Looking forward to the massive rush of high quality renders in the future, once we get the initial hiccups sorted.

Maybe we need to open up a rendering forum soon? It seems like render-shops could be a potent source of community service.

SMDog:

Yes, I agree that a forum would be a wise move. As soon as all the workflows are established it won't be long until the tutorials follow. I have to say that aside from the basic levels that this feature works on, it also seems to be having the effect of getting people interested in 3d animation, always a good thing.

I feel this single thread is starting to stretch at the seams. There are so many "help" posts (not knocking them, just saying) that some important posts seem to be sliding under the radar, like Caveman79's amazing collada blender fix.

Just on that, how'd you work that out Caveman? Have you notified illusoft, I'm sure they'd like to hear about improvements to their plugin, unless some collada functionality is sacrificed by the replaced code? (I don't understand it myself) If so, could you tell us what caveats there would be?

le_yopyop wrote:The snapshot indicates you are using the 'Next Gen COLLADA' plugin, which seems to have problems with this content. Well this one is still in Beta.

Please use the other COLLADA plugin Dan recommended - download

OMG!

I read this and I downloaded that. Then I used it. And... IT WORKED! HALLELUJAH!

i downloaded it but i dont know how to use this sorry can anybody explain to me step by step please

caveman79 wrote:If you have Python installed, you can edit the collada import script and possibly fix the issue with the models loading. I've got one of my creations to load after this change.

I modified the file "C:\Documents and Settings\<USER>\Application Data\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts\bpymodules\colladaImEx\translator.py"

around line 986
current code
# Set the bObject to the right place. bindShapeMatrix = daeController.skin.bindShapeMatrix bindShapeMatrix = self.document.CalcMatrix(bindShapeMatrix) bObject.setMatrix(bindShapeMatrix)
replace with this code
# bindShapeMatrix = self.document.CalcMatrix(bindShapeMatrix) # bObject.setMatrix(bindShapeMatrix) if not (bindShapeMatrix is None): bindShapeMatrix = self.document.CalcMatrix(bindShapeMatrix) bObject.setMatrix(bindShapeMatrix)

Awesome info! I'll try this at home

Hi. I've jsut tried exporting my creature (Captain Smash of the Hypondia Empire) as a .dae file and import it into Maya 2009 with the plugin provided in the link http://www.spore.com/comm/tutorials/export_creatures. Problem is I only get a very mixed up skeleton. Very mixed up. See for your self:



There is no mesh present and the skeleton is very messd up.

What did I do wrong?

Edit:

I just found the correct instructions and link to the corrrect plugin posted my MaxisEditorDan.

Please update http://www.spore.com/comm/tutorials/export_creatures with the CORRECT information and CORRECT links to the CORRECT plugin.

Thankyou Dan.

Hey, I'm running softimage modtool xsi V.7.5 and everytime I import a creature the only things that import are the mesh and the nulls. I cannot figure out how to apply anything else on the crerature

Hey, I'm running softimage modtool xsi V.7.5 and everytime I import a creature the only things that import are the mesh and the nulls. I cannot figure out how to apply anything else on the crerature

How do you make that cool white background that gives shadows etc.?

Mine is just the default black but wants the white one!

scozdawg wrote:SMDog:

Yes, I agree that a forum would be a wise move. As soon as all the workflows are established it won't be long until the tutorials follow. I have to say that aside from the basic levels that this feature works on, it also seems to be having the effect of getting people interested in 3d animation, always a good thing.

I feel this single thread is starting to stretch at the seams. There are so many "help" posts (not knocking them, just saying) that some important posts seem to be sliding under the radar, like Caveman79's amazing collada blender fix.

Just on that, how'd you work that out Caveman? Have you notified illusoft, I'm sure they'd like to hear about improvements to their plugin, unless some collada functionality is sacrificed by the replaced code? (I don't understand it myself) If so, could you tell us what caveats there would be?

After seeing what Maxis did with this, I am now looking in to going to school. Haven't really researched allot, not even sure what I need to actually sign up for. But I found this video game school online. If anyone already in the field has any pointers for some one trying to get in to it, I would greatly appreciate it. Video games is my life and that's pretty much what I do. , Still trying to figure out the blender thing seeing as how I don't have 3000$ bucks to cough up at the moment.

Aight, I need help. Every time I try to load the DAE file of one of my creatures, it tells me "Unknown file type or error, check console". How do I get the file to load?

hey, so i'm using maya to do this. I'm wondering, when I add ik's to the joints, the tear apart. I found out that the center joint of the leg is locking and wont bend once i add an ik. Any clues on how to fix this? I'd much prefer to work with IKs to animate these things.

IZombie420 wrote:


After seeing what Maxis did with this, I am now looking in to going to school. Haven't really researched allot, not even sure what I need to actually sign up for. But I found this video game school online. If anyone already in the field has any pointers for some one trying to get in to it, I would greatly appreciate it. Video games is my life and that's pretty much what I do. , Still trying to figure out the blender thing seeing as how I don't have 3000$ bucks to cough up at the moment.

Have a look at this on top of page 20 of this thread!

caveman79 wrote:If you have Python installed, you can edit the collada import script and possibly fix the issue with the models loading. I've got one of my creations to load after this change.

I modified the file "C:\Documents and Settings\<USER>\Application Data\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts\bpymodules\colladaImEx\translator.py"

around line 986
current code
# Set the bObject to the right place. bindShapeMatrix = daeController.skin.bindShapeMatrix bindShapeMatrix = self.document.CalcMatrix(bindShapeMatrix) bObject.setMatrix(bindShapeMatrix)
replace with this code
# bindShapeMatrix = self.document.CalcMatrix(bindShapeMatrix) # bObject.setMatrix(bindShapeMatrix) if not (bindShapeMatrix is None): bindShapeMatrix = self.document.CalcMatrix(bindShapeMatrix) bObject.setMatrix(bindShapeMatrix)

Other people already wrote this fixed it. I'm going to try it now, too.

Will this "Maya" thing work on Mac?

ok i got one of my creations to work in 3ds max but i cant find out how to change the materials at all where should i be looking to find them attatched to the creation?? they aint in the material editor