Blender for XNA

Levi D. Smith

@GaTechGrad
www.levidsmith.com

July 2013
CodeStock Knoxville, TN
 Blender History
Developed by Ton Roosendaal in 1995
Funding campaign in 2002 to GPL the software
Blender Foundation
Project Orange, Peach, Mango, Durian
http://www.blender.org/blenderorg/blender-foundation/history/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_%28software%29
 Professional Use
Can Blender be used for professional quality graphics?
Elephants Dream (2006) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLkA0RELQ1g

Big Buck Bunny (2008) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE7VzlLtp-4

Sintel (2010) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRsGyueVLvQ

Tears of Steel (2012) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6MlUcmOul8

 What do You Need?
Visual C# Express 2010
o http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/downloads#d-2010-express

XNA Game Studio 4.0

o http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=23714

Blender 2.67
o http://www.blender.org/

2D Texture Editor
o Gimp, Paint.NET, Microsoft Paint
 Views
Selecting the view

Numpad 7: Top View

Numpad 1: Front View

Numpad 3: Right Side View

Numpad 5: Orthographic (see gridlines)

Ctrl + Numpad: Other side (bottom, back, left

side)
Note: All commands are for Blender 2.6
 Cameras
Numpad 0: Camera view
Helpful for positioning view
Ctrl + 0 select camera when using multiple cameras
Right click on line between panes to split screen

Multiple concurrent views of scene

F12 renders the current scene

F3 saves image
 Modes
Change modes with Tab

Object mode

Lock location and size for XNA

Location: (0, 0, 0) Size: (1, 1, 1)

Vertex coordinates in XNA are relative to orange anchor

dot

Edit mode

Select vertices, edges, faces

Move (translate), rotate, scale

 Creating an Object
A Select All / Select None

B Box select

E Extrude

X Delete

These can be applied to vertices, edges, and faces

Ctrl + Mouse button free select

Z fill object; select only one side

 Modifying the Object
G Translate (move)

R Rotate

S Scale

Follow operator by X, Y, or Z to lock movement to

that axis

Follow operator by number to translate, rotate, or

scale by that value
 Armature
Add a bone to your object

Select point on bone in edit mode and extrude to

add new bones

Make sure your bones are aligned with your object

In object mode, select armature and object

Ctrl + P, with automatic weights to assign armature

to object
 Weight Paint
Select mesh in object mode, then select Weight Paint mode

Used for finer control of assigning vertices to bones

Change selected bone in object browser under Vertex Groups

 Posing
Pose mode to move armature

Must have armature selected to enter Pose mode

Record button - automatic keyframing

Not recommended

Dope sheet / action editor

I, LockRotScale insert keyframe

Must be in Pose mode!

Make sure all bones are selected (A)

Can duplicate keyframe using select then Shift + D

 Animation
Walk cycle

Ctrl + F12 to render images

Images stored in Output folder (default C:\tmp)

Select RGBA to keep transparency

 Render a Face
Start with default Cube

Subsurf modifier

High value for CG image, low value for objects to be rendered in

real time (games)

Ctrl + R Loop cut

Mirror modifier

Delete half of the object

Proportional Editing Tool O Key

 Render a Body
Set background images as a guide

Export FBX for XNA

Blender Z Up coordinate system

XNA Y Up coordinate system

Rotate 90 degrees on import

Both use Right Hand Rule

Select XNA Strict Options

Skinned Model Processor

Many models will cause slowdown

Hardware Instancing to draw multiple models efficiently

 Other Useful Options
F Make face from selected vertices
3 or 4 selected vertices only

Remove doubles (button)

Change merge threshold if no vertices are removed
Vertices to be merged must be selected

Shift + D duplicate object (or vertices/faces)

Ctrl + J join two objects

Alt + F fill (generate triangle faces for selected vertices)

Ctrl + T generate triangles faces from quad faces

 Texture Mapping
Split View

Change new pane to UV/Image Editor

UV Pane: Image > Open Image > Select your texture

View Pane: Face Select Mode, then select faces

View Pane: Mesh > UV Unwrap > Select unwrap method

UV Pane: Scale and position vertices on texture

Select Texture tab

Set Type to Image or Movie

 Texture Mapping continued
Texture Tab: Under Image, select open and select the texture used

Texture Tab: Under Mapping, select UV for coordinates

Texture Tab: Under Mapping, select UVMap for map

Press F12 to render the scene and the image should be correctly
mapped onto the model

Select specific faces in the View pane to see the corresponding

points in the UV Pane
 XNA Project
Content project > Add Existing
Create Model object
Setup camera
Rotate / Translate / Scale as needed
Add code to loop through meshes and draw

3/12/13
Textures and Animation in XNA
Default Model object will handle non-moving models

Texture must be imported separately

SkinnedModelProcessor must be created to import animation

data

SkinnedModelProcessor is not included with GameStudio

XNA will only use first animation defined in an FBX model

http://xbox.create.msdn.com/en-US/education/catalog/sample/skinned_model
 DepthStencilState
Be sure to set to default when displaying models
after displaying sprites
 Special Techniques
Billboarding
Keeps flat objects facing towards the camera
Trees in a racing game
Text in a 3D world

Atlas Mapping
Render many similar objects at once
Allows object texture changing without sacrificing processing
time
 What Else Can Blender Do
Particle Systems

Fluid Simulation
 Sites to Check Out
Blender 3D: Noob to Pro

Free online wiki book

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro
Blasting Bits
My game using Blender models, with development process
documented
https://blastingbits.wordpress.com/
My website
http://www.levidsmith.com
 Books
Foundation Blender Compositing
Author: Roger Wickes
http://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Blender-Compositing-Roger-Wickes/dp/1430219769

Covers Blender 2.4, before user interface

changes
XNA 3D Primer (eBook)
Author: Michael Need
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003A6RCES?ie=UTF8&tag=thefistsofnia-
20&link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=B003A6RCES

Pre XNA 4.0