To rotate anything in Blender by a number of degrees, you select your object (in edit mode) type R (axis) xxx [enterkey] - axis = X Y or Z and 'xxx' is degrees so..to rotate 36 degrees away from you along the Z axis, type R Z -36 [enterkey]or to rotate toward you = R Z 36 [enterkey]

HINT: For extra fine adjustments in any operation..don't use the mouse..it's too coarse..the arrow keys (NOT THE NUMERIC KEYPAD ONES) will move your selected item, vertex, object whatever one tenth of one tenth of a grid square..

darn it!! I even did a search.. there are two .rar files of the tut.. and they still both say they open with bodyshop... gah!!

Xeek - knowing how to change the file associations is not rocket science and it is basic computer operator knowledge..from the menu in your file window (Explorer) Tools >> Folder Options >>File Types - look for rar in the list..and associate it with WinRAR or whatever rar programme you use..in the section labelled 'Opens with.." press Change..

A couple of comments...

Nice tutorial. :nod: I've been using Blender for awhile now but I haven't really had to use the UV mapper a lot until now. Ya brought me up to speed in no time.

Here's my tips...
Selecting vertices in edit mode or UV mode: You mention doing a lot of zoom-in and right click to select vertices. I find the "box select" really handy in blender. If you hit the "b" key it'll let you drag a selection box to pick a bunch of vertices close to each other. If you hit the "b" key a second time, it'll give you a circle that'll pick any vertices inside it when you click. + and - change the size of the circle.

Second, once you have your object unwrapped and are viewing it in UV mode, I find it easier to do the UV mapping right in blender. There's an "image" menu at the bottom of the UV map screen that'll let you load your texture image. Then you just drag your faces over the piece of texture you want, export the model as an obj and you're done.

Just a couple personal preferences but I thought I'd mention them to maybe help lighten someone's burden at learning blender. It's an awesome, awesome program but it's a bit of a pain to get the jist of at first. :D

DirtyMagic

ok, the box-thing is completely new to me
I've never even tried that (I should really just push every button on my keyboard and see what it does ) and that's a great tip!

the uv-mapping is intriguing
if I understand it correctly, it turns the whole procedure upside-down
what I (and most people I think) do now, is make the uv-map and then create a texture map to fit it
you're proposing to start with the texture map? I'm not sure if that works for all objects, but repository sets just got a whole bunch easier
I must try that, thanks! I appreciate the advice, I'm just learning by fiddling with buttons, myself.

Oooh oooh! :wave:

I've got another one for you... just discovered this and it's oh so cool...

You've unwrapped all your faces and you're looking at them in the UV map screen, one big twisted mess. Go to the 3d screen next to it and select an individual face... all the other faces disappear on the uv map and you can manipulate the selected one to your heart's content. Once you select all your faces in the 3D screen again, they all pop back up on the UV screen. It's way easy to pick 'em that way.

With regards to the texture mapping issue, I guess I'm basically saying that you can do it all in Blender without having to quit and load up a separate UV mapper program.

Having played with Blender's UV map for all of two or three days now, here are the three ways it looks like you can do things...

Start with a texture. It's got to be a simple one, like one big woodgrain pattern. You create your model and unwrap it. Then you load your image in the UV screen and drag your faces to the part of the image you want to appear on the actual model. Export as an obj file and you're ready for SimPE.

For a more complicated texture where you've got mulitple colours and patterns and such, yeah, you've got to do it in a paint program. You lay out your unwrapped faces how you like them, export the image map, and open the image map in a paint program for colouring. Blender's kind of annoying at that... always creates a tga, I think, and calls it some crazy cube.cube0001.tga name, too. :loco: Once you've done your texture in the paint program, open your model in Blender, open the image in the UV screen, and export as an obj.

There's a third way I haven't played with yet call "baking", which looks very, very cool. Blender has procedural textures which means you pick a pattern like woodgrain or noise or clouds or whatever and Blender generates the texture itself mathematically. Lets you do bump mapping and things like that, too. Then, supposedly, you can "bake" the procedural texture and Blender will spit out a UV mapped texture for it. I just noticed some of the links today so I haven't played at all yet but it looks pretty neat.

That's my take on texturing with Blender so far. :nod: I'll keep ya updated with anything more I learn if ya want.

i really dont know much bout all dis but i want to start makin objects in differant colours how do i do this pl help me

Do you mean you want to make your own custom mesh objects recolorable, or that you want to recolor other people's or Maxis objects?

Hello people, ask for help, please?

i export meshes from SimPE to 3ds (?, i cant remember the format, its the one other than obj or M.shape, 3ds format wont export).

Then i open in blender and save as Wavefront .obj.

Mostly, SimPE will not import the .obj, unless i am lucky and tick the right export options in blender, i am unclear about what the right ones are).

Anyway, the mesh blender parses from the 3ds (?) is, say, 780 triangles, i DON'T insert any extra verteces or triangles, and the exported from blender .obj file is 2000+ triangles, resulting in SimPE not accepting the file, "giving me a too many polys" message. I must note that during working on the mesh in blender, on the up and right corner, where the stats are displayed, the right number of verteces (the small number) is displayed.

Do you happen to know why blender will increase the polycount of an exported mesh?

Do you know what the right options from blender -> wavefront .obj are?

thanks a lot. hope whatever answers help other people as well.

megaloser,

the options I find work best are these



they don't give me any errors when I import in simpe, though it does give a 'no materials found' warning when you import it in UV Mapper. But the warning has no effect on the actual uv-map or the object.

as to vertices multiplying
there's two things you could check
- firstly, if you make meshes in quads (four sided faces), SimPE will triangulate the mesh on import, effectively doubling the number of faces.
- secondly, if Blender multiplies the vertices when parsing the file, try removing doubles. In 'edit mode', press A to select all. Then press 'spacebar' for the menu. Select 'edit/vertices/remove doubles'.

thanks Lethe_s, you replied so fast ;>.
Ill give it a try.

(i recall trying removing doubles and a few triangles were removed in the process (?..) so i undid.
i dont trust that function ever since, but will try it again a lot.

Im not getting that box with the 'triangulate' and other options like you are, and when i load the model into UVMapper it says there's '0 Materials' instead of '2 materials'. This is driving me crazy :gonemad:

hmmm, it sounds like you have a different export plugin than me
which version of blender are you using? and which tutorial are you following
the one is this thread uses 1.38 still,
while the JWoods one (Start to finish tutorial) is updated for 1.41
the export plugin with the buttons is in version 1.41

the only thing that i can find pertaining to a version says 'version 2.37a' :err:

and im using JWOODS's Tutorial

Hello together,

Works, if somebody please can help me, like one with the programme *Blender* produce neon signposts.

It would be very nice of you.

Sparky26, are you asking for someone to make these objects for you, or are you asking for help with making them? If you're asking for them to be made, please, use the Requests section of the forum. If you want to learn to make them yourself, then, please, follow one of the object making tutorials first. They may not tell you how to make a signpost, but you will have to learn the basics of object making first.

Since no-one may help me. Would I be happy if somebody would make a couple of neon signposts for me?

I do not know goes like it there. I would otherwise do it myself.

Neon signposts examples:

- Media market

- Malibu

- Wheel & waggons

etc.

Thanks

Sparky26, people will help you, but it's assumed that you first put some effort into going through some of the existing tutorials to learn the basics of object making.

If you read my previous post, I adviced you to post requests to the Requests section of the forum, in this case the object requests. This forum (Object Creation & Texturing) is for creators to discuss object making, it's not meant for requesting items.

Hello all...
Firstly I would like to say a big THANK-YOU to all the people who share their knowledge! I am totally in awe and completely overwhelmed with the support that is offered! You folk are fantastic!
and secondly, I have posted the following issue in another forum in the hope that someone will know what I am talking about and perhaps, have a solution.
Regarding Blender3D...
When i spend hours (and I do mean hours!!) making an object, (being a novice and all), I finally export it as a wavefront.obj file for UV mapping. Unfortunately most of my faces are missing when I import it into UV Mapper Pro. It's weird. When i look at the image from the front, I can see through some the front faces and see the back ones, though when I turn the image around, I can see through the back (which wasn't transparent from the front view) and see the front ones. Does this make sense?? I can see this whilst in Blender when I click "UV Face Select" view and i just don't know how to fix it. I have had a look at the Blender website for possible solutions, I have deleted and replaced faces, clicked all sorts of buttons and knobs, closed and re-opened the file, screamed at the monitor and even tried computer whispering, but all to no avail. This problem has occurred quite a few times and I have had to chuck quite a few things away as a result. BUT, this time I refuse to give in, as it were and ask for some help. Does anyone know what i am talking about? And can anyone offer a solution?
Many thanks...
padre

ah, if only screaming at the pc would work
the thing with the faces happens quite a lot, it seems
transparency happens when faces are the wrong way round. Faces in most 3d programs have only one side, so the back is transparent and won't get coloured in the Sims.
The reason you get it in Blender, is if you scale too far. You'll end up turning your object 'inside out', making it pretty much transparent.
To avoid this, try scaling further away from the object (with a longer scale line) and zooming in more, so you will know when you've gone too far.
Daryl has found some way to fix them, though, which he mentions here
so if you don't want to start again, you might try his method.

You are a STAR lethe_s! A superstar! A mega star!! Thanks so much for this. I'm going to have another look when I'm not so frustrated. I don't think my computer can deal with another verbal bashing. I wouldn't be surprised if it packed up and left me while I'm out tomorrow!!

Thanks again! I really appreciate it.
p

hello again...
I have a question regarding SimPE. I have recently cloned the Renaissance bookshelf and books and completed a display unit. The original maxis mesh came with 3 textures: One for the bookshelf in wood, one for the shadows and one other for the books. Since creating this unit, I seem to have lost all textures for all books on all bookshelves. In GMDC, 3D mesh, where one can click 'preview' to see the mesh in 3D form, the shelf is wooden, but the books are grey. Can anyone tell me what has happened to my other textures? And perhaps how I can retrieve them?? As mentioned above, this 'problem' has occurred with all Maxis bookshelves in SimPE, even though I have only cloned the Renaissance.
Many thanks...
A-rather-stumped Padre.

Padre, try making a stand-alone clone of the bookshelf, and I recommend you use the Craftmeister Booknook (Bookcase - Cheap) as your base.

Thanks so much IB. I have tried that and it worked. I don't fully understand the difference between stand alone and ... well ... non stand alone but your advice worked! I cloned the bookshelf you suggested and ticked "create stand alone object" and sure enough, the books were all coloured in nicely! Does it matter which mesh we choose to clone from? Should there be a list that one needs to consult before embarking on cloning?
I appreciate your help....
p