Blender rotating .mu assets by 90° on import

[MagnetoDynamic]

Hi all,

Been trying my hand at modifying some pre-existing parts (specifically adding more windows to the 'shovel' cockpit from Mk3 Expansion) and I'm having an issue;

Whenever I export the asset a a .mu file in blender and load it into the game, it is rotated 90° upwards.
Re-importing the asset into blender shows the same problem.Apparently this can be fixed for other formats by using the 'Transform' menu in the export window, but this doesn't appear for me when exporting .mu files.

Here's a GIF of the problem:
https://ibb.co/vkF7xZ7

Any ideas?
Cheers!

Edited August 22 by MagnetoDynamic
Bad image link, replaced with fresh one

[ColdJ]

19 hours ago, MagnetoDynamic said:

Any ideas?
Cheers!

Hi. When you export the plugin puts everything into it's correct orientation according to it's parent. So though you think everything is right way around when you export, it is not as you think. The plugin provides a solution for this.

Up near the top right you will see Mu Heirarchy. Click on it and you will see the option "Clear Inverse" click on this just before you go to export your corrected model and it will make sure that everything is orientated correctly to the way it appears to you in your workspace. Before this option was available you needed to export the first time, then import the new .mu and then correct everything. The second time you exported it would now be good. It is also good practice to "Apply Scale" before export too if you have played with any scale in the Object Mode workspace.

Most of these sort of answers are covered in my thread.

 

[MagnetoDynamic]

Hi, thanks for your reply!

Unfortunately that didn't work, re-importing the model (or loading it in-game) still shows it in the incorrect orientation. I've had a look through your guide and tried to understand how the hierarchy works, and the part seems to have a sensible hierarchy with two sets of axes as the parent of the meshes.

I've attached a screenshot of the blender window including the hierarchy panel in case there's something I'm missing;
https://ibb.co/QDf3PvX

I've also noticed that when I re-import, the axes (as well as the Camera & Light entries) are missing from the top of the hierarchy:
https://ibb.co/nnXgGc7

I'm definitely using the latest version of the .mu addon and I think it's installed properly!

Edited August 23 by MagnetoDynamic

[ColdJ]

On 8/23/2024 at 9:09 PM, MagnetoDynamic said:

Hi, thanks for your reply!

Hi, sorry, but you didn't ping me or quote me so I hadn't realised you had replied.

Could you take me through step by step what you did?

From what I can see, first you are working with an interior model, these are rotated 180 degrees around the Z axis and then layed over 90 degrees (That is 90, not -90) compared to an external model. Then everything in them must be put on layer 16 or layer 20 for the game to know to use it as an internal model. Only use layer 20 if a mesh is blocking your kerbal camera view.

Second it looks like you forgot to choose the very top of your heirachy before export. Always close everyting up so that only the very top of your heirarchy is showing and highlight it, this will stop you from accidentally exporting only a part of your model. This will explain why your orientation changed as well. Blender and the game will always put the top of the model heirarch in the zero orientation. Since the game works in quarternions, this is W 1.000 X 0.000 Y 0.000 Z 0.000 The mesh named Interior that you have all your other meshes parented into, would not have been at zero orientation but when it got exported without it's empties that it was parented into, it got put to the zero orientation when imported back in, and so it changed from what you last saw it as. This is why you must always have 2 empties at the top, to allow you to change things and then remain in the same orientation when you load it up again.

Do not worry about the Camera and Light collections at the very top, those are tools for working in Blender and do get used by your .mu models. Adding cameras or lights to your .mu model is done from the "Add" menu that you see at the top leftish of your screen.

I hope you are remembering to highlight every mesh then go in to EDIT Mode and choose "Merge by distance", otherwise your vertices might be getting a bit large by now.

Hope this helps.

I know that reading the thread can be a lot to absorb, but these answers are in there and can help if you hit more problems.

[MagnetoDynamic]

1 hour ago, ColdJ said:

Hi, sorry, but you didn't ping me or quote me so I hadn't realised you had replied.

That's ok! I'm still new to the forum so I didn't realise that's how it worked!

It worked  Clicking 'PartTools' with the axes icon at the top of the hierarchy before exporting the .mu preserved the orientation, and it's now loading correctly into the game. Thank you so much for your help!

I haven't been clicking 'merge by distance' because I'm a rank amateur, but I'll start using it from now on  

Now to learn how to re-texture the damn thing... I'll be using your guide for that!