As I mentioned earlier, my interest and work with the .m3 file format was mostly "out of curiosity" - and to get some animated models to test .dds bitmaps (and thier use in various programs) with...
Now that I have a basic Cinema 4D .m3 Importer, I think I'm basically 'done' (I have no plans for an Exporter). Anyway, for anyone curious, the Importer has been merged into my I/Ogre plugin for Cinema 4D. I/Ogre is a game-oriented file-format Import/Export plugin that supports the following file types:
Ogre3D - Import/Export of fully rigged and animated figures as .mesh, .skeleton, .material files (the ascii-based .xml versions of those files).
VALVe:Source Engine - Import/Export of fully rigged and animated figures as .smd files.
MilkShape3D - Import/Export of fully rigged and animated figures as .ms3d files.
...and now...
Blizzard - Import (only) of fully rigged and animated figures from .m3 files.
...I/Ogre is an (inexpensive) commercial plugin - I only included the .m3 Import in it as a bonus, since it uses some of the additional mechanisms that my plugin supplies (a "Figure Export Tag" and an "Animation Clip Tag", etc). I may still create a separate / stand-alone (and free) .m3 Import plugin.
All file formats (now including .m3) create the exact same workflow / Object Manager hierarchy within Cinema 4D - despite vast differences in the file-types - making it easy to convert between the various formats (and if you own MilkShape3D, it opens up dozens of other game-oriented file-formats).
Anyway, I didn't mean to go on an advertising rant here or otherwise detract from the thread - I just wanted to let people know what I was working on... I/Ogre and my other plugins can be found on my site.
Cheers. (I'm sure I'll still be lurking... :) )
EDIT: BTW, I never did get "scaling" working quite right.. any/all of the WoW-exported figures import fine, but my plugin still has some trouble with the SCII-native .m3 files that use joint-scaling.
Creating the devourer, I think (tm) have found the way to make normal maps not invert on the mirrored part. I added the normal map texture as the height map, as well as the same normal map to the normal map layer. Mirroring from left to right than right to left (inverted faces should be at the east side or right hand side if the model is facing you in max).
The normal map still had both green and red channels multiplied with the blue channel. Then the red channel is assigned to the alpha channel as usual.
Maybe you guys can check it out and confirm? My hands are full atm.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Whatever you do, wholeheartedly, moment by heartfelt moment, becomes a tool for the expression of your very soul.
I'm guessing you weren't able to figure out any of those issues I PM'd you about a while ago, NiN? I just did a re-export of the Bandersnatch and I see the bone weighting issues remain. I know the model is fine as I have it in the UDK working, so... eh. I'm guessing multi-object materials and smoothing groups don't play nicely yet, either.
On the bright side I did get alphas to work finally. So, there is at least some progress (or maybe I was just stupid this entire time and since no one would tell me if alphas were even possible I have no idea).
/edit Nevermind, I thought alphas worked because they appeared semi-normal in Preview but ingame they're still black as ever. Feeling very stupid now.
I'm sorry to have to say, I don't believe I'll be releasing many updates in the future to the tools, if any at all at the present pace of things. I'm pretty busy with other important things in my life to the point where working on the tools is just not possible for me to do. The tools still don't do everything I'd have wanted and it's my hope in the future that someone takes an interest in developing proper tools to support creating custom M3 models. I've always provided the source code to the maxscripts so that people might learn or use the information to construct their own tools. One of these days I'll try to update libm3 to include the extra information I've learned so future developers don't have to learn the hard way, through trial and error.
It's my belief that Blizzard will not release significant tools in the future... Even if StarTools is released, it seems primarily to create doodads instead of the diverse models capable of being supported by the engine. If they do release their max plugins, they will undoubtedly be restricted to certain versions just as the tools for Warcraft 3 were. It's really up to developers present in the community to make these tools a reality. Anyone with decent knowledge of 3D graphics and programming can contribute. When I first started working on the tools, most of my knowledge was extremely basic at best, it's more about knowing what you want to achieve and realising the steps to take to achieve it.
It's been a fun hobby to indulge in and I'm very thankful for all the support you guys provided aswell as the multitude of feedback. It still frustrates me that I'm not able to fix all the problems you guys have, especially regarding shading/bone weight issues. I feel like these are basic things that should just work instead of being an obstacle to creativity and exporting. There's still alot I wanted to get done, such as a tool for transferring animations from one model to another that have similar bone hierarchies (this would be really cool, it would basically allow anyone to animate their model with professional Blizzard-like animations from WoW, WC3 or other SC2 models for instance).
I also envision a tool similar to an expanded version of WoW model viewer which allows you to do basic editing of all Blizzard models and import/export between the various Blizzard model formats. I think this would allow the community a great deal of customisation of stock models without having to own expensive software. Bare in mind Diablo 3 is also on the horizon with its plethora of models and a new modelling format to decypher. In addition, Blizzard doesn't seem to mind transferring their assets between the Blizzard games as I do remember they tweeted about the World of Warcraft custom models being used within the Starcraft 2 engine. So there's not too much concern about them interferring legally with such a tool if it were to be created.
Very understandable. While I don't hold any hopes of SC2 living up to the original in terms of custom content, the fact you made source code available is already a tremendous step forward from past mindsets. Your efforts here are very much appreciated. Just the mere act of releasing a plugin that supports even a semi-recent version of 3ds max is outstanding in the Blizzard community.
I don't find Blizzard's laziness in releasing their 3d plugin surprising at all.
I'm picking up on NiN's exporter where he left off. I'm still going through the code and trying to reteach myself MaxScript (it's been a long time since I've done any programming with it), but I'm creating a feature list, if anyone wants to tell me what they're looking for it to do via PM or otherwise (as currently my goals are making it export my models properly and nothing else). Hopefully I can get it a bit further, so as to help fill in some of the abyss Blizzard insists on leaving between mere conceptual dreaming and reality.
Right now the priority is the various issues I and others seem to have had with flying vertices and the weighting issues. After which I will start working on materials and camera support, and then I might convert it to a standalone program and work on support for conversion of other filetypes, so that we can focus our efforts on making this single program excel, rather than having a bunch of separate scripts and plugins for individual programs.
I also want to work on support for lights, as that seems to be something a lot of people want. I'll create a new thread once I either have a new release or have some form of announcement that warrants it so that we can have something a little cleaner.
And thank you, NiN, for the clearly massive amount of work you've put into writing this.
Blizzard rarely provides much support, their games simply have the ability to retrofitted to almost anything you want to do with relative ease, however at this time we're just limited. I think we're all in fairly unanimous agreement that they're a relatively shitty company that just rakes in money from WoW, and does almost nothing else. Thus the reason we're attempting to fill this gap, as others did with Warcraft.
Also I am going to start work on a different game (as until I or someone else fixes whatever is causing my vertex issues I can't do much more on Emergence Day). So keep an eye out for that in the near future.<sub> I'm working on a map for it right now, so soon enough there will be something to show. The exporter works as it is right now, you just have to jump through a lot of hoops to make it work, But their not really caring is good for me as, assuming I can achieve everything I want to, people will likely be aware of Aeternal Designs which is my ultimate endgame here as we need to sell a lot of copies of our game so that we can get servers for the ones we're really excited about.</sub>
WoW... when added a bounding sphere all my model rigging became fcked up. Now my Zealot + New Marine doesnt work anymore. the Muzzle Flash casts out his ass and for the zealot i get a error ingame when its get hit.... cannot find shield attachment or shieldobject scaled 0 out of boundry's.
Only thing i did is added a bounding sphere and when i delete the sphere the skeletion setup is still fcked.
I think Starcraft 2 modding is over for me since that shitty blizzard dont release modding tools.
I like to thank NiN a alot of his builded max scripts!
in the latest version the attachments have changed alot
go through all your attachment points and check they are still correct
almost all of my models the attachment points have changed around
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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For me it's the Use Vertex Alpha flag that causes particles not to show up.
Whatever you do, wholeheartedly, moment by heartfelt moment, becomes a tool for the expression of your very soul.
yea i checked that. it wasn't flagged for me.
Hey guys,
As I mentioned earlier, my interest and work with the .m3 file format was mostly "out of curiosity" - and to get some animated models to test .dds bitmaps (and thier use in various programs) with...
Now that I have a basic Cinema 4D .m3 Importer, I think I'm basically 'done' (I have no plans for an Exporter). Anyway, for anyone curious, the Importer has been merged into my I/Ogre plugin for Cinema 4D. I/Ogre is a game-oriented file-format Import/Export plugin that supports the following file types:
Ogre3D - Import/Export of fully rigged and animated figures as .mesh, .skeleton, .material files (the ascii-based .xml versions of those files).
VALVe:Source Engine - Import/Export of fully rigged and animated figures as .smd files.
MilkShape3D - Import/Export of fully rigged and animated figures as .ms3d files.
...and now...
Blizzard - Import (only) of fully rigged and animated figures from .m3 files.
...I/Ogre is an (inexpensive) commercial plugin - I only included the .m3 Import in it as a bonus, since it uses some of the additional mechanisms that my plugin supplies (a "Figure Export Tag" and an "Animation Clip Tag", etc). I may still create a separate / stand-alone (and free) .m3 Import plugin.
All file formats (now including .m3) create the exact same workflow / Object Manager hierarchy within Cinema 4D - despite vast differences in the file-types - making it easy to convert between the various formats (and if you own MilkShape3D, it opens up dozens of other game-oriented file-formats).
Anyway, I didn't mean to go on an advertising rant here or otherwise detract from the thread - I just wanted to let people know what I was working on... I/Ogre and my other plugins can be found on my site.
Cheers. (I'm sure I'll still be lurking... :) )
EDIT: BTW, I never did get "scaling" working quite right.. any/all of the WoW-exported figures import fine, but my plugin still has some trouble with the SCII-native .m3 files that use joint-scaling.
On a side note:
Creating the devourer, I think (tm) have found the way to make normal maps not invert on the mirrored part. I added the normal map texture as the height map, as well as the same normal map to the normal map layer. Mirroring from left to right than right to left (inverted faces should be at the east side or right hand side if the model is facing you in max).
The normal map still had both green and red channels multiplied with the blue channel. Then the red channel is assigned to the alpha channel as usual.
Maybe you guys can check it out and confirm? My hands are full atm.
Whatever you do, wholeheartedly, moment by heartfelt moment, becomes a tool for the expression of your very soul.
I'm guessing you weren't able to figure out any of those issues I PM'd you about a while ago, NiN? I just did a re-export of the Bandersnatch and I see the bone weighting issues remain. I know the model is fine as I have it in the UDK working, so... eh. I'm guessing multi-object materials and smoothing groups don't play nicely yet, either.
On the bright side I did get alphas to work finally. So, there is at least some progress (or maybe I was just stupid this entire time and since no one would tell me if alphas were even possible I have no idea).
/edit Nevermind, I thought alphas worked because they appeared semi-normal in Preview but ingame they're still black as ever. Feeling very stupid now.
Hey guys,
I'm sorry to have to say, I don't believe I'll be releasing many updates in the future to the tools, if any at all at the present pace of things. I'm pretty busy with other important things in my life to the point where working on the tools is just not possible for me to do. The tools still don't do everything I'd have wanted and it's my hope in the future that someone takes an interest in developing proper tools to support creating custom M3 models. I've always provided the source code to the maxscripts so that people might learn or use the information to construct their own tools. One of these days I'll try to update libm3 to include the extra information I've learned so future developers don't have to learn the hard way, through trial and error.
It's my belief that Blizzard will not release significant tools in the future... Even if StarTools is released, it seems primarily to create doodads instead of the diverse models capable of being supported by the engine. If they do release their max plugins, they will undoubtedly be restricted to certain versions just as the tools for Warcraft 3 were. It's really up to developers present in the community to make these tools a reality. Anyone with decent knowledge of 3D graphics and programming can contribute. When I first started working on the tools, most of my knowledge was extremely basic at best, it's more about knowing what you want to achieve and realising the steps to take to achieve it.
It's been a fun hobby to indulge in and I'm very thankful for all the support you guys provided aswell as the multitude of feedback. It still frustrates me that I'm not able to fix all the problems you guys have, especially regarding shading/bone weight issues. I feel like these are basic things that should just work instead of being an obstacle to creativity and exporting. There's still alot I wanted to get done, such as a tool for transferring animations from one model to another that have similar bone hierarchies (this would be really cool, it would basically allow anyone to animate their model with professional Blizzard-like animations from WoW, WC3 or other SC2 models for instance).
I also envision a tool similar to an expanded version of WoW model viewer which allows you to do basic editing of all Blizzard models and import/export between the various Blizzard model formats. I think this would allow the community a great deal of customisation of stock models without having to own expensive software. Bare in mind Diablo 3 is also on the horizon with its plethora of models and a new modelling format to decypher. In addition, Blizzard doesn't seem to mind transferring their assets between the Blizzard games as I do remember they tweeted about the World of Warcraft custom models being used within the Starcraft 2 engine. So there's not too much concern about them interferring legally with such a tool if it were to be created.
Cheers everyone,
- NiN
it is sad blizzard just dont release them
i wonder why
Ouch. This is a tragedy. I wish I could download your knowledge into my own mind so I can continue working on this.
Any hint on where to start? What I need to learn to get started?
Whatever you do, wholeheartedly, moment by heartfelt moment, becomes a tool for the expression of your very soul.
@NiNtoxicated01: Go
Very understandable. While I don't hold any hopes of SC2 living up to the original in terms of custom content, the fact you made source code available is already a tremendous step forward from past mindsets. Your efforts here are very much appreciated. Just the mere act of releasing a plugin that supports even a semi-recent version of 3ds max is outstanding in the Blizzard community.
I don't find Blizzard's laziness in releasing their 3d plugin surprising at all.
Nin, mind adding the portrait camera for a last stretch?
Whatever you do, wholeheartedly, moment by heartfelt moment, becomes a tool for the expression of your very soul.
I'm picking up on NiN's exporter where he left off. I'm still going through the code and trying to reteach myself MaxScript (it's been a long time since I've done any programming with it), but I'm creating a feature list, if anyone wants to tell me what they're looking for it to do via PM or otherwise (as currently my goals are making it export my models properly and nothing else). Hopefully I can get it a bit further, so as to help fill in some of the abyss Blizzard insists on leaving between mere conceptual dreaming and reality.
Agreed.
As for specific request/need:
1. The Displace material type, and
2. Portrait Camera object(?).
So far that's it for me.
Whatever you do, wholeheartedly, moment by heartfelt moment, becomes a tool for the expression of your very soul.
Right now the priority is the various issues I and others seem to have had with flying vertices and the weighting issues. After which I will start working on materials and camera support, and then I might convert it to a standalone program and work on support for conversion of other filetypes, so that we can focus our efforts on making this single program excel, rather than having a bunch of separate scripts and plugins for individual programs.
I also want to work on support for lights, as that seems to be something a lot of people want. I'll create a new thread once I either have a new release or have some form of announcement that warrants it so that we can have something a little cleaner.
And thank you, NiN, for the clearly massive amount of work you've put into writing this.
I'm looking forward to your success, Varine! May you have all the strength and wisdom you will ever need!
Whatever you do, wholeheartedly, moment by heartfelt moment, becomes a tool for the expression of your very soul.
Sign.
I left "modding"(mapping) community because there is almost no support from Blizzard.
Sc2 is for no Ladder(MP) and Campaign game. No custom maps. Not sure how long the game will live like this.
@tigerija: Go
Blizzard rarely provides much support, their games simply have the ability to retrofitted to almost anything you want to do with relative ease, however at this time we're just limited. I think we're all in fairly unanimous agreement that they're a relatively shitty company that just rakes in money from WoW, and does almost nothing else. Thus the reason we're attempting to fill this gap, as others did with Warcraft.
Also I am going to start work on a different game (as until I or someone else fixes whatever is causing my vertex issues I can't do much more on Emergence Day). So keep an eye out for that in the near future.<sub> I'm working on a map for it right now, so soon enough there will be something to show. The exporter works as it is right now, you just have to jump through a lot of hoops to make it work, But their not really caring is good for me as, assuming I can achieve everything I want to, people will likely be aware of Aeternal Designs which is my ultimate endgame here as we need to sell a lot of copies of our game so that we can get servers for the ones we're really excited about.</sub>
WoW... when added a bounding sphere all my model rigging became fcked up. Now my Zealot + New Marine doesnt work anymore. the Muzzle Flash casts out his ass and for the zealot i get a error ingame when its get hit.... cannot find shield attachment or shieldobject scaled 0 out of boundry's.
Only thing i did is added a bounding sphere and when i delete the sphere the skeletion setup is still fcked.
I think Starcraft 2 modding is over for me since that shitty blizzard dont release modding tools.
I like to thank NiN a alot of his builded max scripts!
@Underp4ntz: Go
Would you like to clarify?
@Underp4ntz:
in the latest version the attachments have changed alot
go through all your attachment points and check they are still correct
almost all of my models the attachment points have changed around