Blender is "... the open source software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback. Available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License."
Blender is a feature-rich and full-value alternative to commercial 3D-modeling suites like 3ds Max and Maya. Due to its open source character, there are various exporters available that allow you to export your models in a format that is suitable for use in Unreal Editor or the UDK.
Contents
Blender Websites
- The Blender Website (downloads, informations, forums)
- Blender Artists - Formerly known as Elysiun (user community forums for user help and questions)
Unreal File Formats
The following file formats can be imported and exported by Unreal Editors.
Unreal Editor 3 (UT2004)
Import
BSP Geometry
- Unreal Text (.t3d)
Brushes
- Unreal Text (.t3d)
- Autodesk DXF (.dxf)
- ASCII (.asc)
- ASCII Scene Exporter (.ase)
StaticMeshes
- ASCII Scene Exporter (.ase)
- LightWave (.lwo)
Export
BSP Geometry
- Unreal Text (.t3d)
- Stereo Litho (.stl)
- Wavefront Object (.obj)
Brushes
- Unreal Text (.t3d)
- Wavefront Object (.obj)
Blender File Formats
Blender (2.49b) comes with a wide collection of Python export scripts when it has been installed:
Supported Import Formats
- VRML 1.0
- DXF
- STL
- 3D Studio (.3ds)
- AC3D (.ac)
- Autodesk DXF (.dxf, .dwg)
- COLLADA 1.3.1 (.dae)
- COLLADA 1.4 (.dae)
- DEC Object File Format (.off)
- DirectX (.x)
- LightWave (.lwo)
- LightWave Motion (.mot)
- MD2 (.md2)
- MilkShape3D (.ms3d)
- MilkShape3D ASCII (.txt)
- Motion Capture (.c3d)
- Motion Capture (.bvh)
- OpenFlight (.flt)
- Paths (.svg, .ps, .eps, .ai, Gimp)
- Pro Engineer (.slp)
- Raw Faces (.raw)
- Stanford PLY (.ply)
- Video Sequence (.edl)
- X3D & VRML97 (.x3d/wrl)
Supported Export Formats
- VRML 1.0
- DXF
- STL
- 3D Studio (.3ds)
- AC3D (.ac)
- Autodesk DXF (.dxf, .dwg)
- Autodesk FBX (.fbx)
- COLLADA 1.3.1 (.dae)
- COLLADA 1.4 (.dae)
- DEC Object File Format (.off)
- DirectX (.x)
- LightWave (.lwo)
- LightWave Motion (.mot)
- M3G (.m3g, .java)
- MD2 (.md2)
- OpenFlight (.flt)
- OpenInventor (.iv)
- Quake 3 (.map)
- Raw Faces (.raw)
- SoftImage XSI (.xsi)
- Stanford PLY (.ply)
- VRML97 (.wrl)
- Vertex Keyframe Animation (.mdd)
- X3D Extensible 3D (.x3d)
Import/Export Plug-ins
This list contains only Unreal-related plug-ins. Other Import/Export scripts can be found here.
Export Plug-ins
Goofos's ASE exporter
Exporter available for 2.4x and above
There is another ASE exporter for both 2.36 and 2.37a versions of Blender
(Note: script version 2.37a will work in Blender 2.37a up, so it works with 2.40 and 2.41 as well. 2.36 on the other hand, will ONLY work with Blender 2.36)
- Download from KatsBits (thanks Kat!)
- Also check the development thread for info on usage,
- Video tutorials for creating low-poly terrain objects in blender, using Goofos's ASE exporter,
- Vertex Painting but I'm not sure if Unreal makes use of,
Any further questions can be posted there or on Kat's forums.
Doc Holiday's Blender to .ASE
- http://www.neewo.de/Files/USM11Script.zip (updated to 1.1, fixed scale issues)
- A tutorial for this plugin in the context of Doom 3
Cambo's Blender to .ASE
- http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread?t=45180
- Tutorial in German (try google translation)
NOTE: When using the export script, it will throw an error if it does not find the default .00x after the datablock name of the texture.
Optimus_P-Fat's PSK/PSA Export Script
- Download from p-fat.net
NOTES: Please read the caveats on p-fat.net before using this script. There are a few things it doesn't handle that you must do to your mesh before the export, like converting all quads to triangles. This script is still very much "alpha", but seems to work fine for meshes, armatures, and animations.
Darknet's PSK/PSA Export Script
This is basing on P-Fat's script and has some enhancements.
- Latest version available at Epic's Forum
PSK/PSA Export Script by unknown author
This shall facilitate the export of animated meshes and models to Epic's Unreal Engine's *.psk and *.psa format. Requires at least Blender 2.45 and a full Python installation.
- Download at Katsbits
Import Plug-ins
Goofos's ASE importer
It is written for Blender 2.42/2.43 but should also work in newer versions. The ASE import script will bring in mesh data as well as any UVWmap and vertex paint data found on the selected ASE model.
- Download at Katsbits
Python Scripts
Blender is open source, hence some community members wrote scripts that can help modelers by fulfilling automated tasks, for example modifying an object under certain criteria or creating a certain kind of model to start from.
Blender Tutorials
Written Tutorials
Blender 3D: Noob to Pro
Great, extensive and free online book. Step-by-step guide that explains everything in detail and with pictures. Maintained by the community, following the wiki-concept. [1]
Video Tutorials
Super3boy's Blender Tutorials
Mixed collection of video tutorials. More related to creating a scene for rendering than modeling a mesh for a videogame, but nice to take a first look at how things can be done. [2]