What to mac users use in order to create DTS objects

#1 Greetings!

Bruno, I emailed you a link to the older version of the LightWave Exporter that may be used with LightWave 7.0. But, as LightWave 7.5 is a free upgrade, I'd recommend that you take advantage of it.

- LightWave Dave

#2 We are trying to get a pre-compiled version of the Maya exporter, but apparently no one in the community has both Maya and the correct version of CodeWarrior, so we may have to get our own copy of CW. Don't know why Alias hasn't gotten around to adding Xcode support.

#3 Lightwave seems to be working fine now.

I upgraded to version 7.5 and installed the plugin very easily.

Thanks for the help.

#4 Alex,

what are the needed versions for Maya and CW?

#5 Maya 4.5 or 5.0 - these might have to be compiled independently.

I am not 100% sure on the CW version. I will email Clark and have him answer that question ASAP :)

#6 CW 8.3 (I think -- not at work right now).

#7 Jay agrees, it is 8.3 that is the necesary version. If anyone has it and would be willing to compile the mac executable for Maya 4.5 or 5.0, that would be extremely appreciated.

#8 I know this is gonna be of no help whatsoever... but i would use a pc...

all the stuff i make for the pc version of Torque (i use Worldcraft) and just copy it over the wires to my iMac...

... put it in the right directory and just add it to the game in the editor.

so if you have a midrange pc available, add Milkshape to it... make some models... and use the dts exporter to export em...

copy em over (network or floppy) to the mac... and wa la...

--Mike

#9 That doesn't really solve the problem Michael. We would like to have a full dev environment on any platform.

Blender is an affordable solution for the mac, and I have heard mention that the exporter was not working on the mac, though I have yet to see it. If anyone has information please let me know.

#10 Anyone heard of Cheetah 3d?

homepage.mac.com/mwengenm/Cheetah3D/index.html

I know it doesn't support DTS, but it looks like a nice 3d editor. Blender seems a little complicated. It'd be great to see something like Milkshape for the Mac.

#11 Yes Alex... you are correct... as prefaced by my opening statement in the above post...

...and, of course it would be great to have the same, or comparable suite of tools available for all platforms.

the post was just to offer a possible alternative until we do arrive at such a time in case it wasn't obvious to those working to develop an OSX game and have access to a Windows PC as well...

--Mike

#12 We just got Maya 6 here, and it supports Xcode compiling for the SDK, so hopefully we will soon have a Maya plugin, at least.

#13 I'm using Blender right now. Yes, it's a little tough to learn, but it's a quick learn. The only bad thing is, the DTS exporter (a series of Python scripts) isn't fully complete (c'mon! When's the next update?). Blender does require a full recompile - only if you get the latest source. Others have said you can use an older version (2.25?) and it'll work properly.

#14 Scott,

I have been quite busy with other things, such as real life, so i have not quite had time to update the exporter scripts for blender.

In addition, i'm waiting on the blender 2.33 python docs to become available in order to fix up the python to work properly round that version.

#15 Once the blender exporter is more finalized, we will have pre-compiled versions posted on the official exporter page.

#16 I talked to Clark from bravetree (I think he had a hand in developing maya2dts...) and he said that it *should* work on Maya 6 OS X, if built from Xcode. I'm not a programmer, but I do have Maya 6 and Xcode. Is there any way someone could walk me through doing a build of the plug-in? Or is it more complicated than that? Having the maya2dts plug-in would make my life soooo much easier.

Thanks,
-Mike

#17 Blender does not need a recompile, at least not with the latest blender and the latest DTS exporter. See a howto here : http://www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=20920

#18 I am trying Lightwave 8, trying to use the new IK Bones but having little luck (with the bones). I am using the Gnometeck exporter and it works great with the models and animations they provided, now I just gotta figure out how to get my UV's to work and the animations to work. The IK Bones in Lightwave 8 would be awesome to use because its SUPER EASY to rig up your models, and SUPER EASY to animate them.

If anyone has it dialed in, any tips would be appriciated!

#19 Danny Ngan has got an OS X Maya 6 to DTS beta exporter on his site now...

Anyone tried it out? I'm going to check it at home soon.

#20 I tried it. Oof. It was really tough to get a model export properly. I still have lots of problems I can't get right (textures not showing up until I'm almost on top of the model).

Back to Blender for now...