hereon as BVLG Simplify asset creation for the Source engine through blender with these node networks and node groups
Nodegroups that take in textures and values outputing rendered graphics as close as possible to source engine's VertexLitGeneric shader
there are two ways of implementing this into your project file, I reccomend the first but the second might be required if you need to add it to an existing project
- open the .blend librairy file (current name is "sycreation's default")
- navigate to File->Defaults->Save Startup File this will let you directly use the shader by default on every new blender file you start. you can also edit the default scene to your liking and save that as startup, the key elements are those in the next section
- open your blender file
- navigate to file->append and select the BVLG librairy file (current name is "sycreation's default")
- select all the files in the NodeTree folder
- repeat step 2 and select the element in the World folder you're almost done, but $phong will not render properly without the next steps
- in the World tab of the proprieties panel, set the world to be Source Engine World
- in the 3D view, select material preview as shading and in the shading dropdown top right check "scene lights" and "scene world"
in a newly created material you can add the main VertexLitGeneric node group and connect it to a material output
Primary inputs are flagged with the format they expect in the source engine, texture, value, RGB field, boolean etc. several extensions allow more features that are not as common or simple as the main few: base color and color2, bumpmap, envmap and phong these extentions include for now $phongalbedotint, $phongexponenttexture and $alphatest. They can be added before or after the main node by following socket names: sockets that share the same name must be connected.
certain effects like $nocull are lower level than the shader nodes and are set in blender or the material's setting
$allowalphatocoverage requires the material's "Blend Mode" setting to be set to alpha hashed for accurate result, tho low sample counts will yield pixelated mess
in version 3.0a, VMTgen is a python command to compile a material to VMT.
USAGE:
. BVLG.VMTgen(mat, cdmaterials, folder = "export", mode = "name"
. mat : the name of the material to be compiled, in quotes
. cdmaterials : the location for textures to be found, relative to the /materials/ folder
. folder : where to place the compiled VMT
. mode : to be ignored
The node setup must be strictly legal, textures to texture slots and values in empty sockets to where it is needed. A complete set is provided by default to show the protoype legal setup
AutoVMTgen is a command that automatically compiles compliant materials
USAGE:
. BVLG.AutoVMTgen(cdmaterials, folder = "export")
to run these commands, open up a python console in blender and type them in
BVLG works with cycles but will yield more realistic results with ray traced reflections instead of phong, all other effects will not be affected.
a lot of the effects still need ajusting, their intensity may not be linear and my version may not be matching how it actually looks in engine, however because of limitations in HLMV and the slowness of repeated testing in game I have yet to have reliable side by side compairaison to refine curves and multipliers
We're currently working through a merging into SourceIO, that will allow us to reach many of the goals I am not qualified to do myself: The import side is critically lacking, with no auto importer and knowledge of the engine and the node required to make full use of it Ultimately, BVLG should be able to autobake all the textures to tga then use the official tool to convert to vtf, skipping VTFedit or GIMP for texture conversion
I need some feedback. I made this thing alone and I'm sure I've missed a ton of things. if you look at it, please do tell me if it could be improved and if you've changed anything about it. this version is free and will remain free