Blender question - seperate single model into multiple objects

edited in Questions and Answers
Hello, I'm working on a game (wow!)

I've run into a challenge that may take a long time for me to solve on my own as I'm not much of a visual artist and even less so a 3D modeler.

The scenario is that I have this model of a bicycle I found, rigged n animated (The reason I know that is because the description told me). I want to use the wheels as separate models/objects, but the bicycle is one object and the points are joined.

I explored around the .blend file in Blender 2.8 and saw there is game logic, vertex groups and so on. Not sure on how much of it works unfortunately.

The goal seems simple, and I have an idea of how to go about it, that being taking my time picking the points and deleting them until I'm left with nothing but a wheel and exporting it.

I think it would be time consuming and may not be the right way to go about it / break something. Because of that I'm putting in time to research a little on rigging and game asset creation in Blender. Still gonna take time, but I get some extra know-how out of it.


Please if you're able to help, advise on how to do the job effectively.

The model in question is Bicycle from Open Game Art and am exporting/importing into Unity game engine.

Comments

  • Heya, here's two ways starting from object mode:

    Method 1

    1. press [tab] into edit mode
    2. press [alt+a] to deselect all
    3. select some verts of the wheel using your favorite selection type, making sure to select the spokes some of the spokes aswell, using the lasso selection tool while holding [shift] to add to the selection.
    4. press [ctl+l] to select all linked verts of the current selection, if not all of the wheel is selected repeat from 3
    5. press [p] select Selection from the popup
    6. press [tab] to enter back into object mode
    7. press [alt_a] to deselect all
    8. select the separated wheel
    9. press [fn-f3] and type set origin -> Center of Mass (or use 3d cursor, after setting it to the desired location)
    10. press [alt-g] to reset the position to the origin
    11. open the modifier panel on the right (little spanner icon)
    12. remove the armature modifier
    13. rename the object from the object panel (little box icon)
    14. press [cnt+i] to invert the selection, so all other objects are now selected
    15. press [x] to delete them.
    16. from the menubar, select file / export / fbx
    17. export to file path

    Method 2

    1. Method 1.1
    2. press[p] and select Loose Parts from the popup (this brings your back into object mode)
    3. press[alt-a] to deselect all
    4. select all the separate object pieces that make up the wheel, with your favorite selection tool.
    5. press [ctl-j] to join all objects into one.
    6. continue from Method 1.9


    If I may, I would advise that if you not that interested in learning the visual part, to leave it alone and find someone to help you that is passionate in making art, if you unable to find a art partner, rather concentrate making games that don't rely on those types of assets. Commercial games can still be made with the simple geometric shapes, don't fall into the trap of thinking that your game needs this specific graphic identity, especially if you do not consider yourself to have the eye. (Good artists who have a Vision could go this route, because there's purpose and meaning behind the aesthetic, that then informs the gameplay)
    With prefabs - and even more so with nested prefabs - constructed in the proper way, it will be relatively easy to update assets if you get an artist to join you, use your disadvantage as an advantage, and try make sure that your projects environment is easy for people to jump in and help.

    Good luck.
    Thanked by 2megaguy32 Tuism
  • That did the trick, thanks a lot Pomb!
    These are some neat Blender tricks you've shown me, handy for the future :D

    I hear your advice and it makes sense, so I aim to keep it in mind.

    All the best
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