MD5 Export works properly !

[Kai]

Today i tested the md5 exporter of der_ton and Berzerker.

Both are available at doom3world.org. I noticed that md5 is brilliant and a robust format: Its very easy to export, just create a bonesetup, rig it and animate it, thats it !!
No useless encoding, compiling or other errors and i can use envelopes and modifier to make things bend more naturally.

Der_ton's exporter was the better choice because Berzerkers version showed errors and stopped the export process, der_ton's only got flipped normals (but those can be fixed with a new export and flipped faces turned on/off, or flipping them manually) !

So it will be easy now to export and import complete players, monster or first person elements

[scott]

der_ton's exporter is for 3dsmax isnt it?
Its a shame its the only plugin that exports directly to that format, making md5's from maya or xsi requires that you have doom3 installed and you convert from doom3's console.

[Carsten]

So it will be easy now to export and import complete players, monster or first person elements

It's good to hear that! The md5 format has so many advantages that I'm truly happy that we eventually arrived at it.

[n321]

whenever I use the md5 exporter for max i cant seem to get it to export the texture info with the model! I put it in doom 3 and It just has a white and black checkered box...with no errors in the console! Can you explane how to properly export a model as an md5! As a test just importing a doom 3 md5 and re exporting it! I use max 8!

[Kai]

Hi and welcome to the forum

This is not really the forum for Doom3 questions, and i uninstalled Doom3 quite while ago, but anyway i will give you some hints how to export.

The most important thing is to set up the material properly.
In Max you can only attach an ordinary max shader
After exporting, just open the MD5mesh with a texteditor und search for

Code: Select all

mesh {
	shader "maxdefaultshader"

"maxdefaultshader" is having the name of your maxmaterial you attached before you exported (most cases "01 - Default")

Now replace this name with the name of you shader (you need to write it first of course !) The shader will refer to the relative texture path.
Thats it.
If you still have problems i could get a sample but try out for yourself first.

Remember: The exporter of "der_ton" will NOT export the material as you need it in Doom3 or Ca3D. You must first write a new shader entry, and rename the md5mesh shadername by hand.

By the way, i suggest to use der_tons modelviewer also, before adding in doom3. Much faster

[n321]

so by shader name you mean the name of the texture...I.E. arm.tga or the name as in its location...I.E. models/weapons/arm/arm.tga. I am not using doom 3 also...it was just an example so that you could understand my problem...I did try my model in doom 3 tho!

[Kai]

No a shader is not only a single texture !

A shader is a textfile, that refers to textures and creates the material.
Have a look at the Ca3D material section
Ca3D-Engine\Games\DeathMatch\Materials

There are some textfiles, go and open it (for example Kai.cmat) with a texteditor:
There is shaderline like this

Code: Select all

Textures/Kai/babtech
{
    diffusemap  Textures/Kai/babtech_diff.png
    normalmap   Textures/Kai/babtech_norm.png
    lightmap    $lightmap
}

The first line is the name of the shader "Textures/Kai/babtech", (even if it looks like a path), you can name it anything you like .
This name must be used in the md5.mesh file

Like

Code: Select all

mesh {
   shader Textures/Kai/babtech
}

Then all textures of "Textures/Kai/babtech" will be shown on your md5 mesh

The name of the shader look odd, because it uses a path as name.
Its easier to use better names than a path.
For example my materialviewer is using this shader:

Code: Select all

previewTD
{
    diffusemap  TextureChamber/preview/color_diff.png
    normalmap   TextureChamber/preview/normal_norm.png
    specularmap TextureChamber/preview/specular_spec.png
    lumamap     TextureChamber/preview/luma_luma.jpg
    lightmap    $lightmap
}

Ignore my strange texture names like normal_norm.png

[Jojimbo]

what about the mdl? is this now obsolete? if not where can i grab an importer fpr max?

[Carsten]

Jojimbo, the mdl file format imported/supported by Ca3DE is the model file format of Half-Life 1. It's now pretty old, but will continue to be supported by Ca3DE code. However, as HL1 itself is pretty old, too, I'm not sure if there are still tools and "compilers" available for that format.
(Maybe someone else can help )

Good news is that the upcoming release of Ca3DE (somewhen during the next week) will support many additional file formats, including the evergreens and all-time favourites of the big 3D modelling programs, see my message at http://www.ca3d-engine.de/phpBB2/viewto ... =2333#2333 for more details.

I would suggest that you use of one these modern formats instead of mdl, especially for static (non-animated) models.
For animated models, I'd highly recommend to use md5mesh/md5anim files. For this file format, importers/exporters and other tools are available, and there is very good support in Ca3DE.

[Jojimbo]

yes i am going to go with md5,got the import export dll's already just need to associate myself to the format and how to get a model into ca3d.

[Carsten]

Ok, great to know. If there are any problems, please let us know!
(I don't expect any, but if there are, its a high priority matter for me to fix them.)

[Jojimbo]

Well tbh when i went to the ca3d - sdk folder and expanded the whole lot i thought, "yes,yes and yes" i have worked in other games modding and its something i quickly understood.
modding led me to all sorts of goodness with 3d modelling,animation and world creation i just need to experiment and get a feel for ca3d.i always enjoy a challenge.
last night i imported a md5 model into max,just to take a quick look at the bone,mesh structure etc etc so i can start making models for my game experiment from scratch,ill do something soon after initial terrain experiments.

first thing ill make is a "universal" soldier for ca3d to show my support,this will be a basic model like the one i mentioned above,an optimized player model with the important children attached,however animations take an incredible amount of time,not just to make by hand but to get right,have you ever considered renting out a mocap?

If you was thinking of selling ca3d,as a complete game engine including wyzywig editing tools it would be well worth the investment to have a basic model with realistic mocap animations.

[Carsten]

first thing ill make is a "universal" soldier for ca3d to show my support,this will be a basic model like the one i mentioned above,an optimized player model with the important children attached

Wow, sounds great!

however animations take an incredible amount of time,not just to make by hand but to get right,have you ever considered renting out a mocap?

You mean I should hire someone to create a model, complete with animations created by motion capturing? Well, yes, as soon as I have the spare money...

[Jojimbo]

hehe no i just meant hiring some mocap company to make a set of bips for ca3d so i can put them in my model

so...how do i get an md5 into ca3d?