Avorion XML to OpenSCAD converter for 3D printing tutorial

[Kalmanihti]

Avorion Discord community member @niklash has created a converter for turning Avorion ship/station XML files into OpenSCAD files. Openscad is a free to use 3D design program, which can be used to export designs as OBJ or STL, which are both common formats for 3D printing and opening in other 3D design software such as Blender. At the moment the converter works reliably only with smart hull and armor blocks.


How to convert your Avorion XML to 3D printable format:

1. Open the ship editor in Avorion. Use the buttons in the block menu to select all blocks of a chosen type to transform them into smart hull blocks, or use the eye tool to do the selection progress to mace sure all block types get converted to smart hull. This has to be done separately for each block type, not for all blocks of the design at once.
2. Save the design.
3. Go to https://niklashh.gitlab.io/avorion-ship-converter and upload your saved XML file for conversion. Download the converted file.
4. Download and install OpenSCAD, and use it to open the converted file.
5. Click on the render button to render the design. The time this process takes scales with the block count of your ship and your PC specs. My PC with RTX2060 and i5-9400F rendered a 4k block design in 8 minutes.
6. Export the rendered design as STL or OBJ.
7. (Not mandatory) Open the file in Blender or some other more sophisticated 3D editor and test different rendering options there in order to get rid of any gaps or weird overlaps in the design that can result in strange lighting on the model in 3D computer environments.
8. Use your design as you see fit, either 3D print it or open it in Blender, use it as a game asset in Unity, whatever you want.
REMEMBER TO CREDIT THE ORIGINAL BUILDER OF THE DESIGNS YOU HAVEN'T BUILT YOURSELF IF YOU SHARE THESE 3D FILES OR PRINTED DESIGNS IN ANY WAY!!!

[zantjez]

i wish it did work but it doesn't.

[Kalmanihti]

Originally posted by zantjez:

i wish it did work but it doesn't.

What didn't work? Did you remember to turn all blocks into smart hull or armor before conversion?

[zantjez]

Originally posted by TenguKnight:

Originally posted by zantjez:

i wish it did work but it doesn't.

What didn't work? Did you remember to turn all blocks into smart hull or armor before conversion?

yes i did, and that made it worse.

so to explain what happened.
without turning everything into smart hull or armor it would show only a few pieces of armor in openscad.
with everything turned into smart hull or armor it didn't show anything.

[Kalmanihti]

Originally posted by zantjez:

Originally posted by TenguKnight:

What didn't work? Did you remember to turn all blocks into smart hull or armor before conversion?

yes i did, and that made it worse.

so to explain what happened.
without turning everything into smart hull or armor it would show only a few pieces of armor in openscad.
with everything turned into smart hull or armor it didn't show anything.

I'll try to track down the issue - please try converting the same ship in different materials to see if that has any effect.

[zantjez]

Originally posted by TenguKnight:

Originally posted by zantjez:

yes i did, and that made it worse.

so to explain what happened.
without turning everything into smart hull or armor it would show only a few pieces of armor in openscad.
with everything turned into smart hull or armor it didn't show anything.

I'll try to track down the issue - please try converting the same ship in different materials to see if that has any effect.

i went the long way around and that worked.
the way i fixed it is changing all the outside blocks specific to their own block figure, without changing the inside.

so autoselecting only the corners and change those into smart hull, then autoselecting all the square armor and changing those into smart hull and so on.

the way i did it first was selecting everything and 1 click changed it all into smart hull, and it simply couldn't understand that in openSCAD for some reason.

[Kalmanihti]

Originally posted by zantjez:

Originally posted by TenguKnight:

I'll try to track down the issue - please try converting the same ship in different materials to see if that has any effect.

i went the long way around and that worked.
the way i fixed it is changing all the outside blocks specific to their own block figure, without changing the inside.

so autoselecting only the corners and change those into smart hull, then autoselecting all the square armor and changing those into smart hull and so on.

the way i did it first was selecting everything and 1 click changed it all into smart hull, and it simply couldn't understand that in openSCAD for some reason.

Oh yeah, that's not necessarily OpenSCAD's fault, it is just how Avorion handles block conversions. I'll update the instructions about it, but glad you got it working!

[LarsonStole]

a useful tip is that, once you convert everything to smart hull, merge it all to minimize the block count. On my first attempt, I converted an Avorion design into a blueprint for Space Engineers. granted, there were a lot of erroneous blocks, but that has more to do with the .stl>SE converter than the tools listed here. The only gripe i have is the insertion of a web tool... i rather dislike having my designs on the cloud for some unknown person(s) perusal.