Blender to Goldsource Created 9 years ago2015-03-09 02:17:52 UTC by Tetsu0

Hey all!
I just finished up a video tutorial series on how to export blender models to goldsource.

I'm hoping this thread can answer any questions people might have or add some additional points of interest that I might have missed.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9CPpo_1svGNnZI1iPL2peExsuPk3gYWN

THANKS for this Brett. You made these just in the nick of time, so I might actually get some compiled models in my compo entry

Don't forget to submit these(and the optimization one if you finish)for the current tutorials contest over at GB!

Oh, Hell yeah, I was wondering if this was a thing that could be done! I'll be giving these a watch very soon. Thankies!

Tet. You are a legend.

Watching these again, I missed some points I wanted to cover, so i'll make an addendum video highlighting some of the finer details I overlooked. One thing I don't cover, and won't really get into is how to model and rig in blender; It's outside the scope of the tutorials. There's countless tutorials on youtube for that, and if you're looking for those I can link to some I found helpful.

@ Captain, Yes that's the plan, I first need to organize everything in a more professional format - linking to a playlist isn't the best way to present the data. I'm also going to make a verbal list of notes that follows along with the videos and maybe expands on some topics that might not be as clear if you're not watching in 1080p

@ Crypt, YES It's possible and very simple once you get the flow down. Again, if there's anything you're not 100% clear about, or if you're running into issues, post here and i'll help you fix it. I monitor TWHL pretty much hourly (if I'm awake)

@ Urby. Thanks! You're too kind. Now I expect to see some kickass models for The Core.

Great Tet I was looking forward to this! Can't wait to watch them.

Great job, thanks for the effort. I'm sure majority of people have a much easier time learning from video tutorials rather than the "wall of text".
Welp, if anyone was lacking ambition/time for learning this, no excuses now

As a side note, i'm probably in the minority here, but i also like to watch people work with these kind of dev tools.
For example, i've learned things about UE from "XXXXX does..." on youtube, that i would of probably never discovered on my own; little tricks that make you go - wtf, didn't knew that was possible.

I wouldn't mind watching a video/s of you starting on something from scratch in Blender and seeing how it progresses and finally the full product within a goldsource game. Not as a tutorial, but rather you doing your own thing, if that makes any sense.

Yeah no problem I'll whip something up.
Any requests?

Make a trashcan for the Core.

Something transparent Tet plaese, if you can get the GS model transparency thingie to work!

I'm having a vision of a glass, black-mesa-logo-frosted deluxe coffee carafe for the boardroom table

would be possible to create a model which looks like a fog?

What would be a reasonable amount of models to use in GoldSrc level design? I'd certainly like to use models in it, but I'm not sure how well the engine would handle as many props as say, early Source stuff.

I imagine you can use as many as the entity limit allows. If all your props are models I can image that compile time would be massively reduced.

@Urby, get me some sketches/references/dimensions, and I can
Captain, I figured out model transparency doing the Alien Pods, so grab me some reference material and I'll see what I can do.

@ Ninja - A fog model? probably possible but I would think sprites are still probably better for fog. It might be possible by mapping a transparent fog texture to a bunch of slow moving rotating spheres - but then it might look like a bunch of slow moving rotating transparent spheres... Sorry I don't have a better answer.

@Crypt - Goldsource has a hard entity limit built into the engine - which you probably won't hit with detail models. Your bigger concern is the Epoly drawn at any time (which I have gotten 14K+ without any issues) - I'd say use models wherever you can. Keep in mind that models are lit by their world origin. Source has the advantage with better looking vertex-lit models.

So I can probably do a demo video sometime later this week. I'll just start my screencap software and start modeling away. I'll speed up parts of the process to keep the video between 10-15 minutes, or I can split it into parts.

Oh yeah that's right, how could I forget the pods!?

Any example involving transparent glass--bottles, cups, pitchers etc--, and exporting them be appreciated. I wholeheartedly agree with Kachito, that you learn so much more from real-world examples

Ok so would you guys prefer a real-time narrated video series or a single time-lapse one?

@up

.PDF

Narrated, imo. No edits/cuts or fancy things, since that wouldn't really be the point of the vid; just you doing your own thing.

^ Agrees with Kachito

Hopefully I can get this done tonight.
I might make one of those chrome trashcans with the plastic black trim that opens when you walk up to it and step on the foot pedal.but square.

This will be an interesting project to complete because I'll need to create the following assets:

Trash Can Mesh Parts
Bone structure for animation
Idle Animation
Open/Close Animation
Chrome Texture
Plastic Bag Texture (Possibly Chrome to be shiny)
Rubber Texture

The only thing I'm unsure about is controlling the animations in-game. I know you can use env_renders to toggle visibility of entities, however I don't know of a way to specifically start an animation. I might do some research before I start.

The model entity in question should be a monster_furniture, wich is then used by a scripted_sequence. This combo was once used in the autumn of 1998 where it was used to simulate the physics of a file cabinet falling onto a certain head munching parasite.

Thanks Dr. Orange. I had no idea

Nice Tet, I pictured the same type of bin when Urby mentioned it

of course was thinking of using a momentary door and brushes for the bin top, but all the better if you can trigger the animation according to Orange

The only thing I'm unsure about is controlling the animations in-game. I know you can use env_renders to toggle visibility of entities, however I don't know of a way to specifically start an animation.

Gonna play the Spirit of Half-Life card again. env_model has fields for active animations that play when the entity is triggered.

Having some issues with 2+ bone animations.
Turns out my tutorial was a fluke and only worked because it had only one bone.
well shit.

I'll have to figure this out but i think it has something to do with the SMD converter, everything was working fine with milkshape but im not paying for that

Very helpful tutorials, Tetsu0! What about modifying an existing Half-Life Model?