Asking for help: Distorted .X-file export

Had a look at the TV3D site…it seems to have some very nice features.
However…
It also seems to be what is classed as a game developement package.
These are usually very restrictive in that you have to have to use the packages ways of doing things….this is bad news.

You’ve already found one of these restrictions if your limited to using the .x file format.
This is even worse bad news.

Take a look at this link to one of the forum posts on the TV3D site….
[img:3dzdyygu]http://www.truevision3d.com/forums/engine_comparison/blitz3d-t8560.0.html[/img:3dzdyygu]
<!– m –><a class="postlink" href="http://www.truevision3d.com/forums/engine_comparison/blitz3d-t8560.0.html">http://www.truevision3d.com/forums/engi … 560.0.html</a><!– m –>

It appears that unlike Blitz3D, TV3D isn’t a language.
The difference here is that with Blitz you can write whaterever you want, using various file formats, in any way you wish, there are no restrictions.

One other point to be wary of is that you seem to need to purchse an extra licence if you want to release anything commercially. This is bad news number 3.

The only advice I can offer here is to have a good look around at all the 3D engines/languages before you decide.

Anyway I hope whatever you choose works well for you.

Bazza

Hello all,

I’d like to ask for your help with a problem I have. Using the 3DC Pro version, I’m trying to export a simple animation .X file for testing. Somehow, I can’t get animation to work properly, though.

Here is what I did:

– create a cylinder
– extrude the upper side of the cylinder
– apply a texture
– crease all (180)
– create a bone
– create a child bone of the first bone
– move the bone construct inside the cylinder
– move the cylinder mesh to the group of the (first) bone
– apply ranges to the bones
– animate movement, so that the cylinder bends
– export frame animation to .X-file (right-click on root group)

Now, when running this file in DirectXViewer, TV3D and 3impact (the latter two are graphics engines), the animation is working, but distorted. It shows up ok in 3DC, though.

I already tried a lot of variations (like, ‘triangulate selection’ and others) before exporting, but didn’t actually get any further. Maybe I’m missing an important point here?

If someone could lend me a hand, I’d really appreciate that. Here are the files I created for download:

[img:kf9vgsm8]http&#58;//www&#46;mikoweb&#46;eu/tmp/animation&#46;zip[/img:kf9vgsm8]
<!– m –><a class="postlink" href="http://www.mikoweb.eu/tmp/animation.zip">http://www.mikoweb.eu/tmp/animation.zip</a>&lt;!– m –>

Content:

– 3DC.jpg: As it shows in 3DC
– 3impact.jpg: as it shows in 3impact
– tv3d.jpg: as it shows in TV3D
– directXviewer.jpg: as it shows in DirectXViewer
– anim_obj4.3DC: the famous cylinder
– anim_obj4.X: The .X export
– anim_obj1.jpg: The cylinder’s texture

Thanks a lot.

I converted your file to a .b3d file format and loaded it into Bltz3D, it worked fine.

The .x file format isn’t the best for boned animations when exporting to game engines.

If your using Dark Basic as your engine you should be able to find a .x to .dbo converter.

If your using Blitz there are quite a few . x to .b3d converters around.

Try to test your anims in your game engine.

Another way would be to animate your models in an animation app like Fragmotion as I do.
This would allow you to export your boned animation to most of the popular game formats.

The problem with the .x file format is mainly down to the different versions.
Blitz only supports up to DX7, although a DX9 library is nearing completion.
Dark Basic I think only supports up to DX8.
I’m not sure which version 3DC is using but the distortion thing could be that 3Dc is using say DX9 and you are trying to load this anim into an app that only supports DX7 or 8.

Hope some of this helps…again there is nothing wrong with your animation.

Bazza

Bazza, thank you very much. I recon the whole ‘bone animation in .x files’ is a rather complicated topic. In the different game engines’ forums I follow, this is always an issue, as it seems.

Thanks for pointing me to Fragmotion. Actually, I licensed that meanwhile and will use it for animation. My firsts tests showed good results.
Although it would have been more comfortable to have my animations created directly in 3DC, the 3DC-andgt;Fragmotion way seems feasable aswell.

Again, thanks.

You can still use 3DC for your animations if you wish…you just need a file converter to convert the .x file you export from 3dc to a file format more suitable to your game engine.

Which game engine are you using?

Fragmotion has a lot more bells and whistles in the animation departemant than 3DC, making it much easier to create long animation sequences, especially when using bones.

You can create a new animation for say a figure and call it say walk.
Do the walk anim, then create another animation called say run.
This second run animation is appended to the end of the walk anim but is, in itself, a new animation, ie you start with a new set of frames for the run anim.
So you end up with one large animation which includes say the walk, run, die, fire weapon sequences.
You load this complete animation into your game engine and extract all the different sequences, then use them as you wish.

You can do the above in 3DC to some extent but it’s not as easy.

Bazza

Uhm, as it seems, .X is already the prefered format for the engines I focus on.

After having tested several, I’m now working with 3impact ( [img:20mb8sun]http&#58;//www&#46;3impact&#46;com/[/img:20mb8sun]
<!– m –><a class="postlink" href="http://www.3impact.com/">http://www.3impact.com/</a>&lt;!– m –>
) and TV3D 6.5 beta ( [img:20mb8sun]http&#58;//www&#46;truevision3d&#46;com/[/img:20mb8sun]
<!– m –><a class="postlink" href="http://www.truevision3d.com/">http://www.truevision3d.com/</a>&lt;!– m –>
). Both seem to fit my needs as a hobby/low-budget programmer. I’ll finally end up with TV3D, I think.

I didn’t check your proposal yet, though:

– create *and* animate in 3DC
– export to something other than .x
– import other format in fragmotion and export as .x without any edit

This sounds promising – and would limit all the editing to 3DC (where I would it want to be)

Again, thanks

PS: Yeah, these animation editing features in fragmotion are really awsome <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>