Our ReVolt Pub

A-ha. Getting wiser every day

@SebR
Ok, it was still another issue with LEGO here. These tracks seem to have a lot of empty objects created without a single face or vertex, which was currently unexpected by the addon.
I have added a test to reject them now, and for example Aperture Laboratories is going from using 2026 to only 734 usefull objects (after importing and exporting it back), and nothing seems to lack when loading it in Re-Volt.

Thanks for the report. I'm packing this version and I'll send an updated release very soon.


About Blender 2.60RC, unfortunately I can only confirm that it's breaking the compatibility with the plugin. I've been in touch with the author of the modif to see if there is any workaround. We'll see. And for info, at least now I have a few hopes it "might" be possible to port the addon to v2.6x. But it will likely imply a lot of extra code to provide a descent interface for the face options (double-sided, mirroring, etc.).

>> Newer is not _always_ better.
Yep, generally speaking I would agree, but in the case of Blender, though 2.5x is considered stable now, we can't say it's actually a mature and polished version.
As an example, I started this plugin with Blender v2.49 but one feature was weirdly missing in the Python API (I checked and it was clearly not implemented in the code). As the crew was already working on v2.5 I had no hope the bug would ever get fixed if I sticked with v2.49... That why it's better to use an alive product, it's not for shiny new features but rather to be sure the code is still maintained.

Thanks for adding the instances support jig! I have yet to test your plugin at all, but it will definitely come in handy later.

One question: in the e-mail you mention support for importing *.bmp files. Since Re-Volt 1.2 does, I was wondering if your plug-in support 32-bit bmp files too?

LEGO W bug finally out thx

I'v got a wish about Instances suport, sometime a need to load 2 different FIN file in the same time (mostly for wolfr4 compatibility) and all instances are listed together on scene list. Is there a way for know from which file an instance come from ? of group each instance file by file on the scene list tab ?

@urne: Blender should support 32-bit textures by default. But importing a bitmap through this plugin would result in a pure black color-keyed texture, much like how v1.1 handles 32bit bmp, AFAIK. Not sure though.. maybe the plugin can / should detect the bits-per-pixel like 1.2 does.

@sebr: I wonder when you'd need to have 2 instance files open at the same time, as there is only one .fin file per track. If you're talking about the different versions for use when custom tracks is enabled or disabled in Wolf, isn't it better to close one version before opening the other?

Huki @ Oct 9 2011, 07:44 PM wrote: @sebr: I wonder when you'd need to have 2 instance files open at the same time, as there is only one .fin file per track. If you're talking about the different versions for use when custom tracks is enabled or disabled in Wolf, isn't it better to close one version before opening the other?

I made Reverse part of Frostbite who have full custom properties

1) I export ramps from NCP and convert them as instances with blender
2) With makeitgood I add both ramps at original place on normal race (and add theme too in reverse mode where they are needed)
3) I cut ramps from NCP with blender
4) I can't directly copy FIN file (and reverse one) to full custom because somme instances are substituted as object : it's why I need to load 2 FIN at the same time
My goal is to place these ramps exactly the same place for both version of the track (on normal mode and reverse)

bug or missing part : blender load an empty FIN file if it from reverse directory, if I made a copy on main track folder everything become right

@Urne
As Huki suggested, 32 bits BMP are directly supported by Blender (I just tried to be sure), so the plugin obviously supports them too. But I think you'll still have to use the "Alpha" helper to see the alpha transparencies, since "ColorKey" (ie. ClipAlpha mode) is the default setting when importing a re-volt file. And for info, Black pixels will still be converted to fully transparent when the textures are loaded.

@SebR
If you want to load several instance at the same time, the simpler way is to properly use Blender layers. For example:
- Select layer 1 only: use the toolbar of with the [1] key (not on the numpad).
- Import first FIN.
- Select layer 2 only: key [2]
- Import second FIN.
Now you can chose to display only layer 1, layer 2 or both layers (still with toolbar, or with Shift+[1] and Shift+[2] keyboard shortcuts).

Be aware though that when importing World, Hul or Vis files, the layers are automatically selected by the plugin. And also, if you have more than one visible layer when importing, the imported object will be displayed on all visible layers.

The plugin could not load a Fin file from the "reversed" folder as it was searching for PRM files in the current directory. I have fixed it now, thanks for the report.

BTW, I noticed another bug with FIN file. For example, the STARTREV model orientation was wrong in Nhood1 (of the ramp near the bmw). It revealed to be a matrix conversion error (I think I already told it was not that easy to convert the re-volt world matrix into a Blender world matrix). I should have fixed it now, thought I have still not clearly understood where the previous calculations were wrong...
For info, the error was proably symmetrical in the import and the export code, which means that importing then exporting a world would still give a proper result in Re-Volt.

I'll release the update very soon.

wrong email Jig you send us "BlenderIO_revolt_pyo.[2011-10-08].7z" plug-in

sebr @ Oct 16 2011, 12:59 AM wrote:wrong email Jig you send us "BlenderIO_revolt_pyo.[2011-10-08].7z" plug-in 

Hmm, no, I've properly sent "BlenderIO_revolt_pyo.[2011-10-15].7z". Double-check your inbox...

It was realy time to go to bed
sorry Jig

As you may know if you have followed this thread, the 2.60 release of Blender introduced some changes that broke the support for this addon... 2.60 does not feature anymore the Texture Face panel - and related internal data - as all these settings have been either removed or ported to the material panel. But I was using these settings as the most convenient way to store all the per-face Re-Volt properties...

Anyway, I have now finally ported my addon to Blender 2.60 which is a good thing for the future, otherwise we would have been forced to stick to 2.50 forever...

The support of the face properties is now done through materials: each properties combination result in a different material in Blender. Though in theory it means tens of thousands of combinations, in practice it's likely way more reasonable.

The Re-Volt panel will change a bit, as the Re-Volt material (for NCP files) will be set direclty here (not anymore though the regular Blender material panel). And the active face properties will still be displayed but will not be editable directly (no checkboxes). Everything will have to be done via the batch editing buttons.

I could release an update now, but a Blender testbuild (released November 26, 2011) has a few interesting new features... I'm not sure yet that they could actually be of any help, but in such case the addon could go through another great internal rewritting... So unless someone really want to use 2.60 now, I'll probably wait for the next official Blender release.

That's great news Jigebren! Stuck on 2.5x would only have been for the worse IMO - but for now I guess there is no fear of needing two versions installed in the future..

Hi jigebren ~

I have been enjoying Re-Volt 1.2 for a couple of months now and I would first like to thank you for all the fine work you have been doing. Keep it up!

As much fun as it is racing, I personally take just as much pleasure in the modding aspects. I have recently been repainting some cars and making car boxes for all the custom ones that I have downloaded, and I have run into a couple of snags here and there.

One of them is the poor uv mapping on many of the cars. I'll admit that uv mapping is not my favorite part of 3d modeling, so it is likely that I will just leave some of them as they are, but it would be nice to have the ability to adjust the uv maps if I really felt motivated to do so for some of the cooler cars that could really benefit from a better use of texture space.

More importantly though, is the fact that I am currently working on re-skinning the Traxxas E-MAXX and I am having a problem with the wheels that I believe might be related to a LOD problem, so it would be nice if I could get them into Blender...or anything else, I suppose...and take a look at what's going on.

To be specific for the truly curious, the wheels have had some kind of spokes show up that cover the interior of the wheel and I'm not entirely sure where they came from. Since the model being used for the wheels is called 'tiresLOD.prm' I figured it might be something related to the level of detail for the model. This is another instance where the uv map is not helping things because there are parts that overlap. For instance part of the frame shares the same texture space as the front window. The weird spokes are probably also related to the uv map, but I haven't nailed it down yet.

I am also considering at some point creating a custom car or two from scratch, so having an importer/exporter for Blender would sure come in handy. I am currently working with Blender 2.58, but I would upgrade if it meant I could use your addon.

Please let me know if I can get a copy of your addon and if I can provide any assistance to your efforts.

In any case, here is a repaint and re-tune of MOH's wonderful Crowd Pleazer as my way of saying thanks for all your hard work.

MythicMonkey

Hi MythicMonkey and welcome.
No problem to send you my plugin. Currently I'm simply sending any release by email to beta testers, so you should PM me your address.

Last release was for Blender 2.59, it will likely not work with 2.58.
My current (unreleased) code is now working with the latest 2.61.
I have not released it yet because I'm still unsure about the best way to overcome some modifications introduced in the 2.6x Blender releases. But it works and I can share it too. You'll only have to keep in mind that a .blend file saved with this release will probably not be 100% compatible with a future release (eg. the material or the face properties could be lost). Anyhow it will also be the case for all the previous addon releases... And if you just use the addon to import, modify then export back a model, there should be not trouble at all.


Your repaint looks promising BTW. And I would be glad to see this plugin used for car creation. I'm not against conversion but creating from scratch is the real Way in my view.
Oh and for info, your Crowd Pleazer repaint is missing the needed AerialL models.

Thanks, jigebren. I'll pm you straight away regarding the addon.

As for the aerial, you are correct. I was actually thinking about that myself just as I was falling asleep after posting that. Originally I figured you of all people would have Iron Bob's aerials installed, but it is true that I should have at least mentioned something in the readme about it. I will certainly do so should I post an official release of the car. I will also flesh out said readme, since this really is just something I threw together for you, not necessarily for full-blown public release. Kind of like your addon, I guess.

I do have several more repaints that I think other people would enjoy, including another MOH creation, the HoverTech. Now the HoverTechXT, I have reskinned and re-tuned it to be more driveable while still retaining something of a hovercraft-like quality. There are several others as well, but I was going to wait until I had a few more done before releasing any of them to the public. Since I haven't seen many, I think there might be some interest in repaints of some of the cooler original creation cars that were released with very simple skins such as Sgt Stomp and SAVAGE. I'm with you...I like the ones made from scratch over the conversions.

While giving full credit and due to the skills that many people bring to the table, it is difficult to find a car that has the whole package, so to speak. In my mind the 'whole package' would include:

1) Top-notch modeling
Efficient use of polygons is key. While keeping the number reasonably low, enough should be used in the right places to create as much as possible the illusion of smooth, unbroken lines in both the body of the car and the wheels.

2) Clean graphics
This actually starts in the modeling phase with creating a good uv map. The important parts of the car should take up enough image space to allow for sufficient detail and laid out in such a way as to make it easy to match up your seams. One of the worst and most common mistakes I have seen is to have two or more completely different parts of the car mapped to the same image space. There is just no reason for this, especially when there is plenty of unused texture space.

I understand why these problems occur, uv mapping can be tricky and a pain in the rear even when you know what you are doing. Before you learn, it's just a confusing mess. I've been there. There are times though, that it still doesn't change the fact that your peanut butter is sitting in your chocolate.

3) Well-tuned parameters.
This is something else I understand. Not everyone is like Citywalker and myself. Not everyone has the patience or inclination to take the time to find out what effect all the settings in the parameters file have on their Re-Volt driving experience. To many people I'm sure that file just looks like a big bag of mystery numbers. Or maybe they don't have the patience to sit through trial after trial, looking for just the right spring stiffness, kinetic friction and inertia amount that will allow for reliable and predictable traction or iron out that twitch in the back end as it takes a sweeping turn. The ones that do take the time to do this, or collaborate with someone else to have it done for them, these really shine. The difference is stark and immediate as soon as you begin driving the car.

So yeah, I'll be working up a proper package for those when I release them in the future. I hope the omission did not cause you too much inconvenience. Thanks again for mentioning the aerial.

So let that be a notice to anyone who downloads this car from the link above...and you are certainly welcome to do so...it does call for the black aerial with the white tip from Iron Bob's aerial pack which can be downloaded from here. Add them to a folder named 'misc' inside your cars folder.

Hello Jig!
I am also interested in becoming a beta-tester for your plug-in.
I think this will be very useful for me because most of the times Zmodeler and ase2w are not happy with me and i face many problems while exporting my tracks into Re-volt. So can you provide me a copy of your plug-in because then it will be much easier for me to export tracks in .w format.

Thanks!

@Pranav
You're welcome, I'm just quoting myself for the procedure:
No problem to send you my plugin. Currently I'm simply sending any release by email to beta testers, so you should PM me your address.

BTW I was working again in this addon just yesterday...
Currently the next step is to be able to definitely port it to Blender 2.6x. I think I've already told a few words about it before, it's not easy because several convenient (but apparently outdated) Blender features have been recently removed or heavily modifed.
The hard part is to be able to set per-face boolean settings to manage the Re-Volt PRM / W / NCP properties from a Blender panel. So far, for each workaround I try there is always an unexpected glitch that make it impossible to use...
Yesterday I've reached a quite descent result (at the expense of quite some extra lines of code), but there is still a flaw I can't understand. Well, I hope I'll be able to fix it, otherwise it'll mean starting from scratch again...

Anyway, as I said to MythicMonkey I can still send the working addon for Blender 2.59 for now (which implies you're using v2.59). As soon as the version for Blender 2.6 is working, I'll keep all beta-testers informed through the newsletter.

PM-ed you my e-mail address.

Yes, i am using blender 2.59 currently. I did not know that 2.6 has been released. XD

Also, if you love scratch-made cars, then give a look here at this guy at RVL:-
http://z3.invisionfree.com/Revolt_Live/ ... topic=1994

Ok, I've emailed you the addon.

Pranav @ Dec 30 2011, 04:05 PM wrote:Also, if you love scratch-made cars, then give a look here at this guy at RVL:-
http://z3.invisionfree.com/Revolt_Live/ ... topic=1994

Yep, thanks. I noticed this car on RVZT a few days ago, and I was like: "finally, a talented car maker who's both able to model from scratch and keen on modelling RC-like cars..." (both points are relevant to me).
Well, I still have to try it, and let a supportive word to the author on RVZT... I was too busy - or tired - at the time and I've procrastinated...


EDIT:

jigebren @ Dec 30 2011, 03:33 PM wrote:Yesterday I've reached a quite descent result (at the expense of quite some extra lines of code), but there is still a flaw I can't understand. Well, I hope I'll be able to fix it, otherwise it'll mean starting from scratch again...

This glitch is fixed...

The next step is now to decide whether I use the newly introduced "layers_int" feature or only the Blender materials to manage the Re-Volt face properties internally. It's not really easy to explain... the fact is that the double-sided rendering property is now a per-material setting in Blender, while in Re-Volt, it's a per-face setting.
So if I want to accurately render this setting in Blender, I have to create a material for single-sided faces and a duplicate material for double-sided faces. But Blender materials were already to set the Re-volt materials (for NCP files). To let it convenient for the end user, I have to add Re-Volt material management directly in the Re-Volt panel, and to manage the material duplication (for double-sided faces) automatically.

It's more complex, more code, etc., but I'm afraid it's the only way to keep rendering the double-sided setting when editing a Re-Volt model/world in Blender.

Yesterday I imported one of my tracks and I must say that the plug-in works smoothly and great. Now I finally have a stable Framerate in JungleVolt all the way, so the Cubes and Big Cube(s) that the plug-in divides the meshes into must be doing their job. ^^

However, after correcting a lot of bugs in the main mesh, I have issues. Some polygons appear invisible as if Re-Volt thinks they weren't within the camera view. The screenshot below is an example of that.


This issue does not appear in the original world file. Below is a changelog for the problematic JungleVolt_4288.w.

Changelog
- Set Translucent face property on some plants to check 1.2's 32-bit support.
- Fixed bugs in landscape mesh:
> Divided triangles with Knife Tool & welded with racing line.
> Separated polygons from mesh.
> Converted landscape's triangles into faces where possible.

And I think I have already located the issue. I was able to reproduce this bug on the original JungleVolt world file when converting the landscape's triangles into faces in Blender (Alt+J).

I confirmed this when I imported JungleVolt_4288.w and converted all faces in the landscape mesh back to triangles (Ctrl+T). The issue disappeared again in Re-Volt (Download JungleVolt_4288_triangles.w here).

The issue with JungleVolt_4288.w is visible in both Re-Volt 1.2 and 1207, DEV mode on and off. All polygons that doesn't render seem to be quadratic faces as I have yet to spot a triangle that doesn't render in the JungleVolt_4288.w file.

Note: I'm aware of the retarded geometry and stretched textures, but as I have yet to reach the chapter about materials in my book, I will stick to this geometry and avoid adding anything new for now.

EDIT: If I separate the problematic face you see in the screenshot from the rest of the landscape mesh, there is not longer any issue. I have no idea why though.

Hello Jig!
I have been working on a small track. The track looks like this in Blender:-
http://i44.tinypic.com/atu4jl.jpg

In the game it looks as shown in the image below:-
http://i41.tinypic.com/1f0xt.jpg

Can you tell me why the snow textures looks so weird? I mean they does not look in the game as they look in Blender. I don't understand why those strips like things come on the snowy ground?

Thanks!

@Pranav Re-Volt does not support repeated textures on the same polygon, hence why the last pixel line is stretched for the rest of the polygon. You need to create a polygon for each time you want to repeat the texture.

Below I have demonstrated how the texture looks "outside" the texture edge. Which explains why it looks like it does in Re-Volt.


Jigebren can probably explain it better than me, but I hope you understood my point. I'm not sure if this is exactly what is wrong, but it could very well look like it. If not, could you provide a wireframe picture of your track?

@Jigebren: Is it in any way possible to import the whole track into Blender, the world, the collision data and everything? I seem to stand in a position where the collision doesn't match with the visuals and I am not sure how I can make a precisely matching NCP that keeps the properties of the already existing NCP. But if I had everything imported at the same time I could probably match the vertex coordinates in the NCP file with the new updated W file as the changes are rather minor.

urnemanden @ Jan 2 2012, 03:38 PM wrote:Some polygons appear invisible as if Re-Volt thinks they weren't within the camera view.

I have a vague memory of having already faced something similar... As far as I can remember I'm quite sure I came to the conclusion that some inappropriate use of quad faces should be avoided.
Explanation:
You know that a face is visible from one side only. For a quad face only one triangle is checked during back-face culling (for performance reason). If this triangle is invisble, the whole quad is rejected so the other triangle will be invisible as well...

So as a rule of thumb, two triangles should be merged as a quad face only when they are coplanar (for info this point is also of primary importance for NCP file). I's also preferable that the resulting polygon shape is quite close to a square (or at least convex...).

urne wrote:Is it in any way possible to import the whole track into Blender, the world, the collision data and everything? I seem to stand in a position where the collision doesn't match with the visuals and I am not sure how I can make a precisely matching NCP that keeps the properties of the already existing NCP.

No, there is no way to do this at import. It would imply writing a code able to pair similar faces from the .NCP and the .W files, and it would be quite complex and probably not really worth the pain.

But you can easily export the NCP data from the same geometry used for the W data. In Blender a face can share both NCP and W properties (or PRM / M as well). For info, if you want to exclude some polygons from the NCP file (eg. for performance reason), set the material to "NONE". And if you want polygon to be only included in the NCP file but not rendered, set its face property to "Invisible" (in the Re-Volt panel).

Pranav wrote:Can you tell me why the snow textures looks so weird?

I think Urne's answer is pointing to the right direction... In fact Re-Volt does not allow the UV mapping to go out of the texture area (ie. the 0 to 1 coordinates range, which is 0 to 256 in Blender BTW), while Blender does allow wrapping.
Well, this clamping behavior is not really insteresting IMO. We may switch to the wrapping behavior in the next v1.2 release, unless it introduce noticeable glitches of course (I quickly tried and have noticed none).
But for now you just have to ensure that your UV mapping remains in the 0-1 range.

And congrats for the track BTW. Don't know if you're modelling everything from scratch but I like the way it looks so far (it reminds me of the old but quite beautiful Ignition / Fun Tracks ).

Thanks for your explanation Urne and Jigebren!

Jigebren wrote: In fact Re-Volt does not allow the UV mapping to go out of the texture area (ie. the 0 to 1 coordinates range, which is 0 to 256 in Blender BTW), while Blender does allow wrapping.

Sorry Jig, i know nothing about UV mapping and 3d modelling. I am simply a converter who lurks around different 3d file formats and tries to put them in Re-volt. I have been successful in converting from Midtown Madness 2, GTA Vice City, NFS4 and NFS3. Moreover, i am only a car converter, but this time i gave a try to track conversion.

Jigebren wrote:And congrats for the track BTW. Don't know if you're modelling everything from scratch but I like the way it looks so far (it reminds me of the old but quite beautiful Ignition / Fun Tracks  ).

Thanks Jigebren. As i said above i am only a converter so this is a conversion from Midtown Madness 2.

@Urne:- If you want to see a wireframe, here it is:- http://i44.tinypic.com/34g1y6p.jpg

Jigebren wrote: [...]
So as a rule of thumb, two triangles should be merged as a quad face only when they are coplanar (for info this point is also of primary importance for NCP file). I's also preferable that the resulting polygon shape is quite close to a square (or at least convex...)
[...]
.

Thanks for the information. I will in this case probably keep the geometry triangles for now and re-do the landscape where needed later. Same goes for updating the NCP file. I think I might have found a temporary solution to my issue, but will certainly begin use materials and face properties from now on.

Pranav wrote:@Urne:- If you want to see a wireframe, here it is:- http://i44.tinypic.com/34g1y6p.jpg

Yes, it certainly looks like the problem is geometry placed outside the texture edges. You might be able to fix that simply by using the knife tool (hold down K and drag over a selected polygon to divide it) and by fiddling a bit with the UVW editor (can't help you here).

Jigebren wrote:Well, this clamping behavior is not really insteresting IMO. We may switch to the wrapping behavior in the next v1.2 release, unless it introduce noticeable glitches of course (I quickly tried and have noticed none).
But for now you just have to ensure that your UV mapping remains in the 0-1 range.

I agree with you. Repeating textures this way might spare you some polygons but can quickly get ugly when repeated too much and leave large polygons. Would also only be useful if you use the whole bitmap for 1 texture and when Re-Volt only supports 10 bitmaps (of high resolution though) it sounds like an awful lot of space to "waste" on 1 texture so to speak. But I see no disadvantages in doing this over the old behavior either.

Hi there !

It's been a long time since I came here (again !) and so much work have been done (again !). You guys are just warriors

Recently I was asked to finish some of my tracks, and I was wondering if there would be a better solution for me to add multiframe and vertex alpha features easier than just editing hexadecimal files... Then I saw you did it in your Blender plugin. Ow yeah, that's amazing !!
...Unfortunately, I don't have time to learn how to use Blender and I've already finished and exported succesfully some tracks... without these features, that I planned to add manually.

Anyway, do you think there's a chance for me to import the track into Blender, and then "PUFF !" it's magic, I only have to push the button you've made ?
Maybe by importing the file from re-volt, modify it, and then re-export it from Blender...

Actually I need to use 2 multiframe lists that are too complex for me to add by hand, since I'll have to test different animation speed to create a convincing conveyor effect like in Museum 2...

Thank you for your time and keep it up !

Killer Wheels @ Jan 8 2012, 02:09 PM wrote:Anyway, do you think there's a chance for me to import the track into Blender, and then "PUFF !" it's magic, I only have to push the button you've made ? 
Maybe by importing the file from re-volt, modify it, and then re-export it from Blender...

Well, I'm not sure it will be that easy if you have never used Blender at all... anyway I'm sure it would be way simpler than using an Hexa editor. So it should actually be possible, except that there's no button for the TexAnim support...
In fact you would have to import the track in Blender, set the relevant TexAnim command for each mesh that need multiframe (and set the TexAnim property for each animated faces of the mesh), and export the track.

There is a few restrictions to be aware of:
- each mesh can have one single TexAnim command only (but you can subdivide a mesh if needed).
- there is a maximum of 16 TexAnim data block (ReVolt internal limit). It would be long to explain in detail but roughly: each animated face is likely to use one slot, but several faces that share exactly the same UV mapping AND the same TexAnim command are likely to share one single TexAnim slot (and in that case you can have an unlimited number of faces using this animation). Check this post for a few more info.

To get the addon:
Currently I'm simply sending any release by email to beta testers, so you should PM me your address.


And just for info, I should now release the addon for Blender v2.61 as soon as I have enough time to double check and package it...

Hi Jigebren, thanks for the info ! I'll download Blender as soon as I have some spare time, and then I should get back to you in order to test the multiframe export

Thank you for the quick answer, by the way !

Talking about multi-frame, I am working with 1 quad polygon in a mesh which is mapped to the upper left of textureA.bmp. I have been looking into making a conveyor effect and have come up with this commandline based on your examples in the documentation:

n=32, du=0.005, t=0.1

In Blender's console I can see that the world file exports just fine. Your plug-in reports that 1 TexAnim slot was created. I do however not see any multi-frame in Re-Volt. I sent the world file to Huki and he told me that the TexAnim slot in the world file only contained 1 frame, not 32 - so something strange is going on here :S . Here is a dump Huki sent me:
I am using the latest released version of your plug-in (10/15/2011) and I have also tested it in the release from 10/06/2011 to no good.

Btw, I find it a bit confusing that the console window claims that both releases are from 10/06/2011. I wonder if that could have something to do with my issue?

@Killer Wheels
I've added you to the Beta testers list, so you'll get the next newsletter. Anyhow you'd better wait for the upcoming Addon release as it will work with the lastest Blender version (2.61). Otherwise you would have had to download the previous 2.59 version...

@Urne
Thanks for the report. It's been a long since I actually used or checked TexAnim myself... I suggest you send me your track or world file so that I can debug it directly, that way I could fix the addon if needed before the upcoming release.

Anyway I don't know which tool Huki has used for the dump, as it was able to report that the command is using n=32 though it says there is only 1 FrameNum... It's weird.

And don't worry about the reported release version, I think it's just that I forgot to update the value (I can't automate it as in my PureBasic tools).

EDIT:
Ok, I tried on my own WIP track (remember?, Destination Moon...) and actually, TexAnim doesn't work. In fact the addon always see an empty TexAnim cmd, no matter what is set. But the code seems clear, and after several attempts I still can't see what's wrong. I start to think it could be a Blender bug...

EDIT2:
Ok, I think I get... Not really a bug here in fact. The addon is working on a copy of the mesh (to be able to apply the modifers, etc. without modifying the original mesh), and the TexAnim property is not automatically copied along with the mesh data... I'm going to find a workaround.

jigebren @ Jan 3 2012, 06:04 AM wrote:

urnemanden @ Jan 2 2012, 03:38 PM wrote:Some polygons appear invisible as if Re-Volt thinks they weren't within the camera view.

I have a vague memory of having already faced something similar... As far as I can remember I'm quite sure I came to the conclusion that some inappropriate use of quad faces should be avoided.

Hmm, do you know why these quads were shown properly before importing and exporting from Blender? For example, here's one such quad in a stock track:

jigebren @ Jan 10 2012, 09:25 PM wrote:Anyway I don't know which tool Huki has used for the dump, as it was able to report that the command is using n=32 though it says there is only 1 FrameNum... It's weird.

Ok, it's a cool new tool I've been working on.. it's called "typing it down by hand".

I've finally released the version for Blender 2.61.
All beta-testers should have received it now.

There was quite some heavy work on this release, so it may have introduce new bugs, I just can't test all import / export features... So please report any issue.

Huki wrote:Hmm, do you know why these quads were shown properly before importing and exporting from Blender?

I have not checked that yet (too much work already just to be able to release a new version). I'll keep you informed soon.

Huki wrote:t's a cool new tool I've been working on.. it's called "typing it down by hand"

That might explain it all...

Thank you so much for this new release. I am already fiddling with the multi-frame which works neatly. ^^

The current multi-frame I have uses 5 TexAnim slots even though only 3 TexAnim slots in theory could be needed as the multi-frame uses the same texture indice, the many quads uses the same 3 sets of UV Coordinates and the same TexAnim command. Perhaps there is another factor that TexAnim is affected by that I don't know of? I notice that you also write:

jigmail @ jigebren's Re-Volt plugin for Blender 2.6x wrote:When several faces share both the same TexAnim command and the same UV texture coordinates, they are likely to share the same TexAnim slot.

Sorry if what I am asking is rather complex, I am just a bit curious.

I also like the new look of the plug-in - it looks less cluttered now . There is something I have always wondered about though: What does the "Select" button do next to "Set" and "Unset" under Face Properties?

The current multi-frame I have uses 5 TexAnim slots even though only 3 TexAnim slots in theory could be needed as [...]

Yep, TexAnim can use more slots than expected because though the UV mapping can look the same for 2 polies, you can't be sure that the vertices order is actually the same. And if the UV mapping point to vertices 2-3-4-1 instead of 1-2-3-4, both will be seen as different and use another TexAnim slot.

There would be a workaround: rotate the face so that the vertices order become the same. But it's not that easy as you first have to know when a face needs to be rotated. And that part of the code is already quite complex, but if I find a decent way to implement it I may try to improve that.

What does the "Select" button do next to "Set" and "Unset" under Face Properties?

Well, maybe the tooltip is not clear enough. Instead of "Select all the faces with this propery set", I could have used "Select all the faces that are using this propery" (I know it's not very clear because the Batch tools are said to work on already Selected Faces while this button is used to modify the selection).
It means you can select, for example, all the double sided faces of you object at once. It's very very convenient, almost indispensable in fact.

Hmm sounds promising !

I need to free some disk space before I can give it a try though , thank you for your work Jigebren.

jigebren wrote:Well, maybe the tooltip is not clear enough. Instead of "Select all the faces with this propery set", I could have used "Select all the faces that are using this propery" (I know it's not very clear because the Batch tools are said to work on already Selected Faces while this button is used to modify the selection).
It means you can select, for example, all the double sided faces of you object at once. It's very very convenient, almost indispensable in fact.

Sorry, I was unaware of the tooltips. Anyway, thank you for the explanation. This is a very useful feature!

And thanks for the explanation on TexAnim. It might be possible to find a plug-in that shows the vertex indice of a mesh too, but an implementation in your plug-in like you suggested would of course be more useful.

I do have another question regarding Blender. Sometimes some of my meshes seem to turn pink. Have you tried this yourself? It prevents me from seeing the mesh's texture when I'm in Object edit mode.

Not sure if this is the right place to ask but, i get "Modifiers cannot be applied to multi-user data" when trying to apply modifiers:
http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/3830/wip19.png

@Cat
In Blender, the same Mesh can be used by several Objects. The number of "users" can be seen et the top of the "Object Data" panel, just at the right of the Mesh name.
For example you can see someting like "[2] [F]", which means there is currently 2 users for this mesh (the [F] is a special setting that fakes an extra virtual owner).
Just click on the [2] value and Blender will create a single-user copy of this mesh. Then you can apply modifers...

For info the [F] setting is automatically applied by the addon when importing a model (to ensure all LoD will be saved).

Great, now i can generate wheel wells.

However, i get this error when trying to export: http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/2835/wip20.png

@Cat
I see, a small mistake in the code... (for info it should only occurs when working inside the "cars" directory). I've fixed it already, I should release a bugfix very soon.

Bugfix released...

I've also updated the [F] setting stuff: it'll be applied only when importing a model with several LoD (ie. mostly car wheels).

And a small modification to get a proper textured and shaded model when rendering in Blender [F12]. It's not really a supported feature, but it may help and was easy to add anyhow...

Ok, To give an update from My end on the blender export filter... It works! but i have run into issues, in that.. My van model when exported for the first time was squished (scaled on the blender Y-axis) and the wheels were perpendicular to the angle that i needed... Admittedly, it was kinda funny seeing the tires flopping about like they were!

I imported into Zmodeler and fixed the stuff. Then I re-imported to blender... Alles was goed! (in dutch - All was good). I also modeled a muffler for the van...and found it to come out like a verticle semi-truck muffler pipe.. So..

1. Angle on export

The Transparent polygon.. It works... but not exactly like it should... When looking at the object in game... the polygons look solid... But if you look closely thru the object, you'll see skid marks and shadows.. But no other objects. When i think of Transparency..i think... Ice or glass. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

2. Transparency

And lastly, I tried Mirroring some surfaces... (i assume this gives the horizontal face Mirror like properties. such as, you can see your reflection?)

3. Mirroring

I will say this... These are just ... questions moreso..but also to bring awareness.. I may have to look on Youtube and see if there's anything about transparent faces and such.

Also, one suggestion maybe, Implement RVglue into blender? (somehow) to allow Various Surface properties to be applied to objects (snow, ice, grass, dirt, gravel.. etc...)

Anyway... All that to say this.. I'm so glad to be back modeling for RV. This plugin is a wonder that should have come AGES ago! Great work Jigebren

gel_lr34 @ Feb 15 2012, 12:04 AM wrote:My van model when exported for the first time was squished (scaled on the blender Y-axis) and the wheels were perpendicular to the angle that i needed...

I think you've probably resized the model in Object mode... There a point to be aware for car's parts: scaling / rotating / moving the mesh should be done in Edit mode (transformations done in Object mode are ignored when exporting).

There's a reason for that: it allows to place eg. the wheels at the proper position (in Object Mode) without modifying the wheel's mesh center.
Note that you can (definitely) apply the currently Object transformation to the Mesh: take a look at the Object/Apply menu ([Ctrl-A]).
And just for info, it's not an issue for world/track, as in that case the Object transformation can be applied to the Mesh before exporting.


About Transparent polygons, have you properly painted the transparency (using shades of blue) in the "Alpha" Vertex Color layer? Hmm, I'm not sure it's properly documented BTW, but there's mention about it somewhere in this topic...


To make mirroring work, you also have to supply the proper .rim file. I know, the documentation lacks here too... But you can take a look at an existing stock track to get an idea how it's used, it should be quite obvious then. If you still can't figure it out, let me know. If I tell you right now from memory it would likely be too inaccurate...

Also, one suggestion maybe, Implement RVglue into blender? (somehow) to allow Various Surface properties to be applied to objects (snow, ice, grass, dirt, gravel.. etc...)

Hmm, this is already supported... You just have to select the NCP mode in the Re-Volt "Face Properties" panel, a "Material" panel will appear where you can set the polygon's Re-Volt material. Then you'll have to export the NCP file...

jigebren how can download blender revolt version?



greetings : Nieger33@

A new release.

The addon has been updated to support latest Blender 2.62.
There was also several updates and improvements, the main new feature being the Car Shadow Maker, a new tool added to the Re-Volt panel to help creating custom shadow for user cars (as upcoming v1.2 will support custom car shadow).
The panel was reworked a bit, I've updated most incomplete tooltips, and the internal code has been updated in several places... so as usual: I have not tested everything, and what worked before may have been unnoticeably broken, so please report any issue.

Here's a preview of shadows generated for the RC Bandit using the Car Shadow Maker panel. On the left, a sharp 64x64 shadow texture. On the right, the same one but now using a soft shadow.
Oh, and to those who wonder how / where to download my addon, just check the first post...

Ok, I've run into a bit of a problem with exporting the NCP file for my W file. I export it and then re-import it (the ncp) and not all of the polygons are connected like they should be. I could go in and manually fix it (which i'm gonna try today) but the question remains... will it do it again? It seems the export doesn't like askewed faces. Any help with this? (using blender 2.61 atm)

@gel_lr34
Well, to make it short: Re-Volt NCP polygons can be either triangles or quads. But when you use quad, the 4 edges have to be perfectly coplanar. If it's not the case, break the quad into 2 triangles.

Most of the time, non-planar quads in .w or .prm/.m files are properly rendered, so it may look safe to use. But I recommend against it anyhow as it can still lead to rejection issues in some cases. And above all, any .ncp collision data generated from these files will be flawed. For info the issue can be noticed even in stock tracks / models...

It this is not the source of your issue, a screenshot would help to be sure of what you're talking about (or you can directly email me the .w or .blend source file).

Thanks Jig, that helped! Everything's good now

I finally managed to test some re-volt levels on my PSP! thanks to this plugin!

To use the "world" models, I had to export them as .3ds, if exported as .obj or .dae, many edges are lost and the model looses many faces.

No textures for the moment, just a backgrond sky:

@mills28
I'm glad to see it works.

mills28 @ Mar 12 2012, 10:18 PM wrote:To use the "world" models, I had to export them as .3ds.

But, .3ds instead of what?
Anyhow, this part is not directly related to the Blender Addon, is it?