Blender Sculptie Importer - Attached

Not sure what you see as different to the garden scenario. There I'd either bake to the current sculptie_rose.tga to update all roses, or create a new sculptie map to create a variation on the rose. One of the API calls (update_sculptie_from_map) is so the scene meshes can be updated to match a change to a copy. I've just not hooked it in yet



Understandable. It just seemed like you are assuming that a change to a sculptie is an attempt to make a variation rather than update the set. If you aren't going to insist that variations are assigned to a different image, the only option seems to be to bake all instances of a sculptie and compare MD5s to identify the unique ones.



For sure. But clarifying whether an update is to create a variation or update all existing instances seems like a necessary manual step to me

Works for me.

Oh, and I implemented and tested the latest revision with hashing. Works like a charm, passed regressions, and got posted.


As for blanket copy and "sets", I'll have to give that one some thought. The usual paradigm is to have edits always be individual unless a mesh or object is assigned to a group -- something which is entirely doable.

I'll have to consider adding group options in later revisions of the tool.

New scripts bundle uploaded with render_sculptie updated to version 0.22

http://www.dominodesigns.info/downloads/second_life/import_sculptie_svn.zip

This has a new feature requested by Aminom Marvin.

You'll see an option for "Compressible" which basically removes the interpolation on none vertex pixels of the sculpt map.

See /327/15/256767/1.html#post1973741 for the reasoning behind this feature.

Seems about right.

Out of sheer curiosity, are you keeping any of this in version control?


I'd be interested in diff output from the previous entry to merge. Short of going to my laptop and doing so manually from my archive copy, that does not seem to be possible.

I've not been doing. I tend to edit the scripts in my live version of Blender, then just copy them out and update the zip for release. The svn in the zip name was to indicate it needed a svn build of Blender before 2.46 came out. As many people have linked to that file in their tutorials I'm stuck with the name now.

I can setup a git repository for the last half a dozen or so releases if that's any use.

It's a "nice to have", anyway.

I've grown very attached to using SVN of late. So much so that I get withdrawl symptoms if I have to do things manually.

I know, I know, following up my own post...

As an added bonus, this change fixes the sculpty mirroring I wrote into Prim.Blender yesterday, with regards to "lossy" mirroring.

Handy!

I seem to be having the same problem, only difference is I'm using Windows Vista and I'm using v2.46. When i downloaded the importer/export scripts and extract them to the Blender Foundation folder the only other folder within that is the Blender folder where it has the Python zip folder.

There is a Blender option on install about HOW to install, pre or post W2K. If the post W2K is used you may find the scripts in the C:\Users\{logon name}\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\...

I did not take that option so I don't have the full path. Once you get to \Blender it is the same from there down either way.

This would allow different users on the same box to have completely different Blender setups.

I have also heard of some Vista installs dropping things in C:\ProgramData\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts

I have run into problems because one install used the later and another the prior. So I have a batch file that syncs them now. I have no idea what triggers that.

The exact folder can vary depending on the options you selected when installing Blender. There's instructions in the readme (and first post in this thread) on how to get Blender to tell you the correct folder. If you still can't see it in explorer you may need to show hidden files and folders

http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vista/vista_show_hidden_files.htm

ok, cool I got it to work. Thanks off to learn about blender

I am new to Blender and the 3D world overall. I have the files downloaded, but like so many other posts don't have the "script" folder in my Blender folder. I have tried for 3 days now to understand how to get it so Blender will export files in a format that I can upload in SL. Could someone kindly explain in a step-by-step fashion what I need to do to accomplish this. I'm an artist not a linear thinking kind of person so assume I have limited computer experience. I truly do appreciate whatever help you may be able to offer me. Thank you.

Are you running Windows XP, Vista, Mac OS X, Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, Redhat or something else?

There are also options you can select for a shared scripts directory or individual ones when you install Blender.

If you've not guessed, what I am saying is that step by step instructions for one person might not be the same as for another. A lot of these systems I don't have and have to support from information I can google, so generally letting me know what you are running and the point where you are stuck is the best bet. I can't do step by step for something I can't see. Have you tried the script from the readme to tell you the scripts directory? It should just be a case of pasting that into the address bar of your systems file explorer to get to the right directory.

Thanks for replying so quickly, Domino. I am running Windows XP. I have gone to Preferences and set the scripts directory to the folder with your scripts in it but when I restart Blender there is still no option under Export to export to SL or into any recognizable format to upload into SL.

When you change that preference it is expecting a full .scripts folder with all the Blender scripts in as far as I know. You need to find the correct directory and copy the new scripts there. You could try searching your system for "raw_export.py" as that is one of the standard scripts in that directory. Or try the script from the readme, that will print the correct directory on the console window.

I don't have an XP system to test so unless someone else chips in with an exact answer, I'll can only make suggestions to help you find it. There are 3 possible locations per system depending on whether you picked application data, program files or user folder to install the user settings. "Program Files" is the easiest to find.

I think you can also get the folder by reading the install details after installing Blender, so if you are really stuck, you could reinstall and see what it says.

PS: It's only the last few versions of the scripts that have anything under export. If you aren't using a version with export_lsl.py in, then check the import or render menus

No, that does not seem to be needed. For me it works like a charm (on windows xp). You can define your own scripts directory and still see all installed scripts in the .scripts folder. It looks like blender first searches your personal scripts directory, then goes to its .scripts directory to find scripts.

@astrie: I guess, you have forgotten to save your default settings before leaving blender ?
If you don't do this, your customized scripts location will be lost when restarting blender.
Here a simple step by step :

in blender:

0.) You should start in an empty scene, because you will have to
store your default settings later !!! So, best do "File -> new" now.

1.) open the "User preferences" window (locate the "i"-icon in the window type selector )

2.) in the "i" window go to the "File Paths" tab (rightmost button)

3.) locate the "pyhton scripts:" entry. If you have already set a
scripts directory before, you see the customized directory path there instead.

4.) click on the folder icon right to the input field, a directory search box opens.
Locate your prefered scripts folder and then click "SELECT SCRIPT PATH" .
Advice: create your personal folder at a place OUTSIDE OF THE BLENDER INSTALLATION PATH! So if you ever need to reinstall blender, your script collection is preserved

5.) Double check, that now your prefered location is shown in the "python scripts" field.
If you have already placed scripts in your personal scripts directory,
they should already appear now at the expected locations!

6.) If you are satisfied and everything works, then store your preferences :

file -> Save Default Settings


Now your settings are made persistent.

I am quite sure, this approach works on all OS platforms.
I wonder, if i should make a small (video-) tutorial for this ???
What do you think ?

I think I need my own scripts folder on the drive that is shared between Linux and Vista, under git version control.

/me goes off to do it while hoping this will dispell the myths about him being a Blender God.

I think that's a perfect idea, Gaia. I realized my mistake in finding the .... /.blender/scripts folder. During the installation of Blender I chose single user instead of all users so it put those files in my Document and Settings folder: My Computer/Local Disk (C/Documents and Settings/My Name/Application Data/Blender Foundation/Blender/.blender/scripts. Now on to learning Blender. Thank you for the quick response!

I've now setup version control with git.

Homepage: http://git.or.cz/
Windows Version: http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/

To setup a local copy go to the base directory where you want the scripts and run the following command:

git clone git://dominodesigns.info/dd_scripts.git blender_scripts

You can then follow Gaia's instructions on setting the Python scripts folder to the "blender_scripts" directory that we just created.

In future to get the latest scripts, go into the blender_scripts directory and run the following command:

git pull

If you want your own branch to hack on just run:

git branch myNewBranchName

"git checkout myNewBranchName" will then switch to using it. "git checkout master" will revert to the official scripts.

"git merge master" will merge updates from the main scripts to your scripts.

\o/

With the addition of the git repository, I'm now going to be releasing test versions of scripts there first. So rather than match release versions in the .zip, it will have the current development of the scripts.

Why am I mentioning it now? There's a new script of course

mesh_update_sculptie.py adds another menu option in edit mode under "Mesh - Scripts - Update from Sculptie Map"

This lets you select a sculptie map image from file and updates the current sculpt mesh to match. Currently this doesn't work with Shape Keys, which is the reason I wanted this

The plan was to allow the same sculptie mesh to have a number of different shape keys so they could be morphed on a timeline.

Anyhow, git pull and you can try it out, it's handy as a revert to backup feature anyway

We just released the tutorial on our blog:
http://blog.machinimatrix.org/2008/07/12/the-blender-installation-guide/
Well, it is a complete installation tutorial, maybe a bit overkill... but maybe necessary. There are so many people, who seem to give up with blender, simply because they can't install your scripts... And i heard from Mac users who hesitate to install your scripts into the system folders. With the user folder, this should be history now ...

A bit of a suggestion (more toward Domino than yourself) would be to create a default .blend file with a script embedded.

That way all the user would have to do is double-click the .blend and run the embedded script, without worrying about installation unless they wish to do so. A simple, one-window meta script with a few buttons to "import," "export," and "bake" would be all that's needed.


This is how Prim.Blender functions without requiring the user to "install" any import or export scripts.

Could that be taken one step further and create a script, that

1.) asks the user to tell a "default script location"
2.) install a set of embedded scripts (the sculptie im/ex-porter) into that location
3.) customize blender to use the specified location as user script directory

Then Domino could provide such a "importer/exporter" installer. users just open the .blend file and the installer will run automatically (and maybe restart blender at the end)

hi;

i try to understand the sculptie baker (again). So i did this:

1.) add a standard plane ( SPACE -> add -> Mesh -> plane )
2.) Mesh -> UV unwrap -> Project from view (Bounds)
3.) bake second life sculpties.

That creates a perfect sculptie map. i think i understand the basic principle. Now i get curious and ...

back to edit mode, then

4.) 5 subdivides, so that i get a 32*32 faces mesh
5.) Mesh -> UV unwrap -> Project from view (Bounds)
6.) bake second life sculpties.

Now i get a black vertical stripe at the left edge of the sculpt map. The stripe starts 1/2 UV-face above the lower left face of the mesh. and has width of 1/2 uv-face. That comes
unexpected. i get worried. Why does this happen ?

ok... revert subdivides and then subdivide once, so that i end with a 2*2 faces mesh.

7.) Mesh -> UV unwrap -> Project from view (Bounds)
8.) bake second life sculpties.

almost same effect. The black stripe appears again and it starts 1 pixel (the sculptie baker uses 64*64 pixels i guess) above the lower left face of the mesh and the width of the stripe is the same as before (one pixel or 1/64 of the texture width) ...

Can you explain what is wrong with the UV unwrap in simple words ? How would i have to unwrap the simple plane, so that afterwords the sculptie baker would work correctly ?
I compared my UV-unwrap with a Sculpt-Mesh UV-map and could not see any difference...
what goes on ?