Blender Importer/ Export for rFactor (1) GMT's

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere in the last few days here in the forums somewhere that ISI either doesn't recognize this as a real alternative, or maybe just hasn't come across this particular thread. It didn't seem at the time to be a major strike against Blender, but it sure hurt my feelings after reading it. I'll try to find the thread to see if I misread it or took it the wrong way, hopefully both.

Scott
 
Well, that didn't take long to find. It's in the new Q&A section of the main rFactor site here http://rfactor.net/web/rf2/devscorner/community-qa/ . It's in the first question of the modding section.

"Q: Will we get more Dev examples of files, with explanation of each line to aid customization of the files?
A: Yes, you should see gradually updated guides, more examples, etc. However, modding will never be for everyone. There will always be some barriers, whether it is purchase of software required to mod, or the expense of time. Hopefully, eventually, documentation won’t be the limiting factor."


I'm probably misreading it, but it sure sounded like that the purchase of 3ds Max was going to be needed to mod in rFactor2, even though it doesn't expressly say it, and that saddens me to a degree.

Scott
 
Over two-and-a-half years and counting-- from January 2011 on-- should qualify as "the expense of time." :) Anyone wanting to use this had better have a good understanding of Blender. Check my "WCRIM" thread in the rF2 car modding forum for the latest progress.
 
I'll head on over to that thread, hope you got it figured out. I did some checking in various mods to see if I could help you, but found 2 different ways of doing it, and one of those wasn't so clear because the dds file had a different color than what was shown in the sim. I'll head on over to that thread now to see if you got the problem fixed or not.

Scott
 
Traveller, just read your WCRIM thread. Does this mean I can start modeling a car in Blender now and not worry about whether I can bring it into RF2? :D (aka can we expect the exporter to be feature complete for cars when it is released, and can we expect the release to be fairly soon?)
 
kotakotakota said:
Traveller, just read your WCRIM thread. Does this mean I can start modeling a car in Blender now and not worry about whether I can bring it into RF2? :D (aka can we expect the exporter to be feature complete for cars when it is released, and can we expect the release to be fairly soon?)
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Having just started to learn Blender, this sounds really, really interesting to me... it would be fantastic to be able to do the above (model a car in Blender and then get it into rf2...)

I`ve not read the whole thread (here) so I`ll do that but this sounds very interesting indeed. :)
 
kotakotakota said:
Traveller, just read your WCRIM thread. Does this mean I can start modeling a car in Blender now and not worry about whether I can bring it into RF2? :D (aka can we expect the exporter to be feature complete for cars when it is released, and can we expect the release to be fairly soon?)
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The whole idea of the scripts is to bring models into rFx through Blender. The push for me this week has been to further get the rF2 shaders working. Per the request of my beta tester, adding a rFx material to a model is a feature. You can see Blender's Susan in a couple of my screenshots, for example. Anyway, I've noticed a few things this week that I didn't like and will work to get them fixed for the next version sent to my tester. FYI or FYE-- your choice-- it will be 0.58.

As far as release, who knows? My original plan was to have the scripts for rF1 working by Summer of 2011. I missed that date by only a year or so. I've no set schedule. I'll release them when I think they are fully functional.
 
THANKS Again, Traveller, for your dedication to this project! And as always, Thanks for the update!

Scott
 
Traveller said:
The whole idea of the scripts is to bring models into rFx through Blender. The push for me this week has been to further get the rF2 shaders working. Per the request of my beta tester, adding a rFx material to a model is a feature. You can see Blender's Susan in a couple of my screenshots, for example. Anyway, I've noticed a few things this week that I didn't like and will work to get them fixed for the next version sent to my tester. FYI or FYE-- your choice-- it will be 0.58.

As far as release, who knows? My original plan was to have the scripts for rF1 working by Summer of 2011. I missed that date by only a year or so. I've no set schedule. I'll release them when I think they are fully functional.
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Alright. I guess I'll wait a little while longer before I begin working on the new NSX SuperGT :p
 
kotakotakota said:
Alright. I guess I'll wait a little while longer before I begin working on the new NSX SuperGT :p
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Don't know why you should :D Get the modeling done in Blender, export it via Max (ask a friend if need be). That way you'll hone your Blender skills for the time of the release of traveller's script, no? ;)
 
Work is still progressing. The current working version is dubbed 0.62. At this point, support for static GMT's is complete as far as structure is concerned. Fine tuning for the values still needs attention. So, again, if you have good technical knowledge of GMT's, please provide assistance. I'm currently looking at rF2 bones. It will probably go only as far as importing and exporting the skeleton. The ANM files aren't on my horizon.

Per the request of my tester, I've added more features, and the scope of these scripts is well beyond my original intent. They are a total of approximately 12000 lines of Python code right now. In addition to the bones, I have a couple of things for 0.63 which will be added to maintain consistency. That consistency being most apparent with the "rFactor Menu"-- a one-stop shop for the scripts' functions. The custom menu is a great addition, as you don't have to hunt through various Blender menus to find what you want.

View attachment 10705

Edit: I've been giving Blender and the scripts a practical test on my side as well. The main reason behind the scripts involved the heavy duty editing of my playground track-- basically a reconfiguration of the layout and the addition of some pavement. The reconfiguration has worked well in Blender. My tester has done a write up on creating track sections with splines in Blender in conjunction with the scripts. I'm going to follow that guide in order to add my pavement.
 
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Agreed! Simply awesome seeing you're still on it! Did you ever try to contact ISI for help or guidance? It's kind of sad as I can't understand their anti-Blender attitude (I don't know their reasons for this).
 
Thanks Traveller! Happy 3rd Anniversary ;) to you and the project!!! I just read the other thread, Thanks Again for updating us on your progress.

Scott
 
I3bullets said:
It's kind of sad as I can't understand their anti-Blender attitude (I don't know their reasons for this).
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It's probably a liability thing. ISI know 3dsMax because they use it. They can vouch for the conversion tools because they made them. If they endorsed some third-party tool and someone made something awful with it, it might reflect badly on them. That's just speculation on my part, but if it's the case I disagree with it.

Traveller said:
Today is the third anniversary of project. Look upstairs for further progress.
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Thanks for the update. It's nice to see things coming along.
 
Somewhere in these forums is a link to a page or a post that states ISI's reservation on mod tools in general. From what I remember of it I think the major problem with these scripts is the import function. On the other hand, they have yet to shut down these threads or tell me to cease and desist.

My disappointment comes from the lack of enthusiasm from the community. I guess I come from a different era, and "Monaco Rocks" could only happen once.

Again, any further updates will be found upstairs. This is because rF1 no longer works for me, and most of the work left on these scripts is in the rF2 side of the house.
 
Maybe the enthusiasm will come sometime after release when the community will be in awe of it. Could also be the fact Blender is FREE, and people still cannot believe something so GREAT can come from it.

I hope you don't get too discouraged, maybe this will be such a tool to surpass any other for the life of rF2. I could see it one day being a MUST HAVE item for rF2. I pray ISI will never shut you down, unless there are some legal thing lerking in the background. But I would think ISI would say something to you directly, and in that case, I would definitely send up a prayer for you after all the hard work and time you've put into it. Please keep up the great work on this, I BELIEVE IN YOU!!

Scott
 
Traveller said:
Somewhere in these forums is a link to a page or a post that states ISI's reservation on mod tools in general. From what I remember of it I think the major problem with these scripts is the import function. On the other hand, they have yet to shut down these threads or tell me to cease and desist.

My disappointment comes from the lack of enthusiasm from the community. I guess I come from a different era, and "Monaco Rocks" could only happen once.

Again, any further updates will be found upstairs. This is because rF1 no longer works for me, and most of the work left on these scripts is in the rF2 side of the house.
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Thanks for contributing to modding community. I think ISI attitude in this subject is incorrect. When being asked about building a proper importer of rf2 content they would talk about ripping which they do not prevent any way. In order that some people don't benefit from it many others have to suffer it and stay for hours to import a track in 3dsmax which takes seconds in 3dsimed.

When asked to build a proper encrypting tool to protect IP of those that dont want to share, thay say that it is not possible to do and that everything could be decrypted. This stupid argument would not sound the same if paypal was hacked and people's savings and card data stolen. Secure systems are possible but the reality is that ISI has no real interest in helping modders lrotecting iP. It is just an excuse IMO. As many times inocents pay for the guilty.

enviado mediante tapatalk
 
as the last post in this thread was back in January and it's now July I'm assuming that all our hopes for a way to import and export a simple GMT from rF1 to Blender is lost. Those of us who dabble can find plugins for blender for just about every type of file known to man except the gmt. I've used 3dsimed as a go-between with occasional luck but all this converting to "this" and then to "that" is crazy in this day and age. Traveller if you ever get finished with something we can use all you'll get is a big Thank you and hopefully the satisfaction of being the ONLY one to give us the plugin is enough. So far all I've seen is frustration from other modders I know using various softwares to try to create something. rF2 is yet another step further where it seems years of advanced training is required to create for this newest version. This is evidenced by lack of modder content for the rF2 platform. Even the "factory" cars from ISI aren't the best.

I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I've been waiting a long time for someone to help us out but now it seems there is no hope.

Thanks for giving us hope.

Paul
 
rF1 became too much of a pain for me to use. I'd have to restart the program every other time I left the track. Since I have far too many irons in the fire, I decided to remove some of them. rF1 happened to volunteer to be one of them. That stated, the first two-and-a-half years or so of the development of these scripts was with rF1, so the code is fairly solid. My current checks are that the GMT's generated by these scripts successfully import into Blender via the import side of the scripts, and/or load in 3DSimEd. I backtrack to the rF1 side when necessary and keep the two sides in as much sync as possible, but rF2 is the main focus of the scripts right now as it is the only racing sim I use the few times I sim race.
 
Hello Traveller. I read your progress thread. Allot of work by the looks of it. Would there be any chance you we will have something for rF2 & blender this year?
 
This is better asked in the rF2 thread. Anything is possible. It may even be likely. One obscure bug has been pointed out to me in version 0.68. It's probably been there since I introduced the bit of code for which it is in a few releases back. I'll look at it both when I have time and can stomach looking at the scripts again.
 
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