Tutorial: Converting Blender models into UED2 brushes
Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 2:09 am
Someone on here messaged me about making a tutorial on how to export models from Blender into UED2 as brushes, but unfortunately I hadn't noticed until around 5 months. I figured I may as well get this taken care of asap.
Resources:
Blender ASE Exporters
For older versions of Blender (latest is 2.5):
https://www.katsbits.com/tools/#ase
For version 2.6 of Blender (May work with later version):
https://code.google.com/archive/p/ase-e ... /downloads
I downloaded ASE251.zip and used that since that was the latest version.
ASE to T3D
Can be found on this page:
http://www.unrealtexture.com/Unreal/Web ... /Tools.htm
Some extra info on the program:
http://www.unrealtexture.com/Unreal/Web ... To_t3d.htm
Now, the first thing you're going to want to do is download both of those tools. If you aren't familiar with how to get python scripts and other add ons working in Blender, go to User Preferences and then Add-ons. At the bottom of the window, there should be a button that says "Install from File". Click it and try to find the python file for the ASE exporter after you have extracted it from the zip. After confirming the install, click on the "Save User Settings" button next to the "Install from File" button so that the export option will stay there.
For the model, you need to make sure that it doesn't have any openings unless you're planning on using it as a non-solid brush. It also needs to have some UVs and a material (Yes, you can actually use UVs for this. I was actually able to convert the Male Commando model into a brush and all of the UVs for that model were intact. Although, UVs aren't always completely intact when converted). I'm guessing that the material is supposed to represent an individual texture, though I haven't experimented much with multiple textures, so you're best bet would be to look up the page with extra info on the ASE to T3D converter that I posted above in the resources section.
Also, make sure the size of your model is right. On my end (I was using both Blender 2.76 and 2.69), a 1x1x1 brush in UED2 would be the same size as half the size of a default cube in Blender. There is a setting in the ASE export window that lets you set a multiplied scale (If I remember correctly, if you have a default cube and export it with a 16x scale, you'd get a 32x32x32 box brush. Of course, you're also going to want to make sure that the vertices are already snapped to the grid. To make sure the vertices are like that, you'll need to select the scale gizmo, scale the model by whatever number you were planning on having the exporter use like 16 or 64, go into edit mode and select all of the vertices, make them snap to the grid (I'm not entirely sure how it's done with the interaction mode set to Blender, but for Maya mode, you hit Shift Ctrl S to bring up the snap menu. Alternatively, you could hit Spacebar or Ctrl Spacebar to bring up a search menu and search for "Snap Selection to Grid"), and then go out of edit mode and bring the scale of the model back to 1.
After you have all of that taken care of, go ahead and select one of the models and export it as an .ase file. This is where the ASE to T3D exporter comes in. The basics of it is that you put the ase file in as the input, and you name the output file. There's an advanced settings on the window that you can take a look at. I personally haven't messed with that much, but I imagine that it'd be important to take a look at it as well as the link that I posted above to the extra info on the converter.
It's finally time to bring the model into UED2. Prior to importing the t3d file you'll want to make sure that the file is in a short enough directory, because for some reason UED2 can only seem to read directories no longer than a specific length. If you try to import the t3d file from a directory that's too long, the brush will not show up. After you've rearrange you t3d files, open up UED2, and at the top of the window, go to "Brush" and then "Import...". Find the t3d file in the acceptably short directory and hit "Open". Another window will pop up with some options before UED2 decides to bring in the model. At the top there's a checkbox for merging faces, and at the bottom there are two options: Solid mesh or Nonsolid. Solid meshes are for if your model is continous and doesn't have any gaps or holes (so it can't be a plane), and nonsolid meshes for for if your model does contain gaps or holes (it can be plane). Choose whatever option is appropriate, and a red wireframe of your model should show up. Now you can go ahead and make whatever kind of brush you want with that wireframe.
Well, that's kind of the gist of it. I may have missed some things, so if you feel like you have questions, I'll see if I can answer them to the best of my abilities.
Also, is it fine to link directly to downloads? I'm concerned about the UTTextures website going down due to too many people downloading from the hyperlinks, but then there might be a scenario in the distant future where someone is looking at this page on the Wayback Machine and is trying to access the pages in the resources but can't since those pages weren't archived but the downloads themselves were for some reason.
Also, here's a video of me converting the Monkey model into a brush. Turn on subtitles for commentary.
Resources:
Blender ASE Exporters
For older versions of Blender (latest is 2.5):
https://www.katsbits.com/tools/#ase
For version 2.6 of Blender (May work with later version):
https://code.google.com/archive/p/ase-e ... /downloads
I downloaded ASE251.zip and used that since that was the latest version.
ASE to T3D
Can be found on this page:
http://www.unrealtexture.com/Unreal/Web ... /Tools.htm
Some extra info on the program:
http://www.unrealtexture.com/Unreal/Web ... To_t3d.htm
Now, the first thing you're going to want to do is download both of those tools. If you aren't familiar with how to get python scripts and other add ons working in Blender, go to User Preferences and then Add-ons. At the bottom of the window, there should be a button that says "Install from File". Click it and try to find the python file for the ASE exporter after you have extracted it from the zip. After confirming the install, click on the "Save User Settings" button next to the "Install from File" button so that the export option will stay there.
For the model, you need to make sure that it doesn't have any openings unless you're planning on using it as a non-solid brush. It also needs to have some UVs and a material (Yes, you can actually use UVs for this. I was actually able to convert the Male Commando model into a brush and all of the UVs for that model were intact. Although, UVs aren't always completely intact when converted). I'm guessing that the material is supposed to represent an individual texture, though I haven't experimented much with multiple textures, so you're best bet would be to look up the page with extra info on the ASE to T3D converter that I posted above in the resources section.
Also, make sure the size of your model is right. On my end (I was using both Blender 2.76 and 2.69), a 1x1x1 brush in UED2 would be the same size as half the size of a default cube in Blender. There is a setting in the ASE export window that lets you set a multiplied scale (If I remember correctly, if you have a default cube and export it with a 16x scale, you'd get a 32x32x32 box brush. Of course, you're also going to want to make sure that the vertices are already snapped to the grid. To make sure the vertices are like that, you'll need to select the scale gizmo, scale the model by whatever number you were planning on having the exporter use like 16 or 64, go into edit mode and select all of the vertices, make them snap to the grid (I'm not entirely sure how it's done with the interaction mode set to Blender, but for Maya mode, you hit Shift Ctrl S to bring up the snap menu. Alternatively, you could hit Spacebar or Ctrl Spacebar to bring up a search menu and search for "Snap Selection to Grid"), and then go out of edit mode and bring the scale of the model back to 1.
After you have all of that taken care of, go ahead and select one of the models and export it as an .ase file. This is where the ASE to T3D exporter comes in. The basics of it is that you put the ase file in as the input, and you name the output file. There's an advanced settings on the window that you can take a look at. I personally haven't messed with that much, but I imagine that it'd be important to take a look at it as well as the link that I posted above to the extra info on the converter.
It's finally time to bring the model into UED2. Prior to importing the t3d file you'll want to make sure that the file is in a short enough directory, because for some reason UED2 can only seem to read directories no longer than a specific length. If you try to import the t3d file from a directory that's too long, the brush will not show up. After you've rearrange you t3d files, open up UED2, and at the top of the window, go to "Brush" and then "Import...". Find the t3d file in the acceptably short directory and hit "Open". Another window will pop up with some options before UED2 decides to bring in the model. At the top there's a checkbox for merging faces, and at the bottom there are two options: Solid mesh or Nonsolid. Solid meshes are for if your model is continous and doesn't have any gaps or holes (so it can't be a plane), and nonsolid meshes for for if your model does contain gaps or holes (it can be plane). Choose whatever option is appropriate, and a red wireframe of your model should show up. Now you can go ahead and make whatever kind of brush you want with that wireframe.
Well, that's kind of the gist of it. I may have missed some things, so if you feel like you have questions, I'll see if I can answer them to the best of my abilities.
Also, is it fine to link directly to downloads? I'm concerned about the UTTextures website going down due to too many people downloading from the hyperlinks, but then there might be a scenario in the distant future where someone is looking at this page on the Wayback Machine and is trying to access the pages in the resources but can't since those pages weren't archived but the downloads themselves were for some reason.
Also, here's a video of me converting the Monkey model into a brush. Turn on subtitles for commentary.
