MRB::Export:UnrealSkel

[fiction machine]

has anybody tried this and got it to work

every time i use it it just gives me a blank psa file

only thing in the file is the headings

ANIMHEAD î RAWWEIGHTS w BONENAMES  RAWWEIGHTS wx ANIMINFO  RAWWEIGHTS w¨ ANIMKEYS  RAWWEIGHTS w

i have goggled and searched all i can find on this is
http://www.clintons3d.com/tutorials/lightwaveUnrealPlugins.htm

which is a very good explanation of the plugin and i followed it by the book, but all i get is an empty psa file

all i want to do is get animation into UDK,........help


---
using lw 8.5

[Lamont]

Try baking the animation to keyframes.

[fiction machine]

yep tried that
its only a simple tube with 5 bones , so i can see if the exporter works
but the psa file is empty, its there, but empty


this mrb exporter must work , it gets referenced quite a lot, but i have no idea what im doing wrong, i was looking forward to playing about with UDK :(

[Lamont]

Mind posting the scene?

[fiction machine]

thanks for taking the time to have a look


i know im wrong somewhere

simple lw 8.5 scene with obejct & 5 bones

mrb_scene_test.zip (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.howe50/mrb_scene_test.zip)
for a quick look at the generated psa file , i simply load it into notepad to see if the data has been written
other sample/psa files are full of data but not the MRB file

at the moment im playing about with milkshape as an alternative,
lightwave to .x
ultimate unwrap to milkshape
milkshape to psk/psa

this scene file seems to work using this method


but the MRB exporter would have been a better option

[Lamont]

Ok, I saw the scene, but you didn't link the weight map to the bone. It' has to be 100% weight map controlled. Assign a dummy image to it as well.

Other than that last bone with no weights and the surface with no UV's texture, it should be working.

[Lamont]

at the moment im playing about with milkshape as an alternative,
lightwave to .x
ultimate unwrap to milkshape
milkshape to psk/psa

this scene file seems to work using this method


but the MRB exporter would have been a better optionIf you want to save the headache and have support for more options, just export to Blender do it in there.

I remember using this back in 2003, it was a VERY touchy plugin.

[fiction machine]

thanks i think i will take a look at blender

even dummy image and last bone to weight didnt work...touchy little number that MRB

[fiction machine]

just a heads up, incase anybody googles and comes across this

i tried the MRB:unrealskel with an older version of LW (v7.5) and its now writing the file, a bit
messy but its writing it, im still mucking about with it

[Lamont]

If only the FBX exporter wasn't busted.

[fiction machine]

Lamont i see from you sig (nice work by the way) you dabble with UDK, could you tell me does UDK support texture splatting for big levels, i did some googleing and cant find any mention of splatting with UDK, but yep the FBX format looks good as of the june 2010 release of udk , 4 uv sets for fbx

ie:
grass tile , UV set 1
alpha map, UV set 2
dirt tile, UV set 1
alpha map , UV set 2
rock tile, UV set 1
Normap map, UV set 2
lightmap, UV set 2

ive been playing about with modo as a splatt editor it works great
or do you bake the lot out as one map and split the level up into smaller chunks

i havnt actually jumped into UDK yet, im just seeing if it will do certain things first, befrore i give the next half of my life to it

[Dodgy]

I've got animated characters into unreal using the collada exporter in 9.6

[Lamont]

Lamont i see from you sig (nice work by the way) you dabble with UDK, could you tell me does UDK support texture splatting for big levels, i did some googleing and cant find any mention of splatting with UDK, but yep the FBX format looks good as of the june 2010 release of udk , 4 uv sets for fbx

ie:
grass tile , UV set 1
alpha map, UV set 2
dirt tile, UV set 1
alpha map , UV set 2
rock tile, UV set 1
Normap map, UV set 2
lightmap, UV set 2

ive been playing about with modo as a splatt editor it works great
or do you bake the lot out as one map and split the level up into smaller chunks

i havnt actually jumped into UDK yet, im just seeing if it will do certain things first, befrore i give the next half of my life to itNever heard that term, but yes, it does. But, you won't be able to get the multiple UV's out without some legwork digging through the file.

http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showpost.php?p=169940&postcount=15

For terrain, it can be painted in editor, many, many options.

I've got animated characters into unreal using the collada exporter in 9.6I have used it as well, but I have issues. Only one UV comes through, but multiple are in the file... as for static meshes can't generate custom collision, normals, or vertex colors.

[fiction machine]

definition Texture Splatting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texture_splatting

it would seem from your link you have sorted it out, using one splatt map with 3 colour channels, instead of 3 seperate splatt maps, very very cool

the UDK set up looks complicated but doable

as far as UV sets go, ulimate unwrap can save out .buv &.tuv (uv set) i dont know if these would be loadable in UDK

[Lamont]

If it's for a personal project, you can go nuts with how you control the decals/blending. UDK supports this with vertex painting in editor. Just need to set up your material that way.

For terrain, it's easier, as you just define the layers, then choose what layer you want to paint.

You won't be able to enjoy the multiple UV stuff with the current export for LW, but out of Blender you'll be fine.

Here is how I do decals, colored grunge and debris.. err whatever you want to stick on a building. My whole take on material creation is to examine the scene and come up with a list of materials I'd need. From there I see what materials I can consolidate. And from there I make Master Materials, and anything that needs that material I make an instance and change only a few parameters instead of making whole new nodes.

So here is the wall in Maya, I have two UV sets: One for decals, one for the brick. And I liked the UV sets where map2 is linked to the decal, and map1 is for the diffuse. Don't worry about the alpha.

http://www.digitalweaponx.net/Forums/GameA/BrickWallTut_00.jpg


http://www.digitalweaponx.net/Forums/GameA/BrickWallTut_01.jpg

So in UED after I import all the assets, here is how I set up the node. Notice the "TilingFactor" labeled node. That dictates the amount of tiling.

http://www.digitalweaponx.net/Forums/GameA/BrickWallTut_02.jpg

I changed the "TilingFactor" node to 5, notice things still sync up. I didn't have to paint a new decal to match up with it.

The benefit of this is that I can pop in any decal image, any brick image and it will tile correctly and retail the nice brick/painted on look. And this can be used for the majority of my buildings. Add in an AO map and custom lighting if you need. Take this one more step further with a good parallax map network and tie in the second mask for the decal with the grout of the brick, where the edges around each brick shows more wear and tear on the decal.

http://www.digitalweaponx.net/Forums/GameA/BrickWallTut_03.jpg

Questions that may come up:

Q - So why don't you just have an alpha plane over it?
A - It doesn't really look like it's tied into the wall, like it's a part of it. I'd use alpha planes for things like posters and dynamic things. Or if the engine dictated that I needed to for things like this. Also, lighting, as objects in UED that are alpha'd don't get the nice lighting as the other objects. The only way is to have a 1bit alpha (either white or black, no grey) and you'd loose all the nice blended edges.

You can get crazy with this and have a spec value for the painted images in the alpha channel used by a second UV set. Take this value and add it to the spec of the brick. Also you can combine normal maps in UED, by pulling all the channels apart, then putting them back together. This may be overkill, but the surface variations you can get will look badass.

Download source files (Maya 2009/UED) here: ::LINKY:: (http://digitalweaponx.net/Forums/GameA/DecalTut.rar)

[fiction machine]

very useful stuff, many thanks

had a quick look at blender, the program looks all over the place and over complicated, but i guess thats just with a quick look, i will find some tutorial vids on it

to get multiple uv sets
ive always used ultimate unwrap

lightwave to .x save two versions each with different uv set
first version into ultimate unwrap and save the uv set as .buv
load in the second mesh and import the .buv as the second uv set


its all fun & games ;)

[clintonman]

I've got animated characters into unreal using the collada exporter in 9.6
I think that works with ut3, but not udk.

[fiction machine]

ok i seem to be in

pipeline
lightwave (lws) straight into Ultimate unwrap using the lws import
out as psk/psa

out as fbx caused UDK to crash, so i still have to figure out static mesh with 2 UVs for splatting