But when I upload it into Starcraft two it looks like this. A large part of it is distorted for whatever reason and the textures are not showing up. All of the textures are converted to DDS files are already. I am relatively new at this. I wanted to know what kinds of things could potentially be causing something like this to happen. If any more info is needed, just ask.
Right off the bat I can say that the distortions of the mesj (flying off screen) have most likely something to do with the weight attachment to the bones of the armature. From the look of it vertices aren't painted to a bone in at least some degree making them "unallocated".
See attached image, the marine shield is weight painted (red coloring) to bone "Shield" <-- case-sensitive. Vertices that aren't weightpainted are blue.
As for the textures, make sure the filepath in the editor is the exact same as the one used on the model.
If the texture filepath in the model reads: "Assets/Textures/My_Model_Texture.dds" In the editor you must also import the textures equally. See attachement.
This is what I can say from first glance of your images and explanation. Hope this is useful for you.
You are right. I was having a look at the bones and a lot of them are not painted to anything or appear to have zero weight influence. Here is my next question because I am a little nervous to start deleting stuff. However what I am using now is an experimental model so I can learn. So if something does go wrong, I can easily come up with another. My question. If the bones are not allocated to anything and have no weight paint, is it safe to delete them? My main worry is if there is a specific reason those bones have been there and removing them my ruin something.
Hey there mate. Well with regard to your question on deleting bones that have no weight painting... No, or at least, be very careful. Because even if a bone has no weight painting in relation to a mesh, it can still be an integral part of animations. They can for instance serve asdummy bones to create a certain movement, but have child bones that actually have the relation to the mesh.
A way to check this, is by having the bone selected that you wish to delete. go into 'POSE' mode in the 3D viewer and see if the bones properties [translation, rotation,scale] are changing, often displayed in either yellow or green colored bars (default display for blender) --> attachment
Again, be careful by deleting bones, as it can distort how a model animates. I wish I could give pointers on when it can or not, but this is basically a trial and error model by model. Examine the armature carefully and try deleting stuff and test weither or not the model has changed.
After you mentioned the part about moving the models and textures to the same file path, I realized my critical mistake. I important them, but I didn't move them to Assets/textures.
As you can see the textures are now working so that is one big thing figured out. However I am still looking into trying to find a way to fix that distortion and I am not going to go deleting bones at this point in my skill level. Currently watching videos on weight painting and trying to understand the fundamentals of it. Now the good news is that for this project I don't need to worry about working with dozens of other models as I am mainly trying to come up with one really good one so I can focus a lot of my attention on this one. On the other hand, there is a lot of bones in this model.
Good to see you've got that fixed. Yeah the other problem can be a bit tricky. I recommend studying up a bit on how to weight paint and just try it out a bit. In the end it's not that difficult.
Some major breakthroughs have been made, but there is also a few new issues I am currently running into problems with. First off, the model is no longer distorted like crazy. I went through and checked for all vertex groups that didn't have any influence on other parts of the model and just deleted them.
This is what the model looks like when seen in the editor now. I need to reload the textures, but this is obviously a huge improvement from before.
However I do face a number of new complications as follows:
1. Animations getting deleted when exporting as M3.
Remember when you said that there were no animations with that model? Well I found out that they are getting straight up deleted whenever I export as m3 for whatever reason. The dopesheet and timeline get wiped. I also checked and it had nothing to do with removing the vertex groups. I did this on an earlier copy that didn't have the vertex groups deleted and they got removed. I need to know why this could be happening and how to fix it.
2. Getting the Animations packed into one.
I need to figure out a solution to packing all the animations together so they can be used by one model. This may prove much harder than I expect it to be unfortunately since the animations are only able to be exported one at a time right now.
3. Setting the animations up in the SC2 editor.
The animations look like this when seen in wowmodelviewer, but in the SC2 editor I don't see many names like this that are signalable by events and things like this so I can only assume that I would have to improvise or do something to adjust this to the editor right. My question is how would I get animations like this able to be used and signaled by events in the SC2 editor?
Hi man. Good to see you've been able to fix the vertice issue. Below I'll try to deconstruct your findings.
1. Then I would have to see your original blend model and not the m3 file. Based on the .m3 file I received from you, I made a quick new animation to see if it deleted that, just a very plain one with movement of her right arm. Attached is a gif with the workings in the editor. I then openen that file again as an imported .m3 in a new blender window. and it still had that animation. So on your end, there's something thats unlike what I did for creation of animation. Which again, I would require the blend file for to investigate.
2. For the moment we'll let that rest.
3. That is a peculiar thing I noticed as well. I created a normal image to highlight it. The name for some reason doesn't show where I expected it to, yet the animation name still existed somewhere as it did show it in the drop down list. No scratch that. I tested it with a model of my own and the same thing happened. I closed my editor and reopened. Now the name appears properly. So that seems to be OK. --> image: Lillian_Animation1
4. I'll included some of the info from discord in here to complete this section and story. And hopefully that others may find it usefull in the future as well. :: "When I loaded it into the editor there was no attachment points and I still need to solve the issue of packing all the animations together reality is that I may need to do things the extra hard way and copy them carefully into one specific blender file.". A learning SC2 model I was using was xelnaga kerriggn and I noticed some key differences between the models. Difference 1: This one has all these sort of cages. The other has bones, but I don't see these cage like armature items on it.
These 'cages' as you describe them are from the attachment points, particle effects, light emitters and other stuff that can be set. The reason why they are not in the Lillian model is because they aren't in the file. We can get more in-depth on these later on as they are not specifically required for the issues at hand. --> Image: Lillian_Animation3 shows when an attachment point would be added that it also creates these cages. Just an FYI for the moment
"Difference 2: Above picture is the wow model's nla editor view. This is the one for xelnaga kerrigan very different and I see the sc2 animations names in it. I also noticed bones named stuff like ref_origin and stuff so I think that had to do with attachment points. For the sake of not overcomplicating stuff I will leave it at this. Although I did also have some other questions in the thread."
And the Dope sheet+NLA editor show the precise problem of there not being animations in the file. Like I stated before, I make a quick Stand animation for the model. In below image of the dope sheet you can see its there. So when we get the animations sorted, this issue should disappear. --> image: Lillian_Animation2, highlighs presence of an animation. Also to your question regarding some of the used names. Yes, they all relate to bones, and bones can be used for the mesh (and thus the weightpainting), the attachment points of which typical examples are [ref_origin, volume.xx , weapon_00, ref_turret] or from other effects such as lighting, particle effect (zealot psiblade smoke) or other.
1. Then I would have to see your original blend model and not the m3 file. Based on the .m3 file I received from you, I made a quick new animation to see if it deleted that, just a very plain one with movement of her right arm. Attached is a gif with the workings in the editor. I then openen that file again as an imported .m3 in a new blender window. and it still had that animation. So on your end, there's something thats unlike what I did for creation of animation. Which again, I would require the blend file for to investigate.
Alright. For this first part, I sent the original blender file to your email before it has been exported as m3. The model has just been imported as FBX with zero changes. I also sent you the blend file of the model after the vertex groups that didn't seem to be doing anything have been removed. However that one also seems to have the original animations deleted. Redoing that when needed won't be an issue anyway.
2. For the moment we'll let that rest.
You are right. Better deal with these other issues at hand.
I am going to respond to the other shortly. It may take a little longer so that is why I am responding to the first two parts now. I think one of the very first thing that also needs a solution before else is seeing why animations are getting deleted on export.
Also. This is a huge relief. This shows that model can in fact be loaded into the SC2 editor without that distortion, textures and animations. Now I can feel confident knowing it is possible. It is just a matter of understanding the fundamentals.
Quick video that shows how the model is meant to look when shoulders, belt, face weapons and full animations are looking at its base. However I plan to alter it a lot still once I understand how.
Major breakthrough. Solved problem number 1 which was currently the biggest roadblock.
Turns out that under animation sequences I needed to specify something and then assign it to an animation. I still have some specific questions about this, but I will ask you those next time we can talk over discord. I did a transfer of this to the SC2 editor and the animation worked perfectly. I was even able to specify the animation. In turns this also has solved problem 3 as well. Stuff like attachment points, effects and lighting we can come back to later.
Now I big issue that I do need to address is about how I am going to properly get at least a number of the model animations together in the file. This is a big thing I should see if I could get figured out soon because it could drastically impact how I handle moving forward on this project and it is a critical one to solve. There is however also another smaller, but important one.
The model is not facing towards the computer screen and is unelectable when opening it in the cutscene editor.
Perhaps all I need to do is change the direction of the model in blender. That may be a simple fix. However I do need to know what I need to do to make the model selectable in the cutscene editor. Currently when one tries to click on then it doesn't get selected at all.
Perhaps all I need to do is change the direction of the model in blender
I suppose you want to keep the model to its default facing. The best method is to re-import and start a new Blender file. Try not to click the LMB or Left Mouse Button anywhere on the screen because doing so will set a new offset away from the model which makes it hard to rotate or animate. Use the mouse scroll to change the direction of your view or to zoom in or out. And click the RMB or Right Mouse Button to select the mesh in object mode or the bones in pose mode.
In any case, if you wish to rotate the model in Blender, right-click on it, press R then either Z (Z-axis), or Y (Y-axis), or X(X-axis) then specify the degrees of rotation in order to change the facing of the model.
To select the model in the cutscene editor, simply left-click the model that you have added. To view its model properties, right click on the model, then choose Model Data to view its bones, materials, animations etc. However, having said that, did you happen to delete parts of the model because otherwise, the materials and textures of the model will show, and not just a 'blackish' model or how should I put it as shown in your post as of the above.
Non of the parts of the model are deleted. I didn't add textures to all of them yet however. I also gave that suggestion and it worked perfectly while allowing me to keep the default facing for my model in my main file. So now when I am ready to, I know how to get the facing right.
This is what my model looks like in Blender.
But when I upload it into Starcraft two it looks like this. A large part of it is distorted for whatever reason and the textures are not showing up. All of the textures are converted to DDS files are already. I am relatively new at this. I wanted to know what kinds of things could potentially be causing something like this to happen. If any more info is needed, just ask.
Hi there sc2ggamer,
Right off the bat I can say that the distortions of the mesj (flying off screen) have most likely something to do with the weight attachment to the bones of the armature. From the look of it vertices aren't painted to a bone in at least some degree making them "unallocated".
See attached image, the marine shield is weight painted (red coloring) to bone "Shield" <-- case-sensitive. Vertices that aren't weightpainted are blue.
As for the textures, make sure the filepath in the editor is the exact same as the one used on the model.
If the texture filepath in the model reads: "Assets/Textures/My_Model_Texture.dds" In the editor you must also import the textures equally. See attachement.
This is what I can say from first glance of your images and explanation. Hope this is useful for you.
Custom Campaign Initiative
In reply to WingedArchon:
You are right. I was having a look at the bones and a lot of them are not painted to anything or appear to have zero weight influence. Here is my next question because I am a little nervous to start deleting stuff. However what I am using now is an experimental model so I can learn. So if something does go wrong, I can easily come up with another. My question. If the bones are not allocated to anything and have no weight paint, is it safe to delete them? My main worry is if there is a specific reason those bones have been there and removing them my ruin something.
In reply to sc2ggamer:
Custom Campaign Initiative
In reply to WingedArchon:
After you mentioned the part about moving the models and textures to the same file path, I realized my critical mistake. I important them, but I didn't move them to Assets/textures.
As you can see the textures are now working so that is one big thing figured out. However I am still looking into trying to find a way to fix that distortion and I am not going to go deleting bones at this point in my skill level. Currently watching videos on weight painting and trying to understand the fundamentals of it. Now the good news is that for this project I don't need to worry about working with dozens of other models as I am mainly trying to come up with one really good one so I can focus a lot of my attention on this one. On the other hand, there is a lot of bones in this model.
In reply to sc2ggamer:
Custom Campaign Initiative
Some major breakthroughs have been made, but there is also a few new issues I am currently running into problems with. First off, the model is no longer distorted like crazy. I went through and checked for all vertex groups that didn't have any influence on other parts of the model and just deleted them.
This is what the model looks like when seen in the editor now. I need to reload the textures, but this is obviously a huge improvement from before.
However I do face a number of new complications as follows:
1. Animations getting deleted when exporting as M3.
Remember when you said that there were no animations with that model? Well I found out that they are getting straight up deleted whenever I export as m3 for whatever reason. The dopesheet and timeline get wiped. I also checked and it had nothing to do with removing the vertex groups. I did this on an earlier copy that didn't have the vertex groups deleted and they got removed. I need to know why this could be happening and how to fix it.
2. Getting the Animations packed into one.
I need to figure out a solution to packing all the animations together so they can be used by one model. This may prove much harder than I expect it to be unfortunately since the animations are only able to be exported one at a time right now.
3. Setting the animations up in the SC2 editor.
The animations look like this when seen in wowmodelviewer, but in the SC2 editor I don't see many names like this that are signalable by events and things like this so I can only assume that I would have to improvise or do something to adjust this to the editor right. My question is how would I get animations like this able to be used and signaled by events in the SC2 editor?
In reply to sc2ggamer:
Then I would have to see your original blend model and not the m3 file. Based on the .m3 file I received from you, I made a quick new animation to see if it deleted that, just a very plain one with movement of her right arm. Attached is a gif with the workings in the editor. I then openen that file again as an imported .m3 in a new blender window. and it still had that animation. So on your end, there's something thats unlike what I did for creation of animation. Which again, I would require the blend file for to investigate.
For the moment we'll let that rest.
That is a peculiar thing I noticed as well. I created a normal image to highlight it. The name for some reason doesn't show where I expected it to, yet the animation name still existed somewhere as it did show it in the drop down list. No scratch that. I tested it with a model of my own and the same thing happened. I closed my editor and reopened. Now the name appears properly. So that seems to be OK. --> image: Lillian_Animation1
I'll included some of the info from discord in here to complete this section and story. And hopefully that others may find it usefull in the future as well. :: "When I loaded it into the editor there was no attachment points and I still need to solve the issue of packing all the animations together reality is that I may need to do things the extra hard way and copy them carefully into one specific blender file.". A learning SC2 model I was using was xelnaga kerriggn and I noticed some key differences between the models. Difference 1: This one has all these sort of cages. The other has bones, but I don't see these cage like armature items on it.
Also to your question regarding some of the used names. Yes, they all relate to bones, and bones can be used for the mesh (and thus the weightpainting), the attachment points of which typical examples are [ref_origin, volume.xx , weapon_00, ref_turret] or from other effects such as lighting, particle effect (zealot psiblade smoke) or other.
Custom Campaign Initiative
Alright. For this first part, I sent the original blender file to your email before it has been exported as m3. The model has just been imported as FBX with zero changes. I also sent you the blend file of the model after the vertex groups that didn't seem to be doing anything have been removed. However that one also seems to have the original animations deleted. Redoing that when needed won't be an issue anyway.
You are right. Better deal with these other issues at hand.
I am going to respond to the other shortly. It may take a little longer so that is why I am responding to the first two parts now. I think one of the very first thing that also needs a solution before else is seeing why animations are getting deleted on export.
Also. This is a huge relief. This shows that model can in fact be loaded into the SC2 editor without that distortion, textures and animations. Now I can feel confident knowing it is possible. It is just a matter of understanding the fundamentals.
Quick video that shows how the model is meant to look when shoulders, belt, face weapons and full animations are looking at its base. However I plan to alter it a lot still once I understand how.
Major breakthrough. Solved problem number 1 which was currently the biggest roadblock.
Turns out that under animation sequences I needed to specify something and then assign it to an animation. I still have some specific questions about this, but I will ask you those next time we can talk over discord. I did a transfer of this to the SC2 editor and the animation worked perfectly. I was even able to specify the animation. In turns this also has solved problem 3 as well. Stuff like attachment points, effects and lighting we can come back to later.
Now I big issue that I do need to address is about how I am going to properly get at least a number of the model animations together in the file. This is a big thing I should see if I could get figured out soon because it could drastically impact how I handle moving forward on this project and it is a critical one to solve. There is however also another smaller, but important one.
The model is not facing towards the computer screen and is unelectable when opening it in the cutscene editor.
Perhaps all I need to do is change the direction of the model in blender. That may be a simple fix. However I do need to know what I need to do to make the model selectable in the cutscene editor. Currently when one tries to click on then it doesn't get selected at all.
In reply to sc2ggamer:
In reply to williamjay2:
Non of the parts of the model are deleted. I didn't add textures to all of them yet however. I also gave that suggestion and it worked perfectly while allowing me to keep the default facing for my model in my main file. So now when I am ready to, I know how to get the facing right.
I've solved the problem of the animations not showing up properly here. Just haven't loaded the textures yet, but I know how.