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File format question
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File format question // Roundtable
Post by Tiles // May 13, 2007, 11:01pm
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Tiles
Total Posts: 1037
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I once had planned to share some textured low poly meshes for use in 3D games. I have chosen X as the mainformat. And 3DS as a second editable format for the cases where the game engines doesn't support X. But the almighty format hassle makes me nuts at the moment. Every format seems to have its compatiblility issue. All stuff was saved with TS7.11. But i guess it doesn`t make any difference to 7.5.
My experiences so far while i was searching for a file format that works with most software: X loads textured in Blender. But refuses to render then. 3DS refuses to load in Max 8. OBJ, saved with LUUV, crashes Softimage. Cob looses the texture when saving as TS6.6 Cob. Which means i have to stick to TS6.6 when i would think of providing Cob because of compatibility issues. And with all file formats except Cob was the issue that you cannot save hierarchical objects.
So no matter what i do, there are always some unsatisfied users, telling me that the stuff doesn't work. What would you do? Which way should i go? What's the best file format as an editable version of the mesh? |
Post by Misc // May 13, 2007, 11:10pm
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Misc
Total Posts: 59
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I don't understand why TS is not able to save .obj without the great LUUV plugin?
Most Applikations could read and write .obj |
Post by parva // May 13, 2007, 11:14pm
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parva
Total Posts: 822
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tS can save obj but just left-handed, means the object is mirrored.
edit: :D ah I just see not in tS7.5 *lol* ... someone has removed it... *g* |
Post by Jack Edwards // May 14, 2007, 12:58am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Ultimate Unwrap 3D is doing a great job of file format conversion for me...
Roman has mentioned Collada format as a priority. That should help a lot I would think.
Btw, 3ds seems to export hierarchies just fine for me... you just have to triangulate first.
-Jack. |
Post by Tiles // May 14, 2007, 1:09am
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Tiles
Total Posts: 1037
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Parva, LUUV Plugin works in Modeler, fortunately ;)
3DS does indeed keep the hierarchy. But it shoots down the texturing when it is multitextured and hierachical. UV Space is not fitting anymore. I tried that before. Umn, haven't tested it with triangulation. Maybe worth a try. Thanks for this tip. Will try :)
Collada may be the future. But can XSI load Collada? Max8 or even 7? Hmm ... ;)
Ultimate Unwrap, well, the goal is to have a file format that is readable in nearly all mayor 3D apps. In best cases even older versions. Makes for example no sense to force XSI users to buy Ultimate Unwrap just for file issues in my opinion.
Well, i give it a go now with triangulated 3DS and test it out. Maybe then the people who cannot load it at the moment can load it then. And when this fails i will stick with OBJ. Thanks so far :) |
Post by Jack Edwards // May 14, 2007, 1:31am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Ultimate Unwrap, well, the goal is to have a file format that is readable in nearly all mayor 3D apps. In best cases even older versions. Makes for example no sense to force XSI users to buy Ultimate Unwrap just for file issues in my opinion.
Nah wasn't suggesting UU3D for your customers. I mean that it'll load native COB format files and can export to FBX, OBJ, XSI, and about 50 other formats. From what I've seen it maintains the animation info too. Also so far the exporters seem fairly robust, giving warnings about what's wrong with the model that isn't compatible with that format and letting you make geometry modifications in the program.
Edit: UU3D also lets you retexture your models in app so you can export them with the correct textures.
-Jack. |
Post by Tiles // May 14, 2007, 1:47am
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Tiles
Total Posts: 1037
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Ah, i see. Maybe i will give it a go when i have some money left :)
Have tested it with triangulated 3DS now. No sucess. Same procedure as with quads. The UV space gets disorted when it is hierarchical and multitextured. Alright, that means OBJ. |
Post by Jack Edwards // May 14, 2007, 2:05am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Sounds like a bug with the exporter. :(
Materials shouldn't have anything to do with UV space since that's stored in the vertex data... unless you're using procedural textures like darktree which don't use the UV info, then it might just be an issue with those parts of the model not being mapped right anyway and it not showing... :confused:
-Jack. |
Post by Tiles // May 14, 2007, 2:33am
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Tiles
Total Posts: 1037
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Well, have a look. Just exported as 3DS, then imported back :
http://reinerstileset.4players.de/ext/3dsquirk.jpg
This just happens to a hierarchical 3DS though. When i union the stuff with the Poly Combiner the UV space comes out correct. 3DS makes nevertheless trouble in other apps, and refuses to work ...
You can even try yourself. The scene is saved with TS 6.6. But makes the same fun with TS 7.11 and 7.5. 316 kb
http://reinerstileset.4players.de/ext/treeD.zip |
Post by TomG // May 14, 2007, 4:15am
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TomG
Total Posts: 3397
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From our experiences here, OBJ is the most stable format across the most software apps for export and import into tS.
Of course all formats are about to get a review, including the OBJ format. Even LUUV could be improved upon - it had some trouble with normal maps I seem to recall when I was loading in the test meshes provided by aXYZ Models. It was fixable by repainting, but it would be nice to have it work automatically on import.
Anyway that's kind of off topic, but we will be looking into formats of all sorts and exploring all the options there!
Thanks!
Tom |
Post by Jack Edwards // May 14, 2007, 4:54am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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Definitely an exporter bug. The 3ds tree file loads into UU3D with the UVs already messed up, COB format the UVs are fine.
BTW, one problem you might be having is the way TS names things with comas in them screws some of the exporters up. The names end up all being the same and 3ds format requires unique names. Also 3ds format seems to require 8.3 char formated file names.
Here's your tree in COB, X, 3DS, OBJ, LWO, FBX, and XSI ;)
-Jack. |
Post by Tiles // May 14, 2007, 6:48am
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Tiles
Total Posts: 1037
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Thanks Jack for confirming. So it is really a bug in TS exporting and not at my users end :)
I will stick with OBJ in the future. Even when i loose the hierarchy then. Seems to be a common format too. And my users just complains about the axis location. Besides the XSI user, which tells about crashes when trying to load. But he can use Blender to save it to a format that is readable by XSI then :) |
Post by Jack Edwards // May 14, 2007, 7:06am
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Jack Edwards
Total Posts: 4062
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I think I also moved the axis and raised the tree to ground level as well. ;)
I'm getting best results exporting as COB and letting UU3D do the conversions for the moment. I'm sure this'll change as the new exporters get written or if anyone wants to script some quicky exporters. Edit: I do agree with Tom about OBJ being the most portable format though.
I think since the scene and objects are already stored in DirectX while being rendered in Workspace, I wonder if Caligari could write a simple X exporter which just streams the objects data out to an X file. I haven't looked at the DX SDK in years, but there's likely a Save function at the Mesh or Scene levels... :cool:
-Jack. |
Post by Tiles // May 14, 2007, 7:36am
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Tiles
Total Posts: 1037
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Ah, have overlooked Toms reply. And that there is a file to download :D
Thanks Tom for the advice. And thanks Jack for the conversions. Obj is the solution now :) |
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