Total n00b question: Issues with face being transparent, double sided faces

Support Materials and Textures
1

Okay, here’s the pertinent background info. Windows 7 is the OS, and just downloaded Blender last night and began using it (version info, I’m likely using the latest). I am using Cycles Render, and Triangle Fan for fill. I have been trying to build a Battleship mod for Table Top Simulator (a game on steam that lets you create many board games). First step is building models of the ships (I’m just a n00b, so they are going to be pretty basic). First one is the cruiser (3 pegger).

I made two UV (another question, what does UV stand for, likely not ultraviolet in this context) spheres, separated by a distance. I cut them in half, and then cut the top half. Then, I bridged gap between the two edge hoop vertices. So, it looked like a pill (cylinder with hemisphere caps). I deleted vertices until the pill was cut down the middle lengthwise. And cut some off the bottom, so now it very crudely resembles a ship. (Screenshot here soon).

Now, here’s where the issue arises. The top and bottom of the ship are hollow. There’s nothing there (top is like a flat canoe). So, I selected the top edge vertices and and pressed f, which filled it in with a face. I did the same for the bottom. I felt like this solved the problem. I then went on and made 3 circles, filled them in, made them black, to make them look like peg holes.

Finally, I exported it as an .obj file, and loaded into the game Table Top Simulator (I did so by opening the .obj file in notepad, pasting the text at pastebin.com, then converting it to raw, getting that link, and then using that link to load in the .obj file). Here is the problem. Those faces that I filled in (the top and bottom of the ship), they don’t show up. They are just invisible. The game treats it as though the faces are there (you can set items on the ship, so it’s not like it’s hollow).

Let me give you some screenshots to support my story.
https://gyazo.com/0f2a48f60fd0d58069fb3b28d089b243
https://gyazo.com/abe7632644480850db941d20669a7d20

Now, here’s what it looks like when I open it up in Table Top SImulator…
https://gyazo.com/e38333717102a92c29ce60d9e2a96e6b
The ship is upside down in this position. The bottom floor is invisible (but the game treats it like it’s there, as you can set objects on it). The “dots” I put on the TOP of the ship are there, too (they shouldn’t be viewable from this side).

https://gyazo.com/060cd1eaf985e2e7bb7990d42a0cdc47
Looking at it from a side view, you can see the sides of the ship from the outside. However, when you are inside the ship, looking out, you can’t see the faces. So, the faces are only viewable from their outside.

https://gyazo.com/8bfaf5e23a065cd3083158059df08343
Now, I’ve flipped the ship over, with the top up. You can’t see anything, just shadows. It is not completely overhead as a view, the camera is tilted slightly down, so that you can see just a small streak of the outside.

https://gyazo.com/2102245bae4250dbe5bccb6c204ae017
This is a side view of the ship, top up.

So, it looks like there are a number of issues going on.

  1. The top and bottom floor are completely transparent.
  2. The faces that are visible, are not double sided but need to be.
  3. The colors are not what I specified. I recall changing the color of the ship to be grey, and the dots are black. Yes on here, everything is white (no idea if it’s the game or blender).

I have really tried troubleshooting this, but have not found a solution thus far. Again, I’m a total n00b at blender. I find the menus very unintuitive to access. I really have trouble navigating around the menus (especially when earlier versions on youtube tutorials seem to have different menu layouts). Anyway, I have attached my file and really appreciate the help. Thank you.

Cruiser2.blend (915 KB)Cruiser2.blend (915 KB)

2

Hi

All Material in the Properties/material box is grey…There are 4 Material…But no one is activated…Select one and In surface - Click use node box to activate the material…Now give it a color…Viewport need to be in Material mode to see Color in viewport.

Try activate Your Material and see what happen…?

Tai

3

Without knowing Table Top Simulator, I will just guess wildly:

I assume either the game or its importer can’t handle n-gons. N-gons are polygons with more than four vertices. And that’s exactly what hitting F created at the top and bottom of your object. Split the n-gon up in quads (polygons with four vertices) or tris (polygons with three vertices) before exporting from Blender.

The game uses backface culling. Polygons are a strange thing, as they have only one side. To conserve computing power, many game engines just turn the backside of polygons invisible (= less geometry to draw) - this has nothing to do with Blender’s side of things. Either disable backface culling in the game or build that object in Blender like you would in the real world: With thickness and a “real” front and back side. Perhaps even a simple Solidify modifier will do the trick.

If you don’t mind me saying so: Perhaps you should make yourself comfortable with the very basics of Blender first. A complex 3D software like Blender is not something you “download last night” and immediately get the hang off intuitively.

4

Thank you very much for that. Both of you were right. I have posted a new thread with new issues. Again, thank you so much.