Stonehearth Add-On for Blender (Animation)

Expired link Hope you can open the .blend file without errors to files locations.

On a first glance it looks like you have set the relations right. However, the origin has to be adjusted for each and every part of the model. In the file you have uploaded, the origin is only set for the two helper bones (root and bodyPosition). You need to adjust it also for “torso”, “head”, “legs”… they are all pointing to the origin which is set if you import objects to Blender.

Comparing it to the female model you have mentioned, you will see that there all origins (the small point you’ve highlighted) have been adjusted and are different for each part (pointing to another point which should be the turning axis).

Weird, No idea how i do that… but shouldn’t Qubicle handle that while you export?

EDIT: Well its semi-working right now :confused: Everybody part is rotating on their own axis right now but that weird as point is still there.

Nope. Qubicle just exports the sizes, colors, positions, etc. of the elements of your model. It does not know where you would like to set the turning point for later animations as it is a modelling tool, not an animation tool (and the origin is just relevant for animations). Qubicle actually does not even know that you would like to animate at all :wink:.

So without the relevant data you are importing the model to Blender. What Blender is doing is to assign an origin for you, because one has to exist. The origin is kind of derived from your model, but all elements will point to the same point, that’s what you are experiencing.

Take a look into the following video starting around minute 3:30. It should explain how to set the origin and why to do it.

P.S. This is a bit painful to do the first time. However, once done you can export the skeleton- and meta-file and you can simply re-use (load) the details into your future projects.

Well what you did in the video is not gonna work on a custom model because you have to set the pivot points for every body object which you do by importing the meta/skeleton file but i still have to build that or im totally seeing this wrong.

I did watch a couple of dev stream and Tom is doing its fairly easy
see: Twitch at 16:00


Skeleton right now:

{
“skeleton”: {
“bodyPosition”: [4.373376,3.637077,9.968034],
“head”: [4.408003,4.007109,16.901640],
“leftArm”: [-1.225329,4.007113,7.933336],
“leftKnee”: [1.908004,4.007112,5.500003],
“leftLeg”: [1.545258,3.624760,1.401963],
“leftShoulder”: [-0.821162,4.007111,13.020836],
“pelvis”: [-10.591995,-8.992886,0.000003],
“rightArm”: [10.041339,4.007113,7.933336],
“rightKnee”: [6.908004,4.007111,5.500002],
“rightLeg”: [7.270748,3.624760,1.401963],
“rightShoulder”: [9.637172,4.007111,13.020836],
“root”: [4.230596,3.930321,0.000000],
“torso”: [-10.591996,-8.992887,0.000000]
},
<<< add links to effects and animations as collision data >>>
}


Meta file:

{
“meta”: {
“helperBone”: [“bodyPosition”, 2.000000, 2.000000, 2.500000, -2.500000],
“helperBone”: [“root”, 3.000000, 3.000000, 3.000000, -3.000000],
“hierarchy”: [“leftKnee”, “pelvis”, “rightKnee”, “bodyPosition”],
“hierarchy”: [“leftLeg”, “leftKnee”],
“hierarchy”: [“leftArm”, “leftShoulder”],
“hierarchy”: [“torso”, “pelvis”],
“hierarchy”: [“rightLeg”, “rightKnee”],
“hierarchy”: [“rightArm”, “rightShoulder”],
“hierarchy”: [“bodyPosition”, “root”],
“hierarchy”: [“head”, “leftShoulder”, “rightShoulder”, “torso”],
},
}

The video should only give an idea.

The difference between a custom model and a predefined is that the skeleton- and meta-files do not exist. In the meta-file the relationships and sizes/positions of helper bones are included while the skeleton holds the names, sizes and locations of the single parts of the model, plus the origin.

If you have a custom model, you have to move the origins to a point which makes sense, define the helper bones and a relationship structure. That is all a bit more complicated as playing around with a given model. For the origins you need to imagine where you want to place the point around which they will turn later on. This requires a basic understanding of how animations will work and look at a later point. The same with the relations (although a bit less complex).

Maybe a good starting point is to take an existing model and adjust the look, so you have a similar model like you have it now… but as kind of a skin above s pre-defined model. That way you can re-use what is already there and start to play around with animations. By doing so you will also get a good understanding of how the different files are working and feel more comfortable to adjust them… also the frustration should be much lower.

I will review the Add-On in the next days to ensure it is still working with the current build of Blender and Stonehearth. Happy to have a chat once I’m done with that (just to be sure that what I say is still relevant ^^).

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Finally got it working, thanks for all the help! :smiley: :thumbsup:

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Finally tried it out and it seems that Version 0.91 of the Stonehearth Add-On for Blender works with Blender 2.74 and is also compatible with Stonehearth r393.

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Looks like the links above are dead. Would you happen to have the source code on github?

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I agree, that would be great

I found a working link for downloading the Add-on.
I hope @voxel_pirate doesn’t mind me posting it here. It’s at the end of this post:

Please acknowledge his work. I don’t know why the german fan-site is dead, but without him, people couldn’t do animations for Stonehearth if they want/need to use Blender.

So again, thanks so much @voxel_pirate for creating the add-on :slightly_smiling:

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I download the plugin but couldn’t install it. I went into preferences -> add-ons -> install from file, selected the init.py and it does not show up in the import/export category.

Have you tried to manually copy the io_stonehearth_091 folder inside your blender/<version_number>/scripts/addons folder?

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Thanks, it worked. I noticed while moving the folder that it asked for admin rights to do it, which I guess was the problem with it not working before.

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So, i downloaded the addon, and tried to download the meta_files for the rigging, and the websites down, is there a alt download for the meta files @voxel_pirate? Anyone? or a rigging file that I may use? I am completely new to this… the Rigging up a premade skeleton, I can rig, but I am lazy…

If the website is down i can’t think of a way to get them aside from other animators


I was about to say that i haven’t made any meta files for the human, but i just realized that i did some animations by request once!

I’ll try and dig it up and post them here when i get back to my computer

But really, the meta files and glorified parenting information(not even bone rigging data like controlers) so it’s probably faster for you to make them three times than to wait for me to upload it

Cool, the sooner I get to my Fossil Mo- I mean, “Special Addon” the faster I can get it done.

oh, wait do you mean you cant get the add-on at-all? ( i tried to click the link in the post)
io_stonehearth_091.zip (29.1 KB)

if so here’s the add-on i have currently, it should be able to handle meta-files as well

human meta files.zip (926 Bytes)
thees are the meta files i made for the human skeletons, the meta files work a little wonky so a few manual adjustments are in order, but it’ll work enough, if you need help with fixing the wonkiness PM me and i’ll be more than happy to help

(also, the meta’s on the master-post up there is outdated since it doesn’t have the ATOVERCOG bone)

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I needed the meta files, I got the Addon, Thanks though! I appreciate it. Trying to find those Meta Files was a pain. Even when the site was down. Thanks again

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