Blender export to .glm help needed

[zicmak]

Finally getting around to trying to model in blender, and it seems to be going okay so far, except that when ever I try to export to glm, it says Error: Could not open gla for Bone index look up. I have added an armature to the model, weighted and all, and named it skeleton_root, so maybe there was a step I missed?

 

So yeah, help would be very, very nice

 

 

[mrwonko]

Are you using a custom skeleton or creating a new playermodel?

Either way, this is where the problem comes from: A glm file only refers to bones (for weights) by number. To be able to get those numbers right, the exporter looks them up in the .gla file, which contains the actual bone names. In order for this to work, the exporter needs to load said gla file. So you specify it when exporting (in the export settings, below the bookmarks in the export file choice) - the setting in question is ".gla name". You specify that relative to the base folder, just the way Jedi Academy does (because this path gets saved directly into the .glm), so for playermodels the default of "models/players/_humanoid/_humanoid" is just right. (Notice the lack of an extension - that's correct and important!)

The exporter has to be able to locate that file, of course. So it has to be unpacked to the correct directory, and the exporter needs to be able to locate your base folder. In order to also support mods, the exporter searches for "/GameData/" in the chosen file name and assumes the folder below that is the base folder (e.g. "/GameData/base/" or "/GameData/mycoolmod/"). If you're not actually working in your base folder, or need to manually specify the path for some other reason, you can do so via the "Base Path" setting - so if you've unpacked the "_humanoid.gla" to "D:/JKA-Models/models/players/_humanoid/_humanoid.gla", you'd set it to "D:/JKA-Models/". (Not sure about the trailing slash, and I don't think I've ever actually tested exporting to folders outside of base.)

Hope that clarifies it. Also take a look at the custom vehicle tutorial and the manual for further information.

[sharedmedia=tutorials:tutorials:127]

[zicmak]

Thanks, that helped me a lot, but know I've gotten another error, Error: Could not load surface model_w (LOD 0) from Blender: Non Triangle face found.

 

What can I do to fix it?

[mrwonko]

You did not read the tutorial, did you?

 

In edit mode, select all (A) and Triangulate the mesh (Ctrl+T) - you can't have any faces with more than 3 vertices, glm does not support that.

[zicmak]

Yes I did read it... that just didn't click in. I skim read.

 

Hopefully last thing, and I hope this isn't in the tutorial, 'cause that would be embarrassing...what does this mean?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zicmak]

Gone through the tutorial a few more times (trying to follow it and apply it to my gun) and I keep getting the same error... and yes, this is a bump, and I still have no idea how to fix the problem...

[redsaurus]

Are you sure you UV mapped everything?

[zicmak]

Pressed A, pressed U, smart uv map thingy... Yeah pretty sure...

[mrwonko]

I guess it would help if you uploaded the .blend for us to take a look at...

[zicmak]

Here ya go

[zicmak]

Sorry... but nearly 50 hours later, there is something i need to do... Bump. Oh, and I tried a few more times...still no clue :/

[redsaurus]

 

But when creating the UV maps you'll have to keep in mind that the GLM format saves UV coordinates per vertex, not per face. So any uv seam on your model has to actually be a split in the model. The easiest way to do this is to also mark any seam as a "Sharp Edge" as well (in the Edge menu opened by Ctrl+E)...

 &  

... and use the Edge Split modifier to create the splits there. (Be sure to enable "Sharp Edges" and disable "Edge Angle".)

 

From a quick look it seems like there are some parts where the mesh hasn't been split at seams.

[mrwonko]

Sorry... but nearly 50 hours later, there is something i need to do... Bump. Oh, and I tried a few more times...still no clue :/

Justified, since I actually missed your post somehow. Why did I only get a notification about the bump?

 

Regarding your actual problem, try what redsaurus said.

[zicmak]

I'm assuming that splitting at the seams is for multiple uv maps, which I don't want. I've even made the model a few more times from scratch, and I keep getting the error, even when I don't do the split for a sharp edge thingy (You don't have to have a uv split for it to work, right? like is it a must have or a personal preference?) . Also, what is happening when the model goes all, well, dotty on certain faces? Every time I seem to fix that it happens some where else.

[mrwonko]

I'm assuming that splitting at the seams is for multiple uv maps, which I don't want.

Wrong. Splitting is required if there are any seams on your uv map, i.e. if you have to make cuts in your model to be able to map it to the texture. Learn what UV Seams are.

[zicmak]

Argh! All these things about modeling that never seemed to matter! Okay, how do I find the exact spot to split? Please tell me it isn't trial and error...

[mrwonko]

If you created the UV by marking seams and running unwrap, it's trivial since the seams are highlighted. If you chose some kind of auto unwrapping, it's more difficult. Try using a gradient texture like this one, you should see the seams fairly clearly.

[zicmak]

Yay! It worked! Thank you! 

 

By the way, what is the manual that is mentioned in the tutorial? 

 

EDIT: It seems that there may be a trick on exporting to md3... help there would be nice