Welcome to the Torque 3D Collada Test
by Matt Fairfax · in Collada Test · 02/16/2009 (5:09 pm) · 29 replies
Hello GarageGames Community!
I just wanted to welcome everyone to the Torque Collada Test. We are really excited to get a chance to show off and test out an upcoming feature of Torque 3D with a live demo that will allow you to give us direct feedback.
As you prepare to check out the Torque Collada Test here are some important things you should know =)
First, please read the documents included in the root directory (where Collada Test.exe is). You should see Collada Overview.html and TSShapeConstructor Specification.html. Chris Robertson has put together some very nice docs to help you get started with Collada in Torque and they are well worth the read.
Second, the Torque Collada Test is set to expire in less than a month (March 13th at 5:00 PM PST) so jump in as soon as possible and start testing!
Third, the Collada loader for Torque introduces a few changes to the art pipeline that you should be aware of:
1) Collada files will attempt to match the name of the material you export from your modeling app to the name of a Torque Material before it tries to map it to the diffuse texture name (as Torque has previously done). This is very powerful in that it allows you to share a single diffuse texture among multiple parts of your mesh and still be able to have different effects on those parts (like transparency on the spacesuit visor and specular on the metal bits). You will no longer have to split those different effects out into different textures but this is a change from how DTS has worked in the past (it stored only the diffuse texture name). Moving forward we will be changing what DTS can store (for example, have it store the material name and the diffuse texture name separately).
2) When you load a Collada file, Torque will automatically generate a "cached" DTS version of that file. The next time that Torque loads that Collada file, if the Collada file hasn't changed, then it will load the cached DTS instead. This is very similar to how DSO and CS operate. We did this for two reasons: DTS loads a lot faster than Collada since it is an optimized binary format versus Collada's human readable text format. Also we wanted to give you guys a way to ship your game without the highly editable Collada files. When you go to release your game, you can just remove the Collada files and leave the cached DTS's and everything will work and you won't have to worry about someone editing your artwork.
3) We have started to add new features to the DTS format (like a second set of UV's, color information, and larger than 10K vertex limits). Most of these aren't yet exposed in the first version of the Collada Test (we wanted to focus on the loading side of things first and the rendering/features later). However, this does mean that if you model contains any of this kind of data, then it will get saved out in the new DTS format and you won't be able to load them in Torque ShowTool Pro. The Collada loading code will attempt to save your models out in a ShowTool Pro format if it doesn't have any of this extra information but it can't guarantee it.
4) Since the Collada format can store more information about the materials used on it in your modeling app and more than can be stored in the DTS files currently, the Torque Collada loader will attempt to manage Torque Materials for you in your materials.cs files. After you load a Collada file you should see new Materials get added between //--- <name> MATERIALS BEGIN --- and //--- <name> MATERIALS END ---. Just like with the GUI Editor and Mission Editor saves, anything between these comment tags will get stomped by the automatic save system of the Collada loader code. Anything outside of these comment tags should be safe. If you want to make a change to the default Material that gets generated by the Collada loader, simply move that Material out of those tags and the Collada loader won't overwrite it anymore. It also won't keep it in sync with any changes you make to the materials in the Collada file so you will need to handle that yourself.
Another thing I would like to highlight is the changes introduced to TSShapeConstructor. For those of you not familiar with TSShapeConstructor, it is used to merge separate animation files (DSQ's) into a Torque shape file when you load it. This is very useful for allowing you to share animations among multiple characters. Chris has extended this system to allow for a lot wider range of animation definitions (pull from other DTS's instead of just DSQ's for example). He has also made it so that it can execute script commands automatically when you load the TSShapeConstructor and has hugely extended the kind of things that you can do to a mesh from script (add, delete, rename bones/nodes, add, delete, rename meshes, add primitives, etc). This means that you never have to wait for your artist teammate on the other side of the country (or world!) to get a minor change made to the mesh. It also means that the coder can spend the time fine tuning the shape until he is satisfied that it matches the requirements of the code and then tell the artist exactly the changes that need to be made instead of having an endless cycle of tweaks and refinements. There is actually some pretty powerful things you can do with this system so I highly encourage everyone to check it out and to offer more suggestions. Be sure to check out the 93 line TestModel script file that creates a fully working player character with animations completely from script!
So how can you personally help with the Torque Collada Test?
Start exporting models into Collada and loading them up in Torque. We want to test as wide a range of Collada exporters as possible and to fix as many of the issues that arise from those exporters as possible! We want to know if there is a crash. We want to know if the model came in incorrectly. We want to know if something didn't work like you expected it to. Please try out everything from custom rigs to Torque rigs to no hierarchies at all. The Torque Collada pipeline should be smooth and easy to use and we want to know if it isn't!
Please post bug reports and example meshes here in the Collada Test forum. If you can, please format them with the title "Torque Collada Test - Bug - <YOUR PROBLEM>" so that they are easier to track.
Thank you for all of your help! Together we can make Torque's art pipeline everything we've always wanted!
I just wanted to welcome everyone to the Torque Collada Test. We are really excited to get a chance to show off and test out an upcoming feature of Torque 3D with a live demo that will allow you to give us direct feedback.
As you prepare to check out the Torque Collada Test here are some important things you should know =)
First, please read the documents included in the root directory (where Collada Test.exe is). You should see Collada Overview.html and TSShapeConstructor Specification.html. Chris Robertson has put together some very nice docs to help you get started with Collada in Torque and they are well worth the read.
Second, the Torque Collada Test is set to expire in less than a month (March 13th at 5:00 PM PST) so jump in as soon as possible and start testing!
Third, the Collada loader for Torque introduces a few changes to the art pipeline that you should be aware of:
1) Collada files will attempt to match the name of the material you export from your modeling app to the name of a Torque Material before it tries to map it to the diffuse texture name (as Torque has previously done). This is very powerful in that it allows you to share a single diffuse texture among multiple parts of your mesh and still be able to have different effects on those parts (like transparency on the spacesuit visor and specular on the metal bits). You will no longer have to split those different effects out into different textures but this is a change from how DTS has worked in the past (it stored only the diffuse texture name). Moving forward we will be changing what DTS can store (for example, have it store the material name and the diffuse texture name separately).
2) When you load a Collada file, Torque will automatically generate a "cached" DTS version of that file. The next time that Torque loads that Collada file, if the Collada file hasn't changed, then it will load the cached DTS instead. This is very similar to how DSO and CS operate. We did this for two reasons: DTS loads a lot faster than Collada since it is an optimized binary format versus Collada's human readable text format. Also we wanted to give you guys a way to ship your game without the highly editable Collada files. When you go to release your game, you can just remove the Collada files and leave the cached DTS's and everything will work and you won't have to worry about someone editing your artwork.
3) We have started to add new features to the DTS format (like a second set of UV's, color information, and larger than 10K vertex limits). Most of these aren't yet exposed in the first version of the Collada Test (we wanted to focus on the loading side of things first and the rendering/features later). However, this does mean that if you model contains any of this kind of data, then it will get saved out in the new DTS format and you won't be able to load them in Torque ShowTool Pro. The Collada loading code will attempt to save your models out in a ShowTool Pro format if it doesn't have any of this extra information but it can't guarantee it.
4) Since the Collada format can store more information about the materials used on it in your modeling app and more than can be stored in the DTS files currently, the Torque Collada loader will attempt to manage Torque Materials for you in your materials.cs files. After you load a Collada file you should see new Materials get added between //--- <name> MATERIALS BEGIN --- and //--- <name> MATERIALS END ---. Just like with the GUI Editor and Mission Editor saves, anything between these comment tags will get stomped by the automatic save system of the Collada loader code. Anything outside of these comment tags should be safe. If you want to make a change to the default Material that gets generated by the Collada loader, simply move that Material out of those tags and the Collada loader won't overwrite it anymore. It also won't keep it in sync with any changes you make to the materials in the Collada file so you will need to handle that yourself.
Another thing I would like to highlight is the changes introduced to TSShapeConstructor. For those of you not familiar with TSShapeConstructor, it is used to merge separate animation files (DSQ's) into a Torque shape file when you load it. This is very useful for allowing you to share animations among multiple characters. Chris has extended this system to allow for a lot wider range of animation definitions (pull from other DTS's instead of just DSQ's for example). He has also made it so that it can execute script commands automatically when you load the TSShapeConstructor and has hugely extended the kind of things that you can do to a mesh from script (add, delete, rename bones/nodes, add, delete, rename meshes, add primitives, etc). This means that you never have to wait for your artist teammate on the other side of the country (or world!) to get a minor change made to the mesh. It also means that the coder can spend the time fine tuning the shape until he is satisfied that it matches the requirements of the code and then tell the artist exactly the changes that need to be made instead of having an endless cycle of tweaks and refinements. There is actually some pretty powerful things you can do with this system so I highly encourage everyone to check it out and to offer more suggestions. Be sure to check out the 93 line TestModel script file that creates a fully working player character with animations completely from script!
So how can you personally help with the Torque Collada Test?
Start exporting models into Collada and loading them up in Torque. We want to test as wide a range of Collada exporters as possible and to fix as many of the issues that arise from those exporters as possible! We want to know if there is a crash. We want to know if the model came in incorrectly. We want to know if something didn't work like you expected it to. Please try out everything from custom rigs to Torque rigs to no hierarchies at all. The Torque Collada pipeline should be smooth and easy to use and we want to know if it isn't!
Please post bug reports and example meshes here in the Collada Test forum. If you can, please format them with the title "Torque Collada Test - Bug - <YOUR PROBLEM>" so that they are easier to track.
Thank you for all of your help! Together we can make Torque's art pipeline everything we've always wanted!
About the author
I am a Game Designer at PopCap who has worked on PvZ Adventures, PvZ2, Peggle Blast, and Bejeweled Skies. I am an ex-GarageGames employee who helped ship TGE, TGEA, Torque 3D, and Constructor.
#2
02/16/2009 (6:20 pm)
That has been missing from the Megaterrain demo of Torque for a while now and I simply didn't get around to adding it for this demo. It shouldn't hurt anything. 
#3
Interesting definition of "everybody" you have there. Good thing artists never use Macs, eh?
02/16/2009 (6:24 pm)
"Torque Collada Test 1.0 (win32).exe"Interesting definition of "everybody" you have there. Good thing artists never use Macs, eh?
#4
02/16/2009 (6:32 pm)
There should be a Mac version coming soon but I am having some issues that need to be worked through. 
#5
02/16/2009 (7:06 pm)
I need to play with this mission more. It's looking great. (aside from the little problem I listed in it's own thread.)
#6
02/16/2009 (8:39 pm)
well i think i will test this out as its about time i get to the 3d modeling will first do my test character. i made in xsi its been custom rigged as well i just hope it will work as this rig is very complex. i could not export it to dts the when i tried hope this will work though. its just a test character though so i don't care if i can get it exported or not. i exported it not rigged and animated though. 
#7
Quoted from OP:
First, please read the documents included in the root directory (where Collada Test.exe is). You should see Collada Overview.html and TSShapeConstructor Specification.html. Chris Robertson has put together some very nice docs to help you get started with Collada in Torque and they are well worth the read.
And just for good measure, don't forget to:
First, please read the documents included in the root directory (where Collada Test.exe is). You should see Collada Overview.html and TSShapeConstructor Specification.html. Chris Robertson has put together some very nice docs to help you get started with Collada in Torque and they are well worth the read.
02/17/2009 (7:56 am)
Since a few people appear to be skipping this step all together:Quoted from OP:
First, please read the documents included in the root directory (where Collada Test.exe is). You should see Collada Overview.html and TSShapeConstructor Specification.html. Chris Robertson has put together some very nice docs to help you get started with Collada in Torque and they are well worth the read.
And just for good measure, don't forget to:
First, please read the documents included in the root directory (where Collada Test.exe is). You should see Collada Overview.html and TSShapeConstructor Specification.html. Chris Robertson has put together some very nice docs to help you get started with Collada in Torque and they are well worth the read.
#8
02/17/2009 (2:07 pm)
Built-in Collada-to-DTS is very nice, but holy shit at the new TSShapeConstructor. It gives so much control over how the models are loaded that my mind is overflowing with possibilities.
#10
02/18/2009 (9:59 pm)
I seem to be having problems loading textures with Sketchup exported files. 
#11
Besides that, this collada export is awesome... no worry about hierarchy for simple exports or bounding boxes....works great for me so far...(just want shaders)
02/19/2009 (7:34 pm)
is there any possibility that shader info will be supported with this anytime soon?Besides that, this collada export is awesome... no worry about hierarchy for simple exports or bounding boxes....works great for me so far...(just want shaders)
#12
02/27/2009 (12:09 am)
I just wanted to express my gratitude for this feature. Thank you so much.
#13
There is a new build which you can grab from here:
Torque Collada Test 1.1
It includes fixes for:
- Fix crash when polysoup is enabled for skinned meshes
- Fix crash when animations channels contain a single keyframe
- Fix crash when materials do not contain a profile_COMMON element
- Fix crash when using the TSShapeConstructor::dumpShape method
- Generate better default values for Material parameters if not present
in collada file
- Generate warning for bad bind_shape_matrix values
- Handle materials.cs for Sketchup exported files (ie. files embedded in a zip)
Please grab it and give it a test if you had problems with any of your previous Collada files.
Thanks!
03/04/2009 (11:59 am)
Hey all,There is a new build which you can grab from here:
Torque Collada Test 1.1
It includes fixes for:
- Fix crash when polysoup is enabled for skinned meshes
- Fix crash when animations channels contain a single keyframe
- Fix crash when materials do not contain a profile_COMMON element
- Fix crash when using the TSShapeConstructor::dumpShape method
- Generate better default values for Material parameters if not present
in collada file
- Generate warning for bad bind_shape_matrix values
- Handle materials.cs for Sketchup exported files (ie. files embedded in a zip)
Please grab it and give it a test if you had problems with any of your previous Collada files.
Thanks!
#14
I'll test some other objects as well. My first test was with objects that I had trouble with before.
Edit to add: Even complex objects import easily. Great Job guys.
03/04/2009 (4:13 pm)
This build is much better than the last one. I had no problems getting my objects into torque and my lights work now. (going to have to dim them down a bit)I'll test some other objects as well. My first test was with objects that I had trouble with before.
Edit to add: Even complex objects import easily. Great Job guys.
#15
03/15/2009 (1:48 pm)
Any word on the Mac version ? I am drooling at reading about the test. 
#17
> Built-in Collada-to-DTS is very nice, but holy shit at the new TSShapeConstructor.
stuff like the following is super powerful:
this should allow you to dynamically download meshes and animations as needed, which is imo a prerequisite for any system with truly large amounts of content. (for example user-generated)
03/17/2009 (2:44 pm)
Manuel really put it well:> Built-in Collada-to-DTS is very nice, but holy shit at the new TSShapeConstructor.
stuff like the following is super powerful:
function PlayerDts::onPreload(%this)
{
%this.addMesh("cube", "bounds", "Col-1"); // collision mesh
%this.addSequence("walk", "walk_short", 1, 5); // add subsequence
%this.addTrigger("walk_short", 3, 4); // add trigger to sequence
%this.renameSequence("walk", "walk_long"); // rename sequence
%this.renameNode("Bip Pelvis", "pelvis"); // rename node
%this.addNode("mount5", "Bip L Hand"); // add a new node
%this.dumpShape(); // dump shape to console
}this should allow you to dynamically download meshes and animations as needed, which is imo a prerequisite for any system with truly large amounts of content. (for example user-generated)
#18
Will
03/17/2009 (7:55 pm)
I tried the demo and all i can say is WOW, amazing work. The engine seems so much faster then 1.8 or earlier engines... is it me or is that a fact? Very very impressed with how the editor works and the overall package. Cant wait til this comes out, should be amazing more so...Will
#19
03/18/2009 (8:35 am)
Like Andrew, I'm drooling for a Mac version of this. C'mon guys, I've got an Xcode and I ain't afraid to use it! Don't make me write my own ShapeConstructor class for TGE! :-) 
Dale E. La Force