Adding shadows to custom ballparks with Blender

Jorin Guderian · 05-15-2020, 06:11 AM

Hello everybody,
to all of you who love to create custom ballparks for ootp21, here comes a new
tutorial to show you how you can add shadows to your ballparks to make them
look even better using blender and the fbx file format.
The tutorial can be found here in the newest beta:

"ootp21\data\ballparks\models\globe_life_field_dem o\Adding shadows to custom ballparks with Blender.pdf"

Happy modeling everybody,
Jorin

silvam14 · 05-20-2020, 09:16 AM

Thanks Jorin,

Would love to be able to do this with one of my parks. Unfortunately, I am not good at blender and I would probably need a tutorial tailored specifically using one of the .obj parks I've created and start from importing it into blender and going from there.

I know you don't have that kind of time, so I will hope someone else more experienced in blender might be able to something like that.

Thanks again!

Jorin Guderian · 05-20-2020, 09:31 AM

Hey Silvam,
getting your stadiums into blender is as simple as clicking on
file>import>obj .... But I guess using blender after that like navigating in the window etc. would be something you would need to learn first.
For that part I recommand going to youtube and searching for blender beginner tutorials. But make sure the used blender version there is one of the 2.7 versions.

silvam14 · 05-20-2020, 09:52 AM

Jorin,

Thanks. I have that part down. It is when I have the park imported that I need to figure out how to get to the point your tutorial starts at.

This is where I'm at, but now I realize using steam, that I am at 2.82a.

I do have to say that this version seems to be easier to get the model to be viewable from my experience with blender.

Is there a way to use previous versions like 2.7 using steam?

Jorin Guderian · 05-20-2020, 10:03 AM

Hey Silvam,
you downloaded the wrong blender version.
You need version 2.79 and you can download it from here:

https://download.blender.org/release/Blender2.79/

I also wrote this in the tutorial and why you should use that version istead of the new 2.8X versions... but most important is that all the references in the tutorial are of blender 2.7 ....
I don't know about blender versions from steam... steam is not necessary for using blender... you can even download a zip version where you don't even need to install it and you can just use it
just from its folder... but I recommand downloading the installer version. The Blender version2.8X might be more user friendly at the beginning but there are a few killerarguments for using 2.7
instead....most important: The new version doesn't habe the blender internal render engine anymore which is needed for baking textures and the alternative is more than 10 times slower...
also the baking proces itself is much more complicated with the new version.

silvam14 · 05-20-2020, 10:17 AM

Got it, thanks.

Deft · 05-22-2020, 08:11 AM

I have some additional questions but will start with the one that has me stuck.

1) How do you merge all your textured surfaces into single layers like what is in globe life field? When I import my obj into Blender, each texture gets its own layer and the geometries can be selected at the same time. Because of this I can't create a universal UV Map.

silvam14 · 05-29-2020, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deft

I have some additional questions but will start with the one that has me stuck.

1) How do you merge all your textured surfaces into single layers like what is in globe life field? When I import my obj into Blender, each texture gets its own layer and the geometries can be selected at the same time. Because of this I can't create a universal UV Map.

Any luck with this?

I know Jorin doesn't respond quickly on this.

I would love to have a tutorial that takes one of the custom parks that I have buit (or anyone else's for that matter) and walks through the process in blender. I think that is what is needed for me.

I hope that is worth Jorin's time

Deft · 05-31-2020, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silvam14

Any luck with this?

I know Jorin doesn't respond quickly on this.

I would love to have a tutorial that takes one of the custom parks that I have buit (or anyone else's for that matter) and walks through the process in blender. I think that is what is needed for me.

I hope that is worth Jorin's time

Yes, I can almost get there. Just need to know how to do this one thing.

Deft · 07-30-2020, 01:20 PM

I have gotten over my last hurdle with the multiple layers. One has to select the different layers and join them with (CTRL-J). Onto the next issue is that I get black shadows and thus loose all detail even when I use environmental light at a higher level. Still experimenting.

silvam14 · 07-31-2020, 02:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deft

I have gotten over my last hurdle with the multiple layers. One has to select the different layers and join them with (CTRL-J). Onto the next issue is that I get black shadows and thus loose all detail even when I use environmental light at a higher level. Still experimenting.

And you have documented step by step instructions, right?

Deft · 07-31-2020, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silvam14

And you have documented step by step instructions, right?

If I can ever get it to work right, I will. Blender is a black hole SW package.

silvam14 · 07-31-2020, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deft

If I can ever get it to work right, I will. Blender is a black hole SW package.

Too bad Jorin is not more active on the forums. He might have the answers you are looking for

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jorin Guderian · 10-29-2020, 05:38 AM

Hey Deft,
I'm sorry for the delay. I was on parental leave for some time, but now I'm back. As I've understood so far is that you've
-managed to join all geometry into one
-created a second uv set for the texture atlas that is meant to have shadows in it (described in section 2 of my tutorial).
-You've setup a sunlight pointing towards the geometry that is meant to be lit

->When starting the bake process the texture atlas just renders black.

Have you read the tutorial concerning this issue?
Here is what is in the tutorial (without the images):

When a baked texture is partly or completely black:

Sometimes when baking a texture for a normal surface or for a surface with audience texture, it will
just look black or just too dark, even though all light sources are set up right. One reason for this to
happen is when the surface‘s normals are pointing to the wrong direction. Blender uses the normals
to know which side of a triagle is the one where it checks if it is „seen“ by a lightsource. If the
normals are pointing to the wrong direction this side of the triangle, it is then not lit by any light
source and as a result it renders black.
To check normals directions, just select the object with the problematic surface and go to edit mode.
At the side panel of the 3D window, enable normal display and scale the normals big enough so you
can see them. As an example, see Image 25 and Image 26. In Image 25 the normal of the top of the
cube is wrong; it is correct in Image 26. If there are indeed normals pointing in the wrong direction,
click on flip normals like shown in Image 27

Also make sure you have the right uv set selected when starting the baking.

If you still can't get it to work, then
please upload your park in a dropbox or other webspace and send me the link here, then I'll see what I can do.

dodgerblue88 · 05-30-2023, 10:05 PM

I'm wondering if this can be accomplished with one of the many sketchup plugins available out there for light/texture baking (i.e. lightup)? Another thing I have been looking into is a way to add emissive lights to the stadium light poles. If we can find a way to crack this it would push 3d stadium creation to another level!

05-15-2020, 06:11 AM	#1
Jorin Guderian OOTP Developments Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 163	Adding shadows to custom ballparks with Blender Hello everybody, to all of you who love to create custom ballparks for ootp21, here comes a new tutorial to show you how you can add shadows to your ballparks to make them look even better using blender and the fbx file format. The tutorial can be found here in the newest beta: "ootp21\data\ballparks\models\globe_life_field_dem o\Adding shadows to custom ballparks with Blender.pdf" Happy modeling everybody, Jorin Last edited by Jorin Guderian; 05-19-2020 at 05:09 AM.

05-20-2020, 09:16 AM	#2
silvam14 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Dedham, MA Posts: 9,746	Thanks Jorin, Would love to be able to do this with one of my parks. Unfortunately, I am not good at blender and I would probably need a tutorial tailored specifically using one of the .obj parks I've created and start from importing it into blender and going from there. I know you don't have that kind of time, so I will hope someone else more experienced in blender might be able to something like that. Thanks again! __________________ Senior "Nancy Boy" of the OOTP Boards _______________________________________________

05-20-2020, 09:31 AM	#3
Jorin Guderian OOTP Developments Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 163	obj import Hey Silvam, getting your stadiums into blender is as simple as clicking on file>import>obj .... But I guess using blender after that like navigating in the window etc. would be something you would need to learn first. For that part I recommand going to youtube and searching for blender beginner tutorials. But make sure the used blender version there is one of the 2.7 versions. Attached Images

05-20-2020, 09:52 AM	#4
silvam14 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Dedham, MA Posts: 9,746	Jorin, Thanks. I have that part down. It is when I have the park imported that I need to figure out how to get to the point your tutorial starts at. This is where I'm at, but now I realize using steam, that I am at 2.82a. I do have to say that this version seems to be easier to get the model to be viewable from my experience with blender. Is there a way to use previous versions like 2.7 using steam? Attached Images __________________ Senior "Nancy Boy" of the OOTP Boards _______________________________________________

05-20-2020, 10:03 AM	#5
Jorin Guderian OOTP Developments Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 163	Wrong blender version Hey Silvam, you downloaded the wrong blender version. You need version 2.79 and you can download it from here: https://download.blender.org/release/Blender2.79/ I also wrote this in the tutorial and why you should use that version istead of the new 2.8X versions... but most important is that all the references in the tutorial are of blender 2.7 .... I don't know about blender versions from steam... steam is not necessary for using blender... you can even download a zip version where you don't even need to install it and you can just use it just from its folder... but I recommand downloading the installer version. The Blender version2.8X might be more user friendly at the beginning but there are a few killerarguments for using 2.7 instead....most important: The new version doesn't habe the blender internal render engine anymore which is needed for baking textures and the alternative is more than 10 times slower... also the baking proces itself is much more complicated with the new version. Last edited by Jorin Guderian; 05-20-2020 at 10:08 AM.

05-20-2020, 10:17 AM	#6
silvam14 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Dedham, MA Posts: 9,746	Got it, thanks. __________________ Senior "Nancy Boy" of the OOTP Boards _______________________________________________

05-22-2020, 08:11 AM	#7
Deft All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 1,082	I have some additional questions but will start with the one that has me stuck. 1) How do you merge all your textured surfaces into single layers like what is in globe life field? When I import my obj into Blender, each texture gets its own layer and the geometries can be selected at the same time. Because of this I can't create a universal UV Map. Attached Images __________________ ATHL Louisville Jockeys (2001-present) 2002, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2020 World Champions Uniform Template 1.2 Last edited by Deft; 05-22-2020 at 08:13 AM.

07-30-2020, 01:20 PM	#10
Deft All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 1,082	I have gotten over my last hurdle with the multiple layers. One has to select the different layers and join them with (CTRL-J). Onto the next issue is that I get black shadows and thus loose all detail even when I use environmental light at a higher level. Still experimenting. __________________ ATHL Louisville Jockeys (2001-present) 2002, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2020 World Champions Uniform Template 1.2

10-29-2020, 05:38 AM	#14
Jorin Guderian OOTP Developments Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 163	Black shadows Hey Deft, I'm sorry for the delay. I was on parental leave for some time, but now I'm back. As I've understood so far is that you've -managed to join all geometry into one -created a second uv set for the texture atlas that is meant to have shadows in it (described in section 2 of my tutorial). -You've setup a sunlight pointing towards the geometry that is meant to be lit ->When starting the bake process the texture atlas just renders black. Have you read the tutorial concerning this issue? Here is what is in the tutorial (without the images): When a baked texture is partly or completely black: Sometimes when baking a texture for a normal surface or for a surface with audience texture, it will just look black or just too dark, even though all light sources are set up right. One reason for this to happen is when the surface‘s normals are pointing to the wrong direction. Blender uses the normals to know which side of a triagle is the one where it checks if it is „seen“ by a lightsource. If the normals are pointing to the wrong direction this side of the triangle, it is then not lit by any light source and as a result it renders black. To check normals directions, just select the object with the problematic surface and go to edit mode. At the side panel of the 3D window, enable normal display and scale the normals big enough so you can see them. As an example, see Image 25 and Image 26. In Image 25 the normal of the top of the cube is wrong; it is correct in Image 26. If there are indeed normals pointing in the wrong direction, click on flip normals like shown in Image 27 Also make sure you have the right uv set selected when starting the baking. If you still can't get it to work, then please upload your park in a dropbox or other webspace and send me the link here, then I'll see what I can do.

05-30-2023, 10:05 PM	#15
dodgerblue88 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Whittier, CA Posts: 170	I'm wondering if this can be accomplished with one of the many sketchup plugins available out there for light/texture baking (i.e. lightup)? Another thing I have been looking into is a way to add emissive lights to the stadium light poles. If we can find a way to crack this it would push 3d stadium creation to another level!