Which 3d file format will be supported by Max3d

I think about buying a 3d modeller, which can export a
Max3d compatible file format.

Which 3d file format will be supported by upcoming Max3d ?

.b3d, .md2, .x, ... ?

Well, I would have to say that NOT supporting .b3d would be insanity. Apart from that, it's anyone's guess.

It will definitely support .b3d. I wouldn't be surprised if it also supports .x. But, even if it only supports .b3d you will be able to convert .x and .3ds to it using Unwrap or Fragmotion.

.dbo



hahahahahaaa.... sorrrrryyyy, i just couldn't resist :)

--Mike

In max you should be able to code your own Model import routine like GMan did in Irrlicht for BMX, although I prefer .b3d for the ease and power.

DBO format is also open sourced, not looking into it yet, you can get the source with DBP 5.9 update extras.

I was going to wait till Max3D was released before raising this point but since somebody else has started down these lines then I hope Blitz Research will be employing somebody to create a b3d plug-in for all of the widely used 3D packages rather than leaving it to the community.

Lack of support has severely hindered my project with regards to creating b3d files. I personally am using 3D Studio MAX 5 and so have to rely on 3D pipeline which isn't supported anymore. All the 3D animations created in it that used biped crash Blitz3D when quitting. I asked about this on the forums and was told that this problem had been encountered before but shouldn't happen now.....that was it. Unfortunately being told that it shouldn't happen didn't stop it from happening and it still crashes.

If I did simpler games without animated characters using bones etc then maybe I wouldn't have a problem but I do and so I've a major headache and I'm HOPING that Blitz Research might address this after Max3D is out.

You'll be lucky! If this happens, I'll eat my head. :P

Pipeline works on Max 5,6,7,8 just fine.

If pipeline becomes defunct then ask the author to opensource it.

Perhaps you're doing something unsupported.

Well no it doesn't work 'just fine' because it has produced files that crash Blitz. The author didn't lead me to believe I'm doing something unsupported by saying he's encountered the same problem before and thought he'd fixed it.

As for asking him to make it open source there's no point as I barely have time to do work and make a game without having to write the tools as well. Even if I did I'm a game's programmer not really a tool man.

Well thats your problem then. I've written max plugins for blitz as well. Mine didn't support animation quite as well and we had it replaced by pipeline in the tools section as pipeline is better.

Opensource means anyone could have a crack at it. Not just you. But... you are obviously doing nothing wrong in your models as you say.

That sounds more like a Blitz3D bug, or perhaps you're overflowing the vertex pipe (limit is 65535 verticies)?

"If pipeline becomes defunct then ask the author to opensource it."

He's been asked many times but apparently he's MIA, don't think there's much chance of it happening!

http://playerfactory.proboards25.com/index.cgi?board=b3dpipe&action=display&thread=1129751243

Remember to enable 'Scene Root' when exporting the b3d, that should take care of the problem...

Maybe he's working on Pipeline 2 or something, so not tending to release the source.

Thanks for the advice but we're already doing that.

he was working on pipeline 2. which was going to be a general purpose exporter that exported XML files that get parsed to whatever format you want.

I think he got bogged down with real life work and stopped working on pipeline altogether last time I heard. Either that or his current contract doesn't allow for him to develop for 'competing products'

Used to correspond with him quite a lot in the old days, but he does seem to have disappeared and no longer responds to his emails.

Hope he's ok, and I really love what he did with the pipeline, its the best exporter I have used anywhere. The b3d extensions should be portable to bmax, and you should be able to use brush names to call .FX or .HLSL files saved in max. So if bmax supports .b3d natively I don't see why we shouldn't be able to continue using .B3D and pipeline for quite some time.

It still supports features that couldn't easily be incorporated in blitz3D projects like streaming Xref levels and stuff off of the HD. And obscurer occluders which would be pretty handy with a render engine that isn't so limited by surface counts.