This was previously posted at PPMSite, but now I'll post this here to gain more attention from Blender artists since not everyone here visits PPMSite.
Since the Blender render template has reached the point where it can do everything that 3ds max does: render assets without AA against background and shadows separately. Also it can used to render animations as well. However, the workout with that is little more difficult since you have to either render both the model and the shadow into separated folders and use the video editor to create a sequence that includes them both or duplicate the animation frames for both, but I'll look into that in the future.
I require feedback and testing.
How to use:
1. Open the template.
2. Append your model (Shift-F1): modelfilename.blend\Object\ Select all except camera and light.
3. Move your model in YX axis so the model is above X and below Y. The zero point is the same as the zero point in SHP builder (sprite's "top corner").
4. To render model: go to Text editor and select Render.object from the list and click Run Script and hit Render. F3 to save the image.
4. To render buildup: go to Text editor and select Render.buildup from the list and click Run Script and hit Render.
5. To render shadows: go to Text editor and select Render.shadows from the list and click Run Script and hit Render.
6. To render preview image: go to Text editor and select Reset from the list and click Run Script and hit Render.
Note: 1 cell = 2 Blender units
Version history:
CnC version 2.02:
-Added mask node to scale canvas
-Cleaned readme file
-Fixed shadow rendering nodes
CnC version 2.01:
-Added RA1/TD template
-Added grass plane for RA1/TD template
-Added an additional orthographic camera for RA1/TD terrain rendering (can be switched in Scene tab)
-Fixed lighting overlapping other scenes
CnC version 2.00:
-Combined TS & RA2 templates
RA2 version 1.01:
-Same version as TS 1.06, but different lighting setup and camera zoom (to match RA2 cell size).
TS version 1.06:
-Fixed ColorRamp node's value to make shadows single coloured
-Reduced Raytrace Samples to 5 to increase render speed (previous version had 15, but I don't see any significant difference)
-Added cell height to text editor
TS version 1.05:
-Fixed contrast node's place (was affecting background blue color)
-Added Python scripts to skip few steps
-Added grey plane to render preview images
Note: You freely to make changes of this template to match your needs.
You can use scene settings as a reference to create your own template.
You can distribute the template with your changes (please let me know what kind of changes you've done, I'm curious 
.)
Please credit when used.
Attached Thumbnails
Attached Files
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CnC_template2_02beta.zip 119.13KB
283 downloads
Edited by DonutArnold, 02 March 2015 - 09:48 PM.
