DDS question

I just found some time to test the new DDS capabilities. The PS plugin works kind of, but then I need to apply the texture to a mesh.

As far as I see it's not possible to rename a DDS texture to BMP and then load it. This is bad since it forces me to reopen all meshes and alter the texture paths.

The other way it was so much easier. With the other texture formats this was working well, simply convert to JPG, then rename to BMP. I wonder if this limitation is really neccessary, since the fileheaders first 3 Characters are "DDS".

The biggest Problem I got right now is: When I use CharacterFX, it won't let me open and assign a DDS texture. Any ideas?

Ok, I managed to fool CharacterFX this way:
Rename the BMP version to DDS, then enter *.* in the fileselector, which allows to choose any file. Then choose the BMP that is now named DDS. CharacterFX will load it nicely. Then apply this texture to the mesh, save, export etc.
Then overwrite the fake DDS file by the real one. Imagine, I cannot automatize this and there are hundreds of files.

This is - pretty darn complicated IMHO.

Isn't there a way to use the old paths and filenames with the DDS format?

i remembered this post by fredborg so went to find it. The thread is here:
http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=61874

I think the SwitchToDDS function changes all extension names in a file to ".dds".

Also, cfx is old and unsupported i think.
ultimateunwrap3d supports dds, maybe fragmotion too not sure.

;SwitchToDDS, by fredborg

SwitchToDDS("RomanBath.b3d")
Print "Finito!"
WaitKey()
End

Function SwitchToDDS(file$)

	Local extmatch$[3]
	
	extmatch[0] = ".png"
	extmatch[1] = ".jpg"
	extmatch[2] = ".bmp"
	extmatch[3] = ".tga"

	dds = Asc(".") + (Asc("d") Shl 8) + (Asc("d") Shl 16) + (Asc("s") Shl 24)
	dot = Asc(".")

	count = 0
	
	f = ReadFile(file)
	If f
		
		ms = MilliSecs()
				
		bank = CreateBank(FileSize(file))
		ReadBytes(bank,f,0,BankSize(bank))
		CloseFile f

		For i = 0 To BankSize(bank)-5
			If PeekByte(bank,i) = dot
				a$ = Lower(Chr(PeekByte(bank,i)) + Chr(PeekByte(bank,i+1)) + Chr(PeekByte(bank,i+2)) + Chr(PeekByte(bank,i+3)))
				For j = 0 To 3
					If a = extmatch[j]
						PokeInt bank,i,dds
						count = count + 1
					EndIf
				Next
			EndIf
		Next

		DebugLog "SwitchToDDS("+Chr(34)+file+Chr(34)+")"
		If count = 0
			DebugLog "  No matches found"
		Else
			ext$ = Right(file,Len(file)-Instr(file,"."))
		
			f = WriteFile( Left(file$,Instr(file,".")-1)+"_dds."+ext )
			If f
				WriteBytes(bank,f,0,BankSize(bank))
				CloseFile f
			EndIf
		
			DebugLog "  Replaced "+count+" texture extensions"
		EndIf

		ms = MilliSecs() - ms
		DebugLog "  Finished in "+ms+"ms" 

	EndIf

End Function

Thanks, this may be the easiest way, although I'm not a fan of meshfile patching.

I became very familar with CFX over time, so I'll think twice if I should use an other program. If I'll drop it, then most likely for Pacemaker. I think it may be the best animation app you can get for B3D, other than the real expensive suites with some kind of export path (Maya, 3dsMax etc.) Does Pacemaker support DDS?

Fragmotion surely is good stuff as well.

@jfk
PaceMaker will support DDS very soon - it will also have an option to replace the current textures with DDS !
Probably available this weekend.

Good news!