Blender 2.43 is out - and OMG it's good

A place to discuss non-Moho software for use in animation. Video editors, audio editors, 3D modelers, etc.

Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger

User avatar
Rhoel
Posts: 844
Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:09 am
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Contact:

Blender 2.43 is out - and OMG it's good

Post by Rhoel »

The latest version of the open-source 3D package Blender 2.43, was released last week.
Just downloaded it: And OMG, it's looking good too - Sculpting and Render Baking included this time. Still looking through all the changes, and figuring out how to use but it looks as though the wait was well worth it.

If the render bake to UV does what I think it does, then it is going to be very very good news for AS users.

Download the full version free here - http://www.blender.org

Rhoel
User avatar
jorgy
Posts: 779
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2004 8:01 pm
Location: Colorado, USA

Re: Blender 2.43 is out - and OMG it's good

Post by jorgy »

Rhoel wrote:If the render bake to UV does what I think it does, then it is going to be very very good news for AS users.
You mean bake lighting and effects onto your model? That's what I've been trying to do with a release candidate version. Blender is not easy to learn, but if we all gang up on it here, we hopefully can use gile[s] like models in moho (AS - still can't get used to the name).

Maybe J. Baker has some hints?

jorgy
User avatar
red hamster
Posts: 456
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2005 11:24 pm
Contact:

Post by red hamster »

The sculpting mode don't work with loaded models, on this version.. :x
and I erased the beta :cry:
Image
User avatar
J. Baker
Posts: 1063
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:22 pm
Location: USA
Contact:

Post by J. Baker »

Yep, baking lighting and so forth on models. There was a bug with this in the beta version but hopefully it's fixed now. I'll try it and see. It's pretty easy to do but if you don't already know Blender then it could take a minute for the new user to figure out. I might write a quick tutorial on this. :wink:
godlike27
Posts: 68
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2005 9:30 am

Post by godlike27 »

red hamster wrote:The sculpting mode don't work with loaded models, on this version.. :x
You're right! now why the heck? I'll have to read about that maybe there is a reason...
Other than that great update.
---Tomas
User avatar
Rhoel
Posts: 844
Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:09 am
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Contact:

Post by Rhoel »

J. Baker wrote:I might write a quick tutorial on this. :wink:
I think this is a first rate idea - it's going to save much wasted time, a kind of relay race, passing the baton from animator to animator.

If we crack blender with AS, I hope Mike or Fahim will create a separate topic area for 3D includes. The potential with the new bake is enormous.
User avatar
Rhoel
Posts: 844
Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:09 am
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Contact:

Post by Rhoel »

Just finished a successful Bake to UV test. I'll post a longer "how to ... " later.

But the short answer is you use control + alt + B button combination to bring up a menu - select Full Render to create a texture map: You have to save the UV map manually (from the UV/Image editor window). You can also render a bump map (normal) and some other stuff I have not tested yet.

If you know how to create UV maps, then getting the Bake to work is easy. If you don't know the UV side, you'll need to brush up on that side first - it's not always easy to make distortion free maps. Pinning is a good work around.

Importing into AS was straight forward. I had to use the script/3D/auto-scale to bring the obj down to a manageable size.

But the good news is it works a treat.

More later.

Rhoel
User avatar
J. Baker
Posts: 1063
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:22 pm
Location: USA
Contact:

Post by J. Baker »

Did it work under Linux or Windows? I can't seem to get it to work for Windows. At least Full Render Bake anyway. The other baking options work fine though.
User avatar
Rhoel
Posts: 844
Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:09 am
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Contact:

Post by Rhoel »

J. Baker wrote:Did it work under Linux or Windows? I can't seem to get it to work for Windows. At least Full Render Bake anyway. The other baking options work fine though.
My test was on Windows - I tried it on Linux this morning and I got a (No image) message. Not sure if this is a bug ... I'll keep an eye on the blender forum and see if anyone else has this message.

I have uploaded my source files to my server - they can be found here

One is the blender file, the other three are the obj files and maps - these will load directly into Anime Studio.

It should look like this.
Image

The test is based on Greybeard's dumbell object - the reason for using such a shape is it's really hard to hide the material seams. The bake looks seamless, helped by the fact I am using a large pixel count (2400*2400).

I am away for the next three days - not sure if I can get back online to answer any questions: I'll make a rar file and notes sometime next week.

Rhoel
User avatar
Lost Marble
Site Admin
Posts: 2347
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2004 6:02 pm
Location: Scotts Valley, California, USA
Contact:

Post by Lost Marble »

Very cool - I'll have to dust off my old Blender skills and try this out. The render baking should be really good with Anime Studio.
User avatar
J. Baker
Posts: 1063
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2005 7:22 pm
Location: USA
Contact:

Post by J. Baker »

I finally got it. I opened my object file in Blender which already had a texture. For some reason Blender wouldn't bake to it. It would just go black. But when I opened the same image as a second file in the UV editor and then baked it, all was fine. Not sure why it does this. May be a bug or something.
User avatar
Rhoel
Posts: 844
Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:09 am
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Contact:

Post by Rhoel »

What I'll do when I am back in Chiang Mai is to put together the details of how I made that object, UV mapped it, and how the bake works.

Then we just have to figure out how best to use it :-)

It will be interesting to see if transparency works too ... for instance, would the windows in a 3D car work.

In the mean time, h\just download the trial objects and import into Blender. Use the UVimage window to see the way the map is split into 4 parts. use the cntl + alt + B button to bring up the bake menu: Select full render to make the above image. Save the UV map out manually.

IF you eport the model as a Wavefront OBJ, it will import with the maps into AS. Use scripts/3D/autoscale to fit the object to the camera.

Having used Blender now for the past 3-4 months, I am finding the modeler easy to work with.

Rhoel
User avatar
Gnaws
Posts: 358
Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2006 9:31 pm
Location: Reno
Contact:

Post by Gnaws »

Rhoel wrote: I'll post a longer "how to ... " later.
Looking forward to it. Thanks in advance :D
Bones3D
Posts: 217
Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:19 pm
Contact:

Post by Bones3D »

On a side note, I want to point out that a fantastic new book on Blender was released as of last week... Introducing Character Animation With Blender by Tony Mullen.

I just got my copy of the book yesterday and it is, by far, the best written book on Blender to date. It's current up to v2.42 (good enough for almost everything important in Blender) and explains exactly what all the different modes and panels do, along with various Blender lingo elements (such as the difference between an "object" and a "mesh") in a clean, concise manner. (The book could literally be used as an official manual for the software.)

Aside from the instructional print in the book, there is a DVD included that contains several blender source files including everything that was used in the production of the animated short, Elephant Dreams, the first major "open" animation collaboration.

Also included are several color pages of various other character designs that were created using Blender.

Overall, it's worth buying if you are seriously considering incorporating Blender into your animation toolkit.
8==8 Bones 8==8
User avatar
Rhoel
Posts: 844
Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:09 am
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Contact:

Post by Rhoel »

Okay, the tutorial is posted here. The images are still loading but I'm off to bed as its 06:00 and I cannot be arsed waiting another 30 minutes for it all to upload - any errors I'll fix later today.

Have fun with it.

Rhoel

-------------------------------------------
edited
I'm back out of bed and have made a few small changes/additions. Best to do a save page on this tutorial - not sure about the bandwidth allocation on the server. :D If you save it, you've then got it whatever happens 6 months down the line.
Last edited by Rhoel on Wed Mar 07, 2007 8:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
Post Reply