[Kazan]

3DS Max users... generate some .ASEs for me.. everything from fighters to capships

[Flipside]

Best thread title....evar!

Sorry, I just couldn't resist saying something....

[Kazan]

hehehehe 

[blackhole]

That is either the best thread title ever posted or the worst file extension ever made.

[Herra Tohtori]

All your ASE are belong to Kazan.

[Col. Fishguts]

A bunch of boxes with some hierarchy to get you started: http://n.ethz.ch/student/ebuerli/download/boxes_ASE.rar

If you want something more substantial, in what setup (naming conventions, groups, etc.) ?

[Kazan]

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

[DaBrain]

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. 

[Kazan]

yeah.. and it is going to make me learn not to try to buffer these files in memory

[Warp Shadow]

o__0

I feel violated...

[Kazan]

A bunch of boxes with some hierarchy to get you started: 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

[Woolie Wool]

o__0

I feel violated...

I guess your ASE hurts, then?

Anyway, does this mean that you're about to make the max exporter completely obsolete?

[Kazan]

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

[DaBrain]

A bunch of boxes with some hierarchy to get you started: 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.

[Kazan]

i <3 macros

this is the function body of the texture map data read function

Code: [Select]

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")

[Kazan]

A bunch of boxes with some hierarchy to get you started: 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

[maje]

well since you're online, I'll see about generating an .ase for the Brittlestar.

[DaBrain]

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...

[Col. Fishguts]

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.

[DaBrain]

@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:

Code: [Select]

$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.


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