Character Shop - any use?
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Programming/Character Shop - any use?
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| Hi! I downloaded the Character Shop demo and found no "export" option - the only available output was either an internal format or a ".x" format but they don't say which one (.x 7,8,9)? I read posts stating that CShop can export to b3d but see nothing to substantiate that. Does the export option only appear in the full version? The website and "Help" file are silent on the issue. In short, there are two questions: A) Is CShop compatible with Blitz3d, or not? B) Is it any good? Thanks for any light you can shed. |
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| There is a sample b3d in the models folder. CS exports the current version x file, which Blitz does not support. However, Unwrap3D can load x and save a b3d. That is the method I used to make the sample file. |
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| A) What halo said =) B) its brilliant for first person shooters, ive managed to get a character model done for me player char now all I need is to convert it and put it into Hunted =) |
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| Martonic, I have converted a character of my own and added all the animations inside CS demo - very easily. Just ensure you make your characters the same size as the ref .3ds file provided - that is critical to success I believe. I have not exported stuff out and put through UU3d yet -but I assume that is Josh says it works - then it does indeed work. As EdzUp says its great for those anims included. I would love to see some platform anims and other more generic stuff in there. But what a GREAT starter for 10 otherwise! IPete2. |
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| I note that Character Shop is a "Dark Basic" project. I took an animation in .x format from Dark Matter 2 (Bezerka) - made for Dark Basic - opened in Ultimate Unwrap and exported to b3d format. Result: animation data is gone. Model is static. How do we know that we won't run into the same problem with Character Shop? Yes, UU3d can convert .x to b3d - but what about the animation data? Thanks for any further information that will clear this up. |
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| The sample .b3d file included with Character Shop was created using the workflow Halo recommends (which clearly works). |
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| I took an animation in .x format from Dark Matter 2 (Bezerka) - made for Dark Basic - opened in Ultimate Unwrap and exported to b3d format. Was it the old .X format? Only the newer .X supports skeletal animation, the older ones only did segmented animation. Result: animation data is gone. Model is static. |
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| Was it the old .X format? Only the newer .X supports skeletal animation, the older ones only did segmented animation. Yes, DarkMatter 2 animated models are the newer .x format with skeletal animation. Since you're not allowed to actually use the b3d's after conversion, I didn't buy DarkMatter 2, but I've had no problems converting other .x models to b3d with animation intact. |
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| Point 1. I open a "newer .x format" model in uu3d and immediately save it as b3d, and the animation is gone. According to the above comments this should work, but it does not, so what's wrong? Point 2. Nowhere in the Character Shop documentation is there a single mention of which animation goes in which frames. So even if you get it to work, how can you extract the correct animations? Point 3. Character Shop comes with a "blitz3d.dll" file. Again, no mention anywhere in the documentation. What is that for and how do you use it? Sorry if I seem peeved, but the feeble documentation is really annoying. That's why I have so many doubts and questions. Thanks for your help. |
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| 1. It works with x models exported from the program. I included a sample b3d file that I did just that with. 2. From the help document: The start and end frames can be gotten from the outputted .txt file containing a list of sequences and corresponding frames. 3. Blitz3D.dll is used for accessing internal Blitz structures in the program. You don't need it. I am not sure how you can characterize the help document as anything but superb. It walks you through the whole process, step by step. |
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| I have to say I followed the help document and within 15 minutes I had one of my oversized, inanimate characters, re-sized (in MAX) the correct size to use in Character Shop and working with every animation contained within Character Shop. I had to do a tiny bit of tweaking but the help document was superb for walking me through it. Personally I think you need to be a little more patient with yourself. These things are exciting and you can quickly overlook important stuff because of your own enthusiam. Chill a moment,take a deep breath and start at the beginning. You'll find it a breeze Martonic, honestly! IPete2. |
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| Okay, thanks. My apologies, Halo. |
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| It really should be easy. If you have any serious problems, let us know. |
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