Shape not exporting :( Help!
by FruitBatInShades · in Artist Corner · 02/09/2005 (6:34 am) · 5 replies
I am trying to get the DTS exporter to work, I'm a complete newb so don;t avoid the obvious. This is my shape in editor, a complicated door ;)
and this is it in game! See the problem :)
and this is it in game! See the problem :)
#2
Without getting too technical, 3D modelling applications often use some very weird tricks to do scaling of objects. In many cases the data for this scaling is not (or only partially) exposed to the exporter and thus will be ignored or borked on export. There are tricks that you can use to get around this (such as freezing transforms and the "Box Trick" in Maya and Max), but it is best if you avoid the scale tools altogether when possible.
02/09/2005 (2:33 pm)
My guess would be the same as Rex's - scale transforms are often lost during the export process. When squashing a shape it is usually better to either create it the size that you want, or actually move the appropriate faces/verts to where you want them rather than scaling the whole shape.Without getting too technical, 3D modelling applications often use some very weird tricks to do scaling of objects. In many cases the data for this scaling is not (or only partially) exposed to the exporter and thus will be ignored or borked on export. There are tricks that you can use to get around this (such as freezing transforms and the "Box Trick" in Maya and Max), but it is best if you avoid the scale tools altogether when possible.
#3
When you resize an object in gameSpace to are not actually changing the size of an object, you are actually applying a scale factor to the object. Since there is no built in way to freeze the scale transforms of an object in gameSpace you have two options.
1.) export your object to .x format and then reimport them into the scene.
2.) use the scale normaizer plugin written by Luke Derossi. This plugin allows you to freeze the scale of objects in gameSpace or trueSpace without having to export them and reimport them.
You can tell if any object in your scene still has a scale factor applied to it by selecting the object and clicking on the axes tools and selecting the normalize scale tool. Objects that still have a scale factor with resize to their actual size.
Everything in your scene except for marker objects must have the scale factor frozen for it to export properly. This includes the bounds, collisions, nodes, all mesh objects, etc.
the gameSpace DTS exporter also supports scale animation. this is one of the reasons that the object scale must be frozen. Otherwise there is no valid frame of reference for scale animation to work properly.
02/09/2005 (2:39 pm)
This from another thread that answred your question hereWhen you resize an object in gameSpace to are not actually changing the size of an object, you are actually applying a scale factor to the object. Since there is no built in way to freeze the scale transforms of an object in gameSpace you have two options.
1.) export your object to .x format and then reimport them into the scene.
2.) use the scale normaizer plugin written by Luke Derossi. This plugin allows you to freeze the scale of objects in gameSpace or trueSpace without having to export them and reimport them.
You can tell if any object in your scene still has a scale factor applied to it by selecting the object and clicking on the axes tools and selecting the normalize scale tool. Objects that still have a scale factor with resize to their actual size.
Everything in your scene except for marker objects must have the scale factor frozen for it to export properly. This includes the bounds, collisions, nodes, all mesh objects, etc.
the gameSpace DTS exporter also supports scale animation. this is one of the reasons that the object scale must be frozen. Otherwise there is no valid frame of reference for scale animation to work properly.
#4
02/10/2005 (1:51 pm)
If normalizing the scale doesn't work, here is something else I found. You have your detail marker set to 64. If your object is smaller than 64 pixels it will go down to the next detail level. In my case, it was rendering the collision mesh. I thought that the negative detail number was supposed to prevent that, but it doesn't seem to work. So, make sure your lowest detail level is set to 1. If you only have one level of detail make it 1.
#5
02/16/2005 (3:09 pm)
You should load your DTS into showtool and try the different detail levels. Gives you more control than in the game engine. I've had the same problem that Kurtis describes. 
Torque Owner Rex
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