Softimage Mod Tool 7.5 MD3 Exporter

[minilogoguy18]

After probably throwing it out there for some time now @@Archangel35757 has agreed to help develop a plugin for Softimage Mod Tool that will allow for MD3 export. In the future I hope to get import eventually but it really isn't necessary to the actual artist. He's done pretty much all the work so far, I'm just trying to follow along the best I can and I'm sure I'll be the final test mule for this. So far it shows on the top menu and has a dialogue box but isn't writing an output file just yet. Hopefully some other people find this useful, I know I definitely will.

 

[Archangel35757]

Made a few changes... here's what the export dialog looks like:

 

 

This is a bit outdated... as I've since disabled the Specified Nodes edit text fields until their respective checkbox is checked. I also checked "Show warnings..." as default.

 

Basically, I'm duplicating the features and layout of the 3ds Max MD3 v2.2 exporter dialog.

[Archangel35757]

So, I've worked on the MD3 exporter for Softimage and Mod Tool this weekend... I have all the pertinent data being written out now as ascii text... just to verify the data looks correct.  Currently it only exports a single selected mesh object-- next efforts will be to modify the code to allow it to export multiple select objects, or the entire scene of mesh objects if nothing is selected.  Still a lot of work ahead...

[ChalklYne]

Holy wow.

I have questions...

DO all the meshes have to be merged in order for this to work? Normally .qc files allow the option of having multiple texture files and meshes. Also, how does the tag system there work? Can I have multiple tags?

I had no idea md3's had LOD's... but omg would that help with the way Im mapping. Do the LOD's have to be separate models? Unlike the glm's LOD's which are all in the same model technically.

I guess Ill just have to play around with it and reinstall the old 7.5, im running 2011

 

This is a life saver, but more importantly... you can have LOD's on md3's??? I had no idea. Literally my entire maps are md3's and I was worried about boggin her down, hasnt happened to me yet, but I was worried nonetheless

 

Brilliant stuff here.

[Archangel35757]

@@ChalklYne -- No need to reinstall XSI ModTool. It will be compiled as a plugin for Softimage 2011, 2012, and 2015 (at least).

 

Meshes do not have to be merged as one. You can have up to 32 different surfaces (i.e., mesh objects) in an MD3.

 

Only one texture per mesh object. For multiple textures, on a single mesh object, you'll have to split mesh to abide by the one-per-mesh rule. LODs are exported automatically to separate LOD files. You simply append "_1" or "_2" to the names of the respective LOD objects. So all meshes (and LOD meshes) can be in a single scene.

 

LODs will definitely help your performance. The MD3 format supports 3 levels of detail (LOD0, LOD1, LOD2... although MD3View shows them as 1,2,3).

 

Tags are supported. All you have to do is name the tag object the full tag name (e.g. tag_driver, tag_flash, etc.) @@minilogoguy18 has created a script to create a tag.

[ChalklYne]

my god man. I know this seems like a wasted post, but I'd seriously like to thank you all. Top marks gentlemen

[minilogoguy18]

@@Archangel35757 Did everything pretty much, I just made a script that will give you a tag primitive and it's local axis matches the axis the game uses. I mainly just helped him find his way around SI and did some testing.

 

I LOL'd when he said it was much easier to make plugins for SI than Max which is funny coming from a hardcore Max lover.

[Archangel35757]

I still have a lot of work to do to sort out fixing the vertex normals and UVs and getting the changes in vertex positions during an animation. Currently it is only exporting a static object.

[Archangel35757]

 

I will try to pencil out the needed fixes using a simple 4 triangle plane mesh while I'm away on my wife's birthday cruise vacation.

[Archangel35757]

Planning to get back to this in latter part of May.

[Archangel35757]

Ok... so I spent the last week or so (off and on) trying to sort out errors in the vertex normals and UV coordinates. I'm glad to report that the vertex normals were fixed last week and I finally got the UVs sorted out to display textures properly-- however, currently it's still creating more vertices for extra UVs than is needed, so I need to resolve that so it only creates the minimum verts needed for extra UVs.

 

To Do List:

• Optimize UVs
• Fix tag orientations
• Fix relative shader path written into the MD3 file
• Add support for animated meshes

[Archangel35757]

So I fixed: the UVs (still need to chase down why it creates 1 more than needed), tags, and material shader paths... so at least now folks will be able to export static meshes. I will let @@minilogoguy18 test it out and post some of his results. @@ChalklYne - would you like to test it out?

[Archangel35757]

Update:

 

Ok... so I finally resolved the issues with vertex normals and UVs. It is no longer required to "pre-triangulate" the mesh objects before export-- i.e., keep them as quads.

 

I added a menu command for creating a new MD3 Tag (after creation you simply translate/rotate it where you need it). I'm in the process of adding a "Game" Shader Custom Property which you will be able to assign to mesh objects with a menu command (this will store the Shader relative path). Other than that, all that remains is to address animated meshes-- and the plugin will be ready for release.

[Archangel35757]

Update:

 

So tonight, I finished the code for adding a custom property for the Game Shader relative path... and I finished the code for the case when "Export LODs as separate files" is unchecked. All that remains is to address animations. But it is fully functional now for static mesh objects.

[Archangel35757]

The exporter is finished. @@ChalklYne and @@minilogoguy18 and I have tested it out. Getting ready to compile for other versions of Softimage and will submit a single plugin-pack.

[Archangel35757]

So I have compiled the Softimage MD3 exporter for:

• XSI6.0/ModTool6 (32bit)
• XSI7.01 (32/64bit)
• Softimage 7.5/ModTool7.5 (32bit)
• Softimage 2011 (32/64bit)
• Softimage 2012 (64bit)
• Softimage 2013 (64bit)
• Softimage 2015 (64bit)

I'm missing Softimage 2014... does anybody have (or know someone that has) 2014? Thanks.

[minilogoguy18]

Very few people here even dabble in actual modeling so the chances are slim, might just have to source an old installer.

[ChalklYne]

This was my reaction when they told me about this

 

https://youtu.be/6oYMGwMux_A

[Archangel35757]

Ok... the plugin pack has been submitted for approval/release.

[Archangel35757]

it's released!

 

https://jkhub.org/files/file/3301-softimage-quake3-md3-exporter/