. Max has a copy (or 2) of a zip with files that have problems and hopefully he can forward them to you.

Thanks for the effort - sorry i give up so fast but thats just me (its medical related).

Mike
 
spiked said:
thanks for the effort guys, but i give up for now.

Max fixed the file up and it imported ok for me into RF. I tried the same thing with an updated model, I re-imported to a clean blend file, and i still get the same error. Some where I have a mis-matched version of something and well, i don't have much patience these days.

I already tried renaming the a zip file and it still would not attach. There is still something flakey with attachments on this board. Max has a copy (or 2) of a zip with files that have problems and hopefully he can forward them to you.

Thanks for the effort - sorry i give up so fast but thats just me (its medical related).

Mike
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Aw Mike, don't worry, you tried and got somewhere, that only means that you can only go further from this point on.

Wishes for the best of luck! :)
-Blade Scraper
Team Red Bull
 
NOTE for all readers: 3ds2kex is still buggy. DON'T apply NUP_MaxSmoothingErrorDEG in your .sup - file when you work under the beta - version and keep attention how you map your stuff.

BUG - REPORT

Greets,

Max
 
Attention!

Using empty's as Pivot centers is not working when you are applying engine's. Probably I didn't noticed this problem, because I had a linear arrangement of props on my aircrafts before.

The 3ds2kex - converter of course needs mesh information for engines. Only creating the empty will not doing the trick, cause the exporter has to apply the new pivot center to a graphical mesh. Simply create 1 Poly (a big triangle will do it perfectly) and name it like the empty before ~CS_ENGINE1,2,3...

Using empty's for graphical meshes like the rudders is working just fine....(See Screenshots)

Greets,

Max
 

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Gratitude

Thanks Rayvel

I have been trying to use Blender to produce a 3ds file for use in the game Trackmani United. Version 0.98 of the export script you provided does the job when the ones supplied in the latest versions of Blender are, as everyone seems to say, broken.

So thanks again.

Glauco
 
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