Blender tutorials

[AndiS]

I just complete a little tutorial on how to make my first box and get it into RW or KRS. Be the first to read it. I will provide a short check list as an alternative to this essay on box creation, maybe this weekend.

http://sites.google.com/site/andisukts/ ... pleBox.pdf

[GRUMPL]

Great tutorial Andis . Your screen grabs tell it in a very easy to understand way, great work, mate,

[gavo01]

Cheers Andi.

I'll give this a go and hopefully report back with good results.

[AndiS]

I added a version without the blahblah, for those who know about Blender:

http://sites.google.com/site/andisukts/ ... ckList.pdf

(And I made small fixes to the first document.)

You are my "early adopters" (read: Guinea pigs), so let me know how you feel after going through it to the end!

[henningBR218]

Hi Andi,

great crisp tutorial!

It SHOWS all neccessary steps in pictures and it is easy to follow.

Just a few steps and the cube is in RS/RW. And best is: it are much less steps than I though

thanks

[GRUMPL]

Sorry Gav had a senior moment, If all Renders ok in Blender, check Console window...little black Python window that begins Blender..for errors?
If OK. check;
(a) For RW, your Textures are a power of 2 eg. 1024x1024, 1024x512, 512x512, 128x512, 128x128 etc.
(b) The spelling of your Texture name in Blender is as per RW wants eg. TexDiff etc ..note the capital "T" and "D" ?
(c) You've converted your Texture file to a .ACE. I use .tga to .ace?
(d) Your RW Source Directory tree/path, is correct and you do have a "Textures" folder in it, WITH a .ace file there? (in the excitement of exporting, I've missed this ...lol)
Hope this helps, regards

[AndiS]

And best is: it are much less steps than I though

Could it be that you spend too much time with too advanced features?

I do plan to dig deeper (and document that, too), but given the long list of scenery items I want to create, it will take some time until I get into the more complex stuff.

And I need to say that once you remember all the steps, it is a truly swift process! Thanks for this very useful piece of software!

[gavo01]

Guys,

Having problems converting my .tga file to .ace.

Used Tga tool2 but that doesn't work. Any other converters out there?

EDIT- Scratch that question, found RWAceTool..

Have used this and ToAce, that comes with RS, but both programs are telling me the file has converted but when I try to extract it, it tells me there is no file there.

This is driving me nuts...

[GRUMPL]

Gav "extract" I may have misunderstood ? ....the .ace file is normally created in the directory where your .tga etc. original already exists. Then copy this .ace file to your Textures folder in your RW Source directory set-up, then just use Blueprint editor in RW to make "new blueprint' etc. (I do this to make sure I'm getting an all new start), run RW and check out your new asset. ... make sure to remove, any old file versions from RW or rename etc. otherwise RW may still be using the old files...one can get caught thinking they've changed a file or something, and it's still original!.... Tip..always check date/time of any files your working on, especially the time... it's very handy. Hope this helps mate, regards

[GRUMPL]

Sorry Gav I've got same problem ......must be getting old, I've been using the old exporter (Steampsis')with 2.47 for ages, but to help you and make sure for myself, I tried Bigex on 2.47, 2.48a and 2.49b I can't get my textures either? I am obviously do something wrong but what? I've been texturing and exporting with Blender to Trainz, Fs9(Gmax), FSX sims etc. for quite a while, but obviously did not absorb the instructions from the Bigex Manual properly. Also I must still have a lot to learn about textures because..... the Bigex Test example, works really well. It even looks almost the same in RW as in Blender!! .....Something I'm doing wrong with the Texture slots usage/labels?.... Gav pass me a paddle mate and I'll join you up the creek...lol...

[AndiS]

I guess there are two things going wrong here, and I don't know which, and if it is the same for both of you.

1) The ToAce tool producing output. After you ran it, go to the folder in Windows Explorer and see if there is an ACE besides the TGA (or wherever you stored it. If yes, proceed to (2). If not, you hit the wrong button (save versus convert). Or you found a new problem.

2) The reference in the IGS not matching the location of the ACE.
Extract from the short list published above:
- In the Texture tab (in Blender), first entry is TrDiff or Tex of whatever shader name you use.
- Second entry is of type image. To the right, you find (in tab Image) the filename. It must read //textures\foo.tga. The //textures is important.
- In the source folder, the texture goes to Source\Me\MyProduct\textures\foo.ace.
- IGS is Source\Me\MyProduct\fee.igs (or fee_exp.igs)

[GRUMPL]

AndiS many thanks, I was confused about the setup in the Texture tab..so it's shader then image...ok. will try that, regards

[gavo01]

Have used this and ToAce, that comes with RS, but both programs are telling me the file has converted but when I try to extract it, it tells me there is no file there.

This is driving me nuts...

Now something strange has happened here but it has fixed the problem.

When I converted my .tga file to .ace using either of the above programs it was saved as a .winrar file and from there it would not extract.

I decided to try this again but only after I deleted the WinRar program from my HDD.

And guess what?

It worked. Opened up the .ace file using TgaTools2 initially but it was there in all its glory.

Strange.

[gavo01]

Still having problems with this bit of the tutorial Andi,

The important bit here is that you see //textures\WhateverTextureFile.tga. If you see a full (absolute)
path, you forgot to set the relative path use at the start.

I have set the relative path but it still keeps showing a full absolute. and then the blueprints editor tells me it can't locate my .ace file.

[AndiS]

You must click the stupid "relative path defaults" button every time you start Blender!

So, first thing, perform the first section of the tutorial, then select image file.

If you don't see the image listed as //textures\WhateverTextureFile.tga or so after you did the above, give a precise description of all you are doing and hopefully I can tell you the difference to what I did.