Blender

[Magical Girl Mimi]

No, not the kitchen device; the program. =P

Discuss the popular 3D model creation program here!

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Anyone know much about how the motion actuator types work, for the Game Engine?

[KnightsFan]

Simple Motion just changes the coordinates of an object depending on the properties you enter. It's easy to use, but can cause collision problems since it doesn't actually use the physics engine. For example, an object moving at a high velocity may just pass right through walls.

Servo Control applies a force to the object, which makes the collisions much more realistic. I never learned how to use Servos, I just followed a tutorial somewhere.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Hmm, I see. What I was wondering, was how to calculate precisely how much force(Or use other options, but I think the main thing is the linear force/velocity) is needed to equate something like 10/20 units for the Simple motion, to what's needed for ?/? in Servos.

Basically, to translate 10 units(and 20 units for running) into the equivalent for Servo actuators.

Also, what about the force stuff for dynamic objects in simple actuators, is that relatively the same as Linear Velocity in servos? That'd make translating my jumping module to servos easy.

[KnightsFan]

Servos do seem quite similar to linear velocity. However, servos allow you to set limits to the force on each axis individually. For example, if you have a linear velocity acting on an object while a key is pressed and the object goes over the edge of a cliff, it won't fall until the key is no longer pressed. Servos you can have it fall right away (or not, if you don't want to).

Well, a simple motion pushes x units per logic tic, and a servo makes the object go at a velocity (units per second). You can convert like that, or just experiment to get an approximate match. I have a servo at 5.00 and a simple motion at .085 doing the same thing.

The main difficulty in using servos is that even after the actuator is deactivated the object keeps moving because it has momentum.


Edit: I found a tutorial/demo blender file that may help.
http://www.tutorialsforblender3d.com/GameDoc/Movement/Movement_Script_4.html

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Hmm, I see. Which have you found to be the most realistic, for movement? I might just like 10 units for movement, since I have a huge area for the test workshop's ground. I can't tell exactly what it is, but I think it's a cube scaled out a couple times... The scale's about 68, according to the object data. Obviously that will work better later on, but...

Yeah, I've been looking at that site(And that script), but I don't think it works with 2.63, since I tried and utterly failed to get it to work the other day. D=

/EDIT: Yeah, I think it needs some major upgrades, as it's likely broken in many places... It was designed for 2.49, and after the 2.5 upgrade, they updated Python, and things likely broke between the two versions badly... The other day, it recognized 'has_key' as an invalid call, so that's probably one problem. =P

[KnightsFan]

I just switched over to the script I posted because it's the most realistic movement I've used so far. If you want it to work for 2.63, download the "finished blend 2.6" and copy the script from there; it's updated for version 2.6. To be honest, I didn't read the tutorial at all, I just downloaded that file and modified my current game's moving system.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Oh? Huh. Well, that's odd; they updated the Blend file for 2.6, but they didn't bother to update the script they posted? *Sighs* I guess everyone does things differently. I'll check it tomorrow or so, hopefully, then. =D

Right now I'm trying to make overlay scenes work with scaling. It doesn't exactly work as you'd think when you do that. =P

[KnightsFan]

Hmm, moving up ramps has ceased working...

You mean you're making one scene stretched or something?

[Magical Girl Mimi]

1. That's odd...

2. Well, I'm working with two cameras, as I mentioned... And in Camera View in the Game Engine, it letterboxes everything, which I don't exactly want. So, I enabled scaling for it, instead of letterbox. Problem is, if I'm zoomed out on a camera to help position and edit stuff, it shows it in the wrong spot on the main scene. xD

[KnightsFan]

1. Fixed. I had misplaced a decimal.

2. Aha. I've never worked with multiple cameras. The only overlaying I do is for a HUD. Can you not just make all the cameras have the same size and aspect ratio?

3. My 2nd attempt at modelling a tree has met with limited success - it is possible to tell it apart from a lamppost.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

1. Decimals are always getting in the way, aren't they? =P

2. I'm not sure, considering that's what I'm doing. xD It's the overlaying for the HUD that is the problem. When I go into camera view, if the camera in the Main scene is zoomed in more than the one in the HUD scene, then things go slightly wrong. However, I can't really change it, considering the scaling is for the game window size, more or less. =/

3. Hah, sounds like something I'd do. xD Lamp posts are cool too. =P

[KnightsFan]

Just some models I recently made.

This is my second attempt at creating a human face. I made it today, and there is no texture, just a material.


This is my second attempt at building a tree. It's the first that got farther than simply being a forked cylinder. The leaves are textured; the bark is just a material.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

I need to actually work on making models again; get out of the Game Engine for once. =P Half my Blend files are game tests. xD

[KnightsFan]

Same here. But I've had to use Blender's modelling and VSE recently for CGI in some films. I was also thinking of making an animated short film in Blender in the next few months.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

That'd be pretty cool. CGI movies are always fun. =D Haven't made any yet, but I'm definitely intrigued. I probably need a better computer for full rendering, though...

Speaking of rendering, I can't seem to get textures to show up correctly, in Blender. =/

[KnightsFan]

Hmm. The textures aren't showing up at all, or they just look strange? Are you in GLSL mode?

[Magical Girl Mimi]

The grass texture I used isn't showing up at all. I might not have set it up properly, but I don't exactly know how to set textures up properly, still. >>'

Yes, I am in GLSL mode.

[KnightsFan]

For GLSL you have to add a material to the object, and then add a texture to that material. Set the texture to Image or movie, and then there are options for UV mapping or generating coordinates.

If you already knew/did that, then perhaps the texture is mapped to only a tiny portion of the image, or the image file was moved after loading it into Blender.

[Magical Girl Mimi]

Hmm. My mapping may just be fail; and it DID give an error about where the image was when I loaded my blend file up last night.(Knew about the rest, though)

I've only really gotten into actual UV-mapping recently, though; I probably haven't gotten that right yet.

It's not totally my computer, since it at least attempted to properly render the brick texture from that test movement file. Maybe not perfectly, but good enough that the brick could SLIGHTLY be seen among the black. Not quite so for my test workshop ground object, however. =P