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MaxScript Exporters
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Sneftel, i'll disagree with you in part - MaxScript (although horrible in comparison to the actual C++ SDK) is great for writing intermediate export files, because the majority of maxscript is back & forward compatible, where as plugins via the maxSDK aren't.
Vincent_M, the MaxScript help files have a tutorial ascii exporter, and all of the function info you need to access materials etc.
Vincent_M, the MaxScript help files have a tutorial ascii exporter, and all of the function info you need to access materials etc.
I don't have the companion CD to the C++ API when it got mysteriousely scratched, and I didn't bother to install the API in the first place because I didn't know what it would do. I do have the Max SDK on the 3Ds Max 6 CD that I can install. Would that work on 3Ds Max 8? I will look for these tutorials.
Nope, the SDKs arent compatible.
Check out the sparks developer site, the might be some info on there that you can use though.
Check out the sparks developer site, the might be some info on there that you can use though.
I wrote an exporter for Max using MaxScript. If it weren't for the wierd (some would say "awful") way Max stores texture coord information, it would have been easy. But I was still able to make a working exporter dump vertices, normals, and UV coords to disk in less than 2 days.
There is a tutorial in the Max 8 help files that will show at least how to export vertex info.
Maybe since you need to export more complex information MaxScript is not the ideal solution for you. I looked at the Max SDK and ran away screaming - it requires you to know all the gritty details of Max before you can do much with it. If niether MaxScript or the SDK work out, you may try transcoding from an easy-to-parse format (COLLADA, maybe?), and forget Max altogether. That was my backup plan. The benefit would be you get support for other tools like Blender for free.
Just my 2c.
There is a tutorial in the Max 8 help files that will show at least how to export vertex info.
Maybe since you need to export more complex information MaxScript is not the ideal solution for you. I looked at the Max SDK and ran away screaming - it requires you to know all the gritty details of Max before you can do much with it. If niether MaxScript or the SDK work out, you may try transcoding from an easy-to-parse format (COLLADA, maybe?), and forget Max altogether. That was my backup plan. The benefit would be you get support for other tools like Blender for free.
Just my 2c.
Also, if you have the Max8/9 SDK there is also the IGAME interface, which is designed to give the vertex/texture/normal data in an alignment games use (so you dont have the nightmare Telamon is describing).
The reason that maxscript and the SDK are as complicated as they are is that 3ds max is a commercial RENDERING tool, designed to be more versitile that what is required for games art =)
The reason that maxscript and the SDK are as complicated as they are is that 3ds max is a commercial RENDERING tool, designed to be more versitile that what is required for games art =)
People actually use Max for anything other than 3D modeling for games (or other interactive gamelike media)?
I'm not being facetious, I actually didn't think they did. I mean, I know there are a lot of hobbyists that render stills, but I never see rendered stills in ad campaigns ect. Do movie studios use Max? Seems unlikely.
I'm not being facetious, I actually didn't think they did. I mean, I know there are a lot of hobbyists that render stills, but I never see rendered stills in ad campaigns ect. Do movie studios use Max? Seems unlikely.
Yep, 3dsmax gets used (albiet not as widely as Maya) for stills & movie rendering, usually in combination with Discreet's (Autodesk i beleive owns it now?) composition and editing tools like Flame or Inferno or whatever its called. Its more or less about the right tool for the right job. I cant remember the list of movies that have used max for certain, but im pretty sure Final Destination 2 did for one.
Here's the source from my exporter which I've since given up on. It was intended for playing back animations for a demoscene project. Might be helpful to you. I agree with what's been said though, Maxscript is horrible for things like this.
out_name = "c:/testdump2.dat"out_file = fopen out_name "wb"fn DumpMaterials = ( nummaterials = 0 for mtl in sceneMaterials do ( nummaterials = nummaterials + 1 ) WriteLong out_file (nummaterials) for mtl in sceneMaterials do ( WriteString out_file "S3DMA" WriteString out_file mtl.name WriteLong out_file mtl.shaderType WriteFloat out_file mtl.ambient.r WriteFloat out_file mtl.ambient.g WriteFloat out_file mtl.ambient.b WriteFloat out_file mtl.diffuse.r WriteFloat out_file mtl.diffuse.g WriteFloat out_file mtl.diffuse.b WriteFloat out_file mtl.specular.r WriteFloat out_file mtl.specular.g WriteFloat out_file mtl.specular.b if mtl.diffuseMap != undefined then ( WriteString out_file mtl.diffuseMap.filename ) else ( WriteString out_file "NODIFFUSEMAP" ) ))fn DumpMeshTextureVerts theMesh = ( local verts = #() for i=1 to (getNumFaces theMesh) do ( local vertindices = getFace theMesh i local texindices = getTVFace theMesh i verts[texindices.x as integer] = getVert theMesh (vertindices.x as integer) verts[texindices.y as integer] = getVert theMesh (vertindices.y as integer) verts[texindices.z as integer] = getVert theMesh (vertindices.z as integer) ) WriteLong out_file (verts.count) for i=1 to (verts.count) do ( WriteFloat out_file verts.x WriteFloat out_file verts.z WriteFloat out_file verts.y ))fn DumpMeshIndices theMesh = ( WriteLong out_file (theMesh.numfaces) for f = 1 to theMesh.numfaces do ( face = getTVFace theMesh f WriteLong out_file (face.z-1) WriteLong out_file (face.y-1) WriteLong out_file (face.x-1) ))fn DumpMeshData theMesh = ( WriteLong out_file (theMesh.numverts) for v = 1 to theMesh.numverts do ( vert = getVert theMesh v WriteFloat out_file vert.x WriteFloat out_file vert.z WriteFloat out_file vert.y ) DumpMeshIndices theMesh WriteLong out_file 0 --num texture vertices)fn DumpMeshDataTex1 theMesh = ( DumpMeshTextureVerts theMesh DumpMeshIndices theMesh numtvv = getNumTVerts theMesh WriteLong out_file numtvv for v=1 to numtvv do ( tvert = getTVert theMesh v WriteFloat out_file tvert.x WriteFloat out_file -tvert.y ))fn DumpGeometry = ( numgeometry = 0 for g in geometry where classof g != TargetObject do ( numgeometry = numgeometry + 1 ) WriteLong out_file (numgeometry) for g in geometry where classof g != TargetObject do ( WriteString out_file "S3DME" tmesh = convertToMesh g WriteString out_file g.name if tmesh.material.diffuseMap != undefined then ( DumpMeshDataTex1 tmesh ) else ( DumpMeshData tmesh ) WriteString out_file tmesh.material.name ) )fn DumpCameras = ( numcameras = 0 for c in cameras do ( if iskindof c camera do ( numcameras=numcameras+1 ) ) WriteLong out_file numcameras for c in cameras do ( if iskindof c camera do ( WriteString out_file "S3DCA" WriteString out_file c.name WriteFloat out_file c.position.x WriteFloat out_file c.position.z WriteFloat out_file c.position.y WriteFloat out_file c.target.position.x WriteFloat out_file c.target.position.z WriteFloat out_file c.target.position.y WriteFloat out_file c.controller.rollangle-- WriteFloat out_file 0.f WriteFloat out_file c.fov WriteFloat out_file c.nearclip WriteFloat out_file c.farclip ) ))fn DumpScene = ( WriteString out_file "S3DSC" WriteLong out_file 1 --version DumpMaterials() DumpGeometry() DumpCameras())DumpScene() fclose out_fileedit out_nameTopic Locked
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