Exporting Block Models from Blender

Exporting Block Models from Blender
For your block to appear as you intend in TerraTech, it needs to be at the correct scale and facing in the right direction. A 1x1x1 block in TerraTech is a 1m cube, and blocks are made in multiples of 1m cubes called cells.You should build to the same scale in Blender, and ensure your Pivot is at the centre of a cell. Blender uses +Y as the forward direction, so you should build as if the front of your block is facing along the Y axis.



When you are happy with your block model you should move it to the world origin (0,0,0) then reset the transforms to remove any local rotation or scaling and ensure the block will behave correctly in game.

To reset the transforms, press CTRL A and select All Transforms from the pop-up menu;



Your Position and Rotation transforms should now all be 0, and the Scale transforms 1.

Unity uses a different coordinate system to Blender, and in order to get it to appear correctly in Unity your block model must be rotated into the correct orientation;




 * 1) Rotate your model 90° in the X axis (Hold CTRL to snap to exact values)
 * 2) Rotate your model 180° in the Z axis
 * 3) Your Rotation Transforms should now be X=90°, Y=0°, Z=180°
 * 4) Reset the Rotation Transforms by pressing CTRL A and selecting Rotation form the pop-up menu
 * 5) Your Rotation Transforms should now all be 0°

You can now rotate your model back to the correct orientation for working in Blender, but be sure not to reset the Transforms again;



Note how the object’s Local Pivot shows Z(blue) is Forward, Y(green) is up, and the Rotation Transforms are X=90°, Y=0° and Z=180°. This matches the coordinate system used by Unity and your block model is now ready for export.

Select only the block you want to export then choose File > Export > FBX;



This brings up a dialog that lets you set export options and choose where to save your file;



Ensure the options highlighted above are set correctly. Name your block model something appropriate then choose an export path that will save it into your TerraTech Mod Tool Unity project. Hit Export FBX and the model file should appear in the project ready for use in your mod.

You will now be able to drag and drop your block mesh into the Physical Prefab Editor, and it will appear at the correct scale and orientation.