Having problems with a imported model from blender

[Macciavelo]

Hi guys,

I recently found a cool model on blender and wanted to export it to SFM. So, I exported it using Source tools for blender. It exported fine and it compiled the qc file correctly, but when I open it on sfm sdk (In the model viewer) it appears as invisible. No checkered pink/black model, no nothing.

So, I was wondering if you guys know why this happened?

Thanks for the help.

[Zappy]

Please copy and paste the entire QC file's contents here, and also hold Shift and right-click the MDL file, choose "Copy as path", and paste it here.

[Kumquat [Velbud]]

Jack mentioned invisible models appear so due to conflicts with the material. In this case, we should check on the material name in Blender, the lines in your qc and VMT. This will give us information to see where the conflicts are.

[Zappy]

Originally posted by Velikhi Maikeru Phys Exp:

Jack always mentioned invisible models appear so due to conflicts with the material. -

Missing materials cause un-shaded pink and black checkerboards, and missing textures causes the missing textures to be replaced with pink and black checkerboards (while still keeping the material's properties, like shading). And Macciavelo says it is invisble, and even specifically not pink-and-black checkered.

[Kumquat [Velbud]]

Difference between checkered issue vs invisible issue:
Checkered: unable to find material or texture (latter is questionable tho).
Invisible: found it, but unable to process due to some sort of confusion in the qc, VMT, or with another VMT.

[Macciavelo]

Thanks for the quick reply guys.

Here's what I got:

QC file contents:

Originally posted by QC File contents:

$modelname "MouseFem/F_mouse.mdl"

$model F_Mouse "F_Mouse.dmx"

$cdmaterials "models/F_mouse/"

$sequence idle "F_Mouse" fps 1

And here is the mdl path:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\SourceFilmmaker\game\usermod\models\MouseFem\f_mouse.mdl"

[Macciavelo]

Originally posted by Velikhi Maikeru Phys Exp:

Jack mentioned invisible models appear so due to conflicts with the material. In this case, we should check on the material name in Blender, the lines in your qc and VMT. This will give us information to see where the conflicts are.

I didn't export the textures to vmt just yet. I wanted to see if I could correctly compile and export my model. Could that be the reason for the invisible model?

[Zappy]

Originally posted by Velikhi Maikeru Phys Exp:

- Invisible: found it, but unable to process due to some sort of confusion in the qc, VMT, or with another VMT.

If a material tries to reference a texture that doesn't exist, that texture will be replaced with pink and black checkerboards (regardless of whether it's $BaseTexture, $BumpMap, $EnvMapMask, or something else), not invisible-ness. Only materials with $Alpha 0 or other such things would be invisible. (Unknown shaders are replaced by wireframes, for example, not invisibleness.)

Originally posted by Macciavelo:

I didn't export the textures to vmt just yet. - Could that be the reason for the invisible model?

If there are no VMTs, there's even less reason for it to be invisible than if there were VMTs.

Originally posted by Macciavelo:

Originally posted by QC File contents:

$modelname "MouseFem/F_mouse.mdl"

And here is the mdl path: -\game\usermod\models\MouseFem\f_mouse.mdl

That model path should be completely correct. So, try doing the following: Reboot Source FilmMaker, make a new session, don't load a map (you don't need to do it for this, and it just wastes time to do), open the model browser, select the model, close the model browser (without spawning the model), then immediately look at the console and copy the last 10 or so lines to here.

[Macciavelo]

@Zappy, I couldn't figure how to copy the text from the console since using Ctrl+C wasn't doing anything, but I uploaded a picture from my console to imgur: http://imgur.com/a/G9ksl

Hope that helps.

[Zappy]

Originally posted by Macciavelo:

- I uploaded a picture from my console - Hope that helps.

That screenshot doesn't help at all. Which is a big help, because then I know it's not what I thought... which is not a help. Which helps.


...So, are you using Blender or Crowbar (or something else) to execute the compilation of the model, and what are all the options of the compilation?
(I'm most interested in which game's version of studiomdl.exe you're using, like if it's Team Fortress 2's, Source FilmMaker's, Source SDK Base 2013's, or something else's.)

[Macciavelo]

I'm using Blender Source Tools for the exporting and compiling. I got them from this website: http://steamreview.org/BlenderSourceTools/

I'm using those tools because I'm using this steam guide to do the exporting to sfm: http://steamcommunity.com/app/1840/discussions/0/371918937269127149/

I'm using blender for the compilation since I haven't heard before of crowbar.

I can't post a screenshot of what settings I'm using for compiling since the paths in the string boxes but they are set correctly, so I'll try to explain:

Export path is set to: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\SourceFilmmaker\game\usermod\models\MouseFem\

Export Format set to .dmx
Target up Axis: Z
Engine path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\SourceFilmmaker\game\bin\
Weight Link Treshold: I set it to 0.55 (Since the original model had more than 3 weight links in alot of vertexs)
Game Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\SourceFilmmaker\game\usermod\
QC path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\SourceFilmmaker\game\usermod\models\MouseFem\



Here's what it looks like on blender: http://imgur.com/a/W1k0G

Just ignore the empty engine, game path and QC path boxes. The paths are set, but blender kinda bugged out and is only showing blank boxes.

Hope that helps.

[Pte Jack]

Export path is set to: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\SourceFilmmaker\game\usermod\models\MouseFem\

Why are you exporting to usermod? Create a folder on your desktop and export to that. Usermod is too cluttered.

Export Format set to .dmx
Target up Axis: Z
Engine path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\SourceFilmmaker\game\bin\

Correct!

Weight Link Treshold: I set it to 0.55 (Since the original model had more than 3 weight links in alot of vertexs)

If you have to use .55 to clear the weight links error, then you might want to reevaluate your weight painting and redo it. the max you should be able to clear the too mant verts error is around .25.

Game Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\SourceFilmmaker\game\usermod\

Correct

QC path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\SourceFilmmaker\game\usermod\models\MouseFem\

Correct for your current export path.

But the paths in your picture just don't look right though, however it may be fine depending on how you have Blender looking at paths.

http://i.imgur.com/KMzYvR6.png

But, Source Tools looks like it is properly set up for compiling.

What we need to see is your qc. If a model is invisible in SFM it usually means that the model is in the wrong folder...

(OR)

check your VMTs and see if the shader being used just happens to be LightedMapGeneric , if this is the case, SFM does not use that shader and anything using it WILL be invisible, change the shader to VertexlitGeneric and reload your materials.

[Macciavelo]

Hmmmm.

Well, the .qc file is at this folder path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\SourceFilmmaker\game\usermod\models\MouseFem

The qc file contains the following:
$modelname "MouseFem/F_mouse.mdl"

$model F_Mouse "F_Mouse.dmx"

$cdmaterials "models/F_mouse/"

$sequence idle "F_Mouse" fps 1

Edit: There's no vmt file. I tried looking at the materials\models folder I created and I couldn't find anything.

By the way: Thank you for your help. It's a bit frustrating for me since I barely know how to use poser (I only learned a bit about it to export this model).

[Pte Jack]

So according to this qc, your model should compile to

usermod\models\mousefem

and should be called F_mouse.mdl

The model should pull the materials from

{modfolderSFMKnowsabout}\materials\models\F_Mouse

I'm not seeing any errors here. If the model is not in the path I said, move the created mdl, DX90.vtx and the .vvd files to that folder.

If the materials are missing the model should display as black and purple checkerboards.

If the model is in the correct folder, then another test is to load it into the HLMV, then on the render tab, click Hitboxes to display them. If none show up that could be your problem and the model is camera clipping.

[Macciavelo]

Thanks for the help guys. I managed to fix it.

It seems that the model was really tiny. I had to zoom in just to be able to see it.

But now, there are a couple of problems. I managed to import and export the base textures with no problems with VTFedit, but trying to import the bump map into VTFedit either crashes VTFedit or it simply can't load them. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Again, thanks for all the help guys.

[Pte Jack]

Is your texture actually a bumpmap/normal texture? Open your VMT in a text editor and add

$bumpmap {pathfrmMaterialfolder}\{nameofNormalmap}.vtf