Saving .tgo objects

Henry Blewer · June 06, 2009, 09:39:29 PM

I made an object using Blender. I exported it as a Lightwave object. I used a UV image map. Then I decided to save it as a .tgo file. The file was not written. It would be nice to be able to reuse this object in other projects. Re setting all the object properties will get the job done, but it would be simpler to just use a .tgo.
I am using the current free version of Terragen 2. I'll post an image tomorrow when it has rendered.

Oshyan · June 06, 2009, 09:46:42 PM

I'm not sure if converting to TGO from Lightwave works (in that I've never tested it). OBJ is the preferred format for initial import at this point. I don't think the LWO import even handles UVs and texture import.

- Oshyan

Henry Blewer · June 06, 2009, 11:14:12 PM

I have not had much luck using Blender exporting the wavefront.obj. I know it does not do procedural textures. (too bad because I can do nearly anything texturewise using procedurals) I'll keep trying. I did use poseray. It did not help much. I have to go to work in about 20 minutes, so I'll work on it again tomorrow. I'll post here again when I have made any progress.
Any chance that the mtl information can be loaded and attached to the object?

Oshyan · June 06, 2009, 11:59:53 PM

I don't think LWO uses MTL, OBJ does. TG2 loads MTL data with OBJs, although obviously not procedurals.

- Oshyan

Henry Blewer · June 07, 2009, 08:45:13 AM

Here is the image I rendered using the object in question. It's a really ugly place. The objects are supposed to be mushrooms/fungi. The image mapped onto the object is for experimenting. I'll make a real image when I have the other objects finished.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3349/3603558078_2f61a44eb4_o.jpg

You're right about the .mtl file. Blenders exporter is a little wacky it seems.

Henry Blewer · June 07, 2009, 02:00:21 PM

I've noticed that Terragen 2 saves the path names with the main file. Still no luck saving .tgo's

Henry Blewer · June 08, 2009, 08:48:27 PM

I found out what is going on with the export from Blender. It only makes a compatible Lightwave object. The object may be exported in an older object format from earlier versions of Lightwave. I started using the wavefront .obj format.

Henry Blewer · June 21, 2009, 03:58:33 PM

It's easy! Now for applying shaders.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3571/3648159720_556e767f68_o.jpg

Object made in Blender using the Sculpt mode. Saved as a Wavefront obj file.

Matt · June 21, 2009, 08:06:55 PM

If you have an object working in one scene, you should not need to export as TGO just to get it to work in a different scene. Just copy the object node (which should include its internal shader nodes) and paste it into another project. Or save as a clip file (which is basically just a copy-and-paste clip stored in a file).

There are some situations where this might not work, e.g. if the object uses images which are not in the same folder as the object, but if you keep everything in the same folder as the object before importing into Terragen then it should be easy to reuse your objects and shaders in other projects.

Matt

Henry Blewer · June 21, 2009, 08:15:42 PM

Thanks Matt!
I like using procedurals, functions, and shaders. It makes things so much easier if someone wants to share the file. I have thousands of image textures I have made over 20 years. I commonly use about 6.