Bleeeeeeender!!!

[IlovePascal]

Hey guys, since everytime I ask a question, the answer is Blender, then I have finally downloaded this mysterious answer to all questions.
After hours reading tutorials (I still need to try the practical side of it, but at least it gives me a good idea of what it does), I have finally come to a partial conclusion: It IS awesome! lol

However, i did not find, ANYWHERE, anything about how to use that in my programing. I only use Free Dev-Pascal, and I have no idea how to use my Blender projects in my programs.
Can you guys please help?

PS: hope the answer won't be "get Blender" this time! :lol:

[jasonf]

When you say "Use my blender projects in my programs" what do you mean exactly?

Use the Blender models in your programs as a mesh?
Render your Blender models as 2D sprites?

also, Blender has a 3D engine built in which you can pretty much script into a game..

To use your model from Blender, the process is the same as that for any modelling program, you'll need to convert it into the format of the engine that you're using (if your engine is home grown, you'll probably have some model loading code (MDL2 or something) or you'll have to write your own blender import code) I found this thread after a brief search http://www.linux3dgraphicsprogramming.org/announce/print.php3?art=news/20010618-022004-Programming.art
You might want to look for Milkshape, it has a lot of import/export options, you might be able to find something you can use there.

so My answer is "Get Milkshape" :lol:

actually, it's think about the model format you need and look for the appropriate model loading code... NEHE.gamedev.net has some good tutorials for this.

[Lowercase]

I just discovered Misfit model 3d, it's an opensource modeler similar to milkshape that runs on both windows and linux.

http://www.misfitcode.com/misfitmodel3d/

here's the features


This is the feature list for 1.2, the current stable version.

* General features
o Runs on Linux, FreeBSD, Windows XP, and Mac OS X (experimental)
o Built on Qt (versions 3.x and 4.x) and OpenGL
o Up to 9 Orthographic canvas and 3D perspective viewports
o Viewport zoom and pan
o Scripting support to automate repetitive tasks
o Command line support for batch processing (for scripts or format conversions)
o Plugin architecture for adding tools, commands, model format filters, and image format filters
o Complete, context-sensitive online help
* Create 3D models composed of triangles
o Multi-level undo and redo
o Create rectangles, cubes, ellipsoids, cylinders
o Translation, rotation, scaling, and shearing
o Copy/Paste between windows
o Background images for reference in model creation
o Face duplication, extrusion, and subdivision
o Group polygons for texturing or easy selection and manipulation
o Create a skeleton for skeletal animation
o Merge multiple model files into a single model
o Loads and saves Quake MD2, Milkshape 3D, Wavefront OBJ, and native MM3D format (you can contact me to request a filter if you do not see the format you are looking for)
o Loads Lightwave geometry and textures
o Loads 3DS geometry and textures (available as a plugin, no write capability).
* Apply materials (skins) to models
o Multiple materials for any model
o Materials can be solid colors or image-map textures
o Alpha blending is applied to textures with an alpha channel
o Simple texture coordinate editing, operates on selected groups or faces
o Texture mapped materials can clamp at the edges or wrap
o Native support for all Qt-supported image formats (PNG, JPEG, BMP, and more)
o Native support for TGA and PCX files
o Plugin for ImLib2 texture loading for some other formats (GIF, TIFF, and more)
* Create and run animations
o Skeletal animations (attach the model to a skeleton and move and rotate bone joints to animate the model)
o Frame animations (specify vertex positions for each vertex for each frame)
o Multiple named animations of both types
o Copy, split, and merge animations
o Convert skeletal animations into frame animations (for Quake MD2 export)

If Misfit Model 3D is missing a feature you need you can always contact me to see how long it would take to implement. Constructive feedback and feature requests are always welcome.

Texturing support is rather limited. A better texture-mapping facility is one of the goals of the 1.3 development release. If you want to export Quake MD2 files, you should look at the Quake MD2 Notes page.


Supported File Formats
Format Read Write Version Plugin
Misfit MM3D Stable Stable 1.0.x and later N/A
Milkshape MS3D Stable Stable 1.0.x and later N/A
Quake MD2 Stable Stable 1.0.x and later N/A
Wavefront OBJ Stable Stable 1.1.2 and later N/A
COB Geometry and Texture map Planned 1.3.0 and later N/A
DXF Geometry and color materials Geometry and color materials 1.3.0 and later N/A
Lightwave LWO Limited texture map Planned 1.1.2 and later N/A
3DS Beta None 1.0.x and later Ad3dsFilter
Quake MD3 In Progress In Progress N/A N/A
Cal3d Planned Planned N/A N/A


Features for 1.3 -- Development release

Version 1.3 has begun and the first release will be ready shortly. The list of 1.3 features is open for suggestions, so if you have ideas for new features or would like to help work on the next development version, check the Mailing Lists page and join the developers mailing list. You may also want to look at the Development page. Now is the perfect time to get involved!

Completed features for 1.3.

* Snap to Vertex
* Snap to Grid
* Direct vertex coordinate editing
* Change animation window into a toolbar
* Support for 64-bit architectures (experimental)
* Edge Turn
* Edge Divide
* Cap holes (very basic)

Planned features for 1.3.

* More primitive creation and manipulation tools
* More supported model formats
* Assign vertices to multiple bone joints
* Option to tint selected faces in 3D view
* User-controlled grids
* Change texture map window into a dockable window
* Better texture mapping support

[tpascal]

I just discovered Misfit model 3d, it's an opensource modeler similar to milkshape that runs on both windows and linux.


hey, that is the tool that i was looking for!!!, great!;

I am currently using milkshape3d, and i am happy with it however it is not free and some of my users (customers?) are going to be teenage with not acces to credit card for buy Milkshape and create new content.

So i was looking for a free 3d modelling tool with support of skeletal animation; all answers i got where Blender, so i tried Blender...but after some weeks checking that i get in the same conclusion of lot people...too much problem for get your blender model into your engine format;

n Blender for writing your own game file format exporter plugin you need to learn Phyton language, and i feel reluctant to learn whole new programming language just for writing a blender plugin. Most current existing Blender exporter includes mesh geometry but lack the skeletal animation info; and the ones that include skeletal animations (if there is one), is for a file format i cant parse.

I dont say it is imposible to use Blender for our games engine, i am just saying that for some programmers like me it gets difficult.

The ms3d file format from milkshape is very simple and it tooks me just few hours to code a reader, (but it takes much more time to interpret and convert the data to you game format i think), there are already some units to read ms3d in pascal code if you google well, and there is a pluging sdk for delphi here:

http://fig.emperion-empire.com/nav.php?location=delphi/milkshapesdk

Now, i am going to check this Misfit tool, i hope it will resolve my needs for free content creating tool.

thank you for the link!

tp

[IlovePascal]

Well, that's sad! I am way too new to programming (started last year) to be writing a ''loading code''!

Let me try wording my question again...

In the new game Im making, I have created a 3D 'environment', a bit like the one Blender has, which allows to zoom in/out, rotate, etc.
What I wanted was now to be able to introduce soldiers, tanks, planes, etc in that environment, because Im planning to create a war game.
The way I have always done it is to create circles and rectangles, but it looks ok in 2D, not in 3D! So I was told to get Blender, now you tell me it's gonna be hard as to use it!

Jason says Get Milkshape (lol) but I dont think it's gonna help here, is it?

Do you guys have any other idea, or maybe even a bit of code that would do the loading for me???

PS: so all i want is the overall combined shape of what I make in Blender, like a tank, a plane, etc, not the mesh, or any of the other features. Simple, isn't it?!!!

[jasonf]

Sounds to me like you need a 3D engine which is going to handle all that stuff for you. Writing a game engine is not for the faint of heart.. there's a lot to do... correction... there's an aweful lot to do and model loading is just one part of it.. Sounds to me like you want to get going and make a 3D game.. (not that that's a bad thing 8) ) so you need something which takes the ball-ache out of the job and leaves you to get on with writing the game.

Have you considered GLScene? Open GL Components for Pascal..
http://glscene.sourceforge.net/wikka/HomePage

I've seen some very impressive stuff done with GLScene. There's still a lot of programming for you to do, but it's not the programming you'll be faced with if you wanted to write your own engine from scratch.

That's my advice anyway.


I've never written a 3D engine.. I always use someone else's.. last one I used was the Torque engine, but that was in C++. I've written my own 2D engine though and that was hard enough... and it's still not perfect.... or finished.

P.S. My first game was written using DelphiX.. basically, a set of 2D engine components.

[michalis]

If all you want is to design your models in Blender and read them into your program (without the help of any large engine) then I can advice exporting your models from Blender to the Wavefront (.obj) format. This is a really trivial text format, at least if you're interested only in the simple geometry.

Short description: Lines starting with "v " (v followed by a whitespace) describe a vertex. Lines starting with "f " describe a face. A face is a sequence of vertex indexes (counted from 1). You can select "Triangulate" when exporting a model in Blender, then you will get only triangle faces, so things get even simpler. For the start, you can ignore other lines of the obj file. So reading this file is really simple, and you can design alll your meshes in Blender.

[WILL]

You know what would be interesting? A tutorial or set of tutorials deticated purely to the transition between modling software to the loader it's self. Covering of course all modleing formats such as Blender or any of the other modeling software formats to either an OpenGL or Direct3D loader.

Would make a great guide for questions such as this. :)