Bringing Penny back to STK

[sir askalot]

Hi Folks!
My girlfriend an I are total fans of STK, so i decided to make a kart for my girlfriend's favorite character: Penny ( Because unfortunately this one isn't implemented anymore).
I used the old icon from version 0.6 and some blend-files I found on the net(I'm not the best 3D-artist in the world, and I just wanted the kart to be used privately anyway). All went fine, until this: When I'm trying to test the exported kart in the game, it crashes totally. This means the whole game window collapses. Playing other karts works. I've tested everything under Ubuntu11.04(Unity) and Win7 getting the same result. What went wrong? Is it possible that the car has to much vertices or faces?(The Kart is attached below)
The other thing that i would like to know is: Why was Penny removed from STK anyway? Is there a possibility we can get her back in? I'm thinking about the pink kart she had in former days. Maybe someone has got the ancient blend-files?

[sj04736]

Ancient Penny blend files:
http://supertuxkart.svn.sourceforge.net ... rts/penny/

They will probably need a lot of modification to work with 0.7

[Auria]

Hi,

your main B3D file appears wrong. Can I see the blender file? It would be easier for me to know what's going on if I have the blend

[sir askalot]

Hi Auria!

Sorry my fault, I thought I had attached the blends. You can find them below:

EDIT: Thx for the old blendfiles of Penny, but I can't open them. Blender 2.49b says "Unknown File Type" and "File is not a Blender File". Version 2.5 acts similar: "File Format is not supported." Perhaps they are corrupted?

[Auria]

Can you make sure you use the latest version of the scripts? It works fine for me

STK doesn't crash and I see the kart in-game just as I should

Screen shot 2011-08-16 at 8.39.59 PM.png (29.76 KiB) Viewed 25131 times

(it's white because I don't have the texture where it should)

[sj04736]

Thx for the old blendfiles of Penny, but I can't open them. Blender 2.49b says "Unknown File Type" and "File is not a Blender File". Version 2.5 acts similar: "File Format is not supported." Perhaps they are corrupted?

pennykart7.blend opened fine for me. I re-saved it with blender 2.59 and attached it.

[sir askalot]

Thanks for your help everybody!

@Auria : My scripts were taken from version 0.7, (were I've tested everything). Did you use the 0.7.2 scripts? Maybe I should try that...

@sj04736 : Thx for the info, it was an error in my firefox-downloader. Now everything works fine.
Using pennykart7.blend, I managed to create a first kart with turning wheels. But the animations i set won't work. Blender doesn't apply the keyframes I put, nevertheless I can see them on the action board(I'm using armatures, just like it should be). The result: my animations don't move, despite I got the correct keyframes set up. What am I doing wrong?

[Auria]

Hi,

yes I am using the latest scripts

Regarding animations not working, maybe again you can share your blend file?

[Kinsu]

I found an old post of when I was making Emule. It says :

The armature has to be parent of the mesh. In my case I also had to suppress the mesh "armature" modifier, because the animations were applied twice to the mesh (one with the parent link, the second with the modifier). To make the armature parent of the mesh, select the mesh, then the armature with shift clic, then hit ctrl P, choose 'don't create groups'.

It was for Blender 4.9, but maybe it's the problem you have ?

[sir askalot]

Hello once again!

Sorry for the late reply, I had to do some "homework".
I've edited the kart one more time, correcting parenting and deleting the armature-modifiers. The animations are still a bit jittery, but they work and blender bakes them.
Nevertheless, when I try to test Penny in STK, the animations won't be played. Why not? Has anybody an idea?
The kart is attached...

[Auria]

Hi,

can you please share the blend? The blend file is the file I need to see most

[sir askalot]

Sometimes I'm a bit diffused, huh? Here's the blend:

[STKRudy85]

1st: I want to tell you to join objects
2nd: Armature must be parented and not a modifier

Note: You can think to reduce polys

[Kinsu]

Yes, for the polys : the kart is good, but the wheels & the character (which is made by 2 different objects btw, it's a little weird) have waaay too much polys !
Try a little subdivide (or 2...)

On my blender (2.59), the animations don't work well (some vertices are not linked to the mesh).

Otherwise it's cool

[sir askalot]

Hello everybody!
I did a few subsurfs and joined the two meshes wich formed the body. I also reshaped the armature bones. As an extra, Penny's Kart now has a heart texture, wich makes the whole thing look a bit sweeter.
Now here come the problems: If I try to render it all, my PC crashes. My old machine is just not powerful enough!! I don't have the money to buy another computer, nor have I another possibility to render the kart elsewhere. So my question is: May anyone continue my work? Once more I've attached everything in the link below...
My idea for the animations was, that Penny dons a ribbon on her head and then blows kisses at the audience. At the loosing animation she should rib her eyes as if she was crying. I did some concept drawings about this:


the files: http://www.mediafire.com/?hn0ffvntg7k8840

[Funto]

I don't see the reason for rendering it, there is no need to do so to integrate her in STK...

BTW, I like your propositions

[STKRudy85]

I did a few subsurfs

Ouch
it's evident, this is why your computer crash


I check your blend file, I'm sorry to say that, but almost everything must be redone from zero
Modeling, texturing, animating

Thing to reduce polys (ex pidgin 850 vertices kart character and wheels)

I said everything is wrong but your kart is a good model a good start, take it put on it the old penny, then improve manually
the shape of this character. It will be It will be a stage crossed

then submit here your new model and we check together how to work on textures and animation

ps: Your animation ideas are cute

[mr_Spoon]

sounds like a shame making that & then not being able to see a render of it, so here you go:


as already said, it looks like there're too many polygons in the character object. the wheels too.

i wish i could get my head back into blender to make something for STK, i've tried a bit but i'm just rubbish at it. i previously tried to make a car for a game project called 'motorsport' which has since vanished, but i wasn't very good. i quite liked making models but never did any texturing or anything more. i hope you get somewhere with this idea as it looks nice. is it meant to be Tux's girfriend?

[Funto]

is it meant to be Tux's girfriend?

It is, see the game SuperTux

[juliet120STK]

Yeah, but does SuperTuxKart 0.7.3 Include Princess Penny in a Wide Speed Kart? :@

[STKRudy85]

Don't give up mr spoon, your ideas is great

[mr_Spoon]

This wasn't my kart, i just rendered sir askalot's file because he said his PC wasn't powerful enough.

[STKRudy85]

sorry I misunderstood, I want to help, but track is a priority for me

[Iridium]

sorry I misunderstood, I want to help, but track is a priority for me

Which tracks?

[juliet120STK]

The cube that penny is in I wish penny had a few animations so that it will be included in the addon manager, Ya think?