Exporting from Blender to PS Mobile: Part 2

BlenderOnVita

 

This is part 2 of our series looking at getting a fully textured model from Blender to the PlayStation Vita, or at least, the simulator.

 

In part 1 we created and exported our textured model, a simple 6 sided die.  Now we are going to convert it into a format the PlayStation Suite can make use of.  To do this, we make use of a command line tool called ModelConverter. ModelConverter was installed when you installed the PSSDK.  If you haven’t already installed it, go install it now.  For details about what is installed by the SDK and where take a look at this post.  I will assume you installed to the default drive and directory, if you haven’t adjust your directories accordingly.  If you aren’t using a 64bit copy of Windows, it is Program Files instead of Program Files (X86).

 

 

ModelConverter is located at C:Program Files (X86)SCEPsstoolsModelConverter, open a dos prompt and CD to that directory.  Now you want to run modelconverter and point it at your dae file.  I saved mine ( and associated textures ) in c:temp, so I run “modelconverter c:tempbox.dae”.  The results should look like:

 

image

 

( ModelConverter can handle Fbx, dae, xsi and x file formats ).

 

You have now created a new file named Box.mdx, in the same folder as your COLLADA file.  We now want to use this model in PlayStation Suite Studio.  Let’s fire it up, and create a new solution called ModelViewer.  If you don’t know how to create a project using PS Suite Studio, take a quick look at this post.  Now that we have our project, double click AppMain.cs and enter the following code (replacing whatever is there already):

 

using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using Sce.Pss.Core; using Sce.Pss.Core.Environment; using Sce.Pss.Core.Graphics; using Sce.Pss.Core.Input; using Sce.Pss.HighLevel.Model; namespace ModelViewer { public class AppMain { private static GraphicsContext graphics; private static BasicModel model; private static BasicProgram program; private static float cameraAngleX = 0.0f; private static float cameraAngleY = 0.0f; public static void Main (string[] args) { Initialize (); while (true) { SystemEvents.CheckEvents (); Update (); Render (); } } public static void Initialize () { // Set up the graphics system graphics = new GraphicsContext (); program = new BasicProgram(); model = new BasicModel("/Application/box.mdx",0); } public static void Update () { // Query gamepad for current state var gamePadData = GamePad.GetData (0); if((gamePadData.Buttons & GamePadButtons.Up) != 0) cameraAngleX += 1.1f; if((gamePadData.Buttons & GamePadButtons.Down) != 0) cameraAngleX -= 1.1f; if((gamePadData.Buttons & GamePadButtons.Left) != 0) cameraAngleY += 1.1f; if((gamePadData.Buttons & GamePadButtons.Right) != 0) cameraAngleY -= 1.1f; if(cameraAngleX < 0.0f) cameraAngleX = 360.0f; if(cameraAngleX > 360.0f) cameraAngleX = 0.0f; if(cameraAngleY < 0.0f) cameraAngleY = 360.0f; if(cameraAngleY > 360.0f) cameraAngleY = 0.0f; } public static void Render () { // Clear the screen graphics.SetClearColor (1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f); graphics.Clear (); Matrix4 projectionMatrix = Matrix4.Perspective(FMath.Radians(45.0f),graphics.Screen.AspectRatio, 1.0f, 100000.0f); Matrix4 viewMatrix = Matrix4.LookAt( new Vector3(0.0f,5.0f,5.0f), new Vector3(0.0f,0.0f,0.0f), new Vector3(0.0f,1.0f,0.0f)); Vector3 litDirection = new Vector3( 0.5f, -1.0f, -1.0f ).Normalize(); Vector3 litColor = new Vector3( 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f ); BasicParameters parameters = program.Parameters; parameters.Enable(BasicEnableMode.Lighting, true); parameters.SetViewMatrix(ref viewMatrix); parameters.SetLightCount(1) ; parameters.SetLightDirection(0, ref litDirection); parameters.SetLightDiffuse( 0, ref litColor); parameters.SetLightSpecular(0, ref litColor); parameters.SetProjectionMatrix(ref projectionMatrix); Matrix4 world = Matrix4.RotationXyz(FMath.Radians(cameraAngleX),FMath.Radians(cameraAngleY),0.0f); graphics.SetViewport(0,0,graphics.Screen.Width,graphics.Screen.Height ); graphics.Enable(EnableMode.Blend); graphics.Enable(EnableMode.CullFace) ; graphics.SetCullFace(CullFaceMode.Back, CullFaceDirection.Ccw) ; graphics.Enable(EnableMode.DepthTest); graphics.SetDepthFunc(DepthFuncMode.LEqual, true); model.SetWorldMatrix(ref world); model.Update(); model.Draw(graphics,program); graphics.SwapBuffers (); graphics.Disable(EnableMode.CullFace); graphics.Disable(EnableMode.DepthTest); } } }

 

 

EDIT: You also need to add a reference to Sce.Pss.HighLevel.Model.  If you don’t know how to add a reference, refer to this post.

 

 

I am not going to go into a ton of detail about the code for two reasons.  One, its mostly just a stripped down version of the BasicModelSample included in the SDK and two, I am going to cover 3D in a bit more detail in a later tutorial.  So here is the ultra quick version of what’s happening.

 

In Main, we have our primary event loop, which calls Inititalize(), then simply loops forever, getting events, then calling Update() and Render().  Initialize sets up our required objects, the GraphicsContext, BasicProgram and most importantly, our BasicModel.  The parameter to the BasicModel is the file path to where our mdx file is stored ( after being imported into Studio, not on your hard drive ).  If you named your model anything other than box.dae, you need to change it here!

 

Next up is Update(), which is called once per frame before drawing.  All I am doing here is checking the status of the gamepad ( not the analog pads ) and if it is up or down, I set the cameraAngleX variable to increment or decrement 1.1 degrees in that direction.  I do the same thing then for left and right, this time updating the variable cameraAngleY.  Finally I make sure that we aren’t trying to rotate more than 360 degrees, or less than 0 degree.  For more details on handling input, see here.

 

Next we come to Render, which is responsible for drawing the frame to the screen.  First we set up the required viewing matrixes for our screen, create a light and a BasicParameters object that is going to tell our renderer how to render ( via program ).  The lighting details are part of this parameters object, as are our view and projection matrix.  Next we set up our world matrix, representing “our” or more accurately “our camera’s” location in the world, by transforming it relative to our rotation values we set with earlier in update. This effectively rotates the camera relative to our two rotation variables.

 

Finally we set up our graphics object, which is actually used to render our scene.   Set the various rendering options, update our model using our world matrix, render the model via it’s Draw() method, passing in our graphics and program object ( which contains are parameters object ).  Finally we tell it to SwapBuffers, which causes the scene we’ve been rendering to be displayed on screen.

 

I know that grossly glossed over what was happening here, but to go into much more detail would require a couple dozen more pages.  We will cover this stuff later, I promise.

 

 

Ok, now that we have code capable of displaying our model, we need to import it into Studio.  In the Solution window on the left hand side of Studio, right click the ModelViewer project and select Add Files…

 

image

 

 

In the resulting dialog, select your model and texture, in my case box.dae and dice.png.  Click Open.

 

image

 

Once you have selected your file, the following dialog will appear:

 

image

 

Choose “Add a link” if you want to keep your modeling project separate from your code, this personally is what I do.  The nice thing with this setup is if you run modelconverter on your model again, the changes are automatically updated in Studio.  If you choose copy, you will have to reimport each time you change.  The choice ultimately is yours.

 

 

Now is the very key part.  You need to tell PlayStation Suite Studio how to handle these files.  Your png texture will automatically be set right, but your mdx file will not.  Files are actually copied into different directory when your project is built, depending on if you are creating a debug or deployment build.  This is the “/Application” folder we saw earlier.  You need to tell PS Studio that your mdx file is a content file, and should be copied to the right folder when you do a build.  To do this, right click the file box.mdx in the Solution Viewer and select Build Action->Content, like such:

 

image

 

 

Now you should be able to run your application.  If everything worked properly, you should see the following.  Use the gamepad(arrow keys in simulator) to rotate the camera left, right, up and down.

 

 

BlendToPssResults

 

 

And now, you have successfully exported a fully textured model from Blender to a PlayStation Vita application!

 

 

One thing you may notice is your texture looks rather washed out, I found this as well, and currently am unable to figure out why.  The results are even worse when you export as FBX, while astonishingly your results are vastly improved exporting as X ( DirectX format ), as you can see below:

 

DifferentVersions

 

 

I am not completely sure what is responsible at this point, my code, Blender or modelconverter, but as it stands , X format gives basically identical results to what you started with in Blender.  Once I figure out what is responsible, I will update here.

 

 

That concludes how to export from Blender to PlayStation and trust me, it is nowhere near as complex as it looks.  As you can see in the video, the entire process takes less than 4 minutes.

 

EDIT:  Oops, forgot the project code.  Here is a zip of the project file.

Art Programming PSSDK Pipeline PlayStation Mobile


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