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Jamie - all messages by user

2013/10/11 10:50:02
Muvizu Play 1.2 Feedback (also Play+) ukBerty wrote:
I'm 100% with Dreeko here - I continue to plod on with .ASE files as that's what I've worked out how to use (I actually converted an FBX to ASE this morning through Autodesk, DAE and Sketchup to remove collision !).

What advantages does FBX have over ASE. Everyone who knows what they are seems very excited.

And more importantly, how do I remove collision from an FBX ? Can I do this automatically without having to master 3d modelling ?



There's a lot of advantages to FBX, but in terms of what Muvizu:Play+ supports the material system is the real advantage. Blender 2.69RC has a FBX importer - though I've not tried it yet. So you could directly import your FBX into blender and delete the collision there before exporting it as FBX directly from blender. You would need to have some collision otherwise Muvizu will generate collision for you, just as it does with ASE.

All you need to do is create a small cube and place it to the side, similar to the match box collision. Name the cube object UCX_objectname and export it from there.

There isn't really any automatic way of doing this. You can have plain text ASCII fbx files but they are a lot more complicated than ASE format files and a batch script to replace collision would need to read the whole file, identify id numbers and names and remove and re-add the linkage. I'm sure it could be done though. The biggest problem would be that the majority of FBX files your likely to download would be in binary format.

Overall, its not that hard to just add a cube in blender and give it the correct naming format for collision in Muvizu.
2013/10/11 10:40:30
Muvizu Play 1.2 Feedback (also Play+) ziggy72 wrote:
Question : What happens if I create a set in Play+ and put it up on the Assets? Will non '+' users be able to load it? Would the sets always have to be labelled as Play+ specific?



If your set file uses one of the Play+ features then a user of Play will get a error message to tell them that the set contains a unlicensed feature.

If you save a set in Play+ without any of the features of it then Play users can open it without any problems.
2013/10/10 19:54:35
Video Codecs Hi mungy,

The first thing you need to know is that mp4 will never show up as a codec in Muvizu. Its not a AVI codec. You can convert your AVI video to MP4 later though.

Have you tried installing XVid as a stand-alone codec? I've often found it doesn't show up with K-lite codec pack installs and so, these days, I just go to http://www.xvid.org/Downloads.15.0.html and install the stand alone version.

If there are other codecs you want to use, could you list them one by one and we'll try and help you with them individually.

Let me know how you get on.

Cheers,
Jamie.
edited by Jamie on 10/10/2013
2013/10/9 16:17:54
Muvizu Play 1.2 Feedback (also Play+) thanks ukBerty and Ziggy. I'll have a look through those files and see where the problem is.
2013/10/9 14:08:21
Muvizu Play 1.2 Feedback (also Play+) ukBerty wrote:
Workaround for attached objects turning white on save and open:-


When attaching an object to a character simply import the object normally - i.e. create > import. Just stick it somewhere out the way.
Then import the same object attached to your character and it will save and open OK.

It's a bit like that old textured skirt problem.



Its an odd one, I've tried several ASE and FBX objects and its not happening for me.

Is it an old set you've loaded and then imported the object to or does it happen with a completely blank new scene with a new character? Is it happening with ASE or FBX or both?

Could you send in the set file and object files and give us a list of steps to follow to reproduce this?
2013/10/9 13:57:48
Muvizu Play 1.2 Feedback (also Play+) fazz68 wrote:
Dreeko ive just had a little experiment with the sketchup to FBX thing. you can export a sketchup model as a COLLADA file and import it into Blender. and export from blender as a FBX file. i just tried on a simple chair model and it works but if you can understand all this texture info then you are a better man than me lol... see pic
urbanlamb is the expert on blender and may know what it all means Big Grin



What your seeing Fazz is another quirk of Sketchup. It applies everything as a separate material to the object. If you have slightly different shades of red it'll give you a material for each shade of red on the object.

In blender, if you go to the materials tab you'll see a list of materials that match all the names you see listed in Muvizu. You probably want to delete them all and re-apply just 1 or 2 new materials to the unique coloured areas of your model.
2013/10/9 13:55:19
Muvizu Play 1.2 Feedback (also Play+) Dreeko wrote:
Jamie!

Thanks for the swift reply!

As the google warehouse and Sketchup has been the favoured choice of muvizu-ers for long and weary for object creation and reference I was looking to finding a way to convert Sketchup models to FBX

The main reason I was looking to this format over ase import was in the hope that objects would appear within muvizu without the weird shadowing effect that occurs. I know Fazz has shown a technique where the addition of an outline to objects built within Sketchup remedies this, but I was hoping that FBX would solve the anomaly without the faffing around.

I don't have Maya or 3dmax to play around with and I haven't touched blender before. To be honest I've made only a handful of objects within Sketchup. Object creation is something that I intend learn more of and I do know that FBX offers more than just objects, but for now I would just like to be able to import objects into Muvizu and have then displayed properly under the lights. If you can come up with a solution to this whether it is ase or FBX I'll be a happy camper!

Cheers
D



That's no magic fix for this I'm afraid. Putting edge loops in and outlines as Fazz explained is part of the process to get your objects working nicely. The effect your seeing with the lighting and shading on the object comes from Sketchups limited options to set things such as normals and smoothing on the in the way that you would have proper control over how they show up in Muvizu.

The real benefit to using FBX is the additional material options you can use (http://www.muvizu.com/Wiki/wiki/85/fbx-material-guidelines). Ultimately wither you use ASE or FBX the model can only be rendered as good as you've made it to be and sketchup, while its a good tool, creates additional problems due to the way it hides vertices and automatically processes your object which all needs to be converted to a standard vertex defined model on export to ASE or FBX.

Sorry but there is no substitute for hard work and experience when it comes to making objects of the quality your wanting.

It can be done though, from Sketchup and from Blender / Maya / etc
2013/10/9 10:55:36
Muvizu Play 1.2 Feedback (also Play+) Dreeko wrote:
Yeah,the FBX import feature seems to be a bit of a 'pig in a poke' ( http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pig%20in%20a%20poke )

I am unable to successfully import anything decent in FBX. Some guidance in the form of a help file or tutorial to allow us to use it properly is essential. Stabbing around in the dark for the correct settings using various softwares is a time wasting pain in the arse to be honest!

So, Muvizu HQ...How should we do this? How do you do this? and where are the examples showing so?


D



Hi Dreeko,
I've put some information on the wiki here http://www.muvizu.com/Wiki/wiki/86/fbx-collision-and-geometry-guide and here http://www.muvizu.com/Wiki/wiki/85/fbx-material-guidelines and we'll look into doing more tutorials to help with FBX. However, most of what can be told about FBX is specific to the modelling package you are using. The process to use Blender to generate FBX is totally different to the process you would use in Maya.

What are you using to make your models?

The main reason an FBX fails is that there are to many vertices (the 65535 vertices limit of unreal, but in reality to get your model you work smoothly you need to be a bit lower than that) and / or you have weird holes or gaps in a model.

If you send your FBX files in we'll take a look and see if we can help with them.
2013/10/9 10:45:10
Muvizu Play 1.2 Feedback (also Play+) Dylly wrote:
OK iiiiiiiiiiits daft question time! Can any of the dev team point me int' right direction for correct FBX settings (from either 3dsMax or Maya) when saving out a model ready for import into Muvizu? Seems to be working OK so far although I'm having probs with the odd artefact if FBX saved with no smoothing and a shed load of weirdness if I save and import a smoothed model.



I'm not familiar with maya or 3D max but I had a similar problem in blender, turned out my normals were double sided and once I turned that option off everything worked fine. I passed your message onto someone who knows Maya as well.
2013/10/8 10:38:29
Muvizu Play 1.2 Feedback (also Play+) ziggy72 wrote:
Hmm, I take it back - you aren't limited to 30 seconds on 1080 output, it's more like 20 seconds and then you hit 2gb. That's a shame, as such a harsh limitation makes it impractical for, well, anything much. Be sticking with 720 for the moment until someone figures out how to make it work.



Hi ziggy,

The 2GB limit is a result of the AVI 1.0 video format Muvizu outputs. It's not specific to resolution (try rendering a 640x480 uncompressed video for 20 mins and you'll hit that 2GB file limit as well).

There's 3 work arounds to the limit that you can use though -

1. Render out up to 2GB (20 seconds per file or where ever you find that limit) and stitch them together in a video editor. Not Ideal.
2. Use a compression codec, Lagarith gives good results but eventually you'll hit that limit again. Not Ideal.
3. Render out a Targa Sequence. This will generate each frame as a single image file and means you'll never have an AVI file from Muvizu to hit any limit. You can open the Targa sequence in most video editors and then render a AVI (or any format video) from them. You also get a wav file for your audio output. This would be the ideal way of working.
2013/9/1 9:56:35
Scammer - Amir Gabriel She's been a very busy bee indeed. Thanks for the heads up guys. I've disabled that account now.
2013/6/3 14:49:51
error while downloading muvizu Hi, aravindsuresh

Hmm... a download manager should be able to help your download and prevent it becoming corrupt. Here is a free one http://freedownloadmanager.org/
2013/5/28 15:48:05
HELP PLIZZ ERROR CS0587 Hi Oboi, strange error you've got there and I'm not to sure how exactly to solve it. I think the best thing to do is uninstall it all (and make sure that the c:\program files or c:\program files (x86) directories do not contain a Muvizu or Muvizu:Play directory) and then restart and install again. When you install it again make sure you have the .net, c++ and direct x support packages ticked for install as well.

Good luck, let me know how you get on!
2013/5/28 15:44:40
muvizu and linux Hi GizFreak - have you had any luck with this?

I'd be interested to know how you get on. I did a quick search and found some positive results for Unreal Tournament 3 running on wine so it should be possible to do the same with Muvizu:Play - when I get some time, I'll give it a go myself.

Btw, does the ContentPAckTemp folder exist? If it doesn't can you create it?
2013/5/28 14:52:27
Error Message on Startup!!! Hi EmberFlame91

The repair option should update as well, but possibly it is direct x you need to update? I'd certainly install all 3 support packages (.net, c++, dx) and try again.

You probably want to do an uninstall of Muvizu and go to C:\program files or to C:\program files (x86) and ensure that any Muvizu or Muvizu Play folders have also been deleted before attempting to re-install.

Let us know how you get on!
2013/5/28 14:40:41
Muvizu keeps updating Hi Tony,

Have you had any luck getting Muvizu to work? We have a new version of Muvizu available now so it would be worth trying that. It does seem strange that .net framework 4 tries to update when you run Muvizu everytime. The framework 4 update is only available within the installer not the application.
2013/5/28 14:38:56
Muvizu crashes when trying to make video Hi green537,

Did you have any luck getting Muvizu to run?

Do you know the exact spec of your graphics card? Seems that Intel(R) HD Graphics covers a number of graphics cards with slightly different specifications.
2013/5/28 14:36:17
alpha sort bug Hi urbanlamb, yeah this is a known issue. The problem is with ASE format and how materials are handled. It's an all or nothing approach to alpha. If you import an object and use the alpha option it'll apply it to the whole object, in some form or other.

To get it to look right you need to import it as 2 separate objects, one with alpha for the glass and another object for the door frame.

Just ask Dylly...
2013/5/28 13:27:26
Rosie Hi Chuckles,

Rosie did turn out rather well, didn't she?

We're not looking at adding any more actions to here in the short term, though.
2013/5/28 13:21:03
HELP! Beefy's eye beams won't turn off! Did you have any luck with this MrDrWho? Do you need to turn the intensity of the eye beams? I check the latest version of Muvizu and the tick for active worked fine. Possibly a bug in the previous version that's been fixed?
edited by Jamie on 28/05/2013
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Muvizu is easy to use 3D animation software that allows anyone to create high quality animations quickly and easily. Muvizu’s animation engine is ideal for storytellers, animators, teachers and businesses looking to engage, enchant and delight audiences with animated content.