PhysX/Softimage/Collada

#1 The Collada loader does not currently support the physics elements of the collada spec.

#2 I was hoping i wouldn't need to use 3ds max what wishful thinking lol...

#3 Its been brought up in other threads. Post Torque 3D 1.0 we may look into supporting the Collada physics format for the physics abstraction layer in the engine.

#4 Well it probably won't be long till collada will be a full featured physics exporter/importer.

#5 Wouldn't it work using the .DTS shape (ala - XSI DTS Exporter) and the XSI Physx XML files in the datablock?

#6 Havn't tried it have you? Im working with "soft body" physics using PhysX which is going to require soft body attachments.

#7 Sorry for delayed response. Apparently the Physx XML data is not exported. See this thread post number 157:

www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/84283/8#comment-650263

I believe Matt is working on this per a post he made to the Autodesk XSI forums.

#8 Yeah just found his post community.softimage.com/forum/autodesk-softimage/softimage-75/softimage-physx-pl...

#9 Yeah i think Matt is going to include PhysX into his DTS plugin but is checking with Softimage to make sure they have not already made one.

#10 Softiamge Wiki says this:

Quote:You will be able to export data not only as a Collada file, but also in physX's proprietary "core dump" format, which will allow easy data interchange. (Importing of physics scenes will only be available through Collada, dotXSI and so forth; the core dump format is write-only.)

But I can find nowhere in the documentation that tells you how to do this.

#11 I searched everywhere in XSI and they must have forgotten to add the support before they pushed 7.5 out the door. Or there is a newer version getting ready to come out that supports it which is possible.

#12 Great lead - I will look around some more and let you know what I can find.

#13 I have started doing some testing and it doesnt look like the Softimage COLLADA exporter (Crosswalk) supports the export of PhysX data. I have only tried 2 scenes but neither of them resulted in any PhysX data ending up on the .DAE file.

If that would have worked I had tracked down a project that extracted the PhysX data from a COLLADA file and converted it to PhysX NxuStream XML format. It is probably still useful to other COLLADA exporters in the event that they include PhysX data in their COLLADA export.

The next best option is probably just to look for custom property sets in the Softimage scene that contain PhysX data, collect them and export them along with any required geometry data to PhysX NxuStream XML.

#14 Matt - Have you looked at the XNA or other plug-in exporters for evidence of the Physx data?

#15 @anuther1: No, I started with COLLADA since it seemed like it might be viable.

The PhysX sim data is stored in custom property sets in the Softimage scene so it is pretty easy to get to the data. The PhysX xml format seems relatively straight forward so it shouldn't be too bad to write an exporter.

I am still doing some research into what other options might be out there or in the works.

#16 Does anyone have a PhysX XML file exported from Max that has joints in it? If so please send one my way.

I have rigid bodies and breakable objects partially exporting, but I still have a crap ton of properties and settings to map from Softimage to the PhysX XML format.

#17 I do not have Max, but this looks like it may contain useful info: The author demonstrates 'joints' from the exporter.
www.powerrender.com/wiki/index.php/PROJECT_2:_Using_the_PhysX_3DSMax_Plugin_with...