Topic: [ASE] Import/Export scripts for Blender 3D

[LeiterJakab]

You can find the latest ASE exporter here_
http://campagnini.net/2011/04/16/blender-to-udk-ase-export/ [dead link]

I couldn't install it however. Can someone give me some tips on how to set up the python path system variable, for python 3.2? I know there is a tutorial for 2.2, but I couldn't get it working so far.
Or is it possible that this is not the problem since Blender 2.60 comes with bundeled python?

[kat]

It should be just a simple case of dropping the script into the "addons" folder (custom scripts go back into the "User" folder) or using "Install AddOn" from User Preferences. You shouldn't need to install Python or set up the system variable as Blender appears to use some pre-installed modules now (it doesn't give you the usual "looking for..." message to tell you what version it wants). Just tried the new version as per the above and it works fine in 2.60a. Is it giving you a specific error or some other issue?

[LeiterJakab]

Blender crashes when I try to install the add-on. I can't restart it either (Blender I mean) so it really must mess up something and I always have to reinstall. I still use Windows XP.

[kat]

Hmm it shouldn't be doing that. Try removing the Python Path variable completely and see what that does. Normally Blender can find what it needs without that being in place but using XP with the latest version of the app may be causing problems.

[LeiterJakab]

It doesn't help. Thanks for the help and I hope I could help with the posted link as well. For now I will stick with fbx.
I have another question though it seams that Epic changed the fbx import in the september release by removing the explicit normals checkbox and replacing it with an import tangents option. Enabling this however doesn't stop UDK to weld the split edges back together.
I know this is a bit off topic, but have you met similar results with ase imports?

[kat]

Yes, that seems to be a common, albeit infrequent, problem with ASE imports so the fact that it's happening to another format means that UDK is a bit too literal in its looking for MAX-centric formatted files.

If you want to start a new topic on the fbx issue specifically that would be good. Hint hint 

[Arthur]

Hi folks, I've been wanting to do ASE import with this script, but I can't seem to get it to install in Blender 2.61. I've now tried both on my desktop and my netbook, to no avail. To add insult to injury, I do not seem to get any error messages printed and thus I have no idea on how to solve it.

I would be grateful for any help.

[kat]

If you're importing you'll need to use the specific version of Blender the script is for (2.54 if using the script in the first post); the constant changes to Blender mean that these scripts won't work for different versions other than the ones written for unfortunately.

[Arthur]

Hi kat, and thanks for the quick answer. However, I don't seem to have any more luck with the 2.54beta downloaded from here: http://download.blender.org/release/Blender2.54beta/ (I could not find the stable 2.54 release on the website). I used the "Install Add-On" button, and when doing it twice I get a warning that the file is already installed. It still does not show up in the add-ons list nor in the import/export menus.

[kat]

Hmmm... You'll need to drop back down another version to 2.53 (then download the 'archived' version of the ASE script for 2.53); I though I/O was combined in 2.54 onwards but it appears not. If you have trouble installing the AddOn find the "scripts/io" folder in your main 'User' profile (if you're on Windows that's usually "C:\User\[username]\etc..." Once you do that 'import' should be listed in "File > Import > ASE" - I've not tested it recently though so I can't remember how good it was at importing complex ASE models so you'll likely need to do a bit of experimentation.

[Arthur]

Hi, I talked to a friendly guy at the Blender IRC channel, who was so kind as to port the script to work with Blender 2.61. Link to the 2.61 version: http://topherdigital.com/io_export_ase.py

However, I only see it appear in the export menu, which isn't very helpful in my case since I want to import an ASE file, not export it. Any clues? Or is this script export-only? In that case, maybe you should update the thread to reflect that.

Edit: Skip that; I did a mistake and downloaded the wrong script. Sorry for blaming you; it's totally my own fault.

[kat]

No worries.. we got a 2.61 version out of it! heh 

Have you export tested the ported version? If it works OK I'll add that to the list of available options.

[Arthur]

No I haven't. He offered to port the import script as well, so here it is: http://topherdigital.com/io_import_ase.py
About the import script he said:

I don't gurantee everything works lol... but meshes import correctly, as well as vertex colors and UV maps.

So both the export script and the import script should work, but it hasn't really been tested (I can test the importer on my other computer in a while).

[Arthur]

The import script didn't work, and the awesome guy doing the port fixed it and uploaded it to the same address. I can confirm it works at least for my mesh.

[qubodup]

Hi,

I found an ase2obj python2 script [1], which seems to work fine on some examples [2].

[1] http://zeq2.com/SVN/Source/Tools/ASE2OBJ/
[2] http://opengameart.org/comment/9116#comment-9116

License: unknown. tried emailing repository admin, didn't receive reply.

Hope this helps some of you out. You have to edit the last two lines to match file names.