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Blender toolkit?

Unreal Engine Feedback for Unreal Engine team
#1

I know Unreal has a toolkit for Maya but I (and many others) do not have the budget for Maya. So we get blender. Which is a free program built on volunteer hours. I believe that it would make our lives as developers easier and it would give the blender foundation some much needed and deserved recognition. It would also get you a big one up over Cryengine (hint, hint). Sure Blender has it’s import and export for UDK, but, it is broken ,but still wonderful, and it honestly (not trying to sound winy) it is hard to get complex models into UDK ,such as trees.

The 20$ deal made my life and a Blender toolkit would honestly make everybody’s lives.

Hope people agree with me! :slight_smile:

#2

There’s a toolkit for 3DSmax where? I only see an animation toolkit for Maya. I have to be honest though, you don’t really need that toolkit to get animation into UE4. And also asking for a toolkit for blender is not being realistic, since Epic Games do not themselves use blender in house. I’d love to see that Maya toolkit in Modo but that’s not going to happen anytime soon either and honestly, we do not need the toolkit to get animation/bones from Modo to UE4: https://twitter.com/Mutantspoon

#3

I think there absolutely is a need for Blender tools (only thing really needed is a bit more compatibility for the FBX exprter). What we really need is the rigging tools for maya to be made compatible with blender, As it’s python based for the maya tool anyway making this work with Blender that also uses python to hook into riggify is a definite possibility.

UE4 is based with it’s release model in giving indies the tools they need to create, making Blender compatible with UE4 content creation and editing just means more releases by users and more money in Epics pocket. The main problem with an engine that’s aimed at indies without having an modeller and animator package that’s usable and free is your still caught in the catch 22, Yeah you can get the engine for $20 but to create the content youll need your have to buy an expensive autodesk product.

I hope the UE4 devs understand that’s just something that will hinder the ammount of final projects that get released and hence their income. It just makes sense to put a little time into the tools for Blender then let the Blender devs and community maintain and update the tools.

#4

Oops I meant Maya! I’ll edit that sorry!

#5

Yep. Anything to help Blender users improve workflow would be appreciated. I can’t afford Autodesk products either. :frowning:

#6

Just a thought - Both Maya and Blender both accept Python which the ART tools are written in.

Why not port the ART Tools to blender?

#7

I want to support blender anything to promote it would be awesome. However the tools made for maya are not needed.

I would however agree that the fbx exporter in blender has its share of issues I would love to see fixed.

#8

In tomorrow’s “Tools” livestream they will address Blender support:

#9

Be there or be square!

#10

I missed the stream when it occurred, can anyone recap or summarize the discussion around blender?

#11

You can watch all the streams on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i9Q1cWO8O4#t=840

Summary: Epic is working with the Blender guys to improve the export-import process. You can help Epic by sending them assets that don’t work correctly.

#12

Lawl after watching the vid sounds like exactly what I stated that would occur. Love the fact that blender and UDK are going to work the issue from both ends, appreciate it and keep it up!

#13

Not sure if anyone of you guys tried, but from Max/Modo/Blender/Cinema 4D/Houdini using FBX I’m pretty sure that you can import skeletal and static mesh without too many problems.

All the mentioned 3d app above have their own rigging toolkit, so you should be able to get your content into UE4 easily.

The main point would be that using the tookit all your rigged meshes will share the same skeletal hierarchy, so you can swap animations between characters ( and also add dynamics )…but you can also do that using your rig in your 3d app.

Anyway looks like Epic is working with the Blender guys, so :slight_smile:

#14

Nicolas I think your missing the real conversation here. Yes we are aware all other programs that use FBX formats work with UE4 and without issue. The conversation is about a tool suit that will do everything you need and doesn’t cost 5k to get into IE Blender its FREE. Blender works, but it has its quirks you need to be aware of until perhaps The Blender/Unreal Guys and Gals get together and hash it out.

We use Blender, once you know the quirks and can work around them its fine. Granted I think Blender could defiantly improve on some things though and the FBX pipeline just needs a bit more love but its almost there.

#15

Hi OSIAS,
Yes and no…means that even if there will be a tool from Epic it will concern only the rigging part, not the actual export, because even the ART rely on FBX in order to export the rig.
UE4 rely heavily on FBX, so even if Epic will release a custom tool for Blender it will still use FBX as the export method…to create something unique just for Blender I don’t think it will be a good idea, because it will reduce the possibility of file sharing and assets.

In the end the ART is a rig builder, who uses 3ds, cinema 4d, Modo and so on are using FBX as everyone else, so I think that the best solution would be first to optimize the FBX export from Blender, then thinking about the custom tool from Epic.

If Epic guys will take care of it…well…great!