Guild of Writers

Revision as of 10:29, 20 March 2010

So you are interested in creating ages huh? But you are reluctant, because everything seems so overwhelming. After all, everybody else in here is already an expert in Blender, programming, you name it. You are just learning about Blender and you know nothing about programming. You would really like to see some results in Uru. But how can you possibly catch up with the rest? You better forget about it... you will never get the hang of age creation.

Hold it right there, buddy! If that sounds like you, you have come to the right place! Creating an age, admittedly, has a learning curve, but if I can do it, so can you! All we need is a little instruction... once you understand the basics, you can start creating a REAL age before you know it.

This tutorial does not teach Blender or programming, but just shows you how to export your very first creation to Uru. Once that is out of the way, then you can fully concentrate on age creation!

Installation and Preparation

Fist, let's assume a few things.

1. You have installed Uru - Complete Chronicles

2. You have installed either the Offline KI or the UruLibraryManager (ULM).

3. You have installed Blender 2.46 or higher

4. You have installed Python 2.5.2, PyPRP and the required plugins

5. You are comfortable with (at least) creating objects in Blender and texturing them

Don't be frightened if step 4 or 5 seems impossible at first, it can be done! If you are really stuck, be sure to ask for help in the forum.

All done? Then let's get started, shall we? Don't you just long to see your very first age in Uru?

Starting Blender

Age creation takes place in Blender, so let's go there. Now that you have followed some of Jennifer's tutorials, you are relatively comfortable with the windows presented here. You may delete the standard cube: right click on the cube to select it, press delete (or type the letter x) and click "Erase selected object(s)". After all, by now, we can create trees and cones, who needs a cube anyway! See screenshot 1.

Screenshot 1

You can't wait to fill the empty screen with all those goodies you are able to create, but wait a moment! First, we need to make sure Uru CC sees our creation as an actual age. You did install PyPRP and the plugins, did you, in step 4? Great! What we need to do, is create a book so that we can actually link to our new age.

Create a New Book

In the top menu (where you see the i), click Add - PyPRP. See screenshot 2.

Screenshot 2

Then, click "Create a New Book". See screenshot 3.

Screenshot 3

Our book is added, but we still need to change some settings. To do that, we shall change the Buttons Window to the Text Editor. Click on the button that looks like two horizontal bars, and choose "Text Editor". See screenshot 4.

Screenshot 4

Incidently, did you see the menu change magically? Where it said "View", "Select" and "Object" at first, now it says "File" and all the buttons have changed.

Not to worry, all we are interested in now is the book we just created. Click the little button that looks like two triangles pointing up and down, and choose "Book". See screenshot 5.

Screenshot 5

But... nothing happened?! Oh yes, it did. Click in the bottom grey area and use your "Up" arrow key to scroll up. Whoa, lots of cryptic text, and I know nothing about programming! Chill, buddy, we only need to change the number behind "sequenceprefix", you can do it! See screenshot 6.

Why did we have to to do this? Well, every age needs to have a unique number, otherwise they conflict with each other. So why don't you give it some nice, random number between 1000 and 9999. Make sure you don't accidently delete the space between the word "sequenceprefix" and your number! There, you just did your first bit of programming. Wasn't that easy?

Screenshot 6

We're done with the Text Editor for now, so you can change it back to the Buttons Window. See screenshot 7.

Screenshot 7

All this work and we haven't created a single object yet! That is true, but it had to be done. On the positive side though, this only needs to be done once... If you save your Blender project at this point, you can use this file over and over again. Just remember that for each additional age you create, you need to change the "sequenceprefix" (see screenshot 6).

Add a Plane

Now, it is time to add some solid ground for us to stand on. We don't want to fall back to Relto the second we enter the age, do we?

Note 1: are you sure you are still in the top view? This is the standard view when you start Blender, but press the 7 (seven) key on your numeric keyboard - with Numlock on - to make sure. We want a floor that is horizontal... not a slide.

Note 2: please verify the cursor is still at the very center of your grid. If not, make sure it is centered (just left click in the very center of the grid where the red and green line meet).

Anyway, to create our floor, go to the top menu, click Add - Mesh - Plane. See screenshot 8.

Screenshot 8

Take a quick peek at screenshot 9 below. Do you see the size of an avie, compared to our brand new plane? That doesn't give much room to roam, does it? We really need to scale up that plane a bit!

Screenshot 9

To scale an object, click on "Object" in the 3d View Window, then Transform, then Scale. See screenshot 10.

Screenshot 10

Drag your mouse a bit... ooh, the size of the plane changes with it. But no matter how far we move the mouse, we can't scale much more than 3 or 4 times what we have now. And we SO wanted a LARGE plane! You can see the scale change when you drag your mouse. See screenshot 11.

Screenshot 11

Let's think BIG, and scale the plane by a factor 20, or 30, or 50, ah, why not go for a full 100. Whatever size you wish, and it is so easy to do! You are still in the scale mode, right? Ok, pry your fingers away from the mouse, towards the keyboard. Type 100 and press the Enter key. Voila! Our plane is huge now, in fact we cant even see the edges anymore. See screenshot 12. (Tip: use the scroll button on the mouse to zoom in and out, but for this tutorial we don't need it yet)

Screenshot 12

Add a Material

Did you notice your plane is a VERY dull shade of grey? That won't do at all. We wanted something like an exciting green, didn't we? Yes, we did. And even if we didn't, we still need to add a "material" to our plane to make our age work in Uru.

Note: if we omit this step, the age will not be converted at all. Remember, every object you create needs a material... if you get a python error message, chances are you forgot to add a material to one of your objects.

From Jennifer's tutorials you may have learned already how to add real life textures, but let us not try that yet (yes, there is a reason for that). For now, let us be satisfied with a nice color. Ready? Look at screenshot 13. You see where I circled the two circles? (yes I know how that sounds). Make sure they are selected by clicking on each of them one by one. Then, under Links and Pipeline, click "Add New".

Screenshot 13

Umph, lots of frightening options all of a sudden! Not to worry, the color button is there as well! You see the grey bar and the two white bars? Click the grey bar and choose a color you fancy. Then, click on the button "Sample" and pick a color by clicking on a shade of your choice in the largest colored box. See screenshot 14.

Screenshot 14

Add a Collider

If we were to export our age right now, we would STILL fall right through our plane. Why is that? Because we have not told Blender yet that it is, in fact, supposed to be solid. Click on the "Logic" button right next to Panels, the one that looks a bit like a Pacman sprite (logical, isn't it? hah!). Then, in the menu that appears, click "Bounds". See screenshot 15.

Screenshot 15

Two new choices appear next to where you just clicked. Don't worry with "Compound" at all, but click on the word "Box". From the choice menu that pops up, select Static TriangleMesh. See screenshot 16.

Screenshot 16

Add a SpawnPoint

Almost done, bear with me just a little while longer! Now, we need to tell Uru where to put our avi when we enter our age. Make sure once again that your cursor is still where you left it in screenshot 8. That is where your spawnpoint will be created.

From the top menu, click Add - PyPRP. See screenshot 17.

Screenshot 17

From the menu that pops up, choose Create a New SpawnPoint. See screenshot 18.

Screenshot 18

But... but... I see no changes! That's right, you won't. PyPRP objects are added to another layer, to be exact, layer 2. Of course you want to admire your spawn point, right? After all, you may want to change the location your avie links in when entering the age for the first time. Look at those 20 tiny little white squares. You thought they were teeth, did you? No, in fact, they are layers. This will prove useful later, when you start adding a sky for example. You can stow it away to another layer, and not have it in the way all the time. But that is for later... now, we want to see our spawn point in layer two. Sure, go ahead, click on the second square! See screenshot 19. Ah, there it is! I don't have to explain how to go back to layer one, do I? Just click the first square, that's all.

Screenshot 19

Export to Uru Format

I know you are chomping at the bit to fill your brand new age with cones, trees, porcupines and pillars, but first, let us see if we can manage to export our plain plane to Uru. Once we know it works, THEN we can start to add objects.

In the top menu, click File - Export - PyPRP. See screenshot 20.

Screenshot 20

From the menu that pops up, choose "Generate Release (.age)". See screenshot 21.

Screenshot 21

Make sure to browse to the folder where Uru - Complete Chronicles is installed and select the "dat" folder. Choose a name for your new age, then click "Export final .age". See screenshot 22.

Screenshot 22

We are nearly, nearly there.

Add the Age to Uru

Only one more step to do! We need to make Uru know about the age to link us there.

Using the Offline KI

If you have the Offline KI installed, it will automatically find your age the next time you start Uru and add it to the end of the "Restoration Links" in Nexus. As an even quicker way to test your age, use the KI command "/link agefilename".

Using the ULM

We can tell ULM (that you installed in step 2 of this tutorial) about our new age. That pretty much explains itself, but see screenshot 23 for an brief explanation.

Screenshot 23

Yes, finally, that was really all!!! Now, start the game, and use the book on the bottom bookshelf to visit your newly created age. Admire, and dream of all the goodies you are going to add...........

Screenshot 24

-- Brought to you by Sophia 23:48, 16 May 2008 (EDT)