Model Formats

[Flockheart]

I'm slowly beginning to piece together an engine to work on some small games demos and I was looking for some advice regarding character model formats.

Previously I've used the MS3D format from the simple Milkshape3D and Id's Md2 format however I'm looking for something a bit more advanced.

I need a model format that contains (in addition to the vertex data ) the following information:

- Bones for skeletal animations

- The animations themselves

- Mulitexture information

Obviously data will be stored internally in the engine in a custom format but I'd be interested to know what any actual devs here use for import/export.

Cheers,

Handle

[Colonel Panic]

Might be worth taking a look at the format for quake 3 or halflife models. IIRC they support all you need.

I'm not a pro game developer but I what I did for loading different models is to have my own internal data stucture and a few different classes for importing diff models. I can only imagine that this is how everyone does it.

[jawadx]

If you want the ultimate model format than write your own by writing a Max Plugin . But if that proves too hard you should seriously try the 3DS format cos that's pretty much the standard format for use these days. Haven't used it but I think it contains skeleton animation. It's probably better to write a loader for that then save it out in your own format.

If you want an easier format to use tho, try MD3 cos I found them to be pretty good. Only disavantage is the amount of memory it uses because it's key frame animation. I know that's not what you want but the Tag system it has is very, very useful.

Anyway, good luck with what you try.

[Flockheart]

Not sure if the Quake 3 and HL Models support multitextures and I'm fairly sure the old 3DS format doesn't actually store bone information and just stores static geometry (.max is the standard 3DStudio format now I believe and I think it may just be a memory dump?), so each frame is a new set of geometry and skeletal animation is something I really want.

Doesn't Quake3 use several different meshes for body parts which are then animated rather than a single mesh with vertices attached to bones?

I think you could be write with the plugin/script but I was just asking if anybody knew of a format which contained the data I required to save a little effort. Cheers for the help so far, anymore will be appreciated.

[Rygal - Reader of Threads]

Now, I'm no game developer, but since 3DSMax seems to aiming itself for the Games market, surely that will have a format that will store all the information you need?

[Flockheart]

Now, I'm no game developer, but since 3DSMax seems to aiming itself for the Games market, surely that will have a format that will store all the information you need?

I'd like to think so I've not looked at the .max format in detail yet but you have to remember that there's lot of information 3ds needs and uses that it will also store in it's default format which as I said I *think* may just be a memory dump as with the .blender format. Max exports to quite a few formats and there are numerous plugins and scripts available to let it export to even more, I was just wondering if anyone knew of one of the formats to save me having to look into every single one Surely theres someone else who's loaded a skeletly animated multitextured model into their code before?

[MemoryLeak]

3ds is a bit dodgy if you want multitexture information as it only supports one UV coord per vertex. A good bet is the dotXSI format, especially considering there is the semantic layer in the dotXSI File Transfer Kit (FTK) which means you don't have to parse the file yourself, just query the object model once its loaded (and vice versa for saving).

[jawadx]

3DS is bizarre I must admit, but I think it does do animation, or at least store the bone animation. There's also a tutorial and GameTutorials that on 3DS animation but the source code is only available on the CD.

When it comes to pro's, I think most developers have their own internal formats, used from writing their own plug-ins for Max or Maya.

One last thing, why do you need to make sure it does multi-texturing?

[Flockheart]

3DS is bizarre I must admit, but I think it does do animation, or at least store the bone animation.  There's also a tutorial and GameTutorials that on 3DS animation but the source code is only available on the CD.

When it comes to pro's, I think most developers have their own internal formats, used from writing their own plug-ins for Max or Maya.

One last thing, why do you need to make sure it does multi-texturing?

I'm still fairly sure that animations exported in the .3ds format are just a different 3ds model for each frame?

I'd like multitexturing because sometimes you find having just one texture isn't enough Jawad I'd like the option to be able to use detail maps or environment maps etc if required and I'd need an addtional set of UVs for things like that.

[roadkill]

I've not looked at the .max format in detail yet but you have to remember that there's lot of information 3ds needs and uses that it will also store in it's default format which as I said I *think* may just be a memory dump as with the .blender format.

.blend s are a lot more subtle than simple memory dumps.

and .max I believe is effectively a list of instructions to execute to create the scene, so it requires all the code of MAX in order to really use one.

Either way you're going to have to be able to load what you produce, so you're either going to be converting from dotXSI or you're going to need to write a script exporter, which has the simple advantage of including the features you want in the manner you want. The downside is quite obvious, but tbh I think more 3D game development can be done in the 3D tool with a proper exporter than with the engine.