Issues with the new POD export plugin for Blender

PowerVR Insider
1

  I was very glad to see the new POD export plugin for current versions of Blender in the 2.10 SDK Release.  It looks like a big step forward and I would like to use it extensively. Clap

   However, I having some problems with it in my initial testing.  It does not seem to handle textures correctly.  For example, the m_Scene.nNumTexture parameter is always zero, even though my scene has 2 textures.  Also, the material indexes for the mesh nodes in the scene are -1, indicating that there are no assigned materials, but I do have textures assigned to them.  Finally, my sphere mesh is not being split into 2 sub-meshes automatically (like the way the previous version of the exporter/Collada2POD did it).  My test scene is just a single sphere mesh with one texture applied to half of the sphere and a second texture applied to the other half.  I can send you this Blender file, if you want.  I am using Blender 2.59 with the PowerVR SDK 2.10 and VFrame.

Thanks, Clay Montgomery



2


Hi,
 
When you export do you have the "Export materials" option checked? All the issues you describe would occur if this was unchecked. If this is checked could you send your Blender file and your exported .pod file to devtech@imgtec.com so we can take a look.
 
Also, are you using the Windows, Linux or Mac version of Blender?
 
Cheers,
 
Scott
 
3

Scott,

    I am using the Windows version of Blender 2.59 and I did check the export materials box.

    After more testing, I have decided that my problem with exporting textures is not really a problem with the POD plugin because I get the same results when I export to Collada.  The real issue is just differences between Blender 2.49 and 2.59.  With the newer version of Blender, it is now essential to first define a material for any object with a texture in order for it to export properly.  Blender 2.49 did not have this requirement.  I will continue testing it.

Thanks, Clay



4


  I’m finding that many of the parameters in the SPODMaterial structures seem to return only hard-coded default values when exporting from Blender 2.59 using the new plugin.

   I understand that this structure is generalized to also cover 3DSMax, etc.  But, can you please tell me if any of these parameters are actually exported from Blender 2.59 with real values?

struct SPODMaterial {
    EPODBlendFunc    eBlendSrcRGB;
    EPODBlendFunc    eBlendSrcA;
    EPODBlendFunc    eBlendDstRGB;
    EPODBlendFunc    eBlendDstA;
    EPODBlendOp        eBlendOpRGB;
    EPODBlendOp        eBlendOpA;
    VERTTYPE        pfBlendColour[4];
    VERTTYPE        pfBlendFactor[4];
    PVRTuint32        nFlags;

Thanks, Clay



5


Hi,
 
At the moment those values can only be customised by the artist using PVRShaman. This isn't just limited to Blender but is true for all the exporters.
 
Thanks,
 
Scott