.x import is poorly supported with modeling programs that I use, including Milkshape and Ultimate Unwrap 3D. I love having files in .ms3d format, but I consider .x to be a 'final' format, not good for editing.

It's not necessary for the plugin, but it would be an awesome addition.

.x import is poorly supported with modeling programs that I use, including Milkshape and Ultimate Unwrap 3D.

You are right. If I remember correctly, I was losing information when importing my models into MS3d. I can't remember what data I was losing, but I do remember having problems. I will have to look at some docs on the MS3d format. If it isn't anything too out of the ordinary, then I will consider it.

Another command has been added. You can now set weighting info
MT_SetBoneInfluenceWeight ObjID, Limb, BoneNo, InfluNo, Weight#

I just realized that I didn't add anything to retrieve the verts of polys. I'll probably do that next. I'll also add a command to calculate the normal of a poly

I would be interested in this sort of plugin too, Wolf. Keep us updated.

wolf you ever thought of working on an animation system like endorphin before? personally I'd find that quite useful, as it save hours of animating; as you just animate by movement and let the IK system determin the realism in-engine.

what's even better about it, is it can combine it with physics movement and simple rule-base ai reactions to try and keep the character to a pose.

so say you have a character in a stance, on a block that you rotate about; it will try to rebalance it's weight to keep standing upright, then let it level and it'll go back to the stance. would really help realistic animations with less effort on developers side.

Here is some additional motivation for writing a new .x exporter. The current DBP exporter to .x only supports vertices up to 65535 verts.

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=51621&b=15

@Wolf,

Crikes, just looked back at this thread and now you're talking about a .x and .3ds exporter and well as a poly reducer - this is now most definitely a pay-for product...

Re Wolf's comments - I agree a seperate plugin for animation AFTER 3DCM would be excellent - but I'd suggest the first add-on for 3DCM (fantasy, rpg etc models) more important than the animation stuff - after all, most of us could export our new and improved models to .3ds or .x and then sort animation with a third party product like Milkshape or whatever...

[edit]

If you were putting this forward as a new pay-for plugin you may as well roll it together with Wolf Extra...

wolf you ever thought of working on an animation system like endorphin before? personally I'd find that quite useful, as it save hours of animating; as you just animate by movement and let the IK system determin the realism in-engine.

what's even better about it, is it can combine it with physics movement and simple rule-base ai reactions to try and keep the character to a pose.

so say you have a character in a stance, on a block that you rotate about; it will try to rebalance it's weight to keep standing upright, then let it level and it'll go back to the stance. would really help realistic animations with less effort on developers side.

I Already started one a few months ago. But shhhhhh.... That is my top secret project
I have so many things going on at the moment that I haven't been able to give it much love.

Here is some additional motivation for writing a new .x exporter. The current DBP exporter to .x only supports vertices up to 65535 verts.

lol
I didn't think that DBpro could export to .x at all anymore. I'll have to give the thread a thorough read.

Crikes, just looked back at this thread and now you're talking about a .x and .3ds exporter and well as a poly reducer - this is now most definitely a pay-for product...

Re Wolf's comments - I agree a seperate plugin for animation AFTER 3DCM would be excellent - but I'd suggest the first add-on for 3DCM (fantasy, rpg etc models) more important than the animation stuff - after all, most of us could export our new and improved models to .3ds or .x and then sort animation with a third party product like Milkshape or whatever...

I don't plan to make any kind of animation editor as a part of 3D Character Maker. It will support all of the FPSC animations. Additional animations will also be available in addon packs or you can create your own in a modeling package of your choice.

If you were putting this forward as a new pay-for plugin you may as well roll it together with Wolf Extra...

Wow! I forgot I was even working on that. Yeah... Maybe I could throw some of the commands from it in to this.


I got a lot done. I *almost* have poly addition/removal working. DBpro must be holding a reference to the data somewhere and I am having trouble applying a new list of polys correctly. I have some ideas of ways to work around this though...

I Already started one a few months ago. But shhhhhh.... That is my top secret project
I have so many things going on at the moment that I haven't been able to give it much love.

Well if you need any help with it, then give me a shout.
I'm too cheap (or rather broke) to get Endorphin, so resorted to creating my own version. Only with so many other aspects of the engine i'm working on needing attention means work is slow.

I got a lot done. I *almost* have poly addition/removal working.

Wow!

You don't hang around do you? From your original post I was expecting poly reduction to be a 'maybe' once everything else was included. So, I didn't expect to see anything about it for a long time and yet, now you say it is almost done!

I'd love to see it in action if you can throw something together

Well if you need any help with it, then give me a shout.
I'm too cheap (or rather broke) to get Endorphin, so resorted to creating my own version. Only with so many other aspects of the engine i'm working on needing attention means work is slow.

That is a project that I am very interested in. Unfortunately, there are too many other things going on at the moment. I have some really cool ideas that I think would work quite well. Hopefully, I'll be able to actually test them out someday.

You don't hang around do you? From your original post I was expecting poly reduction to be a 'maybe' once everything else was included. So, I didn't expect to see anything about it for a long time and yet, now you say it is almost done!

When I mentioned that I had poly removal almost working I meant in a manual sense. You choose the poly that you want to remove and POOF! it is gone. I can get this to happen right now. The only problem is that I can not completely delete the reference to the old information. If I do, I get an instant crash. Something else (that I may not have access to) is still referencing the old pointer. This is actually a major issue that I may not be able to work around. There may be a way that I can completely reconstruct a new mesh, then delete the entire old mesh, but that would be a pretty slow process. I have some other ideas for things to try, but it looks a little discouraging right now.

Edit:
I believe that I just found a way around the problem mentioned above. There will be a little extra overhead, but I can use that for some extra advantages too. Work continues...

I started a WIP thread for this plugin. Go check it out:

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=108101&b=8&p=0

It includes a video of poly addition/removal in action