Is anyone using Blender? Help for a noob please?

[dragonbird]

Is anyone using Blender? Help for a noob please?

If there's anyone out there using Blender who has successfully imported and exported an fbx file from the game, can you help me with the settings please?

I've been trying to change something on a clothing model, but when it's imported back into the game, it no longer conforms to Geralt's movements. It just floats round him as though it has a mind of its own. And the fbx file that comes out of Blender is much smaller than the one that went in.

I *think* I'm either losing the rigging, or it's some translation error, but I'm totally new to Blender and don't have a clue what to look for.

TIA.

 

[Mordek113]

Same error here, you are not alone. I'm new to Blender and 3d models as well

 

[biozokker]

The problem is the fbx importer that comes with blender. The importer isn't able to import the vertex weights of the meshes.

I managed to import the file with weighted vertices by converting the .fbx file to an .dae file. I opend the .fbx file with Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 and saved it as a .dae file.
This .dae file can be imported to Blender with weighted Vertices.

Edit: The actual problem with importing of the fbx files is the fbx header. The bones are stored "loose" in there. They are not linked to an armature, this is the reason why blender is not importing the vertex weights.
! Read post 30 on page 3 for more about this.

I released a tutorial with an workaround over on the Witcher nexus:
http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/569/?

 

[dragonbird]

Thanks. Sounds a bit messy, but still simpler than switching from blender to something else.

I take it that it exports OK from Blender? Any special settings?

 

[biozokker]

I have discovered yet another Problem with the import of an .dae file. The materials are corrupted by this way of importing the file. But i have an idea how to fix this problem. The direct import of the .fbx works correct as far as I can see except the vertex weights. My idea is to copy the vertex weights from the .dae imported mesh over to the .fbx imported meshes and add the armature modifier manually. The export into an .fbx file should work fine as far as i can see it from the compatibility page for .fbx files in the blender wiki.

I'm planning to write a tutorial for that if it should be successful.

 

[vervurax]

This is already a great help, thanks for figuring that out. I'd still kiss you for a tutorial! I have a few ideas for mesh edits, so it would be very helpful.

---------- Updated at 04:39 PM ----------

My idea is to copy the vertex weights from the .dae imported mesh over to the .fbx imported meshes

I found a neat script to copy vertex groups with weights from one object to another. Works like a charm.

blender.stackexchange.com/questions/21003/best-way-to-transfer-weight-groups-between-two-meshes-with-same-topology

 

[biozokker]

I found a neat script to copy vertex groups with weights from one object to another. Works like a charm.

blender.stackexchange.com/questions/21003/best-way-to-transfer-weight-groups-between-two-meshes-with-same-topology

Good choice i used this script a few times myself in the past. In newer versions of blender theres no need for these script anymore
For example Blender 2.75 has already a built-in tool to do that. You first have to select the mesh from where you want to copy from and second with pressed caps lock the destination mesh. The best and easyest way to do that is the outliner window. After that you can switch to weight paint mode. The last option under tools in the toolbar is now "Transfer Weights" which can be used to transfer the weights. If you change the Source Layers Option from "Active Layer" to "All Layer" all Vertex groups will be copied. This tool is also usefull if you have added some new geometry to the mesh. You can copy the weights of the nearest weighted vertex to the new unweigted ones.

---------- Updated at 07:27 PM ----------

Small update so far, Got it

I've managed to set up a horn on Roach as in the mod example.
Only problem left, I lost the textures somewhere in the process. I will look to fix this in the next days.

 

[marvelmaster]

Sorry for offtopic but can anybody explain how to import and export fbx in blender...

My Problem is that the origin file is 25mb
but the modded file is 500kb q.q

 

[biozokker]

Sorry for offtopic but can anybody explain how to import and export fbx in blender...

Yes I can, since i figured it out for my self the last days. Today i finally was able to import, modify and export the Model of Roach and everything is working ingame.


Like I explaind earlier in this Thread Blender isn't able to import the complete fbx file correct at the moment. If you import an fbx the vertex weights and the armature get lost.
It is possible that the direct import of an fbx file will be able with one of the next updates of the fbx importer.


But at the moment we have to do a workaround by converting the .fbx to another format and import the lost informations this way.
But i was not able to find an converter and format in which everything worked correctly by importing it to blender.
Maybe someone of you has more luck this way.


So I figured out a workaround to get everything working.


I will release a detailed tutorial for this, when it is finished.
But here the short Version:




1.) Convert the .fbx file to an .dae file (I did this with Visual Studio 2013)
2.) Import the .fbx file to blender with default settings (the Mesh and the Materials of this file will be used)
3.) Import the .dae file to blender with default settings, check the orientation of the imported objects maybe you need to rotate them -90°z (the Armature an the weighted vertices of this file will be used)
4.) Transfer the vertex groups from the .dae meshes to the .fbx meshes (see Post #7 of me) (do this for all lods seperatly)
5.) Delete the meshes imported from the .dae file
6.) Delete the empty objects that were imported with the .fbx file (mayby you have to unhide them with "Shift + H")
7.) Add an Armature modifier to all meshes imported from the .fbx file and link it to the Armature of the .dae file
8.) Some materials are imported as duplicates e.g. "Material1.001". Open the Material dropdown menu and change them to the "unduplicated" one e.g "Material1" (do this for all of the lod Meshes)


9.) Now its time to do changes to the meshes


10.) Now finally its time to export. Open the .fbx export options and load the default ones, we have to modify them a bit.
First uncheck the "Add Leaf Bones" option. Then change the Path Mode from "Auto" to "Copy" and check the "Embeded Textures" options.
11.) Export the file.


One last note, when importing the .fbx back to an .w2ent you need the .xml file that contains the material settings in the same directory as the .fbx file.


I hope this is helpfull for you guys. And sorry for my bad english

 

[marvelmaster]

great thx mate will try this...

but i must say that the official mod tools and description appear to be a bunch of trash...

 

[thisisweak]

So I opened Ciri's fbx in Visual Studio 2012, Saved it as a dae file, and then opened it in blender. I got this.

Is this right?

 

[marvelmaster]

lawl^^

 

[TelandorSortas]

Seems legit.
As legit as it is that after creating a batchfile for wcc_lite to extract all folders I've suddenly had 15 Gigabyte more data. From 34 to 50GB.
Dunno how much this thing is bugged ^^

 

[thisisweak]

Also, someone has uploaded a mod where he solved the problems. I posted him a question as to how he did did it.

http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/509/?

I uncooked it, and it did indeed still have the joints.

---------- Updated at 07:19 PM ----------

Seems legit.
As legit as it is that after creating a batchfile for wcc_lite to extract all folders I've suddenly had 15 Gigabyte more data. From 34 to 50GB.
Dunno how much this thing is bugged ^^

There are many files that would not unpack for the most of us. You seem to have gotten lucky...

 

[marvelmaster]

---------- Post merged on 28-08-2015 at 12:52 AM ----------

Yes I can, since i figured it out for my self the last days. Today i finally was able to import, modify and export the Model of Roach and everything is working ingame.


Like I explaind earlier in this Thread Blender isn't able to import the complete fbx file correct at the moment. If you import an fbx the vertex weights and the armature get lost.
It is possible that the direct import of an fbx file will be able with one of the next updates of the fbx importer.


But at the moment we have to do a workaround by converting the .fbx to another format and import the lost informations this way.
But i was not able to find an converter and format in which everything worked correctly by importing it to blender.
Maybe someone of you has more luck this way.


So I figured out a workaround to get everything working.


I will release a detailed tutorial for this, when it is finished.
But here the short Version:




1.) Convert the .fbx file to an .dae file (I did this with Visual Studio 2013)
2.) Import the .fbx file to blender with default settings (the Mesh and the Materials of this file will be used)
3.) Import the .dae file to blender with default settings, check the orientation of the imported objects maybe you need to rotate them -90°z (the Armature an the weighted vertices of this file will be used)
4.) Transfer the vertex groups from the .dae meshes to the .fbx meshes (see Post #7 of me) (do this for all lods seperatly)
5.) Delete the meshes imported from the .dae file
6.) Delete the empty objects that were imported with the .fbx file (mayby you have to unhide them with "Shift + H")
7.) Add an Armature modifier to all meshes imported from the .fbx file and link it to the Armature of the .dae file
8.) Some materials are imported as duplicates e.g. "Material1.001". Open the Material dropdown menu and change them to the "unduplicated" one e.g "Material1" (do this for all of the lod Meshes)


9.) Now its time to do changes to the meshes


10.) Now finally its time to export. Open the .fbx export options and load the default ones, we have to modify them a bit.
First uncheck the "Add Leaf Bones" option. Then change the Path Mode from "Auto" to "Copy" and check the "Embeded Textures" options.
11.) Export the file.


One last note, when importing the .fbx back to an .w2ent you need the .xml file that contains the material settings in the same directory as the .fbx file.


I hope this is helpfull for you guys. And sorry for my bad english

This cant impossibly be this difficult...

THERE HAS TO BE A MUCH EASIER WAY !?!

 

[thisisweak]

I'm working on it! I found a program called Neosis. It allows me to preserve the joints.
1. Export model (with the cool and amazing Mod Kit GUI of course! )
2. Open file in Maya, then close. No save. (this creates a nice folder with all our textures for that model)
3. Open the model in Neosis. Save said file in fbx format. Click no textures. (for some reason it exports the textures upside down!)
4. Open your new model in Maya, and go through the shading nodes and point them to the correct textures.
and then you will have this.

Models joints and skin are attached.

Re importing back into game (with cool and amazing Mod Kit Gui) does not work yet.
If I summon Ciri she will have no body...just a floating head.

Do I need to add a skeleton?

---------- Updated at 05:21 AM ----------

Skeleton Added

Results:

Animations are Working though!

 

[biozokker]

So I opened Ciri's fbx in Visual Studio 2012, Saved it as a dae file, and then opened it in blender. I got this.
Is this right?

Yes it is right. What you see is the skeleton imported with the .dae file. Was there also an mesh imported ? In my case there was one.



I have some free days now and I will work on an detailed tutorial. But actually these 11 steps are only deleting and repointing some informations for blender. If you get used to these steps it will only cost you about 5 minutes to do them. The much much harder part will be the modding of the meshes itself.

I hope there will be an simpler way in the future but at the moment this is the only way I could find to do the modding of fbx files in blender.


So be patient a detailed tutorial is comming soon.

 

[lanceurdenains]

Could CDPR cooperate with Blender to optimize workflow?

Even if there seems to be the above workaround, having an optimized workflow from modkit (and potentially later on Redkit 2 ) to Blender would be really awesome.

If CDPR devs could work with Blender Foundation/Blender devs, this should be doable. I'm not sure how much effort/manhours etc. this would be and I'm well aware this probably isn't top priority right now, but i guess it would be a relatively small matter, that would increase modding potential a great deal. While Maya and 3dsMax have low price student versions etc. AFAIK, Blender is the only 3D graphics program that is completely free, so a fully working pipeline from Witcher tools to Blender and back would probably draw more people to try modding.

Blender cooperates with a lot of game companies like Epic and Valve as you can see here (under main sponsors) :

https://www.blender.org/foundation/development-fund/

But they do not only donate money to the Blender Foundation, but also work together with Blender devs to optimize workflow.

F.e. Epic devs worked with Blender to build a better graphics pipeline from Unreal Engine to Blender, specifically fbx import/export, which is exactly what Witcher 3 modding would need, as can be seen from this thread i.a.:

https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?16011-Epic-Donates-to-the-Blender-Foundation

Epic Dev says there:

"Yeah, we've been doing a lot more direct talking with them lately. Mostly we are trying to get a solid pipeline for exporting from Blender to UE4. So far things are going really well and we hope to see some cool stuff in the near future."

It would be perfect if CDPR would try something similar.

 

[berserker66666]

Here's a new mod/tutorial about importing/exporting fbx with Blender

http://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/569/?

 

[biozokker]

Woh you were faster than I, yes its my tutorial