What is Collada?
by Tyler Slabinski · in Collada Test · 03/16/2009 (12:00 pm) · 7 replies
I would like to know what Collada is. I understand it is an object file, yet I wanted to know... Why? What advantages does it have over .DTS? Here are my questions:
1. Does it support polysoup?
2. Can it support the many kinds of shading Torque has? (I.E. Relief Mapping)
3. Can it be used as an .DIF file?
4. Does it load faster?
5. Are the files compressed more?
6. Overall, why?
1. Does it support polysoup?
2. Can it support the many kinds of shading Torque has? (I.E. Relief Mapping)
3. Can it be used as an .DIF file?
4. Does it load faster?
5. Are the files compressed more?
6. Overall, why?
#2
1. It relies heavily on the object though.
5. Compression does not just mean when it is installed... It means the file size. And I don't want my game taking up 20GB of data when with .DTS I could just use a quarter of that. That is what I am asking, the file size.
6. I think I may just stick with normal .DTS if that is the case... I would rather have an object that works the same and I am familiar with rather then a new object that doesn't do much more then .DTS.
03/16/2009 (1:58 pm)
@Orion1. It relies heavily on the object though.
5. Compression does not just mean when it is installed... It means the file size. And I don't want my game taking up 20GB of data when with .DTS I could just use a quarter of that. That is what I am asking, the file size.
6. I think I may just stick with normal .DTS if that is the case... I would rather have an object that works the same and I am familiar with rather then a new object that doesn't do much more then .DTS.
#3
5. The way it's implemented in the current test is similar to the .cs/.cs.dso implementation. The engine checks each .dae (the Collada extension) file to see if the corresponding .dts file exists and is up to date, and creates or updates it if needed. Presumably, you could ship your game without the .dae files, just like you can currently ship it without the .cs files. (Which is, incidentally, a very good thing - .dae files are XML based, which makes it one of the most morbidly obese 3d formats around...)
6. The real draw isn't just Sketchup. Collada is gaining a lot of support as a "generic" 3d format. Supporting it in Torque means that artists no longer have to rely on Torque-specific DTS exporter plugins. They could use Cinema 4D, for example, which has never had a DTS exporter, but which does support Collada right out of the box.
Edit: BTW, there's a Wikipedia article about Collada if you're interested in reading more.
03/16/2009 (2:14 pm)
1. Yes, Collada is a polygon-based format, not a brush-based format like .dif or .map. So yes, it will support polysoup collision.5. The way it's implemented in the current test is similar to the .cs/.cs.dso implementation. The engine checks each .dae (the Collada extension) file to see if the corresponding .dts file exists and is up to date, and creates or updates it if needed. Presumably, you could ship your game without the .dae files, just like you can currently ship it without the .cs files. (Which is, incidentally, a very good thing - .dae files are XML based, which makes it one of the most morbidly obese 3d formats around...)
6. The real draw isn't just Sketchup. Collada is gaining a lot of support as a "generic" 3d format. Supporting it in Torque means that artists no longer have to rely on Torque-specific DTS exporter plugins. They could use Cinema 4D, for example, which has never had a DTS exporter, but which does support Collada right out of the box.
Edit: BTW, there's a Wikipedia article about Collada if you're interested in reading more.
#4
03/16/2009 (3:41 pm)
Shaders got nothing to do with the fileformat, but is just the canvas. (just like paint can stick on any fabric).
#5
03/16/2009 (5:21 pm)
Ever try putting paint on ice? It just melts and becomes of ugly browns. 
#6
03/16/2009 (5:25 pm)
i knew a guy once who did a series of performance art pieces where he painted on slabs of ice and then let them melt. i think the melting was very gradual, so the image lingered a bit after melting.
#7
Number 5 pretty much answered all my questions I really needed. Thanks.
03/16/2009 (5:30 pm)
@ShermanNumber 5 pretty much answered all my questions I really needed. Thanks.
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2. dunno, great Q. maybe look through picasaweb.google.com/gallery.sketchup
3. i doubt it
4. dunno
5. is this really an issue ? generally compression is the job of the installer.
6. i think the thing that makes collada attractive is that it's the native format for google sketchup, which bazillions of people use.