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  • Applink Developer

3D-Coat/Blender applink manual

Applink Version: 1.55

Updated: 25.9.2010

1. Download latest trunk from http://www.graphicall.org/builds This script dosen't work if the blender version is too old.

2. Download rar file and Copy "coat" folder into your /.blender/scripts/io/ Download the script

3. Open blender. Now you should be able to see 3d-coat applink area under the scene tab.

4. This video shows the right settings.

5. Here is brief demo how to use this

6. Better video tutorial is WIP...

Export Settings:

--------------------

Export Obj = If this is on. It will export your model everytime you press "export". If this is off, It only export your model if it dosen't find object. Also if you

set only a folder into object path, the script exports the model and adds automaticly the name of the object into "object path".

Modifiers = This export your model with modifiers. Be careful if this is on you might want to turn off Import -> Modifiers.

No Import File = If this is on. The script dosen't write import.txt file. It brings some advantages in some situations. For example when working with Microvert or Ptex.

You can use this when you don't want to take models into 3d-coat, you just want to seek and updates all the textures that are linked into object quickly.

Import Settings:

--------------------

Mesh = Updates base mesh

Modifiers = Keep and updates object modifiers.

Bring Textures = Seek new textures and bring them into your active material.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My future plan is to add some special features into script that will make the script work better with Vray renderer in blender.

Also one interesting idea is to make exchange bridge where you don't need to click any buttons. Bridge would work automaticly.

I think that in blender API there is already tools to make this but It needs some brain work.

If you have any questions or problems with this script, you can email them or write them down here.

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  • Reputable Contributor

Thank you haiklle, I will test it out,as I'm still learning Blender. I need your opinion too, is it better to learn 2.49 to get a firm hold on Blender or go completely with the 2.5 alpha version.

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  • Applink Developer

I would say..it's better to learn 2.5. 2.5 and 2.49 are two totally different programs. If you decide to learn first 2.49 then you have to learn 2.5 again.

But 2.5 is still in Alpha stage so If you are taking that road there can be some bumps on the way. but the speed of the blender coders is amazing... so

we don't have to wait for long for solid version.

It's a little bit risky to develop something like this script. When they fix something, it's most likely that my script stops

working until I change the code. But It's nice to live on the edge :D

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Advanced Member

Thanks haikalle, I'll test it soon. Great work, wow...

BTW about v2.49b and v2.5.2, multi res meshes with UV mapping are incompatible, try to remember, here's what coders answered to my report.

>Comment By: Nicholas Bishop (nicholasbishop)

Date: 2010-06-06 23:50

Message:

Fixed in SVN, thanks for reporting.

Usage note: your old UV data will now be imported on a separate layer. So, in the example file provided, it will still appear to load incorrectly, but you can go to the UV Texture selector and choose the newly added UV layer, which should contain the correct UV coords.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • Advanced Member

This seems like it would be great however i cannot get it working. Looking at the blender console i think due to it using a path from your computer rather than the users path and also in the 3dc share folder a text file missing. Possibly a option to select a folder might be better as then it would always work.

Do you have better installation instructions if possible? what exactly do i have to change in the scripts? I found the path and changed it to the location of the folder i had but it just causes errors still so i deleted it as i couldn't get it to work.

Btw - If you haven't already it might be worth posting about on the blender artists forums.

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  • Applink Developer

That's right. It shouldn't be too difficult. There is so many people really liking this so I will do Linux/Mac support very soon. I need a little help about macs. Where

is 3d-coat exchange folder located. Does it have similar folder tree with windows. For example c:\temp\mesh.obj

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  • Applink Developer

Version 1.1 Release.

-Support for win, linux and mac.

Linux: The script is seeking 3d-coat folder from /home/username/ or /home/username/Desktop (Tested and should works)

Mac: The script is seeking 3d-coat folder from /Users/username or /Users/username/Desktop (Not tested, not sure how folder structure works in macs)

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  • Advanced Member

This is actually broken for me still because it uses the C drive, for most people this will definitely be ok but others like me might use something like E:\ instead and for that it is broken. That is actually what i meant when i suggested choosing the path however the option to choose the model path is also very useful.

When i open blender by default it doesn't actually appear, if however i add a user folder (it said it could not find in blenders consoles) then it shows. When it shows though and i try to get it running i can't at the moment unfortunately as it can find the paths it needs on the E drive. Hopefully if it is ok you could maybe add a option to select another drive or the 3DC exchange folder so it will work with other drives that have 3DC and blender installed on. Hopefully this info is useful and you like this suggestion, many thanks :)

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  • Applink Developer

good point. Didn't even crossed my mind when I was coding this script. Maybe the easy fix could be that if the script looks for address where the blender

is installed and use that same drive letter to find exchange folder. This wouldn't be 100% bullet broof for errors but could work better than it's now.

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  • Advanced Member

Thanks, it always shows in blender now however the Exchange Bridge is not connected still. Not sure if it helps but on my computer the folder paths are like this -

E:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\3D-CoatV3\Exchange

E:\Program Files\3D-Coat-V3

E:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\scripts\io

With one of the recent graphicall builds i got the blender folder setup seems to have changed slightly now so this might have something to do with it also maybe. I think when i was trying to run it though it saved a file to the E:\ however but i think that it might need to save to the exchange folder instead so another possible reason maybe. Many thanks

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Advanced Member

I've also got problems with the script finding the path, and I've got the "3D-Coat" folder in my home directory. If generating the paths is a problem why not give the user the ability to override them, at least with a variable in the script. So you can edit the script and insert the correct path. Not optimally user friendly but at least it works.

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  • Applink Developer

You are right. I was busy but now I have some time to update the script again. The problem I have with blender API is that I can't create new find path boxes. I can only use ones that are built into blender. I already use one path finder to set your object path. that same path finder is used to set your scene folder in blender. And when you change one, the other one is changed too. If I add one more path finder it can start to be very confusing. I could add just a text box, but then you have type the path manually and that's not fun in a long run. hmm... Maybe I could add save button, that way you need to type it only ones...

Thanks for feedback GeeJay and Digital777. It has been very helpful :)

GeeJay. Do you use Win XP? Soon I will update the script that it works in Xp too.

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No, I am using Linux (Ubuntu). You could place a variable in the script so you can edit the script directly (the respective .py file, with a text editor) and set the correct paths. Maybe I am mistaken but the path doesn't change? So it would only have to be set once. If the variable is empty (not set) then you can try the autodetection.

PS: Suomi was hella hot. And the whole sunshine-22-hours-a-day thing didn't help either... But it was nice!

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  • Applink Developer

Script update 1.3

-Auto exchange folder search system is out of the window :D How it works now is you first set your exchange folder into file Browser.

After this, the status should change to "connected".

-Import mesh works. Even when this was off It used to import mesh again and again into blender. Now it only imports if this is on. Good for

huge poly meshes.

Also remember to download the latest blender trunk. There was some changes again so this dosen't work with older versions.

With new blender version relative paths is set on by default. You have to go to User Preference -> File and set Relative paths

off to make this script work. If you leave it on blender will crash.

GeeJay, they say it this was the hottest summer in 40 years in Finland so you really picked the best time to come here.

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  • Advanced Member

Ok now I got it working somewhat. I can export and 3D-Coat picks it up, then I can import again and I get the textures assigned and everything. But on a second push of the import button it crashes with an error regarding the material assignment. And another bug: I add a monkey, rotate it and export to 3D-Coat. On re-import to blender the whole mesh is deformed. This is using on of the latest trunk versions.

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  • Applink Developer

Script Update 1.4

- Rotation and Material issues should be fixed.

GeeJay: You can try this. But the problem when pressing import button twice can be tricky because in windows it works.

This is so called "segmentation fault". It is much harder to fix because it dosen't say what should be fixed.

In windows this should be quite stable version.

EDIT: I just updated my ubuntu 10.04 system and it seams that some "segmentation fault" errors are gone too.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • Applink Developer

Script Update 1.45

coat.rar

-Should work in Linux.

-Multi-Material Support. If you uncheck all import checkboxes, it only updates textures from all materials. If you check

Bring Texture it will try to find textures into active material.

-Exchange folder path and object path are two diffrent fileBrowsers.

I will update my video tutorial and manual a little bit later.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • Advanced Member

Thanks for the update haikalle!

Maybe I'm doing something wrong but I can't get it to work with blender r31618. A change of API since you released 1.45?

I can downgrade blender and get it to work but then SmallLuxGPU won't work :dash2:.

I'm trying to see if there is a way to use 3D-Coat + Blender + SmallLuxGPU as seamless as possible.

Probably not possible quite yet, but painting on an object and getting an updated real-time render sounds good 8).

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  • Applink Developer

3DArtist, I'm preparing a update again. And it should work with latest blender trunk. API has changed a lot lately, so sometimes

it's hard to keep it up. But good thing is that Api is getting more stable and so it's the script. Today evening when I'm coming

back from the forest with school students I will download it here.

I will also update the manual and also provide a small video tutorial.

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  • Applink Developer

3D-Coat/Blender applink manual

Applink Version: 1.52

Updated: 2.9.2010

1. Download latest trunk from http://www.graphicall.org/builds This script dosen't work if the blender version is too old.

2. Download rar file and Copy "coat" folder into your /.blender/scripts/io/ Download the script

3. Open blender. Now you should be able to see 3d-coat applink area under the scene tab.

4. This video shows the right settings.

5. Here is brief demo how to use this

6. Better video tutorial is WIP...

Export Settings:

--------------------

Export Obj = If this is on. It will export your model everytime you press "export". If this is off, It only export your model if it dosen't find object. Also if you

set only a folder into object path, the script exports the model and adds automaticly the name of the object into "object path".

No Import File = If this is on. The script dosen't write import.txt file. It brings some advantages in some situations. For example when working with Microvert or Ptex.

You can use this when you don't want to take models into 3d-coat, you just want to seek and updates all the textures that are linked into object quickly.

Modifiers = This export your model with modifiers. Be careful if this is on you might want to turn off Import -> Modifiers.

Import Settings:

--------------------

Mesh = Updates base mesh

Modifiers = Keep and updates object modifiers.

Bring Textures = Seek new textures and bring them into your active material.

Object Path Settings:

---------------------

Save Path = Binds object path with object. Makes you life easier when there is many objects to work with. You don't need to re-write path.

Clear Path = Deletes binded object path

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can use this script to bring textures from Zbrush and Mudbox. But then you have to manually name them, because the script follows the way how 3d-coat names them.

For example. If you have a mesh called mesh.obj Everytime when you click Import button, the script checks the folder if there is texture files called mesh_*color,

mesh_*nmap, mesh_*disp or mesh_*specular if there is it will bring them into blender. Make shure that if you are using one of these other two programs, that "No import file" is turned off. But like I said this script works best with 3d-coat.

My future plan is to add some special features into script that will make the script work better with Vray renderer in blender.

Also one interesting idea is to make exchange bridge where you don't need to click any buttons. Bridge would work automaticly.

I think that in blender API there is already tools to make this but It needs some brain work.

If you have any questions or problems with this script, you can email them or write them down here.

coat.rar

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  • Advanced Member

Thanks haikalle! I'll take a look at this as soon as I have time.

My future plan is to add some special features into script that will make the script work better with Vray renderer in blender.

Also one interesting idea is to make exchange bridge where you don't need to click any buttons. Bridge would work automaticly.

I think that in blender API there is already tools to make this but It needs some brain work.

This sounds great. Will Vray RT work with blender?

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  • Applink Developer

Script update 1.52

Tested: blender 31704

coat.rar

-Now you can link object path into object. No need to write it again when you select another object.

-Export obj didn't work

3DArtist, The Vray/blender script dosen't support RT yet, but the author of the script has done some tests already, so I

think that we don't need to wait too long.

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