You could try exporting the map from blender as a .map, importing that .map to Hammer and saving as a vmf, and then finally importing that vmf into Editor. I doubt it will even work though.
Which Blender features make you want to use Blender instead of the Editor? Maybe you should post those features in the ideas section
Theoretically, it is possible to to this. It will essentially be the same as importing terrain models, which I've already done successfully (sans collision hull). Collision will be tricky though and you would have to wait until someone wrote a proper tutorial on that, most likely. You would also need to import it as a model into the editor, rather "export" it as an NS2 level. There are NS2 specific game objects that need to be present and can only be added currently from within the editor itself.
And, I'm not sure how Spark will handle very large models or even if it supports concave collision hulls currently. If not, you would need to split up your blender model into seperate pieces.
Aside from doing it the above way, no one to my knowledge has deciphered the .level file format, so there is no way to do this direct conversion that you want.
In fact I was hoping to import an ioq3 map into blender, then export it to NS2 (only the polys) but while there's some tutorials on exporting a map to ioq3, I can't find anything about importing a ioq3 map, so I might be just wrong :O
Anyway, I started remaking the map, but it just takes longer ! especially because I'm a ###### mapper :p
am i to understand that when you use Spark to create lets say a generic box for a room it also creates boundaries, automatically ? and this is why creating the geometry in another program is irrelevant ? i was under the impression that any poly was potentially a boundary unless otherwise specified, maybe im just looking at this all wrong : /
I'd like to revive this topic since I ( and probably others ) are very interested in this.
I am superfast at modeling in Blender so an option to export the mesh data to the Spark Editor would be great!
I remember there being talk about the Spark Editor getting a .dae importer? That would be perfect!
ps. I am talking about importing a mesh as actual map geometry, and not prefabs.
Evil_bOb1Join Date: 2002-07-13Member: 938Members, Squad Five Blue
The whole map would constantly be rendered if it's just one model.
In the modding forum there's info on the .level file structure. Maybe someone with knowledge of doing that could make the appropriate plugin to save as .level in blender. I guess you should ask the modders rather than the mappers
Are you sure because i suspect occlusion might still work, although i do think needing to add it yourself was a bit poor, thats the job of the engine not the mapper!
BeigeAlertTexasJoin Date: 2013-08-08Member: 186657Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Diamond, Reinforced - Shadow, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
If I understand it correctly, occlusion simply "turns off/on" prefabs, not individual pieces of them. So if your map is one GIANT prefab, it can't ever be turned off, thus it will always be drawn in its entirety.
Still, +1 to this! I feel like I spend most of my time cleaning up geometry in spark rather than building a level.
Evil_bOb1Join Date: 2002-07-13Member: 938Members, Squad Five Blue
When it comes to models, they are either rendered entirely or not. There isn't a 'local occlusion' on the faces of models. I've always known it as the mapper's job. I wouldn't trust a computer to figure things out for himself, whatever the algorithm he has to give you an answer. Better set once and for all what you want then having him figure it out while the game is running. NS2 suffers a lot already from many things happening in parallel. Best to let the engine focus on the game rather than adding another layer of constant recalculating. Taking that responsibility might be more work for the mapper, but it's definitely beneficial for the player.
In Blender go to User Preferences, then to Addons and search for "map"
You can then enable the hidden plugin to export your model to the Quake .map format.
Then use hlq3map Convertor to convert your Quake map to the Half-Life .map format.
Then use Crafty to convert your Half-Life .map to the Half-Life .vmf format.
Then you can open the .vmf file in the Spark Editor! ( Make sure you first select all, and then press CTRL+W to merge double verts. But then it is superclean geometry! )
*Update: Complex geometry seems to explode.. I'll get back to you on that!
*Update: Ok, also make sure you convert your quads to triangles in Blender. And Invert your faces normals.
Then complex geometry will not explode, but your walls will have a thickness ( they are blocks instead of faces ). This is probably a requirement of the half-life .map format..
Back to the drawing board!
Comments
Wouldn't you have to add collision geometry to (all) it and add all entities anyways?
Seems a lot more work to me + a huge file size.
You could try a small sample room to test but i'm not clear on the model pipeline yet myself.
Which Blender features make you want to use Blender instead of the Editor? Maybe you should post those features in the ideas section
Collision will be tricky though and you would have to wait until someone wrote a proper tutorial on that, most likely.
You would also need to import it as a model into the editor, rather "export" it as an NS2 level. There are NS2 specific game objects that need to be present and can only be added currently from within the editor itself.
And, I'm not sure how Spark will handle very large models or even if it supports concave collision hulls currently. If not, you would need to split up your blender model into seperate pieces.
Aside from doing it the above way, no one to my knowledge has deciphered the .level file format, so there is no way to do this direct conversion that you want.
Anyway, I started remaking the map, but it just takes longer ! especially because I'm a ###### mapper :p
I am superfast at modeling in Blender so an option to export the mesh data to the Spark Editor would be great!
I remember there being talk about the Spark Editor getting a .dae importer? That would be perfect!
ps. I am talking about importing a mesh as actual map geometry, and not prefabs.
In the modding forum there's info on the .level file structure. Maybe someone with knowledge of doing that could make the appropriate plugin to save as .level in blender. I guess you should ask the modders rather than the mappers
Still, +1 to this! I feel like I spend most of my time cleaning up geometry in spark rather than building a level.
In Blender go to User Preferences, then to Addons and search for "map"
You can then enable the hidden plugin to export your model to the Quake .map format.
Then use hlq3map Convertor to convert your Quake map to the Half-Life .map format.
Then use Crafty to convert your Half-Life .map to the Half-Life .vmf format.
Then you can open the .vmf file in the Spark Editor! ( Make sure you first select all, and then press CTRL+W to merge double verts. But then it is superclean geometry! )
The tools:
- hlq3map Convertor : http://www.mediafire.com/?mmyjf540i775lyk
- Crafty : http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php?p=46
Thanks guys! Now lets speedmodel some maps
*Update: Complex geometry seems to explode.. I'll get back to you on that!
*Update: Ok, also make sure you convert your quads to triangles in Blender. And Invert your faces normals.
Then complex geometry will not explode, but your walls will have a thickness ( they are blocks instead of faces ). This is probably a requirement of the half-life .map format..
Back to the drawing board!