Cafu Engine

When do you think we'll be able to import mdl2 format? I know the mdl2 format has gone through many versions, so which one are you planning on implementing?

On the topic of models in Cafu, is there any documentation on how to import models into cafu? Also, is there any specific details about the formats supported such as bone structures, animations, max number of vertices, etc? Thanks for any replies!

Which mdl2 format do you mean?
To the best of my knowledge, there are at least two different file formats that are suffixed with mdl2.

More generally, the upcoming Model Editor will be able to import several file formats, see http://www.cafu.de/wiki/modeleditor:introduction for details.
Note however that the Model Editor is not yet finished, it's still being developed. (We're getting close though.)

Sorry, I was referring to the hl2 mdl format, not extension mdl2. I read somewhere you were planning on implementing support for it.

drwbns wrote:Sorry, I was referring to the hl2 mdl format, not extension mdl2. I read somewhere you were planning on implementing support for it.

Ah, ok, yes.
Well, priorities and strategy have mildly changed: Formats like FBX and Collada and those listed at http://www.cafu.de/wiki/modeleditor:introduction have priority now -- but of course we still want to provide you with a way to import other formats as well.
One option to achieve that is using Assimp for loading several formats directly like those already in the list linked above, the alternative is to just use MilkShape, which supports even more formats but cannot be integrated into CaWE (the big advantage is that you can use it immediately without waiting for us to any finish any related code first).

Right now, I have to finish other aspects of the Model Viewer before concentrating on additional file formats again, though any help would much be welcome.

I read that the open source project Open Scene Graph has mdl2 support. I'll upload the plugin file if you would like to see it. I think valve's mdl format for the source engine is amzing and would love to see it implemented into cafu!

drwbns wrote:I read that the open source project Open Scene Graph has mdl2 support. I'll upload the plugin file if you would like to see it.[/url]
No, please don't: Unless they have a very liberal license like BSD or MIT, we would have to rewrite the code anyway, from scratch.

I think valve's mdl format for the source engine is amzing and would love to see it implemented into cafu!

Well, when I implemented support for HL1 mdl in the past, I thought it was a good idea, too, but it turned out that these models, once created, were difficult to work with, difficult to adapt, etc.

With the upcoming Model Editor, we're on a much better route to get things done. Once the Model Editor is (mostly) finished, we can consider adding support for additional file formats, though.

Ok, thanks for the response!

For completeness, there is also a way to achieve this much sooner:
If you want to provide a patch that implements this feature, I'd be happy to review and add it!