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3DSMAX Question

Started by ReturnZero Feb 16, 2000 at 10:32 PM 6 replies 700+ views

Original Post

Feb 16, 2000 at 10:32 PM

Hello. I am writing a game, and I want to be able to take a .3ds or .max file and load it into my game that I am making. However, I can not find any good tutorials on this, I can only find source code ( which I cant even find effective ones at that ). I was wondering if anyone could possibly help me, with a book suggestion, link(perferably) or anything else that could help me with this. I am starting out, and I am to the point where I am almost ready to start with 3D graphics loading, I just need the know-how to do it. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Again, thank you for any time that you have taken to help.

Wrathnut

Feb 16, 2000 at 11:03 PM

Well I know that in directX 7 there''s a file in the sdk called conv3ds.exe, you can use that program to convert the 3dsmax files .3ds into the microsift .X file format. Which is easily loaded into the program.

DaBit

Feb 17, 2000 at 3:13 AM

On http://www.wotsit.org there is a description of the .3DS format. You could also study the reader written by Jare/Iguana, contained in a file called 3dsrdr14.zip.

Reading .max files is not so easy, since .max is nothing more than a binary dump of all data from all plugins.

DaBit

AIRmichael

Feb 17, 2000 at 5:52 AM

I am using ase format. Try to change the 3ds format into ase. Then open it in vc++. All faces are coded , and just pass it over to the program.

MaxPoly

Feb 18, 2000 at 11:14 AM

I found a free plugin that exports the file to a format called *.3dx. It is easy to read the file in and draw it in DirectX. However I have a problem with the UV Coords. I can''t figure out how to assign them to the Vertex structures. The plugin will export more TextureVertexs than mesh (x,y,z) vertex''s. I don''t understand that.

Let me know if you''re interseted in the plugin. I''ll try and figure out where I got it.

I would also appreciatte feedback on my UV Coords problem.

BTW I''m using 1.2

late! :-)
Max

Nedelman

Feb 23, 2000 at 5:29 PM

3DS Max, as well as many other 3D graphics packages, decouple the texture coordinates from the actual mesh coordinates. What this means is that you can have unique texture mapping for every face in the mesh. Just imagine that you want 6 different textures on a box and you can see why the number of texture coordinates wouldn''t necessarily correspond to the number of vertices in the mesh.

Josh Neta

Feb 23, 2000 at 7:43 PM

My suggestion would be to d/l kenetix''s(sp) 3dsmax sdk and write a small utility to convert the 3ds file to your own format. That way you can throw out all the crap you dont need and just keep what you want (hence giving you smaller files in your end product).

Josh

MaxPoly

Feb 24, 2000 at 12:51 PM

Thanks Nedelman,

I''m starting to get the idea.

What I''m trying to do is cover a low-poly model with a single texture. The texture is a composite of bitmaps taken from the high poly model made of several materials. What I''m discovering is that the trick is laying the composite image out so you can reuse as much geometry (DirectX/Strip) as possible.

At first I thought I could just assign U,Vs to all the vertices so they corresponded to the composite. Now I realize I need more vertices than I thought.

Where I''m struggling now is how to easily order my faces for striping.

Any Suggestions?

Thanks again
Max

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