I would like to know if there is a better way to visually edit jbeam on vehicles. Node beam editor doesn't work very well and there's no way to import jbeam to blender. I not sure how the devs make jbeam in a text editor if you can't even see what your doing. Can anyone explain how they do it? Also, how exact do nodes and beams need to be to the model for it to look really good?
There is an addon for Blender on this forum that lets you create a jbeam structure in Blender, so you would have to search for it
could you make a simple step by step tutorial on how to creat a car mod using that? ( just pics would be anaugh)
That's a rather weighty request (?) . There is still the old wiki for that, it still applies. ( https://wiki.beamng.com/Introduction_to_Vehicle_Creation ) By the way, unfortunately there is no practical way of editing jbeam structure as of today. It's a painful but rewarding process to go thru.
You can get the blender addon here: https://wiki.beamng.com/Blender_Exporter_plugin To install it save the zip file anywhere on your computer. DO NOT EXTRACT IT! Open blender and go to "File" and "User preferences" and then find "Add-ons" Click "install addon from file" and navigate to the zip file and open it Once you open the zip file in blender, a new addon should appear and check it off by clicking the box next to its name. To use it, make a car model that is ready to be in beamng drive. Make a hitbox type style square around the model. (its basically a boxy version of the car) Then you'll need to cross each face in blender. Go into edit mode and go into vertex mode. Select 1 top corner and one bottom corner on the opposite side. Then press F to cross them. You'll see a line go down the face. This may take awhile. Then when your done crossing every face, go to the long panel on the right side of the screen and go to the cylinder and the circle. There you'll find the jbeam exporter. Select a location where you want the jbeam to be exported to and then select the jbeam you made in blender. Then click export and BOOM! When you go to the place you exported it to, you'll be greeted with a nicely made jbeam file. You can change the names of each node by using the "Find and replace" setting in notepad as well. Now that you have a jbeam, you'll need to setup everything else. Heres an example jbeam for you. Use a bit of knowledge and the mod tutorial and you can figure it out pretty quickly Code: "temp": { "information":{ "authors":"some dude lol", "name":"temp", } "slotType" : "main", "slots": [ ["type", "default", "description"] ["", "", ""], ], "dragCoef":10, "scalebeamSpring":0.84, "scalebeamDamp":1.3, "scalebeamDeform":1.5, "scalebeamStrength":1.78, "controller": [ ["fileName"], ["vehicleController", {}], ], //refNodes "refNodes":[ ["ref:", "back:", "left:", "up:"] ["", "", "", ""] // These are used to center the camera, and they are needed for the vehicle to spawn. ], "cameraExternal":{ "distance":6.6, "distanceMin":6, "offset":{"x":0, "y":0.0, "z":1.0}, "fov":65, //Field of view }, "flexbodies": [ ["mesh", "[group]:", "nonFlexMaterials"], // The first pair of quotes is the name of the mesh. The second is the group name. ["examplemesh", ["examplegroup"]], ], //Nodes section "nodes": [ ["id", "posX", "posY", "posZ"], {"selfcollision":true} //Can the nodes collide with themselves? {"collision":true} //Do the nodes have collision? {"frictionCoef":1.2}, //How much grip the nodes have {"nodeMaterial":"|NM_METAL"}, //The material for each node {"nodeWeight":1.6, //How much the node weighs {"group":"examplegroup"} {"group":""} ], "beams": [ ["id1:", "id2:"], {"beamPrecompression":1, "beamType":"|NORMAL", "beamLongBound":1, "beamShortBound":1}, {"beamSpring":620000}, {"beamDamp":1.8}, {"beamDeform":18000}, {"beamStrength":"FLT_MAX"}, ], "triangles": [ ["id1:","id2:","id3:"], ], } }
Eh, I would advise against using those tools to create the jbeam, unless it is a certain shape like tracks, circles and some others. First of all the shape: the shape has to be roughly the same as the reinforced structure of a car. So it follows the frame rails, firewall, a suspension. Making a hitbox around the body would be an oversimplification. Jbeam isnt very easy to get right and you often need to change the values per beam of per node. These exporters don't use any convenient naming like official and most modded vehicles use. So it's a pain to change afterwards. The "easiest" way is to start with small structures like parts to get some feeling with the syntax and the console. Then you can also start to get some understanding in how the node-beam relation works. Only then you can successfully create a car with everything you need. I run a modding server, if you want you can join. We have some basic tutorials https://discord.gg/3Fy86de
Eh its not bad if you have patients. I've made several mods myself using the blender exporter. But renaming everything is definitely a pain to deal with. Especially when it comes to certain areas of the car such as crumple zones.
well that was clear enaugh, now i got a feel about it, but what you guys mean by convienient naming ?
Some sections of jbeams have different names. For an example, lets say I was making a car and I wanted the front the crumple easily like a crumple zone in a real car. You'd have to separate every beam in the front of the car manually in the jbeam. Then after your rename them, you can tinker around with the physics of that particular part of the car.
