IndieGamesCon '02 - Exporter Session

#1 Which exporter? 3DS, milkshape, blender?

#2 The 3DSMAX exporter.

#3 A nice overview (with some more detailed forays into various particulars) of the "art pipeline" in TGE would be nice : by pipeline, I mean the modelling and animating of "actors" as .dts shapes, with or without .dsq anims.
(note : I'm not a modeller, but I would like to understand better what the process entails, as well as being able to dabble with and produce programmer art for trying out features, etc.)

1 - Overview of the model layout and naming conventions, ie to setup for export from Max.
2 - .dts with embedded animations
3 - The Process of .dsq anim creation and reuse.
4 - 3 vs 4
5 - how to setup a new "skeleton" for DSQ anims (ie let's say quadrupeds with or without wings for Realm Wars)

(Might add more when I think of more :))

Joe, from what I've understood, you'll only be covering Max, right ? (no Milkshape, Blender, or for that matter, Quark or WC ??)
That's it for now.

#4 Although I probably will not be attending this GGCon, here are some thoughts/suggestions of what you could cover in more detail (based on problems that other people have had).

- Skin modifier, a reminder how to use it and how you should check everything is weighted and setup right.
- Setting up details markers correctly
- How to register detail information within the MultiRes object, how to correctly use SetLODs.mcr, and what the parent object of the MultiRes object should be
- Hierarchy setup for basic objects and character models
- Using advanced material options such as bump maps, opacity maps, etc. and exporting them correctly into the game.
- How to create your own Sequences (DSQs) for your characters
- General troubleshooting, problems, and how you can fix them.


Logan

#5 SORT:: and all its transparancy problems. People (me included) keep running in to problems with that

#6 How to setup your own rigs (skeletons) and animating them could be its own session entirely. It might be information overload if it was lumped in with all of the other exporter stuff. It might be interesting to have a separate session demonstrating and comparing rigging techniques from the various 3D packages in use for the TGE.

How long are these individual presentations supposed to be? A lot of these topics sound like they could be standalone sessions throughout the weekend.

#7 Danny if anyone was going to give a presentation like this, I think that you are probably the best qualified person for the job :)

If a chat on rigging ever occured it would be nice to see tips, tricks, and ways to ensure reusability in your custom rigs as well.

Logan

#8 Danny is trying to sell his classes =O)

I agree with Logan though, i didn't see you on the list i'm sure i would be atending..

#9 You guys think too highly of me. I am by no means an expert on rigging. It's just the part of 3D that I enjoy the most, and I happen to teach a workshop on 3D character animation. I couldn't sell the class if I wanted to, though -- it's for UO multimedia majors only. Now, if you wanted to pay me to teach a class on rigging, I wouldn't argue. :D

#10 Just wondering if anyone had any more comments on this. The presentation is only an hour, and I want to make sure that everyone gets the most bang for the buck. If we only had the time to cover two (maybe three) things in depth, what would y'all want them to be?

#11 Vehicle Specific Nodes, and animations
1)Mount#
2)Hub#
3)Spring#
4)Steering
5)brakeLights
6)contrail#
7)jetNozzle#


Basically explain how those nodes work in the default fps code.

#12 Portals.

#13 I would like to see alot of what people have already suggested. More about how to blend all the features provided into any given model.
I would also like to here a little about the future and what could become of DTS and how it could be improved, and any plans on the table for such a thing (granted you want to share that).

Matt

#14 This might be a good place to start to have that discussion. I personally don't have any plans for the exporter and don't have any suggestions for improvement. It does everything I want it to do and I have not been limited in any way by it.

This is probably a situation where I am too close to the issue. What are the big issues that everyone thinks need to be addressed?

Some of the recurring issues that keep popping up wih the exporter spring from the user not fully understanding how '3D' works, and some are workflow issues that need to be addressed.

I wouls like to see more people feeling comfortable with the tools and see more artists coming to GarageGames, and I would like to know what I can do to help.

So, what are the big issues with the tools right now?

#15 I also want to encourage people to bring their 'problem' max files. Many times I do not know what kinds of problems people are experiencing unless I am able to see what they are doing.

This helps me as it educates me as to what things people are not getting.

It is very difficult to me as I cannot put myself in the headspace of an individual that is new to the exporter.

#16 Well I almost feel sorry for you, you expert. LOL

I agree that the exporter does do everything I need it to do now. But I could think of a few time savers that might not be that hard to put into place in it. A grouping feature would be nice. Export whole groups of models instead of just one at a time. Mostly it would come in handy for things like weapons and stuff. One weapon with multiple firing features. Or simple stuff like an animated scoreboard (For ballgames). It might allow for a modeller to build a group of models and export them as a group, also load them into the enviroment as a group but each model could be called seperatly by the script.
I don't know if its possible but its just somthing I was thinking about. I got a few more hairbrained ideas to but I won't waste the space here.
Looking forward to seeing everybody.
Matt

#17 We hope to handle most of the vehicle stuff at our yahoo group so the community doesn't have to hound you so much Joe. I hope you plan on descibing in detail how to create and export a dsq skeleton correctly, I still have major problems with Player models, vehicles are less of a concern. Most importantly make sure that the info get documented and posted on the web for those of us who can't make it.

#18 Hi! I'm creating a vehicle, an it have bones and animation...
the problem is that is hard to find a accurate and complete description of the hierarchy needed to make everything works...
It took me a whole day to find that a regular bone(not biped) must be linked to base01 to be found by te exporter and I had many problems to find where the colision would be...

Now my problem is with the nodes (cam, eye, contrail etc)
It seems that they should be linked to the bones, but if I do it they arent exported... maybe even with the always export config...

So someone knows where to put these nodes and if there are some naming convention that I missed? (I already checked de detail trail number...). If someone have a good and really complete vehicle tutorial (with bones skin, hierarchy) would be great!

Thanks in advance!

#19 The best way to get into the proper way to export shapes is to first read the documentation

fosters.realmwarsgame.com/maxdts/.

The best example of a vehicle setup is the Car Pack

and if you search the site, you can find other resources and forum posts regarding the proper setup of vehicle models. There are some models in some of the resources, but some of the links may be dead.