New ASE exporter- please test

Coding Python Support
#1

Heres a New ASE exporter, based on sombody elses old code, but I think I have almost done enough to it to call it mine.

Once I finished the ASE exporter I realized that 3dsMAX can write ASE files but cant read them %| and I cant test this script.
Could sombody please test this exporter.

Improvements from the original

  • Can export more then 1 object!
  • Removed full python install deps
  • Properly exports object transformations
  • Dosent choke on faces with only 2 verts.
  • Faster, Cleaner
  • Better string formatting.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~cpbarton/ase_export.py

Cheers-

#2

When you import an ASE file created by your exported, the editor for Unreal Tournement (Unreal Ed version 3) says

ASE Importer Warning: This object has no material. (Current texture will be applied to object).

The first time I tried it, Unreal Ed crashed, but then I tried it on just a textured cube and it worked.
An object with two materials in the same object, and two different textures only shows as one material in Unreal (another ASE exporter designed for Unreal Ed can take two textues and make the different materials in the correct places: http://www.neewo.de/Files/USM%20Demo-File.zip)
Also with two seperate objects only the first is exported.

On the positive side, the mesh and UV map stay intact (However as mentioned before it can’t tell which texture the faces have, so Unreal makes the whole thing the same material)

Hope this helps you.

#3

Hi all. Both the links in this thread are dead, and I need an ase exporter to get my normal mapped meshes from blender into unrealed3. Any ideas?

#4

http://www.quake3bits.com/htm/tools_utilities.htm

#5

Well, for a script written for blender v2.32 it almost works. Thanks for the link though…

[edit] I was told about another one here. I’m just going to try it out now…

#6

removed, thread is old and bumped into by users. I though it was a new script by Cambo :frowning:

#7

[uberbump]

Keep getting hits from this page even though it’s old and the original script linked to in the first post is dead. So… in an effort to keep BlenderHeads up to date in all things ASE… I’m determined to keep ASE export/import scripts up to date on KatsBits (link has changed from that posted above by Meta) which you can find at the following location…

http://www.katsbits.com/tools/#ase

#8

Thank you!

#9

Thanks, I have been using ASE - export for Blender 2.37a - Goofos with the current version to export to RoboBlitz. Does anyone know if the ASE - export for Blender 2.41 & above - Goofos version exports multiple UV layers?

#10

There’s no support for multi UVs atm as very few games support that feature so there’s not really that much call for it - it’s very ‘specialised’. I’ll ask goofos about it though.
It’s certainly worth downloading the latest script but test it with the engine you’re working with to make sure you’re not adding to your workflow by exporting more of the new features than you necessaily need.

#11

The RoboBlitz editor, which uses the Unreal 3 engine, saves the lightmaps for the static meshes in the second UV layer. That was why I am asking. Vertex lighting is used if the second UV channel isn’t there, and vertex lighting is terrible compared to a raytraced lightmap. I would really appreciate your relaying the question:)

#12

Ah, I figured U3 might be using the feature. Anyway, yes, question relayed, I’ll keep you updated.

#13

I used the new 2.41 and up exporter today. I was puzzeled why my mesh kept losing its pivot point when exported. I went back to version 2.37 and the pivot error was gone. Must be a bug with the new version. I am using Blender version2.43 optimised for SSE.

#14

What do you mean ‘pivot point’? Are you talking about the models point of origin? (the pink dot that should be centre of mass/rotation?) I’m assuming you mean that the model keeps shifting around when you export it so it’s no longer where it was when you modelled it? Just select and hi Ctrl+A to ‘fix’ it in place before export.
Keep in mind that Blender has undergone some pretty fundamental internal changes that’s meant the scripts have to be written to take that into account.

#15

Has anyone tried this with ALICE. http://www.alice.org I am thinking about starting a programming class for kids this summer. Alice would be perfect since its so visual and GUI orientated rather then coding orientated.
But the models that come with it are very boring. I know my kids would lose interest quickly. So I need to make some “cooler” models in blender and import them into Alice. I will try it with the various exporters mentioned here and post my experiences this weekend.

#16

If ‘ALICE’ supposts the ASE format then you shouldn’t have any problems with exported models from Blender.
goes off to look
Ah yes it does

What 3D file formats does Alice support?
Right now Alice only supports its own files (.a2c) and “ASCII Scene Export” (.ASE) files…

#17

I tried goofs experter for 2.4 and above on and imported makehuman .obj file. It worked fine in ALICE. Although I did not add any bones to the imported .obj. Nor did I brake the import in to subgroups(?) So when I exported it as and .ase then imported it into ALICE it was just one big mesh without any joints that could be bent.
Oh well that is the next experiment

#18

You might find you can’t do that. Although the ASE format does support bones and animation (iirc) it’s more often than not used just for static meshes (things that don’t more, furnature, objects and so on). You’ll probably need to use their own *.A2C format for animated objects.

#19

/. has a notice that work on Alice 3.0 has been started… and Electronic Arts is donating a ton of the Sims objects and presumably code or expertise to make the Sims work with Alice 3.0.
They’re very excited about it. Hmm… Would be even better if it will work with the Universal Avatar format that is in the works.

I want to try the Blender ASE export with Alice, since the only documentation is for using 3dMax… can’t have that!!! Our favourite free modeller should work with other free software too, right? If I can get it to work, we should let them know about the free modelling software.

For those that don’t know, Alice is a drag & drop object-oriented IDE for teaching programming - “impossible to make a syntax error”. Claim significantly better learning and keeping students enrolled and interested in comp. sci. Which is good because there’s a huge decline in enrollment. (Not that I blame the kids given the job market)

Basically Java from the looks of it - written in Java and with a Java interface. I haven’t gotten into it or a good look yet, just the videos, but version 2 looks a lot slicker than v 1 which I think was raw typing.

#20

It was a fun little programmign environment. But since I am not longer working in a classroom I have stopped using it.