SRIV Model Import/Export
- Thread starter GPZ
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[V] Knobby
Volition Staff
That is something we are trying to do and I don't see any reason currently that we can't.
That's neat, thanks!
Do you know which formats are going to be compatible with it? I'm asking this because there are a lot of programs that could be used for model editing (Blender, Maya, 3DS Max etc.). I personally use Blender, it's a popular free program that you should consider letting us work with.
Do you know which formats are going to be compatible with it? I'm asking this because there are a lot of programs that could be used for model editing (Blender, Maya, 3DS Max etc.). I personally use Blender, it's a popular free program that you should consider letting us work with.
[V] Knobby
Volition Staff
We use Max for just about everything internally and releasing our plugins for Max would be a serious headache for everyone involved. Luckily, the plugins just export some simple(hopefully) xml and we have a cruncher that reads that xml and dumps out the game file. Our plan is currently to release information about that xml format and then give the cruncher away meaning you could use any program you wanted to generate the data, you would just need an export plugin or some fancy intermediate program to massage the data into the xml we expect.
May I respectfully inquire specifically in what terms would releasing the Max plugin be considered a "serious headache for everyone involved" ?
Is this due to license related issues or is the code very complicated to extract or compile ?
I would be willing to pay for it ( perhaps via DLC - up to $20 USD ) and would imagine that thousands of modders here are willing to do the same.
Hypothetically, if only half of our 82,000 members here purchace the plugin ( 20 x 41,000 ) that would be $820,000 .
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Not every one has 3DS Max as its a few 100 to buy lucky the student licance is only 167.88 but thats still alotMay I respectfully inquire specifically in what terms would releasing the Max plugin be considered a "serious headache for everyone involved" ?
Is this due to license related issues or is the code very complicated to extract or compile ?
I would be willing to pay for it ( perhaps via DLC - up to $20 USD ) and would imagine that thousands of modders here are willing to do the same.
Hypothetically, if only half of our 82,000 members here purchace the plugin ( 20 x 41,000 ) that would be $820,000 .
Its prob beter if the plug in was with a free program
, I like idea that it can work with any program but it sounds alot more potchy to export that way than straight from a single plug-inTypically an internal plugin is going to have a lot of stuff baked in for exports.. often putting together a lot of types in and out. I imagine Volition's plugin has to yank stuff from assorted parts of their database and so on.. they did note their whole dev environment is like that. Thus it won't just work in an isolated environment as the dependencies are missing. Even moreso, there may be a lot of stuff they just can't redistribute.. what are the requirements on Havok, if it's baked in as part of the plugin? Can you redistribute it even if the 3d max plugin is precompiled? Probably not... and if you use other middleware that may be just as bad..
What sorts of stuff is set out by the plugin for export? It dumps xml files, but is that just the model info, rigging and such, and nothing else? Or does that involve anything else for the engine that we can't easily replicate without access to code parts? (because I imagine the first result will be something like a blender plugin, as while I've heard it's a horrible work environment when you're not used to it, it's 100% free and tends to work with a lot of formats..)
It's not gonna be a straight one click 'export to volition format' button but I guess if it allows us to click an 'export to xmls' button and then run the cruncher tool on it from there without too much more work it's probably comparable to a straight single plugin...
What sorts of stuff is set out by the plugin for export? It dumps xml files, but is that just the model info, rigging and such, and nothing else? Or does that involve anything else for the engine that we can't easily replicate without access to code parts? (because I imagine the first result will be something like a blender plugin, as while I've heard it's a horrible work environment when you're not used to it, it's 100% free and tends to work with a lot of formats..)
It's not gonna be a straight one click 'export to volition format' button but I guess if it allows us to click an 'export to xmls' button and then run the cruncher tool on it from there without too much more work it's probably comparable to a straight single plugin...
I saw someone post on here that they had a student license for 3ds max but it expired...seriously, what? I can get why a trial would expire--otherwise, hardly anyone will buy the program (as is the case with WinRAR)--but if I've already bought the program, even if it's conditional on me being a student, I would feel entitled to keep using it forever. I wouldn't feel entitled to free updates, at least not when I'm no longer a student, but I'd expect the software I'd already paid for to keep working forever. (well, until it's so outdated that no computer modern enough to be worth keeping set up can run it anymore!)Not every one has 3DS Max as its a few 100 to buy lucky the student licance is only 167.88 but thats still alot
Its prob beter if the plug in was with a free program
We made a decision internally to not devote our time to only re-engineering the 3dsmax specific plugins to be functional outside of our development environment. As mentioned above not everyone has a 3dsmax license nor does everyone prefer to work in 3dsmax. We are still actively working on the FBX converter tool so that one can export from whichever package they prefer and we convert to our intermediate format. I will say its not moving as fast as I had hoped but we are progressing forward.