Export Options

[Kombowz]

I was just wondering if Hash had any plans to update their import / export plugins and perhaps add some.

 

I would be interested in an FBX export/import plugin as it's one of the standards and something I require (As I'm sure I'm not the only one).

 

If not soon or not ever, I was also wondering if there was anyone else in the community that works with DX Studio and or Unity 3D and knows of a nice transition to use Animation Master in their game development pipeline.

 

DX Studio uses .X files however I'm not to sure if the export is 100% compatible as I've not had much luck with it. This could be due to me not knowing what options I should be selecting as output which is why I'm here asking for the communities help.

 

Thanx a lot guys, talk to you soon.

[Paul Forwood]

As far as I am aware there are no plans to provide an FBX exporter to A:M. There have been at number of people enquiring about this in the past and with Unity's ability to build apps for a wide range of devices there is certainly more reasons than ever to desire such a plugin today. Development of A:M is now in the hands of just one person, Steffen Gross, (Yoda64). Steffen is a real champion, keeping A:M alive, but he does this off his own back, without pay and in his spare time, so I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for that FBX exporter. Of course anyone can download the SDK and develop their own plugins so perhaps there is still hope.

 

I have played about with DirX exports and have had some luck though I haven't taken it very far and you would need to have access to another 3D app which costs many times the price of A:M. My experiments with Blender have not been fruitful but this rough example shows some A:M models and animation which were exported from A:M as X files, imported into XSI and exported as FBX before importing into Unity. This is a screen capture of the models in Unity:

 

 

Some time ago I was able to export multiple animations in the X file but I am finding that any more than one animation crashes A:M now.

[Kombowz]

Animation Master is now maintained by 1 person?

 

What happened to everyone else like Martin Hash and all the others?

 

I had no idea that this was the case.

 

I've looked at it seems like millions of other programs but I guess I'm like everyone else here that likes AM, it's just more natural to me being in it.

 

I'm still quite new to it and I think the biggest problem with all the export plugins is that I seem to find it impossible to make a model without 5 point patches and hooks.

 

I had experimented with making simple models of generic splines making unknown objects (I know it's a mad scientist type of thing) that had ONLY 4 point patches and the export plugins worked almost perfectly.

 

But again, when we get into things like joining legs to the crotch of a model etc. It's like I hit a road block.

[robcat2075]

Fucher is the .x expert around here, perhaps he will catch this thread.

 

I'm still quite new to it and I think the biggest problem with all the export plugins is that I seem to find it impossible to make a model without 5 point patches and hooks.

There were no 5 pointers and hooks prior to V5 and lots of models got made (the car in TAoA:M is an example) but I wouldn't want to give those things up. It can be done however.

 

Since few other formats supports such things in their topologies, making an exporter to them is tricky.

 

Exporters were relatively low priorities for Hash because they weren't needed to use the program for it's intended purpose, character animation in A:M.

 

But I recognize people will want to use it to make content for other purposes. As Paul mentioned, the SDK is out there, if this is a compelling need for you definitely think of recruiting a programmer to investigate making the plugin you need. OR... convince a programmer of whatever other program you are trying to export to to support the relevant A:M format.

 

It's true, A:M is being programmed by just Steffen right now but he's made huge advances. Between v15 and v16 A:M got twice as fast at rendering!

[bubba]

Animation Master is now maintained by 1 person?

 

What happened to everyone else like Martin Hash and all the others?

 

I had no idea that this was the case.

 

 

I too was surprised when I saw that only Steffen was maintaining the code. What has happened to Hash, Inc. Where is Martin, Ken Bear, Steve Sappington, or WillP??? For that matter, where is TinCan and some of the other older posters?

 

If this is an "off-topic" subject then please move it.

[Fuchur]

There are three possibilities to export something from A:M with animation.

- DirectX > Quite advanced export-plugin which can provide CP-weight and bones-animation, texture, material and geometry options. There is a video-tutorial on my website which provides a workflow between A:M and Quest3d. It should be transferable to other 3d engines / game engines as well.

 

- Torque > This one is available on my website too, so I cant really help you much with it. I never used it and I am just offering it on my website so it is not lost. I did not programm it so.

 

- OBJ + MDD > This one is quite new (add maybe half a year ago) and will export no bone-animation but animation on a CP-base. That means, you can export any animation-type you want (including smartskin-animation, bone-animation, CP-animation, expression, skaling, poses, etc.). OF course the types are not maintained so.

 

You will find my video-tutorial on A:M to DirectX here:

A:M 2 DirectX / Quest3d

 

A 3d-application I created with A:M, Quest3d and partly another 3d-software can be found here:

My diploma thesis

 

Hope I could help a little. I dont have too bad experiences with 5-pointers so. They may not transfer perfectly, but if you keep them small and you make sure the normals are facing the right way, they behaved always okay for me with Quest3d.

 

See you

*Fuchur*

[Kombowz]

Thanx for the feedback guys, it was helpful.

 

Fuchur, thanx for the tutorial (I've archived it) this will prove useful as I tinker with this stuff and get it going. I have a few things I'm looking to weave together with AM but I'm not 100% committed to purchasing anything else at the moment.

 

I believe once I get better at patch modeling I will become more successful in my end result.

 

Thanx again for the advice and instructions.

[John Bigboote]

Hey Kombow... hope you can stick around. Most of us can't help you with your exporting and gaming needs but we can help you figure out your modelling and the rest from there... I am interested in your progress- keep us informed as you learn.