Whats the best way to export from Blender 2.59 for XNA 4? I have heard you can use the DirectX to export to .x instead of .fbx which works better with animations?
Unfortunately all the tutorials out there are a bit dated and go on about the quirks with older versions..
Since you're open to using .fbx, you may want to check out this sorta recent article on MSDN to skin your model, add bones to it, and export the animations to XNA 4. It actually summarizes this Codeproject article but it's still up-to-date with the newer Blender 2.5 interface. However there's a gotcha because of a difference of exporting in 2.59 as shown from a comment in the CodeProject article -
The latest Blenders FBX export does not have the "XNA Export", as this is newly included in 2.59 (Simply export to FBX, and click "XNA Strict" in the list on the left when choosing file-name)
In other words, you want to use the XNA Strict Options setting on the options list.
I just found a way to export .x files in Blender 2.59 (It doesn't seem to show up):
Open the python console by right clicking on the bottom border of the 3D view and selecting split areas. Set the new area to the python console in the tool bar at the bottom.
Type
import io_export_directx_x then
io_export_directx_x.register() and then the option seems to appear in the export menu under file. I don't know if it works though (you can export the file but I don't know if its actually a valid x file), there's probably a reason why you have to manually load it.
Hope it helps!
