Thanks for the great info I found while looking for the answer to what will seem quite stupid I'm sure. I do wish I could have found the answer searching so as to avoid this humiliation.

For the life of me I can't see how to import the .set files from the content store. I've downloaded them but can't see the tab in Muvizu for importing anything but .ase or .fbx

I can't just click on them because it seems that my Canvas drawing program uses that extension as well.

I use windows 10 and I have no compatability issues with it. ? And the version of fbx you use is 6.1 not 7.4 there are two converters now. Use the 6.1. Make sure you have tried the right version of fbx there are eleventy seventy million versions. However Muvizu's FBX format is the same as its always been.


there is a 32 bit and 64bit version of the blender make sure you install the right one.
edited by urbanlamb on 24/10/2015

yes the loc/rot is because unreal 3 had some intersting ways of interpreting info and its only needed if your importing FBX formated files ASE does not suffer from this.

You should just need to worry about the origin of the model which sets the pivot point of the model and collision mesh which obeys unreal engine parameters but again these are all game engine things one learns.

These are all mechanics that are not limited to unreal but are present in all of these game engines so once you learn it with one engine you learn it for the rest. The modelling you learn in blender will be identical in maya or 3dsmax or any other 3d program the only difference is the blender user interface. And once your getting into FBX you start to need to understand some of the principles of things otherwise you will never learn and retain the information.

Any issues I have seen people have all have related to understanding what a material is or a uv map is or collision or some other basic modelling principle.
edited by urbanlamb on 19/03/2015

EEF, I feel your pain. This is why I don't usually use FBX files, and just stick to plain old ASEs out of Sketchup. I can't get on with blender either, because I don't know what it's doing under the wall of text. Unless you really need something to be shiny, I'd just avoid the whole FBX thing altogether. Sorry, that's not helping much I know, but it's what I did to save my sanity, so it might save yours

You kinda need to understand what is going on to learn a lot of this stuff unfortunately you need to learn how the basics unreal works and what is meant by collission and how to add it. There is a wiki you might want to read that unfortunately it might sound like greek if you haven't spent time to learn the underlying stuff.

It sounds like collission and where your origin is set because when it comes to fbx since its used for holding animation information you need to set the location, rotation and scale of the thing. You will need to look up info on blender and unreal engine if your using this stuff. (well really when working with any software) I posted some videos awhile back from youtube on an explanation of how to set up the loc/rot/scale they are generic videos but this is what you need to do. (add collission such that muvizu recognizes it and set loc/rot/scale of the objects and put the origin in a logical place for the object your working with)

I really can't teach this beyond telling people what to look up because most problems revolve around understanding the mechanics of it all.

Sorry

Its not really hard once you learn it but it does have a curve to it.

blender has a new fbx version it was created when unreal 4 was released i can't remember now if it works with muvizu but you can get the autodesk free app converter and run it through that to change to fbx 2012 or 2011 .. which is what muvizu uses.. I think its 2011 but it might be 2012.. again I can't remember

but there is no need (assuming you are using play +) to use ase format for anything any longer

you need ASE for muvizu free version though.

EEFilmz wrote:

It's done through the character edit section. If you want the gun in the character's right hand, you'd edit the right hand of the character. Along with the regular attachments, the first option will now be a sort of box-like icon. That's the one that lets you import an attachment to the hand.

It's not done by sticking the object to the character, but by making it an actual part of the character. Hope this helps!

EEFilmz - You can attach imported objects to characters using Play Plus. You can use FBX or ASE files.

You pick which point you wish to attach so you could create a suit of armour and attach it to his chest. After a bit (OK, hours and hours) of adjustment you could position it so it looks convincing.

The trouble is with movement - the armour will move with his chest, so his legs and arms will keep poking out of it and the whole thing will look weird.

I have one character that I have done something like this for and let's just say he's not as mobile as he used to be (in fact I've cut him out of one scene completely as he's now too much of a pain).

how do I "attach" items to characters?

snoopy I would not spend money on this if your using blender because the obj format export from 3dxechange into the autodesk converter will result in the removal of any of the maps etc so your wasting your money. You will end up with an object that is identical to if you exported from blender to muvizu. The only benefit of having this exchange is to finish the work on the object.

blender -> muvizu will result in the same thing

The purpose of the unreal fbx export options are to keep the information intact for muvizu to interpret and if there is no unreal support in the pro version then save your money unless you have intention to use the 3Dexchange for iclone movies.

Snoopylino -also be aware of the limitations of the trial version (see below) and it is worth knowing that the cheaper pro version of 3dxchange allows you to export OBJ files which can then be converted into FBX files using the free autodesk converter.

Can only export 15 times and If you export 1 character with 3 motions in one FBX file, you will spend 4 export times
































edited by toonarama on 29/11/2013

Hi snoopylino,

The error message you are getting means that your fbx contains something that is not licenced for Muvizu:Play+ (to state the obvious )

FBX can contain a lot of different type of things, such as lights, characters, animations and cameras. Muvizu:Play+ only supports static mesh objects for import. Most 3D modelling packages will include things like lights and cameras in the scene by default and FBX will, by default export these as well. In blender there is an option to export 'only the selected items' so you can select the model you want and only export that. Have a look in your FBX exporter and see if there is a similar option but if not take a closer look at the scene and try to delete anything except the object you want to export.

Its not hit and miss for me I have been using it exclusively in fact every asset on the gallery has been run through the exporter in Iclone I hesitate to create a tutorial on this because its promoting iclone and so I dont know if muvizu would want it on their site, but I would imagine the pro version would work I upgraded to pipeline so can't say for sure as I do a lot of game engine stuff and its got excellent integration for both unreal and unity even if you use maya or 3dsmax its actually faster to run the exports through here for unreal engine etc.

I can create a tutorial but it would be for the pipeline version I think they removed this from the other versions its a very powerful tool so I would not be surprised if its not limited to pipeline

basically use the unreal configuration and remove the merge opacity from alpha channels (you want that to stay intact) uncheck the support for the skeletons and animations it will throw and exception error at this point as the meshes should be without this and leave it on cm unless you want a massive object.

You can then add all missing maps etc and export you will have to build collision into the model first using your 3d modelling software and have everything properly mapped out and ready to accept the maps.

I have found the pipeline works flawlessly for muvizu, unreal, unity and anything else I tried.

Anyhow if i get time I will create a tutorial but it will not be in the wiki or uploaded via muvizu it will be on my channel only and I guess I can put a link on the forum but since iclone is a competitor I dont think it would be accepted here (logically I would say no as well if i were to moderate it so )


also if your experiencing issues its likely on the muvizu end I have found zero issues from the exporter end they have all been something that relates to muvizu however on my last set of assets I made I found any bugs gone from muvizu so it should work 99.9999% of the time however you need to worry about the integrity of the model and understand the udk collission etc in order to set the model up correctly
edited by urbanlamb on 28/11/2013

Unfortunately, only the Pipeline version makes exports in FBX

http://www.reallusion.com/iclone/3dx/3dx_matrix.aspx

urbanlamb wrote:


Lol! Yes, like all software it requires a certain degree of application but personally I have found it much more intuitive and easier to use than Blender and better at low polygon modelling so - you takes your choice.

I found it to be a nasty piece of software which i wont use ..

mrjoyce wrote:


Hi Mike, Milkshape 3D will export in FBX format

Thanks, will look into it

Now for those wanting the easy way out (my prefered way I try to reduce button clicking to a dull roar) the cheapest and most flawless solution I found that had a price tag attached unfortunately its the iclone3D exchange if you use blender and that your good to go as they have in fact installed a very good unreal engine exporter (based off the dev tools of course)

I have an old version of iclone 3D exchange 2. Will this work or do I need a newer version?
Thanks

Now for those wanting the easy way out (my prefered way I try to reduce button clicking to a dull roar) the cheapest and most flawless solution I found that had a price tag attached unfortunately its the iclone3D exchange if you use blender and that your good to go as they have in fact installed a very good unreal engine exporter (based off the dev tools of course)