1 - Importing .FBX Files
EDIT: Turns out there is some issue with the FBX import, when creating Digital Assets for Unreal, as the axis of the meshed don't get updated in UE4. It works, when the .FBX files get imported with the geometry option. I might see, if I can later figure out another solution, but at the moment I need to move on.
First I worked on automating the import process, by using a .json file containing all the .FBX files of the modular kit. I used Python to read the file, import of reimport from the specified path, depending on whether a geometry node of the same name already exists or not. I then stored all the node information in a parameter, so other nodes can access it. I also had to copy those geometry nodes into the subnet, that contains all the nodes for the Digital Asset and delete the other ones. At the moment this is done in two python nodes, however I will probably move them into one later.
First I worked on automating the import process, by using a .json file containing all the .FBX files of the modular kit. I used Python to read the file, import of reimport from the specified path, depending on whether a geometry node of the same name already exists or not. I then stored all the node information in a parameter, so other nodes can access it. I also had to copy those geometry nodes into the subnet, that contains all the nodes for the Digital Asset and delete the other ones. At the moment this is done in two python nodes, however I will probably move them into one later.
2 - Evaluating Kit Files
After finishing the import bit I now had to figure out, how to work with the kit .json files. I created a null node for storing the parameters. This looks like this:
 |
| Kit info storage |
Essentially the code checks, if there is a file in the kit file slots and depending on that either sets the corresponding parameters to '' or evaluates the .json file (I might add a check for file type to make sure it is a json file.)
If it evaluates the .json file, it checks for piece types in the file, e.g. corners, walls, etc., and filters the kit pieces based on their type and saves them into parameters. It also checks, if the geometry file for each piece exists and currently gives a warning, if it doesn't. I might change it, so that the missing files do get imported, or just get rid of the import section and just import the pieces on evaluating the kit files, might make more sense and gets rid of an extra button click. For the parameters it either creates a new parameter, if it doesn't exist, yet or overwrites it's value, if it exists. Again, if a parameter is not needed, the value is set to ''. I originally tried deleting those parameters, but ran into some problems, so I decided to solve it this way.
I made a small video, showing how it currently works.
Again, all the code bits will probably need some optimisation, but I need to move on to the actual building generator bit and clean up the code later. It kinda feels like I did not get a lot done last week, a lot of my current work involves hours of digging through documentations and planning, but now that I have all the necessary modular kit organisation parts, I will go back to what I have already made of the building generator and continue it.
I'm a big fan of list comprehension in python, maybe you would like it too..?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.pythonforbeginners.com/basics/list-comprehensions-in-python
As an example, we can replace this:
kitNodes = []
for c in children:
t = str(c.type().name())
if(t == 'geo'):
kitNodes.append(c)
with this:
kitNodes = [c for c in children if str(c.type().name()) == 'geo']
Also, I am wondering what is the reason for populating a null node with those parameters? Do you have a loop importing those FBXs into your houdini graph, and can that work in some other way? perhaps using a detail attribute which is a list of fbx paths? of course, there may be a perfectly legitimate reason for doing it this way!