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Getting Started with Blender and XNA
12 Comments Published by Bart on November 29th, 2007 in 3D News
Microsoft XNA is a set of tools, complete with a managed runtime environment, provided by Microsoft that facilitates computer game design, development and management [wikipedia]. Virtual Realm, the "XBox 360 and XNA Game Programming Resources from Down Under" blog has posted a tutorial on how to use Blender together with Microsoft's Game Studio Express.
Glenn Wilson writes:
In this small Article I go through the process of installing Blender and Python, then show you how to Export a Model, display and Rotate it inside an XNA Application or Game.
Check out the article here.
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I have devoted my life to NEVER playing a game on the X-BOX 360. So, I will never use this.
Tynach, that is some commitment you have there :)
But I must agree :)
@Tynach: XNA can be used to do stuff in Windows as well and its free to use for Windows.
Cool article. Definitely useful for someone trying to break into games development on a low budget :)
It's about time that something like this happened. Blender and XNA sounds like a logical connection. Though I believe that this isn't the first time that there has been an article on Game Studio Express.
Oho… MS and Blender. What a higly combustible mix – I think the best way to see it is that free, open source, cross-platform software goes with everything, even with a prorietary single-platform 3d-api with a restrictive license (at least in terms of redistributing the required libraries).
XNA
I've coded just a little bit with XNA and I'm a bit confused with all the shaders still, but I must say, the performance and quality is superb! Since it's all C#, it's also not that difficult to learn (even if you just have a small amount of experience). Exporting from Blender to FBX seems to be the best format (most compatable) to use with XNA, .X has stopped working for me (broken in Blender 2.45 i would think).
Oh so that's why he used the .fbx.. I had wondered why he wasn't using the .x format.. heh
XNA is far from a good solution for game development… maybe for fast prototyping, or just for wasting some free time. Anyway, if you plan to work in industry or do commercial products – stay away from it and learn the stuff 99.9% companies are using.
for those of us without loads of money sitting around. freeware is going to have to work. yea for blender and XNA
Xna and Blender.. Exellent.. Xna is the best quality Rendering Engine.. and… Is more young than ogre and CrSpace.. and it have docen of Books already made.. Definetely the way to go.. nice article.
Lots of misinformation in the comments, here. C# is open source, guided by Microsoft. Like Java is "open source", guided by Sun. See the Mono project et. al. See ECMA.
XNA is not a game engine. It's a framework that allows easier use of DirectX for Windows, Zune and XBOX 360 (making it mulitplatform) software development. You have to build / borrow / buy a game engine.
For independent game development it's quite good if you are targeting any of the above platforms (and Mac via bootcamp etc). As far as using what 99.9% of companies are using to develop games, good luck with finding that mysterious library. C++ and Gambryo? C++ and Python and LUA and XML and Unreal? The game engine has a lot to do with it, and no engine is used by 99.9%. As game development progresses, you're going to see C++ used primarily in engine code, but less adoption in the game logic.
So much FUD around here in years past. Not everyone can assemble a team to develop a game using an expensive proprietary engine, along with the requisite creative and technical talent to make something competitive or even fun. XNA is a well built framework, regardless of petty politics. Blender is an amazing 3D suite — again, regardless of petty politics. C# is an excellent alternative to similar OOP languages, and is considerably faster to code with than, say, C++ (especially considering how many different libraries you need to become familiar with, and how frequently those libraries for C++ change) in many cases.
To political zealots: C# is a great tool. Java is a great tool. C is a great tool. C++ is a great tool. F# is awesome. Python makes me grin with how fun it is to use … etc. Each are tools, and you should keep many tools in your toolbox to use whenever appropriate. Who learns only one language? Use them based on their strengths.
TLDR: Blender + XNA is outstanding, no less so than Blender + C++/Ogre.