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Blender is a comprehensively featured 3D-modelling program. The software has been released under the GNU General Public License and the source and software are freely available. It can be used to produce complex static meshes that can be used in UT2004 and UT3. Blender is capable of generating animations but successful export of animations to UEd has not yet been demonstrated. The purpose of this tutorial is to provide an introduction to the resources available to the beginner user of Blender. It covers installation, provides links to tutorials, and explains the process required to move assets from Blender to UnrealEd. This tutorial is written assuming the use of the Windows XP/Vista platform as UEd was only available on those platforms when this tutorial was written. Blender runs on other platforms, including Unix-based systems, but the models produced must be ported to a Windows computer in order to use them with UnrealEd.
Part 1 Python installers can be found here. Part 2 The software required to move assets from Blender to UnrealEd will be covered in a later section.
Blender is available for the
following operating systems (note, however, that UnrealEd is only
available on Windows XP/Vista at the time of this writing):
Learning to use any 3D-modelling package is hard work and Blender is no exception. Expect to have to invest a fair amount of time before you are fully up to speed. That said, it should be possible to have simple models imported into UEd after a only a couple of hours. Helpfully, a rich variety of tutorials for Blender are available on the Internet. I've found Blender 3D: Noob to Pro wikibook tutorial sequence quite useful. Further links to Blender tutorials will be found on
that page.
I suggest that you work through the tutorial at least as far as the Quickie Model
before you proceed to the next section and attempt to import
anything into UEd. After that it's practice, practice, practice...
Exporting from Blender to UnrealEd Blender is a fully capable modelling package and can be used for both static mesh and animation production. At the time of writing, the process for exporting animations from Blender to UEd has not been demonstrated and so that section is a stub until further information becomes available. Static Meshes The bridge between Blender and UEd
is the ASE format. To add the ability to export ASE formatted files
to Blender it will be necessary to install a Python script in
Blender, found here. Having exported your model as a .ase file, launch UEd and import it
into a package. (**To be expanded**)
If all you want is the ability to model and you are not concerned about a career in the game or modeling industry then Blender will suffice for producing content for UT2004 & UT3. Blender, like other modeling packages, does seem to produce a love it or loathe attitude amongst users. All 3D-modelling packages have a steep learning curve and Blender is no exception. What is clear is that it can be used successfully to produce content for UT2004 & UT3, but like GIMP (a free 2D content creation program) it has a reputation for being difficult to use if you have used other similar programs before. Most
game shops will be using 3DSMax or Maya and so will be looking for
experience with those packages. While Blender use does seem to be
increasing, it will not (at the moment) offer the same range of
options that 3DMax/Maya on the CV will. If you are looking for a
position in the gaming or modeling industry then it would be better
to learn something like Maya PLE or obtain a student version of 3DSMax (GMax,
the free version of 3DSMax, has been discontinued but is still
available for download at TurboSquid).
Some of
the material presented herein has been freely adapted (with kind
permission) from original material created by Six Ways here.
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