what do you mean ... with "no changes"?
smoothing groups, that will imported, will be only visible in the normal 3D view - and in edit mode, that groups are in blender now linked faces (select one face and hit Ctrl + L)...
in the old version all faces were merged as one huge mesh - when you there select one face and hit Ctrl + L, the whole mesh was selected.

PS.: in Blender there is no comparable to MilkShape3D smoothing groups. the only way to make different smoothing groups in Blender will be to split the faces (that is, what the importer is doing). and the exporter is now finding all splitted/linked faces and assign them to a single smoothing group for exportfile...

... or is something else wrong with uv-mapping...?

So simple, I hope to explain properly

- Import a model ms3d
- Select screen layout> uv editing
- TAB key left window
- Mesh tools> uv mapping> unwrap and then dial. for cylinder ...
no longer responsive (in the old version I get the uv)

I hope you know what I mean

_________________
..:: MySite ::..

hmm... strange... i still can't follow

the only thing what is different, the selection after importing of a model is different than in the old version.
in the old version there were all vertices and faces selected after importing.
in the new version there is no face selected anymore.
to see the uv, you have to select the faces in the edit mode (hit "A" to toggle the selection).

or you have to enable "Keep UV and edit mode mesh selection in sync" (see picture)


PS.: blender will only unwrap selected faces... if nothing is selected, nothing will unwrapped.
maybe next version i will reselect all faces again.


PPS.: Grüß mir den Harz - ich habe als Kind sehr viele Wochenenden dort verbracht (zelten und camping)

* jippy *
danke geht !! das " A " wars ...... genau schöner Harz QLB!

_________________
..:: MySite ::..

Just tried it and it works!

One caveat though:
If I use object LAYERS in Blender, then I disable the ones I don't need for export, nothing is exported. Nothing happens, no file is created at all.
If I then select the visible object I want to export, and while exporting, in the plugin options choose 'Only selected mesh(es)' then it works. So, it's a viable workaround.

Fantastic job you did there!

BTW, why is the default scale set to 10.00?
A bit confusing if you ask me.

thank you for testing and reporting issues!
it will help me very much, to improve my addon and adapt it to your needs of making models for FP tables.



yes, that's true... it came from the import export processing. if i import a ms3d model, than it will appears ten times bigger on the 3D view in blender as it will in MilkShape3D or FP - the viewport and the grid settings are different. so i was scaling down every thing for importing by 0.01. and to correct that scale on export, i use a up-scale value of 10.0...

for me, for debugging purpose, it is easyer to see the real values...
but i forgot you, the user... for users it is confusing...
maybe i will hide the internal basic scaling value... and show the user only the additional scaling... or i will hide it compleately - same for the coordinate system recalulation (Blender and Milkshape3D are using different coordinatesystems)

i played a little bit with the settings of Blenders unit (metrics and its scale) of the scene-settings to fit every thing to millimeters [mm] or centimeter [cm] grid... but til now i didnt find the correct values...

Hmmm, I think you need two different numbers there, one for import, one for export, and have them both exposed to the user, but with most sensible default settings.

I did not import anything, I started creating in Blender from scratch, switched units to metric, designed in millimeters, and when I exported to ms3d format, upon import to FPM Editor the object was 10 times larger. In Blender it said 25mm, while in FPM it said 250mm.
First, I adapted the Blender's Scene scale settings to 0.010 and it started to match. It was 1:1 from Blender to FPM.
Then, I spotted your plugin's scale is set to 10.00, and I realized what is going on.

I'll sure use this path Blender->Your plugin->FPM->FP for any 3D creation as it suits me the most. I'll report how it goes, right here in this thread.

Thanks again for this fantastic plugin.

ooookay, here an intermediate version of the addon.
newest version available at:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Extensions:2.5/Py/Scripts/Import-Export/MilkShape3D_MS3D

add: viewport adjustment for import to metric
mod: import / export scale; (reported by AtmanActive, Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:41 pm)
fix: layer handling; bug (reported by AtmanActive, Sun Nov 13, 2011 9:41 pm)
fix: all faces/vertices are now selected again after import (reported by kaktus, Fri Nov 11, 2011 5:38 pm)

some clother details:
i changed the import & export preset of scale to 1.0.
in addition i added an import-option to setup the viewport unit to metric [mm] - it is enabled by default.

or even more exactly:
unit to "METRIC"
unit scale to 0.001 [mm]
view clip start to 0.1 [100µm]
view clip end to 10000.0 [10m] (now up to 1km)
mesh display normal size to 1.0 [1mm]
display mode to "MULTITEXTURE"
display show textured solid to "True"

NOTE: if you now import an existing model, you may have to zoom out in the 3D view to see it compleately. (hit "HOME" key on your keyboard or scroll your mouse wheel in the 3D view)

QUICK TIP : if you only want to create new 3D models from scratch, but don't know how to setup the units to metric [mm], than open a new blend file and delete everything (Ctrl + N, A, A, DEL) and export that empty scene to a ms3d file, and import it again. the importer will setup the units

Ah, yes.
It works as expected now.

Great job mate!

This now opens Future Pinball to a completely new world of blender and it's vast pool of models and modelers.

Awesome, simply awesome!

hi guys,
here are two websites, where you can grab free 3D models...
some of them are already low poly models...

http://www.blendswap.com/

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/

PS.: for sketchup models, you will need an extra converter.
but there are often also COLLADA file versions available,
that Blender can import by default

there are also many models for Futurama, Star Wars, ...