3D modelers?
BlitzMax Forums/MiniB3D Module/3D modelers?
| ||
| What 3D modeler(s) and converters would I be able to use to get my finished models into .b3d format? Also, links? |
| ||
| For converting I think you cant beat Ultimate Unwrap 3D Click here! a suggestion for modeling would be Blender Click here! Other suggestions would be Hexagon(Daz3D) and 3D World Studio from Leadwerks. All depends on what you were modeling. Google the above. |
| ||
| I use Blender, and there is an export module to B3d (make sure it's blitz3d, not the other format with a b3d extension, as there's an exporter for that too...) for blender, but it takes a bit of searching to find... wish I could drum up a link but I have no idea where I got it at this point... I think the general consensus is that UU3D (josk linked above) is generally the converter of choice for B3D. |
| ||
| UU3D is a lot of money if I'm just using it to convert some files. And I have a strong distaste for Blender's UI :/ |
| ||
| I too had a strong distaste for Blender's UI. Very very strong (ask some of my programming buddies the rants I would go on). . . that is until I loaded up my Amiga 500 and popped in my Imagine 1.0 disk and remembered what it was when I was first playing with 3D modeling as a kid. There are lots of great videos to learn it and with 2.49b and now 2.5 it is much much improved since I first tried the 2.3 series. Very quickly once I remembered that UI behavior wasn't always what I take it for now it was pretty easy to learn with some good tutorial videos. I can suggest many sites. The only changes I make now to the default settings are changing to have the left mouse button select instead of right (never got used to it) and change the camera rotation from trackball to turntable as trackball was too unpredictable for me. You don't have to know every hotkey for everything to do anything as you did two or three years ago and the layout is much more consistent than it was. The Blender Blitz3D export script was available from http://www.gandaldf.com/ but it appears to be down now. I have a backup if you would like me to send it to you (or anybody else). I also saved the how to use documentation from the page. I believe it is only compatible 2.4x series as Blender 2.5 has a completely re-written python API, so somebody would have to do a lot of work to get it working again. I used to use Wings3D to model but it will never see animation tools so unless the models you want to use are static you would need to import to another tool to rig and animate. It's very easy with some sweet editing tool though. |
| ||
| I would very appreciate like a backup link. Also, about Wings. Most of what I'm doing is going to be static; can it get my stuff out to b3d format? Is there any way to get sketchup (free version) models to b3d? |
| ||
| No Wings does not export to b3d file format. It's my favorite free modeling tool, but it's only the first step in a toolchain for whatever purpose you have in mind. I would definitely say Ultimate Unwrap is worth the money if you are serious about developing in Blitz, but another tool that exports to b3d is fragmotion. And there's milkshape. The only free tool I can think of that exports b3d files is characterFX, but the b3d files it generates aren't the best. Still, it's free so maybe you should try that first and see if it'll do for your needs. |
| ||
| Blender takes a LOT of getting used to, but it's quite shockingly good once you get used to it and then overhaul the default UI to however you want it (the customization is really fantastic, you can work however you're comfortable). I mainly forced myself through it because it free and I don't really need any other tools. I would say UU3D is worth the money though, even with only playing with a demo of it. But again, I like free so I'll take the lumps that go with it. |
| ||
| Add another recommendation for Blender. I tried using it a couple of years ago and ran screaming back to Milkshape. I ended up being totally overwhelmed. In hindsight the mistake I made was trying to dive right in and expecting Blender to work similar to other modelers. This go around I decided to give it a fair(er) shot so I watched a few tutorials (of varying degrees of difficulty), kept a handy keyboard reference sheet nearby and just tinkered around without any expectations. Surprisingly I've found myself loving it more and more, so much so that I've retired Milkshape altogether. It really is a powerful piece of software. I'm using it now not only to do modeling, animation and texturing but also as a level editor. It's just really simplified my art pipeline. The only problem I see at the moment is the .b3d exporter is no longer being supported so it's falling behind the Blender versions. I'd love to see someone take up the task of getting a .b3d exporter working for Blender 2.5. |
| ||
| I'm with all the others on this thread about Ultimate Unwrap 3D. The second closest thing that I've heard of is Milkshape. I haven't used any of the others so I have no opinion of them. As for modeling, my fav is and will always be TrueSpace. Version 7.6 is of course free, and may be the last version ever created since Caligari has sold its name to microsoft. (Don't quote me! Ask the horse itself for its current plans. I can only guess! Yeah, I'll sell my soul if B. Gates thinks its worth a lot of money!) TrueSpace is used by the king of PC game book editors Andre Lamothe! |
| ||
| Ill let this be shared from my dropbox for the next couple days for anybody interested. There is a PDF of the English "how to" from the site and the last release of the exporter that I knew of. Blender 2.49 Blitz3D exporter |
| ||
| try Deled, it's free and has a b3d plugin available, for free. I use it and like it |
| ||
| I did not know Deled has a b3d exporter, that's good to know about. |
   |