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

[Archangel35757]

Update:  I just emailed @@DT85 a new beta v1.9 dotXSI 3.0 exporter to test out for me.  Exporting of Vertex Normals using Smoothing Groups should now be supported.

 

I still need to add the code to deal with Specified/Explicit Normals (i.e., the Edit Normals modifier)... but I hope to have that completed soon as well.

[Tempust85]

Tested out using smooth groups and here's the results:

 

 

On the left is the old method of all normals averaged. On the right is the smooth group version. This will get even better looking once explicit normals is supported.

[Archangel35757]

@@DT85 -- is that image on left an older version with the broken normals (I.e., not transformed to XSI coordsys)? Seems like it from the lighting...

 

Model is looking great!

[Tempust85]

I forgot to add that it's the -smooth option on the left. And no, that's the fixed version just with crappy shadowing.

[Archangel35757]

@@DT85, @@Psyk0Sith: Should I add an option for exporting scene lights? While not used by Carcass... it would greatly improve pre-viz viewing in the XSIViewer app. What do y'all think?

[Tempust85]

May as well be on-par with the XSI mod tool exporter, but after explicit normals though.

[Psyk0Sith]

Well honestly i don't need to previz in XSI viewer, if i need a good approxmimation i'll load the stuff in mudbox 2011, its default display options look pretty close to what JA will do. @@DT85 when you say smoothing groups i'm assuming you broke them off manually in max before export? Lookin' great by the way.

[Tempust85]

I know you crossed it out but with the updated exporter, you only need to set the smooth groups and export. No need to detach them at all.

[Archangel35757]

Well honestly i don't need to previz in XSI viewer, if i need a good approxmimation i'll load the stuff in mudbox 2011, its default display options look pretty close to what JA will do. @@DT85 when you say smoothing groups i'm assuming you broke them off manually in max before export? Lookin' great by the way.

@@Psyk0Sith - you use Max 2011 correct? Once I get the Max2013 dotXSI 3.0 Version 1.9 finished, I'll apply all the fixes and recompile all Max versions: Max6 to Max2016.

[Psyk0Sith]

Not quite, i use 2010

[Archangel35757]

Update:  Ok... so I have resolved the crashing during export when choosing the new option of exporting "Vertex Colors" -- however, I'm quite sure the vertex color indices (in the SI_TriangleList template) are not correctly matched to the vertex colors given in the SI_Shape template; but at least it doesn't crash anymore.  So I'll have to fix the vertex color index mapping later... for now I'm going to focus on the flaws in the specified/explicit normals export option.

[Archangel35757]

Update:  I just emailed @@DT85 a new beta plugin to test out for explicit normals-- from my simple tests using a Cube mesh it appears to export explicit normals correctly.  Hopefully, DT can post results for a more complicated model.  

 

Updated Update:  I sent him a newer plugin to test out... it fixed a minor issue of not outputting normals when you chose to export explicit normals (but didn't have any...)-- so now you should get at least the normals from smooth groups if no explicit normals (i.e., no Edit_Normals modifier [either on stack or collapsed]).

 

For completeness, I still need to fix exporting of vertex colors, and also fix exporting of vertex normals to use smoothing groups/explicit normals when not triangulating the mesh (I know this doesn't apply to this game engine or Carcass...)-- but I'd like to have it working correctly all the same.

 

I would especially like to thank @@Scooper for his assistance and his smooth group vertex normals code snippet-- it (along with some other help from CGSociety) was invaluable in helping me write my own class method.

[Tempust85]

Looks to be working fine:

 

 

 

 

 

I made all the skirt normals point to the left, with the exception of 1 normal on the right just poking out. It looks like it's working fine to me.

[Guest KENNITHH]

I've got some examples aswell, I hope its good enough to compare them:

 

 

 

Srry that the perspective is a bit off

 

3DSMAX

 

 

XSI Export

 

XSI Settings

 

GLM Export

 

 

[Archangel35757]

@@KENNITHH, @@Scooper, @@DT85:

From these screenshots, (@@Scooper) it would appear that the GLM exporter is only exporting the (green) explicit normals. And the dotXSI exporter appears to be exporting more normals than 3ds Max is showing (e.g. on back of hand and side of pinky finger).

Are all faces assigned to smoothing groups? Are there any faces that are unassigned? Are any parts of the mesh detached as elements?

Are you using a Multi-material or individual standard materials? Are different materials used on the hands? Would you email me your 3ds Max scene?

[Archangel35757]

@@KENNITHH: Your 3ds Max model shows both BLUE (unspecified normals from smooth groups) and GREEN (explicit normals)... you must choose the vertex normals export option of "specified/explicit".

 

Please re-export with that option and post a new XSI result. Thanks.

[Guest KENNITHH]

The max file has been sent.

 

 

 

MAX FILE ADDED FOR COMPARISON

 

 

This looks a bit better though

[Archangel35757]

@@KENNITHH: that appears to be an exact match to my eyes.

[Guest KENNITHH]

Yeah good job @@Archangel35757 on the exporter  will use it from now on for all our models

[Tempust85]

Just a tip: You don't need to tick animation unless you're exporting an animation. Saves bloating of the .xsi file if you have animation data that isn't to be exported.

[Guest KENNITHH]

Just a tip: You don't need to tick animation unless you're exporting an animation. Saves bloating of the .xsi file if you have animation data that isn't to be exported.

If i untick animations i get the 0,1 frames error and it says i have to reexport

[Archangel35757]

@@KENNITHH - Also you should change the 3ds Max default animation frame length of 100 to actually fit your animated file.

[Scooper]

From these screenshots, (@@Scooper) it would appear that the GLM exporter is only exporting the (green) explicit normals. And the dotXSI exporter appears to be exporting more normals than 3ds Max is showing (e.g. on back of hand and side of pinky finger).

 

Ah so you're comparing my exporter here too. It does appear to ignore those, guess I'll have to fix that. During the last couple of days I've worked a bit on fixing some reported bugs, so this has just been added to the list.

[Tempust85]

If i untick animations i get the 0,1 frames error and it says i have to reexport

 

That's only if you're creating a GLA. If you're just compiling a model against an existing GLA, you won't need to export animation.

[Archangel35757]

@@DT85, @@Psyk0Sith et al...

 

Although I have vertex colors exporting for the SI_Shape & SI_TriangleList templates, and I'm close to getting the face vertex order correct... I think I am going to abandon exporting vertex colors because they aren't used by the current game engine-- and I just discovered today that you cannot animate vertex colors at that base level of the mesh (perhaps via a vertex paint modifier or tension modifier... but then that's going down a rabbit hole I fear).

 

Also, now that I believe I have smoothing groups and specified/explicit normals (i.e., the Edit_Normals modifier) working successfully, I was thinking of perhaps exporting the 3ds Max smoothing groups info in a custom template under each SI_Model template for each Mesh Object... this would only be useful if someone has to import a dotXSI file back into 3ds Max (where it would automatically re-apply the smoothing groups).  This would mean I would also need to update my dotXSI Import Maxscript to handle this new custom smoothGroup template.  And my importer script would be the only dotXSI importer that could import those templates (but it might be a nice feature for 3ds Max users).

 

What do you guys think about that?

 

Also, I still have to write one other method to properly export smooth groups, specified/explicit normals for polygon (non-Tri) meshes.

 

Thanks for your feedback.