getting started

[3dhippie]

Hi everyone

 

Please excuse my noobishness 

 

I just started looking at html5/webgl workflows and was amazed by the babylon.js examples. But I'm afraid I'll need some help. I am reasonably good at creating games with unity and 3dsmax. So neither the modelling part nor the scripting should be too challenging, if I find my way through the maze of html5 and webgl...

 

1.) My first question is: How far can I go with blender? Never used it before. I know it's possible to export geometry, cameras, lights and materials. But what about reflection cubemaps? Or game dynamics (it seems to have a game engine)? 

 

2) Looking at the sample files it looks as if most scenes consist of a .babylon file, a .babylon.manifest and a bunch of images. where is the game logic? Or is there none?

 

3) How do I create/ Where do I download advanced shaders? Like a carpaint.

 

 

 

thanks, David

[Wingnut]

Hi 3dhippie (David)!  Welcome to the forum!  I am sad that your questions have gone so long unanswered.  I am a newbie, too, but maybe I can guess at a few of your questions.  I am going to point out your post to a few Unity and Blender users... and see if they can help, too.  You ask good questions!

 

#1 & #2 - Here is a tutorial post about using Blender with babylon.js.  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/eternalcoding/archive/2013/06/28/babylon-js-how-to-load-a-babylon-file-produced-with-blender.aspx .  I am guessing, but I do not think the babylon exporter for Blender allows for exporting of game logic or 'Blender logic bricks'.  But you can certainly export models and scenes, and easily get Javascript 'handles' on those scene items.  Once you have those, babylon.js can easily help you leverage Javascript to write game logic.  I think you will find that Javascript-based game logic is much more powerful than the game logic system that is built into Blender.  Blender is a wonderful modeler and scene layout system, and that is why the good people at babylon.js wanted to build an exporter for it so quickly.  Babylon.js also integrates the fantastic cannon.js physics system, something that really makes game logic come alive. 

 

I hope that answers SOME of your questions about Blender.  Reflection cubemaps?  I just don't know about those.  Hopefully someone else will help answer that question.  A comprehensive mapping of .babylon files can be found here...

 

https://github.com/BabylonJS/Babylon.js/wiki/Babylon.js-file-format

 

#3 - Babylon.js uses standard fragment and vertex shaders, and there are quite a few of them included in the babylon.js package (.fx files).  The shaders can be found all over the web, including at the Nvidia shaders library.  I'll let you do the web searching yourself.  You might be interested in this:  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/eternalcoding/archive/2013/08/06/babylon-js-creating-a-convincing-world-for-your-game-with-custom-shaders-height-maps-and-skyboxes.aspx It speaks of shaders use.

 

As you probably have noticed, we don't hear a whole lot of talk around here... about Blender limitations or babylon.js limitations.  More often, we hear "Can you help me fix my code?"  There seems to ALWAYS be a way to get exactly what you want to do... done.  It takes some patience, tutorial reading, looking at others' source code, and experimenting... to learn HOW to get those things done.  But, I think you will discover that babylon.js has a very gentle learning curve compared to many other webGL frameworks.  My advice is to ease into it... don't try to take over the world on day one.  Blender is a fine modeler... but there are others, and babylon.js has a competent file converter for most of the major filetypes produced by today's modelers and scene assemblers.

 

Again, sorry it has taken so long for you to get a response.  You have asked intelligent questions... not easily answerable.  I hope you can stick around and teach ME and others... the things that you already know about, and the things you are out to discover.  I hope some others will respond to your questions as well (hint hint to other forum users).