I see a lot of open source/free model repos out there, like Blendswap or Mixamo/Fuse, that allow you to download humanoid-like characters and load them into Blender. But I’m not seeing any sites/repos out there for what I would call “levels”, or “worlds” or “maps”.
I’d like to make a simple jME3 game. And that game will need characters (models) and a simple world for them to run around inside of. Getting the rigged+animated Blender characters/models seems pretty easy (Mixamo even has an point n’ click auto-rigger feature!). But I’m at a total loss as to what I can do for simple “world-building” or “map-building”. So I ask:
Does anyone know of such a site/repo where these elusive (Blender compatible) 3D worlds/maps/levels can be found?
Does the jME3 SDK come with any simple worlds or tools that easily allow me to create maps/worlds?
I should probably note that at this exact moment I’m not able to create the levels myself. So any level editor (Blender, Quake III, GtkRadiant, etc.) is not really a viable option for me.
Define not make a level myself.
You will usually get bulding blocks, (eg skyrim style) but have to put them together manually.
Sometimes a small sample level exists, but it is very limited.
Also map is a bit coarse, if it is just for testing, I might actually suggest the source engine editor,
load you favourite counter-strike level, export it there, convert it to obj with an external tool, and import into blender.
You will have no textures, but working geometry, that is enough for simple testing.
Thanks @Empire_Phoenix, by “can’t make the levels myself” I mean that I have no 3D modelling skills whatsoever (currently, although I’m slowly making my way through Blender tutorials) and am completely leaning on the pre-existing + open source models/assets so that I can play with jME3 and learn the framework.
My characters/models need a world to run around inside of, hence this question.
There was a Blender Level Editor add-on that was advertised on YouTube but the download link was never posted and so it was either abandoned or hasn’t been released yet. I downloaded & installed GtkRadiant (hoping I could export a Quake III model into Blender, then convert it into a Blend file and use it in jME3) but the app is completely buggy and unuseable on a modern Mac.
It doesn’t look like there are any other free level editors/world/map-builders out there (that are Blender and/or jME3 compatible), and so I’m resorting to using any pre-existing maps that others have built and that I could use for hobby purposes.
Well in that case I suggest to use a heigtmap, and add a few models there.
That way you still need to ensure jme can load those models, but it seems like the fastest way to a acceptable map in my opinion. Or if you have money, you can buy stuff like full maps in various formats from turbosquid/ other sides
For terrain I suggest L3DT. It has a free version. You can easily export the height map, diffuse map, … .
For 3D models you can also consider https://sketchfab.com/.
I recentlly got to know about this site. It is very awesome. You can find lots of free models there.
You can also take a look at my collection of free models
Your better off learning Blender. In case you decide to heres some stuff for you, otherwise just ignore it.
The best free tutorials I have seen for Blender are Neal Hirsig’s Videos and tutorials. They are a little dated but they are still amazing. Usually reading the comments section will update things for you.
Edit: Start with the videos and do them in order, then do the tutorial pdf’s.
In Blender user preferences / add-ons / add mesh - toggle on Ant Landscape.
The combination of these two links [Link 1] [Ali_Rs Link 2] explain the entire process and once you set up your blend file its very fast to add levels thereafter.
Edit: Yes the SDK has terrain editor for making levels. It expects you to already know how to use it though, ie it works like Blender.