Turning models into ship graphics

[Styro]

I found some 3D models of some ships that were created for a different game (Freelancer I believe). Is it possible to turn those models into graphics that I can use for Transendence?

Here are some more details. These are fan made models imitating the ships from the game Elite, which came out in 1984. I am a big fan of Elite and have actually made Elite ships for Trans before, but I just used the default ship graphics. Having the graphics from these models would be very nice.
http://gizmostudios.proboards.com/index ... thread=513

As a disclaimer, I know absolutely nothing about 3D modelling.

The download contains a whole bunch of MAT files along with some other files (CMP, SUR, and 3DB for example). I have read through some of the tutorials and other posts in this forum discussing how to turn models into usable ship graphics, but I have not been able to get anywhere. I installed gmax, but it would not open the files.

So, can this be done? What do I need to do to accomplish it? Or is there anyone with experience doing this and thinks this would be really simple for them so they would be willing to just do it for the good of the community?

[Ttech]

Ships that are 3d will difficult to convert, usually you can use Blender or similar to create an equivilant ship for Transcendence.

[digdug]

did you download them ?
are they already in a "freelancer" format ? if so we need converters, or ask the guy on the freelancer forums to give us the models in some general 3D format (3DS maybe would be the best, as it's more or less compatible with everything)

[Styro]

Yes, I downloaded them, but could not figure out their format. I emailed the guy who made them and he said he has them in OBJ format. Would that be helpful?

[Ttech]

Its an Object. the only reference I could find was the wikipedia - ROMF

[digdug]

nope it's this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavefront_.obj_file
a generic 3D format, that-s good, now provide a link

[Resident-Pyromaniac]

Hey! I remember that Game! I have an old Elite ROM on my computer, I never got very far, but it was fun.

I'd love to play a cobra MK.III in Trans.

[Ttech]

Hey! I remember that Game! I have an old Elite ROM on my computer, I never got very far, but it was fun.

I'd love to play a cobra MK.III in Trans.

Suppose if we managed the ships, but thats the hard part. Unless we got an image and redid it in render.

[Styro]

nope it's this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavefront_.obj_file
a generic 3D format, that-s good, now provide a link

That is good news. I have PMed the guy who made the models to see if he can get me a link to download the OBJ files...

[Arisaya]

Ships that are 3d will difficult to convert, usually you can use Blender or similar to create an equivilant ship for Transcendence.

I fail to see how they are difficult to convert. Would not a 2D one be even worse, as you have to completely remake the model? (*cough* Osaka *cough*)

[Styro]

Well, I downloaded the files in DAT format and have found a python script which will convert them to OBJ. I downloaded Wings 3D and the OBJ files import into that fine. I wanted to try Blender, but the homepage for Blender seems to be down atm.

Anyway, I only get a wireframe in Wings. There are some png files in a "Textures" subdirectory, but I cannot figure out how to apply those to the wireframes. There are also some *.fragment files in a "Shaders" directory but those look like they may be custom to the original game the models were created for.

The models were originally created for a game called Oolite. The DAT models can be downloaded here. They have been released under Creative Commons so they can be used and modified as long as we give credit to the original creator, Griff.

To convert the DAT files to OBJ, I used the python script Dat2ObjTex.py found here with version 2.6 (or something) of Python. Just put the DAT file in the same directory as the script and run the script with the DAT file as a parameter from a windows command prompt.

I feel like I am getting close. From reading other posts in this forum it seems as though once I get the models looking correctly, there is some kind of script that I can run to generate the ship facings for Trans. Is that correct?

Does anyone have information on where I go from here? How do I get the wire models to look like this?

[Styro]

For those following along, I have been in touch with the original 3d model creator and he has given me links to the OBJ files and all the textures, etc. here. I am downloading the files now and will see what I can get to work.

Here are the instructions he gave me:

there's a 'resources' folder, it's a bit of a jumble but there's a 'resources - Obj format ships.zip' that has all the ships in obj format and there's also a multipart zip file (created using 7-zip, which you might need in order to unzip the files again) called 'Resources - Textures (no Alphas).zip.001' - .zip.004, that has all the ship 'skins' and effects maps etc in it (all the skins will have 'diffuse' somewhere in their filename, the normal maps have 'normal' somewhere in their filename and the 'effects' maps for all the glows etc that probably only mean something to the shaders in oolite will have 'I love Cheese sandwiches' somewhere in their name, no not really, they will have 'effects' somewhere in their filename
i'm not sure if you need things like the greyscale specular intensity maps, if you do, they're all in a seperate zip called 'Resources - Textures (alphas only).zip

i think that if you put all the model .obj & .mtl files in a folder alongside all the diffuse. png's, when you import the .obj object in wings it'll appear fully skinned, i don't really use blender so i'm not sure how it all works over there

[digdug]

looks like the files you posted are working quite well, the python script converts the DAT models to OBJ and textures are retained well.

[Styro]

How did you get that to work? I can open the files in Wings3D and they show the texture, but I cannot get it to work in Blender. Of course all I know how to do is File > Import, but that works in Wings3D.

If you can get them to open correctly can I beg you to use the scripts to generate the 2D facings? I have just about given up on this project because it is taking me so much time for so little progress.

[digdug]

If you can get them to open correctly can I beg you to use the scripts to generate the 2D facings? I have just about given up on this project because it is taking me so much time for so little progress.

all that I did was open the OBJ in Bryce, turn the camera, place a texture (the water) on the default plane, push render.
It took me 4 minutes.

It takes much more time to render the facings and the mask.