2 Cents on MMOs

Patch 5 of Spore allows you to export your spore creatures as collada models and Blender 2.49 has a collada importer, but out of the box, it does not quite work with the spore models.

Also, Vista puts files in strange places. I have been playing around with blender, and the spore models.

Here is a brief tutorial on how to get spore models into blender 2.4

(NOTE: this should all change when blender 2.5 comes out)

First check out the spore forum, there are at least 2 threads that cover exporting spore creatures. Specificlly check out the original instructions for more background.

The method I used does not require the autodesk file converter. To do this I use an updated version of the collada 1.4 importer for blender posted by A spore forum user ”caveman76″. Here is how I got it all to work.

First follow these instructions on replacing the blender collada importer. I suggest just downloading the .py file

If you are trying to do this on a window vista machine, you might want to navagate to the following directory beforehand:

C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts\bpymodules\colladaImEx

<USER> _should_ just be the name of the user you are currently logged in as. In some cases it may be the name of the user blender was installed under, but you need to figure out where that directory is before starting off. Also I got this am running using python 2.6. I installed ti on my vista machine when I installed blender. Phython 2.6 got installed in c:\Python26

Here goes:

• If you have blender running, exit blender (all instances)
• download caveman79s the fixed collada import python script (Eochaid1701’s instructions at the head of this thread).

I navigated to

 C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts\bpymodules\colladaImEx

• Then rename translator.py to translator.py.orig
• Rrename (DON”T FORGET THIS) translator.pyc to translator.pyc.orig
• Then copy the fixed translator.py you downloaded into

C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts\bpymodules\colladaImEx

(no I didn’t bother trying to compile the new translator.py by hand)

If you have’nt already exported a creature or two. Run spore, get into the creature creator.Export a creature(from the creature creator, shift+coltrol+C, then type “colladaexport”,accept the EULA, and you are done. There are lots of detailed instructions elsewhere on the net)

• Next, Fire up blender
• Select and delete the default cube (right click the cube, hit delete or x)
• Import your model: file->import->COLLADA 1.4(.dae)
• Pick a model to import: click the “…” button and navagate to the spore creatures directory.

for me, under vista, the spore models are

 C:\Users\<USER>\Documents\My Spore Creations\Creatures

• click the “import and close” button, be patient some models take a little bit to import.
• You should now see your model in blender.
• Switch your view to “textured”
• right clicked on an “armature” (blender’s name for bones)
• then blender let me switch to “Pose Mode”

and “poof” there you are..

In blender 2.6 with this importer the bones are not attached to the mesh. The following is from the blender wiki book

Blender now has a Modifier stack (Editbutton, F9KEY). As such, we should use it over existing methods to pair mesh and armature, as the modifier stack is optimised and simple to use. Note: You don’t need to parent the mesh to the Armature anymore. The only case you could need to do this would be animating the Armature object itself. Then the mesh should also follow the armature. In this case select mesh, then armature, and do CTRL-PKEY –> Object.

If you do not parent the bones and the mesh, watch out when selecting and moving the model, it’s real easy to accidentially move the model away  from the bones.

At this point you should be able to do all sorts of things with your spore model. To get a good render, or animations  you’ll need to add lights and do all sorts of things withyour model. There are lots of tutorials on how to use blender on the net.

Enjoy, I hope people find this useful