WIP Fixing the dotXSI 3.0 Exporter for 3ds Max...

[Archangel35757]

@@DT85 -- Exporting Morpher modifier (Commander Lake tutorial scene -- 500 frames) works in both Max8 and Max9 32-bit.

 

I was also using "Export Selected" and it takes a few minutes to write the file.

 

The resulting dotXSI file was huge!

 

665MB for Autodetect Shape Animation (ASCII text)

723MB for Force Shape Animation Export (ASCII text)

 

Interestingly, Autodetect Shape Animation in binary format yields the same 665 MB file. All played in XSI Viewer, but teeth were askew ( because I don't think they froze transforms properly). Also the file's scale is huge-- dwarfing the grid in XSI Viewer.

[Archangel35757]

@@DT85, @@Psyk0Sith -- If I recall correctly, simple vertex animation via bend modifier, etc. works just fine-- so maybe it's possible to collapse (get rid of) the Morpher modifier... turning it into a simple vertex animated mesh???

[Psyk0Sith]

It depends how carcass wants to see the vertex weights, if it's expecting some sort of weight table to assign which vert corresponds to which bone. A baked vertex anim wouldn't need bones (think of MD3 in JA).

[Archangel35757]

Yeah... I don't believe Carcass would accept it-- would only be to get it in Softimage. Like you said -- for the game you would need to export it as MD3. Just trying to identify what works and what's broken in the exporter for later versions-- and identify workarounds... if any.

[Psyk0Sith]

Nope, it broke some shit when i installed it, so i'm still on SP1. I rarely use Max 9 anyway.

[Archangel35757]

 

While combing thru the batchprocessing code... I think I may have found the smoking gun.

[Archangel35757]

Nope... still combing!

 

 

  ...my sentiments exactly!

[Psyk0Sith]

I exported a cylinder with the bend modifier, works in xsi viewer. Buuuut collapsing the morpher modifier doesnt bake verts.

[Archangel35757]

@@Psyk0Sith -- What about using a Point Cache modifier? 

 

From 3ds Max Help:

 

The Point Cache modifier lets you store modifier animation to a disk file that records only changes in vertex positions, and then play back the animation using the information in the disk file instead of the modifier keyframes. This is useful when the computation required for modifier animation becomes so excessive that it causes animation playback to run slowly or drop frames.

 

Another use for this modifier is to apply the same animation to a number of objects, varying the Start Time and Strength settings for each so they don't all move identically.

 

The Point Cache modifier is also available in a world-space version, for which usage is the same.

 

 

So if you have time, try adding a Point Cache modifier (save the cache)-- collapse Morpher modifier... reapply Cache from disk???  (Not sure if that's the proper workflow-- but it sounds good )  ...and Thank You Very Much!

[Psyk0Sith]

That works too, it's still the same as the bend modifier: animation without bones, didnt we say that kind of animation was useless?

[Archangel35757]

@@Psyk0Sith -- I just tried a Point Cache modifier in Max 8 (saving the Cache to disk and collapsing the Morpher modifier underneath-- which results in Editable Mesh) and then exported using "Force Shape Animation Export" and it appears to work!  Played in XSI Viewer!

[Archangel35757]

@@Psyk0Sith -- I'm just trying to discover what features of the dotXSI exporter may be broken in later versions so that I can report them as "Known Issues" in each Max Version's readme file... and also document workaround solutions (if any exist).  You're correct that this feature can't be used in an .xsi file by this game... but this plugin could have more uses beyond the JKA community.

 

For OpenJK, if the coders want to incorporate "morph" based facial animation in addition to bone-based... then I think the best/easiest solution there-- is to use an MD3 head on a GLM body.  Which I believe is already possible (or require very little code modification to work as desired).

 

But I think with all the additional SOF2 facial bones in the skeleton-- I can make a very detailed bone-based facial rig... which should be sufficient for those who want higher quality facial animations (that's my goal/plan anyways)... but there's still the issue of accuracy loss due to GLA conversion/compression.

[Psyk0Sith]

Yesterday i tested Max2010 x64, because that's what you asked for . There was no hanging, it all worked but Max 2010 ONLY. I got the point cache to work too.

[Archangel35757]

Update:  Both @@DT85 and I have extensively tested the 3ds Max 8 dotXSI 3.0 exporter and everything works. 

 

...However, with the latest plugin @@Mark Lubbers is telling me that he is now getting an error from Carcass for his Stupidtriangle_off (...and this doesn't occur with the previous Max6 beta plugin).  The Carcass error states:

Error: Vert (1) on mesh "Stupidtriangle_off" has no weights.

 

I suggested he delete the Skin modifier and re-apply it and re-weight the 3 vertices... but Mark reports he's getting the same error.

 

So I loaded up @@Psyk0Sith's jedi_malak root pose in Max 8 and exported and it compiles fine for me in Carcass (also compiled with some original animations: walk, run, attack, death) and all plays perfectly in ModView (G2 Skin automatic creation worked too).

 

@@Mark Lubbers let's track your issue here in this thread until we find a resolution.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions?  Is it possible you have a duplicate vert?  Are you weighting them 100% to one bone?

[Psyk0Sith]

I've encountered that problem in max 2010 as well...i blamed the smd importer and how it imported skin weights but now i'm not so sure. I'll have to do more test compiling.

[Tempust85]

That error is due to the scene filename if everything else checks out. Rename it with no spaces but you can use _ instead.

 

Just had this issue last night.

[Archangel35757]

@@DT85 -- how did you manage to figure out that not-so-obvious solution? I guess that is due because I now use the same filename in the dark XSI file as the project name and material library name... probably does not like spaces.

 

@@Circa or @@AshuraDX -- My 3dsMax8 skeleton is uploaded & awaiting approval.

 

@@DT85 -- edited my response.

[Tempust85]

After digging through the XSI file and seeing for myself that those verts actually had weights, I just decided to try no spaces seeing as carcass is command line program. I directly edited my XSI file's scene name, and it compiled. Put in a random space in the name, and it came up with the error again.

 

A neat feature of your plugin would be to convert scene name spaces into _ on output.

[Archangel35757]

After digging through the XSI file and seeing for myself that those verts actually had weights, I just decided to try no spaces seeing as carcass is command line program. I directly edited my XSI file's scene name, and it compiled. Put in a random space in the name, and it came up with the error again.

 

A neat feature of your plugin would be to convert scene name spaces into _ on output.

An easier solution would just be to tell people in the ReadMe file that scene file names cannot have spaces-- instead use underscores.

[Archangel35757]

@@Psyk0Sith (and any other 64-bit user that is having failures trying to load the new dotXSI plugins during 3dsMax startup) Try this:

 

Rename the XSIFtk.dll to it's original name: Crosswalk_3.3.64.dll

 

...and please post if that works for you.

 

Thanks.

[Psyk0Sith]

Renaming the .dll did not work. Same error.

I can also confirm what DT said, the file scene name with spaces stops the compiling.

[Archangel35757]

@@Psyk0Sith -- I will need to revise the Readme file to explain that the 3dsMax scene names cannot use spaces (instead use the underscore _ symbol).

 

This is because I use the Max scene name as the projectName in the SI_FileInfo template, as well as for the name of the Material Library template.

 

Edit: ...and apparently the template parameters can't handle spaces.

[Psyk0Sith]

Still not working. Tried with Crosswalk_3.3.64.dll, then renamed it to XSIFtk.dll too, same error message. I put back the old plugin (dotXSIExport_Max9_x64_v1.8_betaR1.dle) and it loads without problems, something changed within the .dle and it's looking for something that doesnt exist on my pc? Did you look into "Microsoft.VC80.CRT" from event viewer?

Edit: it's Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1 Redistributable Package ATL Security Update <-------- that didn't fix it.

[Archangel35757]

That error is due to the scene filename if everything else checks out. Rename it with no spaces but you can use _ instead.

 

Just had this issue last night.

After digging through the XSI file and seeing for myself that those verts actually had weights, I just decided to try no spaces seeing as carcass is command line program. I directly edited my XSI file's scene name, and it compiled. Put in a random space in the name, and it came up with the error again.

 

A neat feature of your plugin would be to convert scene name spaces into _ on output.

 

I just returned from TDY and have had the chance to verify that this issue also causes XSI Viewer and XSI Mod Tool to fail in opening the dotXSI file. I hate that I introduced this error-- by using the Max Scene File name within these templates (SI_FileInfo, SI_Scene, SI_MaterialLibrary, and SI_EnvelopeList). I will look into writing some code that will search the string and replace white spaces with underscores (that will solve it). For now, the workaround would be to not name your 3ds Max scenes with spaces in their names-- which I thought was pretty standard practice anyways... :unsure:

[Tempust85]

Yeah, converting spaces into underscores is the best thing to do here. I wouldn't say its standard practice to have no spaces in your Max filenames, everyone I know of always use spaces.