Celestia Forums

I recently found a wonderful 3D-modelling program called Blender. I wanted to use it (amongst other things) to make spacecraft models for Celestia. Unfortunatley it can only export to .wrl and .dfx files so I need a good free conversion program to convert to .3ds. I have tried using Crossroads, but this seems to "make things go weird" - i.e either rearranging the positions of the parts of the model, or keeping the positions correct but stretching everything to a point. So can anyone :
1) Give me the web adress of a reliable FREE 3D converting program thingy
2) Tell me what I'm doing wrong (I tried just modelling a sphere and putting it in Celestia - it worked just fine, but my partially completed Enterprise mesh goes all weird. So it's probably my fault, but then I only just discovered the world of modelling !)
3) Convert the files for me ?

Please help in any way possible !!!

hmmm LithUnwrap? Might work: http://cybermindtraveller.freewebspace.com/Armada/files/LithUnwrap_setup.zip

Okay.... getting there (albeit very slowly... this 3D modelling lark is quite addictive ). I just tried combining all the seperate parts of the model and saving as a vrml 1.0. Now I can succesfully convert it into a .3ds format which is displayed correctly in Celestia - hurrah ! Except the model has no textures*. I tried opening it with Lithunwrap, but I just get an error message : The model has no UV co-ordinates.


*This seems to be a problem with the way Blender saves its files since when I open the .wrl file in Blender I still see no textures. I haven't tried dfx format yet but I think this will do the same. Assuming Rassilion or some other kindly soul can help me past the UV problem, can I use LithUnwrap to add textures to models ?

What a strange coincidence... I downloaded OpenFX today (my previous 3D experience all being in Bryce), which can export directly to 3DS, and I tried making the Boeing 601 communications satellite. Surprise surprise, i've hit a snag. Colours don't show up in Celestia. I coloured the separate parts of the model using Attributes > Material Settings and I haven't textured it, but in Celestia it's just a dark dull grey and it's impossible to see unless you're at the right angle, or sillohette it against Earth. Help, anyone?

AFAIK Mad Boris, textures applied to the model in a modelling program won't show up in Celestia. You need to use the ssc file to point to a texture with Texture "whatever.jpg". Don't know if that's any help but...

AFAIK Mad Boris, textures applied to the model in a modelling program won't show up in Celestia. You need to use the ssc file to point to a texture with Texture "whatever.jpg".

Thanks, Sum0, I didn't know that ! Actually I haven't got round to applying textures yet (supposing I did - could I apply multiple textures to a model in Celestia ? If so, how ?) - modelling is still in the construction phase, but I too do not see any materials i.e. colours on the model despite applying some.

To diverge from Celestia a bit, I tried OpenFx too... after an incredibly slow download (20mb at about 2kb/s) I loaded it up, got a small error message.... carried on regardless... started to mess around... then it crashed and reset my computer. When I rebooted, I was greeted with a message that my computer had recovered from a serious error. Charming. Fortunately Blender gave me a much faster download (file size is a mere 1.8mb !), is easy to use (once you realize what the hell is going on) and produces great results. Wonderful though it is - allowing modelling,animation and game-creation (apparently!) I want to put my models in Celestia !

Sorry if I sound like a salesman or something... 3D modelling is starting to take over my life !

Another question : what programs are all you succesful modelling people using for Celestia ?