kohlenklau's CM Modding Blender adventure

[kohlenklau]

As some of you know, I took a long break from CM. 5 years? Now as of a month or so ago, I am happily back and have a lot on my CM modding to do list. I don't recall that I had ever heard of Blender before a month or so ago. So, back when I returned to the forums I set it on my list to learn Blender but starting 1 April. For some folks who years ago had been in fear of learning ANYTHING about Photoshop, this thread will serve to try and answer their "new frontier" question "Can any random idiot on the forum learn Blender and use it for their own CM modding purposes?" I have volunteered to be the test idiot!

[mjkerner]

Well, with you as the idiot, maybe some of us scaredy-cats will learn somefink!

[umlaut]

Looking forward to this. I have also been interested in learning how this Blender thing works. But I have so far failed to find any tutorials that started from scratch. They all assumed that the viewer/reader had already learned the basics. So I gave it up again. 

[Blazing 88's]

I will eventually have Blender as a extra tool in the tool box since it is free, I just like using max.

I am a 3ds max user myself. On and off with it since 1999. Last six years I have really gotten into using it for lots of things (ex: Tyflow, Phoenix FD for product rendering /animation, modelling, etc). I am also a big user and fan of Zbrush.

I am always keeping my eye out for tutorials /courses, as Blender courses can be used with max and visa versa, if you know what you are doing.

Here is a link to some blender courses you may want to pay for (gradual implementation of the tools as the course moves on, to not overwhelm you):
https://polygonrunway.com/
(This one is Free)--> Become a 3D illustrator in one hour! https://polygonrunway.com/p/become-a-3d-illustrator-in-one-hour

If the others are a little pricey, I can also recommend searching Udemy for a good rated introduction course for Blender when they have their sales going. Dirt cheap at times. Here is a example for a little higher Blender skill level (a Willys Jeep): https://www.udemy.com/course/create-jeep-willys-1942-with-blender/

Obviously Youtube as well, but....

A few years back I did this tutorial from Digital-Tutors, now Pluralsight (3ds max, this is not my video): Tutorial purchase link: https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/modeling-high-resolution-tank-3ds-max-1171

However I took mine a step further and made it the Pz III J special. Almost the same way Oddball made his gun larger in Kelly's Heroes.

Edited April 3, 2021 by Blazing 88's

[JM Stuff]

Is a nice program I got it also,  but you cannot importing your file in mdr format, well me I cannot importing it untill now and believe me that I try !

Untill now I cannot exporting a 3d models in mdr for CM,

if this one is not from a CM games or module himself

but I can importing a lot of others files but exporting in mdr, nada, de nada  !

So if you know how your advices will be welcome !

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by JM Stuff

[Blazing 88's]

The purpose of my post was to provide the links for training purposes, as someone said they had a hard time finding basic Blender tuts. Nothing more.

Cheers.

[Blazing 88's]

Damn, that Willys Jeep tut is $16.99 CAD. down from $60 for the day. (41.5 hrs of training!). I'd pick it up, if I didn't already have it waiting in my collection. I buy them like books...

Edited April 3, 2021 by Blazing 88's

[JM Stuff]

Ah ok my apologyse but if you have some infos about above let me know !

[Blazing 88's]

20 minutes ago, JM Stuff said:

Ah ok my apologyse but if you have some infos about above let me know !

No no... no apologies required. All good!

Not sure I understand your question and usually I am not very good with answering tech questions about 3D, especially if it is a problem I have not run into or tried.

Edited April 3, 2021 by Blazing 88's

[Lucky_Strike]

11 hours ago, kohlenklau said:

I have volunteered to be the test idiot!

Great stuff. Standing head and shoulders above the rest of his fellow idiots ... I applaud your derring-do sir!

[Blazing 88's]

Sigh... Just realized I miss-spoke above (and can't edit the post anymore).
Let me clarify my above post, where I mentioned "...I did the tutorial" I should have said "took" or "bought" the tutorial for the Pz III. In no way did I create that course, as it may have come across.

It's a great 3ds max tutorial though. You actually could use other orthographic views of any tank applied to the image plains and still be able to follow along for the most part. You could even follow along with Blender once you learn the Blender tools down the road.

For me that was actually a great, yet sometimes frustrating, but really rewarding way to learn the 3D software you like using... by trying to do a tutorial that is meant for another software package. I over the years I have taken a few Maya tutorials (because they looked cool), however I used 3ds Max instead and I worked my way through it really well. Improving my Max knowledge because of doing that.

Edited April 4, 2021 by Blazing 88's

[kohlenklau]

10 hours ago, Blazing 88's said:

Sigh... Just realized I miss-spoke above (and can't edit the post anymore).
Let me clarify my above post, where I mentioned "...I did the tutorial" I should have said "took" or "bought" the tutorial for the Pz III. In no way did I create that course, as it may have come across.

It's a great 3ds max tutorial though. You actually could use other orthographic views of any tank applied to the image plains and still be able to follow along for the most part. You could even follow along with Blender once you learn the Blender tools down the road.

For me that was actually a great, yet sometimes frustrating, but really rewarding way to learn the 3D software you like using... by trying to do a tutorial that is meant for another software package. I over the years I have taken a few Maya tutorials (because they looked cool), however I used 3ds Max instead and I worked my way through it really well. Improving my Max knowledge because of doing that.

Too late! The CM branch of the cancel culture movement will be outside your house tonight with loudspeakers and molotov cocktails! Sandbag the windows and get Mrs Blazing to take overwatch with the MG42... :-)

I think we all knew what you meant or didn't take it as you were worried we did.

If you are a professional imagery dude for a living and are aghast at doing anything work-related for the CM hobby world, could you please serve as a consultant for me as I struggle with the CM friendly version of Blender, "Blender 2.79b"...? Maybe it is a tax write off? 

 

[kohlenklau]

11 hours ago, Lucky_Strike said:

Great stuff. Standing head and shoulders above the rest of his fellow idiots ... I applaud your derring-do sir!

[kohlenklau]

BLENDER TEST IDIOT'S LOG:

4/1/21:

A. Downloaded the older version of Blender that works with CM mdr files. Blender Version 2.79b. Get it from blender dot org under the "previous versions" tab...

B. Forumite Aquila has CM forum long thread on this overall New frontier stuff. It contained a video link to a youtube video by a smart guy and in the video description was the link to download a folder of stuff that a smart guy made so we can open mdr files. The smart guy is Stan and his forum name is sbobovyc

C. Followed his directions in the video like a monkey to zip an item from his folder and plug it into Blender.

It all worked. I can import CM mdr files

...more to come... 

[Falaise]

Just something spotted but which requires testing !!!
with blender 2.79 open mdr file, after, saved in Blender file
this  can be opened in a Blender 2.92 with the new functionalitys
you can then reopen it in a 2.79 blender to convert it back to MDR,  normally !

[JM Stuff]

19 minutes ago, Falaise said:

Just something spotted but which requires testing !!!
with blender 2.79 open mdr file, after, saved in Blender file
this  can be opened in a Blender 2.92 with the new functionalitys
you can then reopen it in a 2.79 blender to convert it back to MDR,  normally !

Sure ?? With the 2.92 ??

Did you made the test yourself ?

In this case is very nice, but you kniw there is a lot of change, the manipulations, are not the same also the working place, and the shortcuts...

The only thing that you can do is save it in blend than you can eventual taking back again, but  I doubt cos I test myself with another version I think the 2.81 and doen t work correctly but I don't remember now cos I am with my phone, just saying I will check later...

Edited April 4, 2021 by JM Stuff

[Falaise]

i dont understand!
it work one time  and now it don't want

probably I had not modify the file 

[JM Stuff]

2 hours ago, Falaise said:

i dont understand!
it work one time  and now it don't want

probably I had not modify the file 

steph scraaatching  head !!

[Lucky_Strike]

8 hours ago, kohlenklau said:

LOL The tall one in the middle...

[kohlenklau]

BLENDER TEST IDIOT'S LOG:

4/5/21:

A. I had tried to use Blender to create from scratch a "teller mine 35" but was unsuccessful. It appeared in the game but something was wrong with the UV mapping/mesh/image.

B. I instead went the route of hamburger helper or instant mashed potatoes by using the game's flavor objects. I picked the humble fuel drum. The one that is sober and standing up proud, not the drunken on its side one. 

C. I was successful and there is obvious room to improve the model and the image but this is what I have right now. Modtagged [teller35]. With Juju's UI mod as well.

...more to come... 

[JM Stuff]

2 minutes ago, kohlenklau said:

BLENDER TEST IDIOT'S LOG:

4/5/21:

A. I had tried to use Blender to create from scratch a "teller mine 35" but was unsuccessful. It appeared in the game but something was wrong with the UV mapping/mesh/image.

B. I instead went the route of hamburger helper or instant mashed potatoes by using the game's flavor objects. I picked the humble fuel drum. The one that is sober and standing up proud, not the drunken on its side one. 

C. I was successful and there is obvious room to improve the model and the image but this is what I have right now. Modtagged [teller35]. With Juju's UI mod as well.

...more to come... 

Very nice experimentation soon will come more...

And soon this forum will change to be a blender room.

[mjkerner]

Phil, are you telling this idiot that you actually got something made out of whole cloth after only a few days playing with it? You are starting to get me interested...just what I do not need atm!

[kohlenklau]

Hey Mark! Yes, it showed in the game and I know it needs more vertices to make it rounder and the image needs improved BUT dang, I busted out Jimmy Buffet's "...there's booze in the Blender...and soon it will render that frozen concoction that helps me hang on..."

[mjkerner]

Okay, how long did it take you to figure out how to even get started. I watched part of one tutorial and was lost pretty quickly. 

[kohlenklau]

BLENDER TEST IDIOT'S LOG:

4/5/21:

A. The cockpit of a 747 has many dials, buttons, gauges and meters. I was just trying to talk to the passengers! Workspace arrangement that was easy to accidentally change and then hard to retrieve but now I know what they are all called. I have the "outliner editor" in the upper right. Directly below it I have the "Properties editor". To the left I have the 3D view with the actual model in 1 of several modes. Then sometimes to the left of that you have the "UV image editor". I am reading this Blender stuff and all along I am reading UV and thinking UV, like the sun, something about lighting maybe? No, it is just new coordinates system in 2D for the bmp images we have always slaved over. It is UV (u,v) since x,y, and z are all taken. It is pretty cool.

B. It took a while to run through the steps and make a few mistakes but I now have a 3rd grade level understanding of what to do. My brain hurts!