Beta release 0.2c of Blender ⇒ jME Exporter, a component of the jME project, is now available.
Even non-Blender users should consider passing models through Blender, in order to take advantage of the reliable and precise animation now supported by the exporter.
Please see the tutorial series, beginning at http://www.jmonkeyengine.com/wiki/doku.php?id=blenderjme_basics_tutorial.
As this is a beta release, you should back up your scenes before running the exporter. POSTNOTE: The online Help and Tutorial say that application of Bone Heat is required for Skin & Bone animations. This isn’t really so. Until we nail down the exact dependencies, just try your preferred bone-weighting method. Use the documented method if you have no preference.
Here are some screen shots to whet your appetite:
can animation be exported separately from the mesh and skeleton, I use md5 so that my models can use an animation library for the characters and I'm not interested in smushing these into one file or having them packed with the mesh and skeleton. also will you be expanding the xml stuff to do animation blending.
I like this for scenery, but I'll stick with md5 for characters for now
I have been working (well… testing) with Blaine to help make this exporter happen. It is quite powerful and supports a wide range of functionality and animation perks (like blending both animated and programmatic bones in jME and dynamically parenting bones of seperate armatures/animations together – yes, the fabled weapon/accessory/clothing/haircut switching is here! Demo coming soon…). Don't be intimidated by Blender, it only hurts at first! After that, its roxar all the way. Or you can just import your pre-existing models into Blender and export to jME (*see note).
Here's the link to the beta release if you don't feel like downloading from svn and compiling and installing from zip on your own:
http://pub.admc.com/misc/jme/blenderjme-0.2c.zip
You owe it to yourself to give this a try. I think that its one of those things that once you try it you won't be able to live without it sort of things.
- NOTE: all model types with bone animation have not yet been fully tested, but you are welcome to try what you've got. Another thread (probably in Graphics) will be created to accomodate questions, problems, or gushing exclamations of success along these lines.
ashtonv said:
I have been working (well... testing) with Blaine to help make this exporter happen. It is quite powerful and supports a wide range of functionality and animation perks (like blending both animated and programmatic bones in jME and dynamically parenting bones of seperate armatures/animations together -- yes, the fabled weapon/accessory/clothing/haircut switching is here! Demo coming soon...). Don't be intimidated by Blender, it only hurts at first! After that, its roxar all the way. Or you can just import your pre-existing models into Blender and export to jME (*see note).
Here's the link to the beta release if you don't feel like downloading from svn and compiling and installing from zip on your own:
http://pub.admc.com/misc/jme/blenderjme-0.2c.zip
You owe it to yourself to give this a try. I think that its one of those things that once you try it you won't be able to live without it sort of things.
* NOTE: all model types with bone animation have not yet been fully tested, but you are welcome to try what you've got. Another thread (probably in Graphics) will be created to accomodate questions, problems, or gushing exclamations of success along these lines.
nah I'm not intimated by blender was even going to ask about exporting NLA sequences as a feature, but I prefer formats that export animations separate from mesh, as I said I use library of available actions, and I find this separation easier to manage "call a file and blend" than tryin to find a controller and defining keyframes.
also my standard biped has issues with blenders beyond 2.41 :// due to a change in roll angle calculation. so its left to be seen if that will cause issues, my work flow has become plenty weird(working between 3 versions: 2.4 modeling, 2.41 recalc on roll, 2.44 animation ) because I'm not keen to rebuild my action libs from scratch until I'm done with HKshooter 8) ,. yeah I know, a biiiiiiiig mess
mcbeth said:
nah I'm not intimated by blender was even going to ask about exporting NLA sequences as a feature, but I prefer formats that export animations separate from mesh, as I said I use library of available actions, and I find this separation easier to manage "call a file and blend" than tryin to find a controller and defining keyframes.
also my standard biped has issues with blenders beyond 2.41 :// due to a change in roll angle calculation. so its left to be seen if that will cause issues, my work flow has become plenty weird(working between 3 versions: 2.4 modeling, 2.41 recalc on roll, 2.44 animation ) because I'm not keen to rebuild my action libs from scratch until I'm done with HKshooter 8) ,. yeah I know, a biiiiiiiig mess
I was speaking generally (to any/all jME users) and not specifically to you, mcbeth ;) In fact, I was writing my post and noticed that you posted while I was writing.
Of course, this exporter might not be the solution for projects well underway, like yours, but for new stuff... or for those seeking powerful alternatives to the current exporters and their exporter specific controllers... it should definitely be on the list of research items when deciding what tech to use or switch to.
mcbeth said:
and I find this separation easier to manage "call a file and blend" than tryin to find a controller and defining keyframes.
Well... just to say, since this exporter uses the jME Animation packages, you can grab a list of available animations in the model by the AnimationController.getAnimations and then fire them off by name with AnimationController.setActiveAnimation("YourAnimationName"). The Animation package has ~some~ code for animation blending, but apparently it is not working right now. Hopefully, that will change in the not too distant future.
I understand your preference for using animations and meshes from seperate files/libraries, but... I believe that this is also possible (to an extent) with this exporter as you can export armatures with animations without meshes and then parent them to nodes within the jME app. While I haven't looked into it, I think that there are accomodations in the Animation package to assign weights to vert groups, and so in theory it sounds promising.
I just noticed that somehow all of the screenshots got lost from the Skeleton section of the animation tutorial. 
Sorry 'bout that. If you missed them, they're restored now.
ashtonv said:
* NOTE: all model types with bone animation have not yet been fully tested, but you are welcome to try what you've got. Another thread (probably in Graphics) will be created to accomodate questions, problems, or gushing exclamations of success along these lines.
Indeed. Here's the support thread in Graphics:
http://www.jmonkeyengine.com/jmeforum/index.php?topic=11584.0
won't use it for characters yet, but I can see it being useful for scene stuff, question how deep does the blender material support go or is just basic
mcbeth said:
won't use it for characters yet, but I can see it being useful for scene stuff, question how deep does the blender material support go or is just basic
Umm.. as far as you want it? ;)
Blender has the goods, you got the python (don't you?). Does jME have it? I guess it does if you have the know-how.
But... for right now, only simple material support is provided. Vertex groupings and assignments are on the way... as well as shaders. But for now, just keep it simple. This is a Beta, ehya? ;)
I think that the plan is to go Gamma sometime in the Autumn.
cool then and no I don't have the python, maybe in future I can do simple stuff like below and export it, at present I have to bake it some effects will be lost, those are shadeless ramps affecting the normals to give depth and tone
mcbeth said:
cool then and no I don't have the python, maybe in future I can do simple stuff like below and export it, at present I have to bake it some effects will be lost, those are shadeless ramps affecting the normals to give depth and tone
Sounds like a very useful feature to add to the exporter. After I catch up on some other things, could I PM you for details of how you do that, a sample .blend file, etc.?
blaine said:
mcbeth said:
cool then and no I don't have the python, maybe in future I can do simple stuff like below and export it, at present I have to bake it some effects will be lost, those are shadeless ramps affecting the normals to give depth and tone
Sounds like a very useful feature to add to the exporter. After I catch up on some other things, could I PM you for details of how you do that, a sample .blend file, etc.?
yeah sure u can, I should mention that I haven't actually tried baking yet, but visual feedback from the renders at different angles suggested that for skinned models at least, the materials change as the model transforms, slight changes I have made suggest that the ones that dont attempt to simulate much shinny highlights may be able to be baked.
still would be good to not have to worry about it though I not the greatest texture artist, if I had to paint depth and highlight myself I would fail :cry:
here are the materials remember they are shadeless so lights and shading wont affect them in blender the most important part is the blend texture ramp, I use four modulator handles that go from lightest shade to darkest shade of your colour, just try as best as possible the colour shades horizonally lined up and the alpha settings will do the rest
I should mention that there is absolutely no uv mapping going on I simply slap um on the models in blender…for now
mcbeth said:
.... yeah sure u can, I should mention that...
Looks like you're an Ass Specialist. :)
Thanks for the details. I am working a dozen other things, but I will eventualy get back to this.
What I am thinking is to support the Blender color ramp directly. That would work for you, right?
Your artistic expertise is more than adequate for our purposes here. I don't know why people would expect or want fine art in this particular thread.
I’ve just released http://pub.admc.com/misc/jme/blenderjme-0.2d.zip. As us XP folk like to say, Release early, release often.
Primarily adds support for arbitrary start/end frames (to take advantage of fixes I’ve recently applied to the jME code base), and support for Blender Empty and EmptyMesh object types. Release notes can be accessed from the online help system for more details.
Hehe… the girl on the screenshot has an ass like Violette Summer from Velvet Assassin. 
See it as a compliment because the art is the best part of Velvet Assassin. 
blaine said:
mcbeth said:
.... yeah sure u can, I should mention that...
Looks like you're an Ass Specialist. :)
Thanks for the details. I am working a dozen other things, but I will eventualy get back to this.
What I am thinking is to support the Blender color ramp directly. That would work for you, right?
Your artistic expertise is more than adequate for our purposes here. I don't know why people would expect or want fine art in this particular thread.
I didn't use a material color ramp I used the color ramp of a procedural blend texture to affect the material I haven't tried it with the material ramp, still u can look at the blend file I gave u. the alpha values in the blend texure causes the differ shades to act on the base material, at least that's what I think it does
and lol at everything else … ass Specialist :D, have remember that one, my fatal flaw is that I tend to to design female characters based on personal taste
mcbeth said:
and lol at everything else ............ ass Specialist :D, have remember that one, my fatal flaw is that I tend to to design female characters based on personal taste
Digital Ass Specialist may be more appropriate on your resume.