FBX to GLM converter

[Xycaleth]

Strange. Not really ideal, but I think running as admin will let it run for now.

[AshuraDX]

Strange. Not really ideal, but I think running as admin will let it run for now.

haha , that was the first thing I tried - no changes

[Xycaleth]

Well that's a bummer Does it run if you temporarily turn off UAC? Should be able to find it by searching in the control panel, if you don't know where it is.

[Xycaleth]

(Sorry for double post..)

 

By the way, latest version of the converter is still waiting to be approved by staff. Hopefully it'll go through soon

[Xycaleth]

 

Xycaleth, my max scene contains a simple player model, using a poly, uvw and skin modifier on all the geometry. Everything is weighted and linked. Compiling with carcass works. I still haven't figured out the problem with your fbx converter.

Do you mind PMing me your FBX model so I can take a closer look at what the converter's trying to do? Thanks

[AshuraDX]

Well that's a bummer Does it run if you temporarily turn off UAC? Should be able to find it by searching in the control panel, if you don't know where it is.

still no success

I have no clue whats going on here

 

Edit : approved your new converter

[Xycaleth]

Thanks @@AshuraDX. I guess the latest version doesn't help either?

 

I have no idea why it's not working. Much googling is needed I think.

[AshuraDX]

@@Xycaleth , feel free to shout out to mee once you uploaded a new version incase I miss it

if you ever get an idea why your converter is not working for me let me know , I could probably get you a dxdiag or whatever might help to troubleshoot

[DT.]

Exported from Max, imported into Maya 2014 then exported:

 

 

Everything looks to be in working order. I'll see how much Maya I know to get a Maya JKA skeleton + tags for you guys.

[Archangel35757]

@@DT85 -- Try exporting my skeleton and bringing it into Maya.

[Xycaleth]

/me resurrects this topic from the dead.

 

So I had a quick chat with Rich today on IRC, and this is what happened:

 

 

[15:18:13] <Rich> What toolchain(s) do people use these days for GLM/GLA export?

[15:18:23] <@Xycaleth> heh, still carcass mainly

[15:18:49] <@Xycaleth> i'm working on tool to convert FBX to GLM files, but the fbx sdk is a pita to work with

[15:18:53] <@Xycaleth> on a tool*

[15:19:03] <@Xycaleth> and there's a blender plugin to export glm files too

[15:19:05] <@Xycaleth> and that's about it

[15:19:08] <Rich> Well, Noesis already does FBX import+export

[15:19:11] <Rich> And GLM import

[15:19:20] <Rich> So it really just needs a GLM export path for that to happen

[15:19:29] <@Xycaleth> yeah

[15:20:06] <Rich> If that's something that'd actually be helpful to people, it shouldn't take much effort

[15:20:48] <@Xycaleth> it would certainly make it a lot easier for people to make GLMs. carcass only accepts dotXSI 3.0 and 3.5 files

[15:21:27] <Rich> I guess I'll pile it onto the todo list

[15:21:35] <@Xycaleth> thanks

[DT.]

Awesome. If you talk with him again, could you please bring up the UV seam issue carcass has so he doesn't repeat it with noesis?

[Xycaleth]

@@DT85 I was thinking again about the UV seam thing. Which models that you have exported have the UV seams visible? Can you post a screenshot and upload the GLM file as well?

 

All your old screenshots have disappeared and I can't see any UV seams on the Stormtrooper that you've sent me.

[DT.]

You know, the funny thing is that my jedi hm model I've exported from Max 2014 (converted with carcass) doesn't look to have ANY seams along the heads. Going to investigate this further.

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

Yeah, for some reason the issue is now gone when exporting from Max 2014 & compiling with carcass. Very interesting.

Edited June 28, 2014 by DT85

[Xycaleth]

How about using my exporter, @@DT85?

[Archangel35757]

@@DT85 -- but there's nothing special in exporter for Max2013/2014... it's all the same. Latest change was that in the game data template for the shader file. Can you go back and check max 8?

[minilogoguy18]

This is a nice turn of events, Rich obviously knows what he's doing in terms of format conversion so if he's on board to help get a better system going then that would be awesome.

 

What I'd really like to see is a method of choosing a GLM as well as it's matching GLA and being able to convert it to FBX so that the mesh is weighed to the skeleton with all animation applied.

 

I'm also going to look at my models exported out from Softimage about the UV seams, crazy that you now aren't seeing them, but it generally requires lights to be at the right angle to notice them as well as a shader applied. They're most noticeable in cut scenes where the face and head mesh meet.

[Archangel35757]

@@minilogoguy18 -- I agree about reimporting the GLM and keeping the skin weights to the skeleton... I think the best way to do that would be to open the skeleton and then merge/import your GLM into the scene... but the thing about re-importing a GLA is that it is half-precision and will have precision loss and possibly jitter. It would be best to convert all of the released dotXSI animations to the proper FBX format with proper coordinate axes.

 

I will take an action to check out what Asgarath did in regards to this...

[Xycaleth]

I will take an action to check out what Asgarath did in regards to this...

I recall @@Asgarath83 saying he converted each animation manually.

[DT.]

No idea if those animations converted to FBX are viable. Only way to really find out is to try 'em out I suppose. 

 

What I'd really like to see is a method of choosing a GLM as well as it's matching GLA and being able to convert it to FBX so that the mesh is weighed to the skeleton with all animation applied.

 

For Noesis, just put the GLA into the same folder as the GLM and it will import out a weighed model that you can export to almost anything you want.

[Xycaleth]

@@DT85 Did you try exporting your Jedi model through my converter to look for UV seams?

[DT.]

Not yet, I'll have a look at doing that tomorrow.  Hopefully it won't crap itself due to the numerous meshes.

[Asgarath83]

@@minilogoguy18 -- I agree about reimporting the GLM and keeping the skin weights to the skeleton... I think the best way to do that would be to open the skeleton and then merge/import your GLM into the scene... but the thing about re-importing a GLA is that it is half-precision and will have precision loss and possibly jitter. It would be best to convert all of the released dotXSI animations to the proper FBX format with proper coordinate axes.

 

I will take an action to check out what Asgarath did in regards to this...

Two years ago i passed some weeks to convert to Fbx format every JKA animation with 3d max 5. i remind you to the link of my work:

http://jkhub.org/files/file/1739-jka-animation-fbx-format/

Note 1: BOTH_A3_SPECIAL is missing.

Note 2: i added a edited JKA skeleton with the bones linked to the animation shape. You can rig the models to this skeleton and use programs like unit3d. put the animation into the animation folder of unit and put the model in your model folder with "humanenemy" nas file name, that should be work on unity for use the JKA animation. i not know if this work on other programs.

[Xycaleth]

I had a look at converting the XSI files to FBX today using Softimage Mod Tool. It should be possible to write a script to take all the .xsi files in a folder and batch convert them to .fbx.

[minilogoguy18]

Yeah, they all import just fine to Softimage, I started a while back merging them, it's just time consuming since I don't know how to write a script that would do it for me but I pretty much took the base skeleton and started transferring all the animations 1 by 1 and storing them as clips in the mixer. I of course was naming the clips to match the respected animation and they're in order so it plays the animations just as they would in ModView.

 

Dunno if anyone would be interested in it but I could continue work on it, you'd pretty much have the full _humanoid.gla in whatever software you wanted to view it in.