Out of the blue, I was wondering if it was possible to import Unreal
Tournament (for those who never heard it - a 1st person shooter type game)
into Povray and then applying various skins to it.  It would be a crude (and
inexpensive) way to add people into Povray.

Well, I discovered that Shane Caudle (www.planetshane.com) who is the Art
Director of UT, did his skins using Painter 3D and was kind enough to post
some of the models on his site.  I've never used Painter 3D, but the files
are in ASCII and I managed to figure out how they work.  Conveniently, the
format is basically the same as mesh2 in Povray.   So I wrote a program to
convert from Painter 3D to mesh2.  That is what you see in the first
picture.  I also used some image maps from the game (also available on
Shane's site) to make the background.  So it looks okay, but obviously since
all the shadows and highlights are in the image maps, they aren't quite
correct.

So that's cool and all, but it doesn't allow me to alter the character much
since I don't have Painter 3D.  So I then made an attempt to convert the
Painter 3D files to spatch.  Again, I had to figure out the spatch file
format on my own, and I think I figured it out.  The problem is that the
only way I could do it was by losing the normal and uv mapping information,
but I did manage to convert the vertices and triangles.  So from there I
altered the character a little in hamapatch (spatch crashes for some reason)
and exported it to Povray, then rendered it which you will see in the second
image.  So that's how far I got, but I'm not sure if it will be possible to
figure out a way to keep the normal and uv mapping information.  I am
considering writing another conversion program to convert the hamapatch
files back into mesh2 and re-using the normal and uv mapping information
from the original model, but I believe that will result in incorrect normal
information.  I think the uv mapping information might be correct.

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'mesh_soldier.jpg' (116 KB) Download 'hama_soldier.jpg' (19 KB)

Preview of image 'mesh_soldier.jpg'

Preview of image 'hama_soldier.jpg'

> Out of the blue, I was wondering if it was possible to import Unreal
> Tournament (for those who never heard it - a 1st person shooter type game)
> into Povray and then applying various skins to it.  It would be a crude
(and
> inexpensive) way to add people into Povray.

Oops, I should re-read my messages before posting.  Should read "I was
wondering if it was possible to import Unreal Tournament characters into
Povray....".

Post a reply to this message

Richard D wrote:

> Out of the blue, I was wondering if it was possible to import Unreal
> Tournament (for those who never heard it - a 1st person shooter type game)
> into Povray and then applying various skins to it.  It would be a crude
> (and inexpensive) way to add people into Povray.
> 
> Well, I discovered that Shane Caudle (www.planetshane.com) who is the Art
> Director of UT, did his skins using Painter 3D and was kind enough to post
> some of the models on his site.  I've never used Painter 3D, but the files
> are in ASCII and I managed to figure out how they work.  Conveniently, the
> format is basically the same as mesh2 in Povray.   So I wrote a program to
> convert from Painter 3D to mesh2.  That is what you see in the first
> picture.  I also used some image maps from the game (also available on
> Shane's site) to make the background.  So it looks okay, but obviously
> since all the shadows and highlights are in the image maps, they aren't
> quite correct.
> 
> So that's cool and all, but it doesn't allow me to alter the character
> much
> since I don't have Painter 3D.  So I then made an attempt to convert the
> Painter 3D files to spatch.  Again, I had to figure out the spatch file
> format on my own, and I think I figured it out.  The problem is that the
> only way I could do it was by losing the normal and uv mapping
> information,
> but I did manage to convert the vertices and triangles.  So from there I
> altered the character a little in hamapatch (spatch crashes for some
> reason) and exported it to Povray, then rendered it which you will see in
> the second
> image.  So that's how far I got, but I'm not sure if it will be possible
> to
> figure out a way to keep the normal and uv mapping information.  I am
> considering writing another conversion program to convert the hamapatch
> files back into mesh2 and re-using the normal and uv mapping information
> from the original model, but I believe that will result in incorrect
> normal
> information.  I think the uv mapping information might be correct.

Very Nice. 

I had the same idea and wrote a converter for Quake2 mdl files some days 
ago, which worked quite good (and kept uv and normal data).
I'll take a look if there are some pics on my HD...

I'am still playing around with the idea to convert whole Quake3-Levels and 
models for Pov bud didn't find the time.
(And maybe render whole demo files with PovRay - ohhhh)

-- 
Sebastian H.

Post a reply to this message

Most impressive! UT makes a major dent in my productivity every day :)


--

Rick

Kitty5 WebDesign - http://Kitty5.com
POV-Ray News & Resources - http://Povray.co.uk
TEL : +44 (01270) 501101 - FAX : +44 (01270) 251105 - ICQ : 15776037

PGP Public Key
http://pgpkeys.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x231E1CEA

Post a reply to this message

> So that's how far I got, but I'm not sure if it will be possible to
> figure out a way to keep the normal and uv mapping information.

Since you seem very good at figuring out 3d formats, you should try to
convert the Painter3d file to obj format (it's ASCII too).
Then you'll be able to use uvmapper to create the map template, and then
3dswin to convert the obj to mesh2.

G.
--

**********************
http://www.oyonale.com
**********************
- Graphic experiments
- POV-Ray and Poser computer images
- Posters

Post a reply to this message

Woohoo!  I found a better way of doing this.

With my model now in hamapatch, I can help identify which vertex is part of
what body part.  Then in my Pov file where my mesh2 is defined, I just add
transformations on the correct vertices and I can manipulate my model that
way.  This will allow me to apply the correct transformation to the normal
and uv mapping information as well.  This will take a fair amount of time,
but once it's done, I can freely use this model in any scene and without too
much difficulty.

So far, I'm able to move the head and right arm by simply specifying a
rotate vector on the body part I want to move.  I attached a test image
showing this.  The red cylinders are my X-Z axis where the rotation is
occuring.

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'stage1.jpg' (27 KB)

Preview of image 'stage1.jpg'

Cool!

--
- Nekar

http://nekar_xenos.tripod.com/metanoia/




---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.298 / Virus Database: 161 - Release Date: 2001/11/13

Post a reply to this message

Hi Sebastian,

> I'am still playing around with the idea to convert whole Quake3-Levels and
> models for Pov bud didn't find the time.
> (And maybe render whole demo files with PovRay - ohhhh)

that's a way cool idea, i can already see the hyperquality movies, that
would be so kewl =)
i think you really got me now, if u don't mind iw ill do a bit of
fileformat-research and such, too =)
I'm looking forward to see a bsp_to_pov-converter-proggie. Keep up the work
; )

Greetings
    Thies Heidecke
--
Programming today is a race between software engineers striving
to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe
trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe
is winning. [Rich Cook]

Post a reply to this message