Importing Blender files into AC3D

[papamac]

Does anybody know of a plugin or procedure to use to import Blender objects into AC3D without losing the animations? The Wavefront (.obj) format imports the objects seemingly perfectly but animations don't make the transition.

[Andy]

Are you talking about the X-Plane "obj" format?

OBJ files (wavefront file format) doesn't support animation and AC3D doesn't have animation apart from what is added by the X-Plane plugin.

[papamac]

Andy, I know all of that. I was just using Wavefront as an example. I really don't care what format is used for the export as long as AC3D can import it. In older Blender versions, prior to 2.5 I believe, we were able to export animations into AC3D but no longer. I was hoping that somebody had developed a plugin or knew of a procedure to follow to retain the animations in the transfer.

[captainpeter]

Hi,
if you want to bring animations for X-Plane from Blender to AC3D you have to go via the X-Plane (native) .obj file format.
Use the X-Plane exporter in Blender, then import into AC3D using the X-Plane plugin. There is no other way.

You can export direct to AC3D format from Blender using a python script, but without animations! There are sep. scripts for Blender 2.49 & Blender 2.5+. My own experience with the new exporter are minimal though. It works, but with lots of caveats.

cheers
peter

Originally Posted by papamac

Andy, I know all of that. I was just using Wavefront as an example. I really don't care what format is used for the export as long as AC3D can import it. In older Blender versions, prior to 2.5 I believe, we were able to export animations into AC3D but no longer. I was hoping that somebody had developed a plugin or knew of a procedure to follow to retain the animations in the transfer.

[papamac]

Thanks. That gives me an idea: Export directly to AC3D in .ac format to get the objects. Then export to X-Plane and back to AC3D to capture the animations. Merge to recover the final item.

[captainpeter]

Originally Posted by papamac

Thanks. That gives me an idea: Export directly to AC3D in .ac format to get the objects. Then export to X-Plane and back to AC3D to capture the animations. Merge to recover the final item.

if the source is blender with proper animations for x-plane

1. export to x-plane obj format from blender
2. import x-plane object to AC3D

[papamac]

Both X-Plane Plugins for AC3D and Blender add many additional surfaces when they convert their respective files into X-Plane object format. Exporting those objects back into the 3D modeling software with all of their additional "tri's" really complicates the modeling process. Further X-Plane is extremely sensitive to the object vertex count, i.e., degrading the frame rate. That's why it's important to be able to export an exact duplicate of the Blender object into AC3D.

[captainpeter]

Originally Posted by papamac

Both X-Plane Plugins for AC3D and Blender add many additional surfaces when they convert their respective files into X-Plane object format. Exporting those objects back into the 3D modeling software with all of their additional "tri's" really complicates the modeling process. Further X-Plane is extremely sensitive to the object vertex count, i.e., degrading the frame rate. That's why it's important to be able to export an exact duplicate of the Blender object into AC3D.

Try AC3D's optimize vertices and optimize surfaces.
I never get unnecessary geometry added when moving between blender & ac3d.

peter

[papamac]

I don't either. But you will if you go from Blender to X-Plane and then back to AC3D. Ditto going from AC3D to X-Plane and back to AC3D.

[captainpeter]

Originally Posted by papamac

I don't either. But you will if you go from Blender to X-Plane and then back to AC3D. Ditto going from AC3D to X-Plane and back to AC3D.

Right, but this is exactly what 'optimize vertices' will take care of.
In Blender there's an equivalent command.

peter