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Specific Model Format

Started by kronus980 Jul 20, 2012 at 9:24 PM 4 replies 1.9k views

Original Post

Jul 20, 2012 at 9:24 PM

Hello again, it's been a while since I've posted. I was originally programming in java but over the course of these months I've been studying more C and just a bit of C++. I would think I'm ready for graphics with games now. I've been wondering what is the preferred model format for beginners? And texture format? I would assume .bmp would be the easier choice for textures. But yes:

-Direct X: What model? .X? .MD2-3?
-Texture: .DDS? .BMP?

Any advice/help/suggestions/tutorials would be appreciated. Thanks!

6677

Jul 20, 2012 at 9:43 PM

Textures are usually DDS or PNG. Bitmap and jpeg dont have transparency. PNG is slightly more resource intensive than DDS but easier to work with and for a beginners game will make little to no difference.

DirectX has its own model format in the .X file, many modellers support export to it (Even the basic version of google sketchup has a functioning export plugin available, works well). Otherwise .obj, .dae and .fbx often pop up.

kronus980

Jul 21, 2012 at 8:03 AM

Roger roger. Thank you!

R1cochet

Jul 22, 2012 at 7:45 AM

I think .obj format would be suitable, it's very easy to import and has exporters available for it in almost all the applications.

In DirectX9 you can load .X using the D3DXLoadMeshFromX
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb172890%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
DirectX10 and 11 do not provide this.

You can also use the AssImp library to import your assets.
http://assimp.sourceforge.net

Radikalizm

Jul 22, 2012 at 9:33 AM

Textures are usually DDS or PNG. Bitmap and jpeg dont have transparency. PNG is slightly more resource intensive than DDS but easier to work with and for a beginners game will make little to no difference.

It may not be all too important right now, but do keep in mind for future reference that there's quite a difference between what a DDS and a PNG file can contain. A PNG file is a PNG-compressed bitmap image format, while DDS is a texture format with support for a wide range of compression and color formats (including compressed formats which can be uploaded to the GPU directly), multi-dimensional textures, cube maps, inclusion of additional texture data like mipmaps, and more.

Right now I'd agree to go for PNG for simplicity, but in the end it might be worth your while to take a look at DDS

kronus980

Jul 24, 2012 at 7:36 AM

I think .obj format would be suitable, it's very easy to import and has exporters available for it in almost all the applications.

In DirectX9 you can load .X using the D3DXLoadMeshFromX
http://msdn.microsof...0(v=vs.85).aspx
DirectX10 and 11 do not provide this.

You can also use the AssImp library to import your assets.
http://assimp.sourceforge.net

I like .X and .obj. Hmm I may end up going with .X though. I will return here if I need any help thanks again.

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