Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: Kazan on February 09, 2008, 12:36:49 pm
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3DS Max users... generate some .ASEs for me.. everything from fighters to capships
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Best thread title....evar!
Sorry, I just couldn't resist saying something....
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hehehehe :lol:
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That is either the best thread title ever posted or the worst file extension ever made. :p
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All your ASE are belong to Kazan.
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A bunch of boxes with some hierarchy to get you started: http://n.ethz.ch/student/ebuerli/download/boxes_ASE.rar (http://n.ethz.ch/student/ebuerli/download/boxes_ASE.rar)
If you want something more substantial, in what setup (naming conventions, groups, etc.) ?
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most of this data is very straight forward
except one thing
the hierarchical_boxes.ase only has one material.. and there isnothing like *submaterials { ... } in the data.. but i'm getting submaterial IDs that clearly don't lead me anywhere...
[edit]
apparently 3DS max spews out garbage submaterial IDs constantly.
so just ignore the ID and assign it to the material itself instead
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I'll give you the SoL city 1.0 as ASE (link via PM).
20 MB ASCII, 888 entities (dummies for glowpoints included).
Should be a horrible worst-case scenario. ;7
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yeah.. and it is going to make me learn not to try to buffer these files in memory :D
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o__0
I feel violated...
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A bunch of boxes with some hierarchy to get you started: http://n.ethz.ch/student/ebuerli/download/boxes_ASE.rar (http://n.ethz.ch/student/ebuerli/download/boxes_ASE.rar)
If you want something more substantial, in what setup (naming conventions, groups, etc.) ?
what are "point01" and "point02" they're "helperobject"s in the file
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o__0
I feel violated...
I guess your ASE hurts, then?:lol:
Anyway, does this mean that you're about to make the max exporter completely obsolete?
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Anyway, does this mean that you're about to make the max exporter completely obsolete?
yes
[edit]
speaking of which my ASE loader can load *COMMENT, *SCENE, *MATERIAL, *SUBMATERIAL, *MAP_DIFFUSE
and here are some links for my own personal reference
http://www.di.unito.it/~marcog/IG2/Material/MeshXUnreal/Panda.ase
http://zerowing.idsoftware.com/viewcvs/radiant.gamepacks/JAPack/branches/1.4/base/models/menu/galaxy.ASE?rev=1
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A bunch of boxes with some hierarchy to get you started: http://n.ethz.ch/student/ebuerli/download/boxes_ASE.rar (http://n.ethz.ch/student/ebuerli/download/boxes_ASE.rar)
If you want something more substantial, in what setup (naming conventions, groups, etc.) ?
what are "point01" and "point02" they're "helperobject"s in the file
Point helpers were used to set up gunpoints.
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i <3 macros
this is the function body of the texture map data read function
ASE_Start_VarProcessing(in,"}")
ASE_ReadQuotedStr("*MAP_NAME",name)
ASE_ReadQuotedStr("*MAP_CLASS",mapclass)
ASE_Var("*MAP_SUBNO",subno)
ASE_Var("*MAP_AMOUNT",amount)
ASE_ReadQuotedStr("*BITMAP",bitmap)
ASE_ReadUnquotedStr("*MAP_TYPE",type)
ASE_Var("*UVW_U_OFFSET",u_offset)
ASE_Var("*UVW_V_OFFSET",v_offset)
ASE_Var("*UVW_U_TILING",u_tiling)
ASE_Var("*UVW_V_TILING",v_tiling)
ASE_Var("*UVW_ANGLE",angle)
ASE_Var("*UVW_BLUR",blur)
ASE_Var("*UVW_BLUR_OFFSET",blur_offset)
ASE_Var("*UVW_NOUSE_AMT",noise_amt)
ASE_Var("*UVW_NOISE_SIZE",noise_size)
ASE_Var("*UVW_NOISE_LEVEL",noise_level)
ASE_Var("*UVW_NOISE_PHASE",noise_phase)
ASE_ReadUnquotedStr("*BITMAP_FILTER",filter)
ASE_End_VarProcessing("*MAP")
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A bunch of boxes with some hierarchy to get you started: http://n.ethz.ch/student/ebuerli/download/boxes_ASE.rar (http://n.ethz.ch/student/ebuerli/download/boxes_ASE.rar)
If you want something more substantial, in what setup (naming conventions, groups, etc.) ?
what are "point01" and "point02" they're "helperobject"s in the file
Point helpers were used to set up gunpoints.
ok.. so i cannot just discard the data
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well since you're online, I'll see about generating an .ase for the Brittlestar.
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Now we just need a system that is easy to use to set up detail box stuff (or custom settings in general - there might be more later).
Maybe just helperobjects attached to the object they belong to, named "$db_mn_-1000_mx_1000" (there is a limit to the name length...), so one step below them in the heirachy.
(This still wouldn't make mass editing very easy....)
Maybe somebody else can come up with something better...
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what are "point01" and "point02" they're "helperobject"s in the file
Yep, those are two dummy helper points. Styxx's exporter uses those t auto-generate fire points and other stuff, basiclly the same as PCS uses the lights from TrueSpace.
Auto-generating functionality would just be the icing on the cake. What we really need from an ASE importer (in order to no longer depend on the Max exporter) is:
- geometry with proper smoothing data and UV mapping
- hierarchy of turrets/debris/destroyed subsystems
And that's about it I think. The rest can be easily set up manually in PCS2.
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@Kazan I think I have a solution for the problem with the "user defiened/custom properties".
With some internet research and some reference, I was able to write a MAX script that will output a txt with the names and the "user defined" settings.
Format is like this:
$Model Name
"user defined settings"
$Model Name 2
"user dedined settings 2"
...ect
Now together with this and if you just copy the names the MAX exporter used, all models set up for the exporter will work in PCS2 without any additional work (other than saving a separate txt)!
I think that's pretty cool. :)
I've attached the script. Even without MAX, you can take a look at it. Just open the script with Notepad.
"Installation" instructions - three steps
Of course you can use "Run Script" every time you export a model for FSO, but that is too complicated for me....
1. This is what I do:
Right-click on the top toolbar and select "Extras". A shiny small extra window will appear.
http://i28.tinypic.com/6fcsvo.gif
2. Now open the script.
http://i25.tinypic.com/1e6o80.gif
3. Just select everything and drag it on the "extras" window.
http://i31.tinypic.com/2h3orqr.gif
That's it. Now you have a button you only need to click on when you export the extra informations.
You can change the appearance by right-clicking on it.
[attachment deleted by ninja]
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i read somewhere you can attach arbitrary comments to anything you want?
[edit]
oh DaB.. i'm trying to make it so that we don't need extra plugins or anything
straight from max to PCS2
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Well, the comments that can be added are not in the "user defined" tab.
Those are just comments about the ASE version, the filename and the like. So nothing that is really useable for us.
So I don't really see any other way.
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Each object has a field for optional user defined properties. That's where Styxx's exporter got the additional submodel data for turrets and subsystems.
EDIT: @DaB: Are the user defined comments not exported to ASE ?
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Each object has a field for optional user defined properties. That's where Styxx's exporter got the additional submodel data for turrets and subsystems.
i read that any chunk in ASE can have a comment but the model you provided me didn't hve them
i have max 9 now so i can play around with stuff
*edit*
facepalm... max can export ASE but not import.. how stupid is that
[edit again]
there is a plugin to enable it on Max 4 - Max 8
http://www.worldofgothic.de/dl/index.php?go=downloads&release_id=117
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EDIT: @DaB: Are the user defined comments not exported to ASE ?
No it can't. That's the problem.
The format supports comments, but it's not using the user defined settings as comments.
I didn't find any other comment-like option in MAX. I'm pretty sure we cannot use the comment function unless we rewrite the ASE exporter plugin to do what we need.
That's why I wrote the script.
i read that any chunk in ASE can have a comment but the model you provided me didn't hve them
The problem is, you cannot add comments that can be exported, unless I'm missing some kind of hidden funtion in MAX.
*edit*
facepalm... max can export ASE but not import.. how stupid is that
Just write some stuff into the User defined properties tab and export an ASE.
Open the file with Notepad or something similar and look for the "comments" you've added.
They're gone. :(
Edit: You can only add comments in particle views... which doesn't help one bit...
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I just tried to export something with user defined comments, but it seems they get ignored on export.
And yes, ASE import is not supported. I don't know whose idea that was.
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Very old versions could still support importing ASE. (older than version 5)
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if anything thinks it's not redundant they can use http://www.martinreddy.net/gfx/3d/3DS.spec to write .3DS suppot for PCS2
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I can completely load Fishgut's Hierarchial Boxes (not translate to PMF yet, haven't written that, but my ASE reader can read it)
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I can completely load Fishgut's Hierarchial Boxes (not translate to PMF yet, haven't written that, but my ASE reader can read it)
Wow, that was pretty fast. :yes:
if anything thinks it's not redundant they can use http://www.martinreddy.net/gfx/3d/3DS.spec to write .3DS suppot for PCS2
I think ASE and/or OBJ support is better than 3ds support.
Btw, I know you don't like the idea of having an additional script for the extra information, but keep in mind that a similar script could easily be written for Maya and Blender (and maybe also Lightwave and Sketchup).
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Btw, I know you don't like the idea of having an additional script for the extra information, but keep in mind that a similar script could easily be written for Maya and Blender (and maybe also Lightwave and Sketchup).
well.. i was going to write in a feature for PMF metadata text format... so if you hold on until i write that you can just make your scripts export that.
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if anything thinks it's not redundant they can use http://www.martinreddy.net/gfx/3d/3DS.spec to write .3DS suppot for PCS2
I think ASE and/or OBJ support is better than 3ds support.
Also 3ds's Max creates is limited to 8.3 filenames. :ick:
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Btw, I know you don't like the idea of having an additional script for the extra information, but keep in mind that a similar script could easily be written for Maya and Blender (and maybe also Lightwave and Sketchup).
well.. i was going to write in a feature for PMF metadata text format... so if you hold on until i write that you can just make your scripts export that.
Great. :)
I hope it won't be too complex. I don't think I can do much more complex scripts yet...
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takes 23 seconds in while debugging for my ASE loader to read the 19,731KB SoL_City_ASE.ASE into memory (not to do the translation)
20 seconds in debug build not debugging
8.75 seconds in release build
so... not bad at all
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Nice, I would have thought the importing of that monster would take more time.
I wonder about the conversion. It took quite a while in the MAX exporter...
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conversion will probably take some time... right now i'm doing some stuff in the FS2 engine waiting for feedback on PCS2 Mantis #51
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well here is a pickle... Sol City has no normals.. no texture verts, no texture faces
in otherwords the model is useless as far as conversion is concerned
[edit]
i'm starting to loose confidence in the realiability of this format
[edit2]
yeah.. format is getting the can