[WIP] rFactor2 export scripts for Blender 2.80+

Blender rF2 export scrips WIP uploaded 11 July 2021.
rFactor2 export scripts WIP .

Unzip and place the folder in your Blender 2.93+ Addons folder. Activate addon in the Blender Edit/ Preferences/ Add-ons . It will appear in the Import/Export section.

 

Scripts are for rFactor2 and are export only. Currently designed for use with the S397 rF2 materials editor. For example, export GMTs with the L2DIFFUSET0 material. Further edit in the material editor. Use of materials with normal maps not recommented-- the L2BUMPT0 and the special shader.

rFactor2 menu appears as "rFactor2" adjacent to the Help menu header.

rFactor2/ Export GMTs: Export selected GMT(s) to selected folder.

rFactor2/ Initiate SCN/GEN: Initiate a SCN or GEN. Creates a SCN or GEN collection in outliner. SCN or GEN parent collection; with Lights, Cameras and GMTs child collections. GMTs collection started with default rF2 cube object.

rFactor2/ Add Object: Adds a rF2 cube object.

rFactor2/ Change Material: Change material of selected mesh object (solid triangle in outliner). Currently five basic materials are available.

rFactor2/ Show/Hide smooth groups: Experimental feature.

Note: Image files are chosen and set in the texture nodes.


Existing blends can be loaded. Setting up the collections is to be done manually. There is currently no function to do such.

 

wow that's great, will test it soon
thanks traveller

 

first cube exportet as gmt from blender 2.91 and importet to 3DSimed and it worked
great great job traveller
thank you very much ..

 

Wow wasn´t really expecting this, thank you very much!

 

I too wasn't expecting this. It is so perfect in time for me, really goes along with my plans and needs. Amazing, huge thanks to you, Traveller !

I am so looking forward to working on my projects further. You are automatically a part of them all, and deserve a lot of credit and love.

 

great work.

 

This is absolutely excellent! Now, if only some enthusiast from S397 could chime in with required information on data formats. So, no reverse engineering is required. Maybe they are already doing this. Fingers crossed.

PS.
@Traveller. Just as an idea. Have you considered doing this as open source project? This way others may help a bit easier.

 

THANK YOU, SIR!!!!!

 

The add-on system provided by Blender allows multiple, smaller software tools to be created and grouped into workflows. I've done so with a number of small utilities for my own use. I've also recently refreshed my web site focused on Blender/Python/rFactor. There are some (older) samples of Python/rFactor scripts. Hopefully folks interested in adding more rF2 function to Blender will discuss what/how they want to expand the toolset. I'm willing to help folks in any area I understand, as well adding articles to my site.

https://www.thepyfactor.awlabel.com

As for an open source project, I'm not the one to make such a decision. To succeed an open source project definitely adds another level of infrastructure & maintenance. With Blender I don't see the need. I would go with Blender add-ons that work with the Travller script's rF2_Objects - which are regular Blender objects with additions using Blender's built-in custom parameters.

 

Great tool because I love working in Blender above 3dsmax. I will post about it on my track making tutorials that are up soon.

 

Just added it https://www.patreon.com/posts/45973491

 

There are things that can be added to work with the scripts. I came up with a few in the S397 rF2 Discord mod channel sometime ago. From what I remember:

1. Creation of a complete SCN or GEN file based on the scene in Blender. The data in Blender of the GMTs can be used to customize the entries in the SCN/GEN.
2. dxp_rlong's site has the basics needed to handle writing the lights section.
3. Camera files. Set the cameras in Blender to write to the camera file. Vehicles aren't too difficult, as they are fixed about the vehicle. Track cameras...Ambitious, and might not be worth the effort. The full vision is to have a centerline for the track, have an object travel along that centerline, then cameras set up and switched to as it travels and behave as they do in rF2-- fixed view or tracking view. So the editing can be done in Blender and WYSIWIG.

Speaking of WYSIWIG....Anyone good with programming nodes and node trees?

 

Just curious for clarification. Are these scripts described as for Blender 2.8+ supposed to work with Blender 2.91?

 

They ought to. I develop using the latest Blender. I just downloaded 2.91.2.

 

Thanks. I also downloaded 2.9.1. It will take some time to relearn ui navigation when coming from 2.78.

 

So it´s my first time trying out the script and I get this error:



I tried clicking a few things in the rf2 material/mesh options but no luck, any help? Tried exporting a few meshes, all the same.

 

Did you have a parent object or a mesh selected in the Blender outliner? The check there is if a mesh is selected, the selection is bumped up a level (to the parent object). The check is then whether the selected object is an Empty (crude container for GMT data). A value of NoneType indicates nothing was selected. Will clean that bit up a bit to display a message window.

 

It works when exporting an rf2 cube, either by selecting the parent or the object itself. But when I try the same thing but replace the cube with another object, like the xsector in the image, gives me the same error.

 

I'll look at the code in that area.

In the meantime, try renaming the parent container to XFINISH.

Ideally there are only four collections: A SCN or GEN, in which there are Cameras, Lights, and GMTs. I don't know how your collections are set up. I see a custom one in the screen shot. Again, that will be looked at in the code.