Racer DOF exporter plugin for 3DS Max

[Some1]

Hmmmm...

Is the correct behaviour of the exporter to look at the used texture channels texture names to generate the material names in any exported dof?
I seem to be getting material names called seats_02_red.tga, for example, rather than the material slot name of seats_02, which is used in 3DS Max.

I'm sure the second behaviour is how it worked before, but this new version in 2010.64 seems to be doing it the first way, which isn't so useful (especially as NO material will want .tga or .dds etc at the end of it's name hehe)


Is there a built-in rule for material naming somewhere?

Thanks

Dave

Quite possibly something was changed, when I compiled the x64 version (fixed a few bugs in the code etc).

I didn't really double check the "generate shader" and "generate geometry" functionality.

I will take a look at it this evening.

 

[Some1]

Hmmmm...

Is the correct behaviour of the exporter to look at the used texture channels texture names to generate the material names in any exported dof?
I seem to be getting material names called seats_02_red.tga, for example, rather than the material slot name of seats_02, which is used in 3DS Max.

I'm sure the second behaviour is how it worked before, but this new version in 2010.64 seems to be doing it the first way, which isn't so useful (especially as NO material will want .tga or .dds etc at the end of it's name hehe)


Is there a built-in rule for material naming somewhere?

Thanks

Dave

Hmm... actually, the exporter does not use the slot name, rather it uses the Material name. I've never really understood the purpose of the slot names. Do you set the name of the material on MAX to 'seats_02_red.tga' or just 'seats_02'?

EDIT: Btw, the name of the material can only contain alphanumeric letters and underscore (material names containing special characters, spaces etc. will be fixed up during exporting).

 

[camsinny]

I think I had a similar issue when I had the dofexp.shd in the folder when exporting. It's like it's trying to ammend the file but freaks the **** out when it reads it or something.

Super useful being able to use it though. I don't mind make a few shader entries if the process of getting models in-game is that much quicker.

 

[Some1]

I think I had a similar issue when I had the dofexp.shd in the folder when exporting. It's like it's trying to ammend the file but freaks the **** out when it reads it or something.

Wait, what? Can you please rephrase your problem more clearly

 

[camsinny]

Haha
Well I'm not 100% sure it was a problem...but when I exported a huge number of files the shader would have entries for the maps like "map=batchmaterial!01" and after attempting to re-export some material names assumed the map name instead of the material name.
i.e. first export:

material_name
{
layer0
 {
  map=asdf.dds
 }
}

after re-export

asdf.dds
{
 {
  layer0
  {
   map=(weird stuff, don't remember exactly what...I've since deleted the track)
  }
 }
}

 

[Mr Whippy]

Hmm... actually, the exporter does not use the slot name, rather it uses the Material name. I've never really understood the purpose of the slot names. Do you set the name of the material on MAX to 'seats_02_red.tga' or just 'seats_02'?

EDIT: Btw, the name of the material can only contain alphanumeric letters and underscore (material names containing special characters, spaces etc. will be fixed up during exporting).

What is the slot name vs material name?

Right now when I change the name of a material in the small box under the material selection preview pane

That name *used* to be the name of the material in Racers modeller.exe, and you would use that same name in the shader.

However, current dof exports use the texture name with the .tga on the end, or whatever the extension is.

I'm not sure why this has changed (bug?!)... the old behaviour was fine simply using the name you gave the material in 3DS Max...

Weird because the 2010 version in 32bit was working fine iirc, but this 64bit one works with texture name... would be weird why it's changed due to compiler?!



Interestingly, the shader export part of your exporter is giving the correct material name from above, and using the texture name in the appropriate place, but the DOF itself has the texture name for the material name... thus the shader generated won't work with the DOF generated. So the shader part is getting the proper material name, just not the DOF itself!


Thanks

Dave

 

[Some1]

What is the slot name vs material name?

Right now when I change the name of a material in the small box under the material selection preview pane

That name *used* to be the name of the material in Racers modeller.exe, and you would use that same name in the shader.

However, current dof exports use the texture name with the .tga on the end, or whatever the extension is.

I'm not sure why this has changed (bug?!)... the old behaviour was fine simply using the name you gave the material in 3DS Max...

Weird because the 2010 version in 32bit was working fine iirc, but this 64bit one works with texture name... would be weird why it's changed due to compiler?!



Interestingly, the shader export part of your exporter is giving the correct material name from above, and using the texture name in the appropriate place, but the DOF itself has the texture name for the material name... thus the shader generated won't work with the DOF generated. So the shader part is getting the proper material name, just not the DOF itself!


Thanks

Dave

Ok, I need to investigate that. I haven't been able to reproduce the bug just yet.

 

[Mr Whippy]

It's amazing how useful this plugin is... I've been working on my track today, adding new elements and trying to remove the old and add the new etc. It's just impossible to keep track of the old objects I need to bin, and the names of the new I need to add via geometry.ini

This tool combined with the geometry.ini populator that Camsinny wrote, is so invaluable to fast updates/checking of the track. I'd have just binned the lot, cleared the folder, and re-imported everything from Max in 1 minute!

Dave

 

[Some1]

Dave, I think I've resolved the issue you were having with material names.

I've uploaded a new version of the plugin, check the first post.

 

[Mr Whippy]

Sweet

Looks to be working as expected now

Thanks for that Some1... just trying to monster through finishing up enough of this track to get it out as a WIP release...!


I'll have to post up that little code that Camsinny wrote for geometry.ini population (takes user comments from objects for LOD/flags or whatever you add)



Dave

 

[Mihela816]

Works much better, before it would stall trying to export on my computer.

 

[jeffmorris]

I need plug-in for 3DS MAX 2009 32-bit. It's the last version supported for exporting 3D models to Auran Trainz Simulator so I can't use 3DS MAX 2010.

 

[Some1]

I need plug-in for 3DS MAX 2009 32-bit. It's the last version supported for exporting 3D models to Auran Trainz Simulator so I can't use 3DS MAX 2010.

Check the first post of this thread.

 

[jeffmorris]

I'm not sure if I can have 3DS MAX 2009 and 2010 installed on the same computer. I used ZModeler before.

 

[Some1]

I'm not sure if I can have 3DS MAX 2009 and 2010 installed on the same computer. I used ZModeler before.

The plugin version 0.4 contains DOF exporter plugin for Max 2009 as well....

 

[jeffmorris]

There is no plug-in for 3DS MAX 2009 in the version 0.4 zip file.

 

[Some1]

There is no plug-in for 3DS MAX 2009 in the version 0.4 zip file.

Sure there is Extract the ZIP and look into the "max9" sub folder.

 

[jeffmorris]

http://wiki.cgsociety.org/index.php/3ds_Max_History

Please don't confuse 3DS MAX 9 with 3DS MAX 2009. These are different versions.

 

[jeffmorris]

http://wiki.cgsociety.org/index.php/3ds_Max_History

Please don't confuse 3DS MAX 9 with 3DS MAX 2009. They are different versions.

 

[Mr Whippy]

Hehe, good old confusing 3DS Max version numbers.

Why they didn't stick to 1....9999 is beyond me. We are now in mid 2011 and 2012 has been out almost a month hehe...


Max 2010 seems pretty solid to me anyway. Best version of Max yet I think. 2011 has nasty dialog boxes (not sure if they can be set to the old style), and 2012 loses Havok Reactor apparently!... madness!

Dave