16 replies to this topic

[chester_chuffnuts]

firstly, I am involved about making an online 3d game and my part in this is to be graphics and sound. I am currently working my way through a 3ds max text book and having no trouble with getting to grips with creating in 3d. My problem is that obviously I need to know more than that in order to successfully take part in the development of the game. I have the luxury of the fact that I don't need to learn to many languages or go into other stuff to heavily as literally my work will be mostly about the sheer bulk of stuff i will have to create for the game. But i do need to know a bit more about how everything ties together.

Can someone explain to me in plain retards english what happens next on both mine and the programmers side after this...

I create several different 3ds files to be used with the game. I then convert them to .x files for instance, but, what then happens after that? What does the programmer do once I have given him these files in a workable format? Is that my part done, on to the next bunch of 3d sprites or is their more? Now a lot of you mat well be reading this and thinking that I am an idiot, and yes you would be right, i am prepared to humble myself and even make a fool of myself for some clear plain simple answers in order to learn more quicker.

Thanks for taking the time to humour me. You can call me any name under the sun and insult my mother freely just as long as I get some simple, useful info that will help me learn quicker.

Cheers,

Iain

[error0]

chester_chuffnuts said:

hat does the programmer do once I have given him these files in a workable format?

Well he need to load them, then he need to set matrix of theirs position scalling rotations and finally send them to device into vertex buffer and index buffer

[chester_chuffnuts]

Thanks. THat gives me a better idea of what areas to look at.

[Jare]

What usually happens after you give the programmer a bunch of 3D model files is that he tries to use them in his code, as error0 described, and then comes back to you to tell you the naming is wrong, or the orientation is wrong, or it is not centered, or you put too many polygons, or you named some parts of the model incorrectly, or you forgot to give him the textures, or...

You get the idea. ;) It will take a bit of going back and forth until you know and apply all the requirements that the programmer will ask, and it will take a while for him to figure out all the requirements for a 3D model to load and work properly. Just be patient and you (both) will learn a lot.

[chester_chuffnuts]

Jare said:

What usually happens after you give the programmer a bunch of 3D model files is that he tries to use them in his code, as error0 described, and then comes back to you to tell you the naming is wrong, or the orientation is wrong, or it is not centered, or you put too many polygons, or you named some parts of the model incorrectly, or you forgot to give him the textures, or...

Right that's cool, I'm starting to build up a better picture of how things will work, but i still have some questions.

All those things mentioned above, are they done within (for example) 3ds as I create the model or are they done afterwards through Open GL or simular? Like do I create the mesh model an export that and then the unwrapped texture and then use Open GL or whatever to put it all together within the game environment?

See, Artisticly and creatively gifted I am, but I know nothing of this practical process, which is what I am trying to learn.

I'm slowly building up a picture of how things go but I still have some gaps to fill in on the technicalities.

YOu have been most helpful.

[Phi]

Definelly not a stupid question chester as i also want to know how this is done, i've got models in .3ds format, put don;t know how tie them into the game, such as an airplane model, how does the programmer operate the landing gear? in the model so when the user press's 'u' the gear goes up.

[Goz]

Phi said:

Definelly not a stupid question chester as i also want to know how this is done, i've got models in .3ds format, put don;t know how tie them into the game, such as an airplane model, how does the programmer operate the landing gear? in the model so when the user press's 'u' the gear goes up.

Well that depends on whether the modeller has modelled them right. Using forward kinematics its relatively simple if the artist has put the landing gear on an appropriate bone. You just update the landing gear's local matrix and make it fold up under the plane. If they haven't "boned" it correctly you are kinda screwed ...

[chester_chuffnuts]

Ok, but I thought I heard somewhere on the JMonkey forum that you couldn't export the bones or something? Seems like madness to me otherwise what would be the point.

So apart from animations that you pre define yourself is it possible then to have the bones in place so if say your characters gets blasted by something it will fly back and the bones will automatically dictate how the body falls as it hits other objects and such like? Kinda like a rag doll? We're thinking of having a lot of projectile type weapons and something like that could be good.

I may well be leaping ahead of myself in my thinking but what you said triggered the thought.

Sorry if that isn't to clear.

[Goz]

You can definitely export bones. Not sure about with the 3DS format though. May need to write your own exporter or google around for an exporter that provides what you need.

Ragdoll is a whole different ball game. Sure you can use the skeleton to perform rag doll but the physics needed to make it work is HUGELY more complicated. I'd forget about that bit for now. Should be relatively straightforward to retrofit into a decently written engine anyway :)

[chester_chuffnuts]

Cheers dude (Y)

What do you suggest searching under in google? I mean I know that sounds retarded but you can know what you want but just not find it because of the wording you're using and therefore, waste a lot of time.

[Goz]

3D Studio Max exporter?

Or check out ... http://www.codercorn.../Flexporter.htm

[Kenneth Gorking]

I tried flexporter once, but it was a bit too bloated for my taste. It exported a lot more stuff than I needed, hence making the files very large.

Instead of flexporter, I used the DejaView example project made by Discreet. It has an exporter, importer and viewer, so it shows the whole process of how to get your models from 3ds max into your own application. The source is a bit dated, but it still works better than anything else I've been able to find. It should still compile with any of newer versions of 3ds max, I have used it with version 7 without any problems. The link is: http://sparks.discre...ewExporter1.htm

[chester_chuffnuts]

Goz said:

3D Studio Max exporter?

Or check out ... http://www.codercorn.../Flexporter.htm

Yeah I told you it sounded dumb, but I didn't know if something that simple would work or if I need to feed in a little more information.

Cheers dude.

[chester_chuffnuts]

Kenneth Gorking said:

I tried flexporter once, but it was a bit too bloated for my taste. It exported a lot more stuff than I needed, hence making the files very large.

Instead of flexporter, I used the DejaView example project made by Discreet. It has an exporter, importer and viewer, so it shows the whole process of how to get your models from 3ds max into your own application. The source is a bit dated, but it still works better than anything else I've been able to find. It should still compile with any of newer versions of 3ds max, I have used it with version 7 without any problems. The link is: http://sparks.discre...ewExporter1.htm

And thanks to you too :) The picture is slowly building up and at last some head way is being made :)

[Phi]

I exported .3ds models into the Irrlicht Engine, if memory serves me i think i got a plug-in for max studio that allowed me to export the model into a different file type compatibale with Irrlicht, but as i said before i had problems then coding with landing gear, as i didn't know how to reference the wheels, maybe a mistake on my part for not checking names on the wheels althought i'm not sure if there was names on them.... I must check again...

[geon]

shahzadmasih said:

Hi, This post is very informative, however I would like some specific information. If someone can help me then please send me a private message. Best Regards,

Start a new thread and aks your specific question there...

[Kenneth Gorking]

shahzadmasih is probably spam, so don't PM.