Wing Blender (WCP/SO Blender plugin)

I just updated the exporter script today. It now shows you the associated texture number of each texture, as well as some other under-the-hood improvements.
 
I've just released another update to the exporter script. Rotation calculations for turret hardpoints have been fixed with a new rotation matrix calculation algorithm, and you can now exclude hardpoints from being exported by hiding them in Blender's viewport.

This project is now on GitHub. Also, I think it needs a new name.:p
 
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Is there any support for Capships? I get an error when compiling models using the collision sphere for them. It halted the Collateral Damage project to be honest and haven't found a way around the issue.
 
No support for capships or corvettes as of now, but it is planned for a future version once I learn how BSP trees work. For now, I uploaded the BSP.dll (used with ModelC to generate BSP trees for capship/corvette meshes) to my Blender Commander web page.

Also, I just made some changes that should have fixed the error. You'll have to download a fresh ZIP of the new version from the GitHub page.
 
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Wing Blender 1.5 has been released! New features include an importer, as well as bug fixes in the exporter. The XMF exporter has been disabled.
 
I don't mind you uploading my old OBJ2WCP source code.

On the other hand, I've released an update which should fix an issue with the importer for Windows users. You'll need to re-download and re-install Wing Blender 1.5 to apply the update.
 
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I had no idea you did this! Awesome! I'm going to grab this asap. I may want to revisit some ideas I had about using vision for a mod idea or two.
 
No, it doesn't. With the current version of Wing Blender (1.6 ATM), if you parent an object to one of your LOD meshes, it won't get exported along with the parent mesh.

I can try to add child object exporting as a new feature if you'd like.
 
More of a curiosity at this point, but it might prove very handy when you get to cap ship trees... hint hint...:). I'm trying a little experiment with secret ops and I was curious if it would effect the export in any way. I usually parent submeshes when I'm scaling the model so it all scales the same. I just wanted to know if I had to go back and unparent everything when I'm done.
 
Another question came up while I was tinkering on my project: How does the exporter handle smooth groups? I exported a mesh with a smoothed cylinder and when I re-imported it to check the hp empty positions, it was flat faced. Do I need to mark sharp the edges or does the entire mesh need to be smooth or flat?
 
The exporter handles smooth groups as you'd expect. If you use the exported mesh ingame, the smooth groups should be intact. You can mix smooth and flat faces on the same mesh.

The importer doesn't detect smooth/flat faces right now, unfortunately. You'll have to re-do the smoothing yourself.
 
Kevin Caccamo said:
The exporter handles smooth groups as you'd expect. If you use the exported mesh ingame, the smooth groups should be intact. You can mix smooth and flat faces on the same mesh.

The importer doesn't detect smooth/flat faces right now, unfortunately. You'll have to re-do the smoothing yourself.
Click to expand...

That explains it; thanks! This is a great tool BTW, thanks for all the hard work you've done on it.
 
Since this came up, I figured I should come up with some way of exporting child objects in a way that makes it easy to attach them as child objects, EPODs, or special addons like the wasp's booster pack

So, how would you like me to go about implementing this?
  1. Each object that is a child of the main hull LOD object will be considered "attachable", and will have a hardpoint generated for it. The child object mesh will be exported separately, centered, and will have no hardpoints¹. The filename of the child object mesh, and the name of the attachment hardpoint on the main hull mesh will be shown in the txt info file along with the image->mat filename information.
  2. Each object that is a child of a hardpoint will be considered "attachable", and will be exported separately with its center relative to the position of the hardpoint it is a child of, and it will have no hardpoints itself¹.
  3. A new naming convention for child objects
  4. Something else (please explain...)
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1. unless one is needed. I can't remember, since the last time I played around with the VISION engine was a very long time ago.
 
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So for objects like EPODS, the game attaches the object to the defined hard point by mating the child object's origin in blender to the coordinates of the hard point. However for destroyable cap ship objects, the game uses the object's position as an offset relative to the defined hardpoint, which is why you want your main attach hardpoint at 0,0,0. So it handles child objects slightly differently depending on the chunk being used. Turrets are essentially EPODS for this exercise, behaving similarly by mating the child object's origin to the associated hardpoint.

Seems like 2 is probably the best option IMO if I'm reading it right. So for a bridge component, I would simply mate it to a hardpoint at 0,0,0 and for turrets I would mate them to a hardpoint located on the mesh?
 
Question for you while I'm at it. I've run across a funky error when trying to export a mesh. It seems that somehow the script or the model's configuration, isn't reading the material correctly? I've not done anything differently than previous models (that I'm aware of anyway), Any ideas?

Mat_Error.JPG
 
To clarify: Option 1...
  • Sets the child object CNTR to 0,0,0.
  • Generates a hardpoint at its origin position, relative to its parent.
  • Does not modify its origin position.
And option 2...
  • Sets the child object CNTR as the vector between the child object's original origin point and the hardpoint it is parented to.
  • Re-centers the child object's origin point to the geometry (Origin to Geometry function).
I suppose option 1 would be better for capital ship components, and option 2 would be better for EPODs and attachments.

As for the error... Do you have a material assigned to every single face on the model? You need to have a material assigned to each face in order for the exporter to work properly. Alternatively, you can use the "face textures" that appear when your viewport shading is set to "Multitexture" mode, but you still have to have a texture assigned to every single face in order for the exporter to work properly.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that my Wing Blender import script is working well.
 
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