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I am new to blender, and not a 3d artist.

I am making a map for a RTS game called Homeworld. The location of objects in this game are in XYZ coordinates of a 3d space. e.g. "Player Object,{3607, -49, -71754}"

I will be adding new objects into a large script file, the game uses, with the X,Y,Z coordinates. There are so many objects and the space is so large it is hard to visualize where everything is.

What I would like to do is create a Blender workspace that is large enough to match the in game map size, X=47866.359375, Y=27599.160156, Z=44018.109375 NOTE: The blender does not have to be the exact same size I only need it to represent the same size so I can script in 1000's of objects and have a visual representation of where they all are relative to the 3d space.

I would then like to enter, via script, the coordinates so what I am looking at in blender is a map of objects in 3d space.

Furthermore, I plan to add objects in blender to place objects were I want them, related to all the other objects, and then script all the XYZ coordinates to a text file that I can then place in my game map script.

NOTE: To be clear I am not trying to get blender to make the game map. I am just using it to give me a visual representation of where the objects will be in the game.

Writing scripts is not that difficult for me, however after 1 hour in blender I still could not enter an object at, "3607, -49, -71754" without it being so far off my visual workspace that I could not find it.

Any help would be appreciated.

B8factor
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  • Hello. This is not totally clear for me. You know how to script that but are not able to find your result once done ? – lemon Jul 29 '16 at 14:21
  • I am not asking about scripts. I am asking how to set up Blender to work in a space I defined so I can add objects in that space at specific coordinates. The information about script is how I plan to get information to blender from a text file and back to a text file... – B8factor Jul 29 '16 at 14:24
  • ok, assuming the models are already loaded, so that the file to be read is "model name; x; y; z", for instance ? – lemon Jul 29 '16 at 14:31
  • you can find the various elements in these links http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/6899/animate-with-position-and-orientation-from-txt-file, http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/31348/duplicating-non-primitive-mesh-with-python, http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19472499/blender-2-6-select-object-by-name-through-python, http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/8777/selecting-and-removing-particular-objects – lemon Jul 29 '16 at 14:37
  • No. Sorry for the confusion. The gist of my question is that I do not know how to setup the 3d workspace in blender to make my blender working space match that of my video games working map size. For instance, if I start a new blender session and enter an object at 47000,0,470000. The object is way off of my screen in relation to the center of 0.0.0 and I can not see the object. – B8factor Jul 29 '16 at 14:44
  • So things such as 'A' to select all objects and '.' (numpad dot) to have them all in the view ? Or also, clipping in 3DView, 'N' for information panel then in it, 'view' section and set the values for 'clip/start/end' ? Or in the same information panel, set the 3D cursor position where you want them 'alt + home' to go to its position. Is that the kind of information you need ? – lemon Jul 29 '16 at 14:57
  • That helping thanks. Here is what I did. I added two cubes to Blender scene. one at 0.0.0 and the other at 25792.424.-30590. When i go to cursor position of 0.0.0 i can see 1 cube. When I try to view both at the same time I see nothing... i am guessing because they are so far apart? I tried "." on num pad and i am looking at a grey scene with no grids or cubes. – B8factor Jul 29 '16 at 15:48

1 Answers1

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Some possible manipulations or information :

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Misc possibilities using Shift+S in the 3D view :

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Short cuts :

  • Shift+C : brings back the 3D cursor to the center and places the view so that you see all objects
  • Home : shifts the view in order to see all objects
  • Alt+Home : idem but make so the 3D cursor is at the center of the view
  • NumPadDot : focus on the selection (one or several objects)
  • Alt+NumPadDot : set your current view center as pivot point (Alt+'.' again to come back to normal mode)

Outliner view, to search for something and select it :

enter image description here

So for instance, the outline allows you to find and select one of your object, then in the 3D view, you can hit NumPadDot to zoom on it.

Surely I miss here many other possibilities.. but hope that helps.

Edit :

Setting the units can also help :

enter image description here

lemon
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