MDB to FBX, FBX to MDB converter

[FreshLook]

 

I'd like to create a static statue-like pose animation for the human male figure, including both the head and body positions. I picked the Skeleton model as it uses the same skeleton as the human and I figured it would be less cluttered. But another would do.

 

• You can pass a body MDB + a head MDB + just one skeleton (e.g. P_HHM_skel.GR2). Both MDB will be skinned to the same skeleton. This serves you?
• Not all body MDB's and head MDB's have same collision balls. For example, P_HHM_Head01.MDB only has collision ball for the head and P_HHM_NK_Body01 only has collision balls for body. I think this is usual and the case of c_skel_* is an anomaly.
• Anyway, you can easily remove the duplicated collision balls in Blender. In Object Mode, go to Select > Select Pattern.. and type *.001 to select objects ending in ".001", then press X to delete them.

Edited January 13, 2018 by FreshLook

[rjshae]

I'll give that approach a try. Thanks.

[Semp3r]

Right now i am testing a blender/gimp pipeline, and so far all works well. while preparing a tileset for export though, i couldn't figure out how to add texture flags. does somebody know how to set them in blender? the custom properties within the material don't seem to work. do they even get exported to the fbx? the option was checked.

in what way does your fbx2nw interpret those properties?

 

in the end i checked them with rjshae's mdbconfig.

 

[FreshLook]

This is not documented. The easiest way to see how to set the flags is to convert an MDB to FBX, import it into Blender and look at Custom Properties in the Object tab of the Properties area. If the value of a property is 0 or the property doesn't exists, the flag is not set. If the value of a property is not 0, the flag is set.

Edited January 16, 2018 by FreshLook

[Semp3r]

so, i did it right but at the wrong place. thanks for your explanation; got it working.

[rjshae]

I have this idea for an encounter that involves an iron door similar to the PLC_DP_JAIL1.MDB jail door, except larger and wider to accommodate bigger creatures (plus thicker bars with a different texture). I've been exploring how the jail door works -- it is configured to use the PLC_MC_TDOOR GR2 files (of which there are 14). What I'd like to do is import the jail door with each of the animations in turn and see how they animate, but thus far I haven't been able to get one to show up in the timeline. I've tried importing various combinations of the model, skeleton, and the animation, but no luck. Any suggestions?

Edited January 18, 2018 by rjshae

[FreshLook]

The algorithm that my tool is using to automatically match a placeable with an animation is failing in this case. The tool expects the main part to have same name as the animation. I conceived this algorithm because some animated placeables have more than one animation in the same GR2 and I needed a way to match each model to its corresponding animation. This worked with all the cases I encountered until the one you have found. The NWN2 engine knows how to match because it's configured in doortypes.2da. I would have to think a new algorithm.

 

There is a workaround, though:

1. Convert PLC_DP_JAIL1.MDB + PLC_MC_TDOOR.GR2 (the skeleton) + a TDOOR animation. The skeleton will be matched to the animation, but the placeable won't.
2. Import the FBX in Blender.
3. Link the placeable to the bone: select the jail object, go to the Constraints tab of the Properties area, add object constraint Child Of, set Target to PLC_MC_TDOOR, and set Bone to PLC_MC_TDOOR.

[rjshae]

Thanks, I'll give it a shot when I get home.

[FreshLook]

It has occurred to me a less tedious workaround:

1. Clone PLC_DP_JAIL1, name it PLC_MC_TDOOR.
2. Convert to FBX the standard way: PLC_MC_TDOOR.MDB + a TDOOR animation (don't pass skeleton).

[rjshae]

Thanks. Both approaches worked with the PLC_MD_tdoor_dr_open1.GR2 animation. For the second, I also had to modify the packet name within the model.