Create a Road Sign for Xpacker

Hi guys once again.

I need some help please...

I've done the Blender "Winter Scene" tutorial and can creat a 3d oject relatively easily. It also involves placing a texture and view it in the 3d rndered screne. So Far, so good.

However when I export the object as a 3ds file it only exports the object and doesnt attatch the mterials. So that's my first problem.

Second problem is if I take the object and try to add a material which has an alpha layer in 3dSimEd I cant get the alpha layer to activate. But if i borrow another 3d object that already has an alpha layer and place my material on it it does. As far as I can tell the settings are the same.

Anyway, if somebody could please point me in the right direction of a tutorial that explicitly covers these functions or if that is not available create a tutorial that is easy to understand for a dumb-ass like myself.

Here is one of the signs I want to create. as well as the psd file.

Phoroshop file: Hogbin-roundabout

CoffsRoadCourse129.jpg

Hogbin-roundabout.jpg
 
3ds doesn't attach the materials to the file it only saves the objected & a reference pointer to the material name.to make sure it finds it stick the texture in the same directory has the objected.also make sure the image has an alpha channel or use chroma assigned or your get a black background on the objected.

oh btw nice sign
 
in 3dsimed did you explode all objects to make them has one?

in 3dsimed
----------
click new projected
add a new material (in view menu).
add a objected (primitives menu version , not the imported objected option)
right click objected selected,edit objected and click exploded in the popup window that appears.

Ed
 

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  • Steppenwolf

Is there a reason that you use 3dsimed between Blender and xpacker? I import my 3ds files directly to my xpack. No problems with textures whatsoever. I just apply the dds textures to the models before i export as 3ds. Works without problems. The flags for alpha, doublesided etc. can be set in xpacker.
 
well,... maybe not, i am new to all of this and im trying to blunder my way through tutorials.. not easywhen none of them are specific to my needs and most are to older versions.

What I really need is someone who is familiar with all of this and to join my ts channel. i probably only need 10 or 20 minutes guidance. i can record the lesson and that will be that.
 
  • Steppenwolf

The psd that you posted earlier has no alpha channel. Is this fixed already?

One thing that i have noticed on your model is that you have wasted a lot of polygons on the supports. 3 to 6 sides on the cylinder should be enough for something that thin. Apply a smoothing group to fake roundness. You should also remove the tiny faces on top and bottom. They cant be seen anyway in the game. That alone would safe 48 polys on your model. That is a lot for such a minor model. Imagine it would be a fence and dozens of them would be on screen at the same time. This adds up a lot and hurts framerates.

Also make sure the root point of the model is centered and at the bottom of it or the model will not rotate nicely in the editor. Yours is off to the front quite a bit. This can also cause wrong lighting results depending on the game engine the model is made for.
 
It doesnt seem to matter what I do. As soon as I add my alfa'd dds tesxture to a .3ds shape made in blender through 3dsimed. that surface disappears. If i add the same image to an object made in 3ds its fine.

the surface in preview mode of blender itself shows the sign.dds image just fine on the object
 
okay, just had another thinking your naming textures are too large for xpacker, they need to be in dos 8:3 format.
also you didn't include the texture in the with the 3ds file. hogbi00?.tga
 
I just put a post in blender forums although it has to be approved by a mod before it will be seen. I'll place it here too. It Might make it clearer where I'm at.

Hi all. Im a noob so please bear with me.

I'm creating a Race track of Coffs Harbour, NSW Australia. That's where I live. Its about 2 months work so far and I'm now at the stage where I need to add my own unique objects such as road signs. So I've taken the initiative to learn Blender which I think is a wonderful product and can now create basic 3d objects.

From what I can gather, the efficient way for me to do this is to firstly create the object in Blender, like a simple road sign, then open that object/s in 3ds, explode them and create as one, attatch images and resave as 3ds. They then go into an application called Xpacker for Bob's Track Builder and I can place them easily into my track.

This is the image i want to place on a 3d road sign which I can attatch to an object created in 3dsimEd no problem. However if I create a object in Blender, export as .3ds and place the image to that object through 3dsimEd the surface its attatched just diappears, becomes invisible. Ive tried everything I can think of and have run around in circles looking for tutorials to help and driving the guys bananas in the BobsTrackBuilder forums

What I'd realy like is a step-by-step guide on how to create a low-poly road sign that will export to .3ds and when I attatch the image in another program like 3dSimEd its not invisible.

I hope this isnt too much to ask. Thank you!

Original Photo of Road Sign
http://169thpanthers.com.au/PublicDownloads/rFactor/TrackBuilding/Images/Make-A-Sign/CoffsRoadCourse129.jpg
 
  • Steppenwolf

I would forget about 3dsimed completely for now. It's not necessary at all to get your objects and textures into bobs track builder. It seems to confuse you and it confuses me to read about it.

Important is that your texture actualy has an alpha channel and that you save the dds as DXT3 or DXT5 so it keeps the alpha channel.

Your blender file and the dds texture should be in the same folder. Aplly texture(s), merge objects then export as 3ds file.

From there you go directly to xpacker. Import the 3ds then go to the materials tab:

v46sjp.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/v46sjp.jpg

This really is all you need to do/know. Thats how it works for me. I dont know if blender ****s up your file but since you can export to 3ds it normaly should work.
 
  • Steppenwolf

I dont know how its called in blender since i never worked with it. Its called "attach" in 3dsmax. Makes one object out of multiple objects (in your case the supports and the signs). The individual uvmaps and textures should remain untouched however. That looks wrong in your picture.

You would have to ask in that blender forum how to do it correctly.
 

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