This tutorial shows how to set up Blender 2.5 for creating objects in TS3. It's the set up I use, so feel free to modify it to your liking.

Tutorial: Setting up Blender 2.5 for TS3 Object Creating

Please post any questions and comments in this thread.

I think I didn't get this totally right. O well I am learning as I go. I wanted to say that I was so happy with this cmomoney. Thank you. I dont know much about Blender but it looks more of a program than Milkshape. I can not do anything with that. Now a really nice and easy tutorial for moddeling in Blender for the sims3 and I be so happy. The tutorials I have seen are still hard to understand without the pictures. I would love to see one in details like your tutorial. Thank you again.

I'm currently working on a tutorial, I'm just trying to find the simplest way of doing things and the best way to explain them, while still showing how to do more advanced things. thanks for your comments.

Thank you cmomoney. I am sure when we all know what a good program Blender is we will flock to your tutorials. I for one am looking forward to it.

I found these video tutorials. I've worked through the first three.
They might be helpful. Or, we might be working with different
versions of blender.

http://www.blendercookie.com/gettin...d-with-blender/

Hi lenglel. Yes I did blender cookie's tutorials and they are fantastic but it does not give us the instructions for the set up and creating for the sims3. There are not many Blender tutorials for the sims3. Thank you for the link though. Cmomoney done a wonderful tutorial for the setting up for The sims3 as above and very much appreciated too. How are you doing with the tutorial for the modding part Cmomoney?

hellu cmo =)
have you managed to write a tutorial? cause I started to make one, but still am figuring out how to get friendly with the bones of imported .s3asc files.. not to mention the part where I have meddled with the mesh (ain't there yet ^.-) and don't know which file to put where.

so if you have - pleeeeez tell me where to find it!
if not - I'm gonna start asking all sorts of questions in any forum I can find (mostly here cause you all seem to have worked it all out properly :D) so I understand everything and will be able to finish the tut I started writing.

thanks a lot
maninkka.

btw.. if anyone else has information on where to find a tutorial that includes explanations mentioned in this thread, I'd love to have it! feel free to tell me, even if this post is first of all adressed to cmo I am desperate for more input. want to start the real thing now, not just messing around with tutorials and all^^

I've updated this tutorial to go with the tutorial series I'm writing, and formatted it better.

Thank you very much!

Today i booted up Blender 2.59 to bake a texture but the EZ Bake options are gone....
The sims 3 Mlod and MODL tools are still there but the rest isn't.
Reinstalling the tools and redirecting to PS didn't fix it.
I redid the tut cos prolly missed a step but i have no idea sofar....


Edit,
Aww.....wasn't in edit mode??

You don't have to be in Edit mode, but you do have to have a mesh object selected for the EZ Bake to show.

strange, only after right clicking the mesh the options apear.
But thats ok, i wont forget

Right, that's how you select stuff in Blender, by right-clicking. You can change this to left-click in the user preferences.

Oki,

Another problem that i am facing is the baking itself, do you use a setup that came originally with Blender?
I always have one side kinda reversed(left and right)
it wont show the shadow below but above....
Shadows on the right side appear as it should(not that i am too happy with those in the screenshot.... ) but the left side is always off.

The uvmapping is done in Milkshape, left mapped from the left side and right mapped from the right side.
I often do rotate the sides 90degrees so that they are positioned vertical(like most vehicles)
Anyone else facing similar issues?

Edit,
Maybe this model is a bit to complicated, i donno.
I noticed it is important that the obj file is imported with the correct normals and smoothing groups and at this point Blender screws them up on every import setting i use.
Flat shaded or smooth shaded also has effect on the baked texture
I dont get much better results when using the baking options of Blender itself.

I don't use smoothing groups and I've never had a problem with the normals when moving a .obj from MS to Blender. I did have a problem moving .obj from Blender to MS...and I got around it transferring my model with .smd instead. After getting some advice that my .obj problem sounded like a normals issue I tried the demon tool on the .obj in MS and that fixed things up. There does seem to be some kind of issue with maintaining normals between the two editors. One reason I'm transitioning from meshing with MS to using Blender instead, among others, is that Blender bakes things made in Blender extremely well...even complicated models.

i dont use smoothing groups either, most of the times autosmooth is on and when each meshpart is welded and divided on the seams this gives a very nice result.(see screenshot)
But i think that is the problem when trying to import/export the meshes between diffrent 3d programs(it might need those smooting groups)
It is not Blender but Milkshape because importing the obj file in 3d MAX gives the same messed up mesh on the normals.
I love Milkshape cos wat you see is wat you get and the mesh looks exactly the same ingame.
The model was a difficult mesh when it comes to the normals, alot of sharp edges.

Im still experimenting with the baking options in Blender but if i can not get the model correct in Blender it will always be trial and error.
Will try the smd plugin tho, thnx

CMO, is it possible you can add a 2048x2048 option on the texture size?
After reading some you get the best results when reducing the texture size 50% after baking(less pixelizing/pixelisation?)

Sure, that won't be a problem at all.

Thank you!
I tried to do it with the bake options from Blender but couldn't manage...
Your plugin is soooo much easier to use

Just to clarify...when you apply the shadow to your object in Blender does it look borked? And when you then apply it to the model in MS does it look borked? Or is the borkage only showing up when you look at it in-game? I should have asked before because there's no shots from the editors. That's another sweet looking ride by the way

And I've found Blender to be the same way actually...what you see is what you get in game.

Yea, if you load the images in it looks like it will in game, except for patterns. And you can even check the specular, which you can't do in MS.

Updated tools to increase EZ Bake images size maximum to 2048x2048.

Thank you
Here is the body file, i am curious if you can import and export it without messing up the normals.

Have created 12 baked textures and im beginning to think the error is due the pasting of the texture onto another texture file.
Always alligne the corners and the last 8 came out correct.....
@OM, a smd plugin i have to install i guess?

Yes...the .smd plugin is here:

http://code.google.com/p/blender-sm...-1.zip&can=1&q=

It works through 2.59...I haven't tested it in 2.6 yet. And this isn't an optimal solution...it just worked while I was kinda in a jam. I think you're better off figuring out what's going wrong with your .obj tbh.

ETA: I baked the .obj you posted and it's looking fine in MS to me. I can post pics if you need to see 'em.

i use 2.59 so it should work, thank you!

srry, should have sent the chrome also....its the door handles that caused the mismatch.(but prolly caused by me..)

The normals often get messed up when converting between diffrent 3d programs.
Alot of the cars come out of Zmodeler, then into 3dMAX before i can get them in MS.
3dMAX for instance always has a model rotation by default, that always messes up things.

But can you import in Blender, export to obj and view that file in MS?
Blender has alot export functions, still haven't figured out wich i need.

If you post the door handles I can give those a try too.

I'm able to import .obj from MS to Blender with no problem. I'm able to import .obj from Blender to MS but, as I said, I have to use the demon tool on it to make the normals right. I'm not sure why this is but my bet is it's a settings issue of some kind and if I knew how to set it correctly it wouldn't happen. It was so easy to deal with that I haven't gotten around to looking into it.