Lightwave -> GMF

[Madjack]

I'm using Lightwave as my modelling app.

Unwrap3d can import LW files and sucessfully export to GMF along with material files and DDS textures.

 

In LW modeller I can name mesh layers and UU3D picks up these names as group names.

Problem is the export to GMF seems to replace that info with something much less useful

 

GetEntityKey(entity, "name") returns U3D_STATIC_MESH for all children

 

What am I missing here?

[Naughty Alien]

...i suspect, you trying to access certain child within your loaded mesh..I have had same issue with export from 3dsmax...i noticed that long as i have 110-120 individual meshes within level, it returns proper entity by name..more than 110-120(you have to test yourself exact number), its happening some weird stuff...because of that, I have decided to load separately, every individual mesh I want to be dynamic on any way..

[Guest Red Ocktober]

i ran into the same or similar problem a ways back...

 

try saving the individual meshes separately and merging them in UU3D... its been a while. but i think that's what worked for me...

 

--Mike

[macklebee]

Will not make a difference. Its been a complaint towards UU3D for a long time. UU3D will not keep mesh hierarchy when converting to GMF and will combine into just one mesh.

[Madjack]

Damn. Was really hoping to have a simple, clear artpath with LW -> UU3d -> GMF.

It's frustrating that UU3d does pick up child names but then loses that info when exporting to GMF.

UU3d does pick up other info correctly (UV maps, smoothing groups) and will convert my png files to DDS + mat files.

 

Using the provided LE convertors with FBX/DAE exported from LW also seems to lose child names.

LE crashes when trying to load DAE exported directly from LW 11.

 

My previous workflow (using Xors), was to model in LW, export using Terrabit's LW convertor, import into Giles, add child pivots etc, tweak texture layers as needed, name children, export to B3d, use loadanimmesh to retain child structure. This was about as long an art pipeline as I'd want to get to.

 

Anyone know who's responsible for the GMF plugin?

[macklebee]

Its not really the gmf plugin for UU3D that is causing the problem with the GMF export - it's UU3D. You can try exporting from UU3D as b3d then use the b3d2gmf converter and it will keep at least the separate meshes but the hierarchy will be all be placed at one level. Also since UU3D does not maintain any of the relative position/rotation values of the meshes it will reference all as 0,0,0 for location/rotation. The UU3D developer said he would have to rewrite UU3D for it to be able to do the mesh hierarchy correctly which was something he did not seem to be interested in doing.

[Madjack]

Oh for a single app that understands and converts;

 

Multiple UV maps

Multiple texture layers

Smoothing groups

Parent/child relationships

Mesh names

Off centre mesh positioning

 

Looks like another evening of testing coming up.

[Madjack]

Ok - looks like I can assemble models in Lightwave 11's layout, export to FBX and use the fbx2gmf convertor. Mesh hierarchy and relative centres appear to be retained. Not quite there yet but looks promising.

 

<edit> scale needs to be set to 0.01 when exporting for 1:1 fbx mesh size. Mesh layer names are retained in final GMF file, top level object is a model class.

 

Pivots are not exported. Guess I can get around that - perhaps single vertex meshes or if that may cause problems, find and replace in code.

 

Loading an LW scene file into UU3d and export to FBX results in mesh hierachy being retained but relative mesh centres are reset to 0,0. Looks like UU3d is not quite as good a conversion tool as I thought it was.

 

Looks like I can use Lightwave 11 to set up objects and scenes and export through the fbx plugin. Need to do more testing to see if LW's surface system has any follow through with the plugin. Probably too much to ask.

[Madjack]

Does Leadwerks have GetMeshwidth/depth/height commands? Can't seem to find the equivalent...