Blender Motion Importer/Exporter (it does FLAGS!)

R Soul on 11/6/2023 at 20:35

A while ago Telliamed wrote some Python scripts that could convert between Dark Engine motions and BVH.

I decided to intregrate this into Blender as an addon:
(https://github.com/RSoul82/Blender-NewDark-MotionIO)

In addition to streamling this conversion (the original needed the command prompt or batch files), the Blender addon also supports motion flags.

Inline Image:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RSoul82/Blender-NewDark-MotionIO/main/Screenshots/07_flags_buttons.jpg

We could manage flags in Weyoun's editor, but editing the motions themselves is so much easier in Blender, so this is the best of both worlds.

nicked on 12/6/2023 at 16:15

Awesome work, might have to give this a try.

R Soul on 15/7/2023 at 19:19

Minor update.

There was an error when importing .cal which prevented the tempoary .bvh file from being deleted. This has now been resolved.
General info page and source files:
(https://github.com/RSoul82/Blender-NewDark-MotionIO)

Addon in zip format for download and easier installation:
(https://github.com/RSoul82/Blender-NewDark-MotionIO/releases)

edit:
The bvh delete problem was due to the file not being closed.
Also added code to correct a joint offset error for human .cal files.

vfig on 16/9/2023 at 14:40

im mostly staying off the forums until i can really get back into thief stuff, but—

this looks really useful! especially the motion flags; i had been pretty comfortable with exporting .bvh files and running a single batch file to reconvert all my .bvh's into motions, but i did not have any kind of sensible way of setting the motion flags. so i am really excited to try this out if and when i get back into dromeding

R Soul on 21/9/2025 at 20:46

Update again.

The 'Scene' panel, where the creature type is set, has a button to open the addon's config file, but this wasn't working on Linux (only worked on Windows where I originally developed this). It should now be working on Linux and Windows (it checks the OS and runs the appropriate code).

General info page and source files:
(https://github.com/RSoul82/Blender-NewDark-MotionIO)

Addon in zip format for download and easier installation:
(https://github.com/RSoul82/Blender-NewDark-MotionIO/releases)

Soul Tear on 2/10/2025 at 12:51

I've never followed this topic before and don't really understand it. What practical application does this toolkit have? Is there a video tutorial?

R Soul on 2/10/2025 at 19:01

It allows the user to import/create AI motions in Blender, and then export them back to the game's format. The game already has a lots of perfectly good motions, but every now and then mission authors may need something more.
In addition to editing existing motions, Blender can import the very well used .bvh format, and there are plenty of freely downloadable motions in that format (though it can take a lot of effort to make them work in the Dark Engine)

I could put a couple of screenshots of a motion on the github readme to make it a bit more obvious what it is.

I haven't made any video tutorials, as I find that quite a time consuming process.

Soul Tear on 5/10/2025 at 17:11

Just what I was hoping for. I need to try doing something simple.

What is the minimum version of Blender?

R Soul on 5/10/2025 at 17:55

Probably 4.1. It might work on older versions, but I usually only build and update my addons using the latest version of Blender at the time.