Exporters from hell.
by Mikel · in General Discussion · 11/26/2007 (5:23 pm) · 13 replies
Once upon a time, I ran all over the internet checking out many many game engine and 3d engine. Beginning to master maya 8.5 3 months now, many years of seaching for the right engine that works, I expected I would have found the right engine.
Sadly that never happen.
Mostly every engine out there except those who companys will not share are...evil.
Maya 8.5, 2 Test model ready and waiting to be tested.
Every Game Engine problems from any engine out there I have experenced one or all of these:
1. !Exporters! Maya 8.5? No we only suppoer maya 7 oh wait I made an exporter stranger says, Yay me, Exports model, open in game engine...error............Bastards!
2. They just plan suck kinda engines.
3. Super crazy coding I have yet to figure even how to compile.
4. Oh, were sorry this super great engine with omg divine interface and exporters and tutorial and full intergration for maya 8.5 from the heavens with super awsome graphics and drulling demo of one of the many great possiblitys......is.....only....MAC compatable...... ((do_xb)) TWITCH!
5. Bugs Bugs Bugs, Expected....but not this many.
So Yep, hello, I'm back on torque again....maybe by some chance I will get 1 model into a game engine. oh and guess what, Having exporter problems....Whats up with that? I need a mac...d-_-b
I have this great game Idea, and I can model pretty damn well I say and I can animate, I'm learning still on programming. But I can't even get one single model in any game engine...not one....Is there any game engine out there that really works with minimal bugs? I say no....NOOO! So, any new exporters that work perfectly with maya 8.5 that I can get my animated model into torque?
Just one perfect way...any! I can't export in .x .obj. really easily now but dts...no can't seem to get textures in the model and it crashes a lot....So anyone know have an exporter for a software that can take .x so I can convert it into a dts without system crashes or texture problem?
Sadly that never happen.
Mostly every engine out there except those who companys will not share are...evil.
Maya 8.5, 2 Test model ready and waiting to be tested.
Every Game Engine problems from any engine out there I have experenced one or all of these:
1. !Exporters! Maya 8.5? No we only suppoer maya 7 oh wait I made an exporter stranger says, Yay me, Exports model, open in game engine...error............Bastards!
2. They just plan suck kinda engines.
3. Super crazy coding I have yet to figure even how to compile.
4. Oh, were sorry this super great engine with omg divine interface and exporters and tutorial and full intergration for maya 8.5 from the heavens with super awsome graphics and drulling demo of one of the many great possiblitys......is.....only....MAC compatable...... ((do_xb)) TWITCH!
5. Bugs Bugs Bugs, Expected....but not this many.
So Yep, hello, I'm back on torque again....maybe by some chance I will get 1 model into a game engine. oh and guess what, Having exporter problems....Whats up with that? I need a mac...d-_-b
I have this great game Idea, and I can model pretty damn well I say and I can animate, I'm learning still on programming. But I can't even get one single model in any game engine...not one....Is there any game engine out there that really works with minimal bugs? I say no....NOOO! So, any new exporters that work perfectly with maya 8.5 that I can get my animated model into torque?
Just one perfect way...any! I can't export in .x .obj. really easily now but dts...no can't seem to get textures in the model and it crashes a lot....So anyone know have an exporter for a software that can take .x so I can convert it into a dts without system crashes or texture problem?
About the author
#2
did you read all the docs about modeling?
11/26/2007 (8:14 pm)
Lol... if you already try all of those engines... mm.... maybe the problem are not the engines.... jejejeje...did you read all the docs about modeling?
#3
and Alan James....was that a joke?
11/26/2007 (8:37 pm)
Oh don't start that on me. I been engine hunting....And If I only had a Mac I would be way futher than I am now....But I still have lost to read on game programming and programming its self. Basicly I'm back to torque because it already starts off how I want the character views to be. Mostly the others engine where depressing as to how over complex they where for no more or less and how many time I was unable to export the models intot he engine due to the fact that exporters for maya 8.5 are slim engines. and Alan James....was that a joke?
#4
11/26/2007 (8:49 pm)
Move to XNA, export it out to .x and it drops straight into the content pipeline. No it's not a game engine, but you can build one yourself that works the way you want it to. There's plenty of documentation out there to help you get a basic engine up and running. You can use FreeWorld3D to create your environments and export them straight into XNA's Content pipeline as well.
#5
11/26/2007 (8:54 pm)
While I don't think the Alan James post was a joke (and I think you insult him to say so, since he actually tried to help), I think you should be able to export from Maya into the Torque engine. I don't know the state of the Maya exporter, however, the bottom line is that using anything but Max for games is a crap shoot. You might be able to make it work or you might not.
#6
asked for a pipeline that works...
.X model in:
corrected rotation, added mount points -- time about 5 minutes - export:
open in Milkshape, name animations, add triggers on footfalls - 20 or 30 minutes:
export using DTSPlus:
In game:
11/26/2007 (9:05 pm)
I guess it depends on whether or not you were joking when you asked for a pipeline that works...
.X model in:
corrected rotation, added mount points -- time about 5 minutes - export:
open in Milkshape, name animations, add triggers on footfalls - 20 or 30 minutes:
export using DTSPlus:
In game:
#7
Edit: 3D world Studio looks good too.
11/27/2007 (1:35 am)
Sweet model Alan ;-) Where is it coming from?Edit: 3D world Studio looks good too.
#8
I snagged it from that site everyone was freaking out about being a scam - www.3dbud.com. I can't vouch for the source of their models, but I had some money floating around in my Paypal account so I figured, "what the heck?" I'd find out if at least their delivery of the models were legit.
No problems there. I mainly picked her up because with all the level testing I do, I was getting real tired of looking at a hairy Ork butt. The model runs great in TGE, and since I really have no plans to make anything that would include her I figured it wouldn't be a problem. I'm still going to contact their team, since I think really what happened is some really dumb decisions on their part in marketing.
Anyway enough of a hijack, just wanted to show the workflow of one of the things I'd learned pretty early on in my Torque experience...for what it's worth...
11/27/2007 (5:27 am)
@Stephan,I snagged it from that site everyone was freaking out about being a scam - www.3dbud.com. I can't vouch for the source of their models, but I had some money floating around in my Paypal account so I figured, "what the heck?" I'd find out if at least their delivery of the models were legit.
No problems there. I mainly picked her up because with all the level testing I do, I was getting real tired of looking at a hairy Ork butt. The model runs great in TGE, and since I really have no plans to make anything that would include her I figured it wouldn't be a problem. I'm still going to contact their team, since I think really what happened is some really dumb decisions on their part in marketing.
Anyway enough of a hijack, just wanted to show the workflow of one of the things I'd learned pretty early on in my Torque experience...for what it's worth...
#9
hmm, if you have problems with exporters for engines, why in the crap would you go back to torque? dont get me wrong torque is nice, but it's got the most complicated art pipeline I've seen.
Alan,
good explanation there. it is really that easy to get an animated mesh into the engine. I've also done it myself more than a few times. but to be fair to this thread, things do get alot hairer when you decide you want that animation to blend on top of others and work correctly with a player object. IMO, it would be alot simpler if torque supported a real mechanism for parenting meshes to each other, like most engines. then the programmer could only be tasked with calling the right head, torso, leg etc. animations separately rather than blending them. although headside and look are very useful. =)
11/27/2007 (10:26 am)
Stephan,hmm, if you have problems with exporters for engines, why in the crap would you go back to torque? dont get me wrong torque is nice, but it's got the most complicated art pipeline I've seen.
Alan,
good explanation there. it is really that easy to get an animated mesh into the engine. I've also done it myself more than a few times. but to be fair to this thread, things do get alot hairer when you decide you want that animation to blend on top of others and work correctly with a player object. IMO, it would be alot simpler if torque supported a real mechanism for parenting meshes to each other, like most engines. then the programmer could only be tasked with calling the right head, torso, leg etc. animations separately rather than blending them. although headside and look are very useful. =)
#10
What is the first program your using that has all those exports? You know I looked for about 2 weeks for MLD exporters for game studio with no outcome.....What are you using?
Edit: Nevermind its fragmotion my eyes just woke up.... :P Sence I will be exporting from maya 8.5 as a .x with animations texture ect....idk if the colliders are part of that I haven't done those yet. But if that exports also with .x
Would I still have to do what you did with the rotating and naming the animations again?
Seriously I thought you were joking. I figure someone would just put a long change on exporters to mess with me.
Since I'm here maybe I can ask another question.
I been trying to figure out a combo attack. I have come down with the conclusion that If I was a 7 attack combo I will have to have 7 short animations and make the program count how many clicks the mouse does. Which should be if I click 4 times then 1-4 of the attack animations should be performed.
11/27/2007 (10:30 am)
Alan James............Hug ME!!!What is the first program your using that has all those exports? You know I looked for about 2 weeks for MLD exporters for game studio with no outcome.....What are you using?
Edit: Nevermind its fragmotion my eyes just woke up.... :P Sence I will be exporting from maya 8.5 as a .x with animations texture ect....idk if the colliders are part of that I haven't done those yet. But if that exports also with .x
Would I still have to do what you did with the rotating and naming the animations again?
Seriously I thought you were joking. I figure someone would just put a long change on exporters to mess with me.
Since I'm here maybe I can ask another question.
I been trying to figure out a combo attack. I have come down with the conclusion that If I was a 7 attack combo I will have to have 7 short animations and make the program count how many clicks the mouse does. Which should be if I click 4 times then 1-4 of the attack animations should be performed.
#11
11/27/2007 (11:15 am)
Quote:Stephan,Huh? It is MIkel, in fact. ;-)
hmm, if you have problems with exporters for engines, why in the crap would you go back to torque? dont get me wrong torque is nice, but it's got the most complicated art pipeline I've seen.
#12
this is what scared me away from C4. the api documentation reads like a manual for a nuclear reactor.
11/27/2007 (12:09 pm)
Oops! my bad! I meant mikel. well while I'm here I might as well say something else:Quote:3. Super crazy coding I have yet to figure even how to compile.
this is what scared me away from C4. the api documentation reads like a manual for a nuclear reactor.
#13
No problem, I guess until you've done it it would look like a joke. =P And yes, it's Fragmotion and the second app is Milkshape. Like Sean H. mentioned, it does get a bit more complicated with more complicated animation, but in a substantial portion of the cases you can pull it off with your primary animation/modeling program and these two other apps.
You probably wouldn't have to rotate the model, I'm not sure on that but it's really easy, just select all and rotate 180 for Torque. It will probably bring in the animation names into Fragmotion, but I'm pretty sure you'll loose their names on the export out to .MS3D (Milkshape) but all the animations will be intact. Another thing to note, if you find that you need to mess with any nodes, do it BEFORE you get into Milkshape, because it will hose all of your animations if you start monkeying with animated nodes in Milkshape -- just a heads up.
Regarding the combo attack question I'll have to leave that to one of the experts around here that can actually animate! =)
@Stephan, did you get my email? I know we've had trouble in the past getting email back and forth, so let me know.
11/27/2007 (2:40 pm)
@MikelNo problem, I guess until you've done it it would look like a joke. =P And yes, it's Fragmotion and the second app is Milkshape. Like Sean H. mentioned, it does get a bit more complicated with more complicated animation, but in a substantial portion of the cases you can pull it off with your primary animation/modeling program and these two other apps.
You probably wouldn't have to rotate the model, I'm not sure on that but it's really easy, just select all and rotate 180 for Torque. It will probably bring in the animation names into Fragmotion, but I'm pretty sure you'll loose their names on the export out to .MS3D (Milkshape) but all the animations will be intact. Another thing to note, if you find that you need to mess with any nodes, do it BEFORE you get into Milkshape, because it will hose all of your animations if you start monkeying with animated nodes in Milkshape -- just a heads up.
Regarding the combo attack question I'll have to leave that to one of the experts around here that can actually animate! =)
@Stephan, did you get my email? I know we've had trouble in the past getting email back and forth, so let me know.
Torque Owner Alan James
Really Really Good Things Studio