B3D v. 3DS
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Programming/B3D v. 3DS
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| I've noticed a lot of talk about converters from 3ds to b3d. Is there a legal(other) issue using 3ds? |
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| 3ds=Mesh Deformation, and some other problems. its just that 3ds isn't the worlds best model format for games. b3d=Bones, yes bones rule, pitty it doesn't have vertex weighting yet though.. :/ Nuff said ;) |
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| 3DS doesn't do Mesh Deformation either. It does Mesh Transformation. Only. |
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| There are a lot of advantages using b3d versus 3ds: skeletal animation, multiple UV sets, multiple texture layers, etc. There's no legal issue as far as I know, b3d is just a vastly superior file format. |
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| ok, cheers |
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| Ok, in that case has anyone seen any b3d exporters available for 3dsMax 3 anywhere? Remember, that's Max 3. Thanks. |
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| None that I know of but it is pretty easy to convert to b3d file format using some other tool as a go between. I recommend Ultimate Unwrap; it can open a huge laundry list of file formats (including 3ds and .x with skeletal animation) and save to b3d. |
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| Do you think it's worth it? I was under the impression that b3d has features 3ds doesn't (so there wouldn't be anything to convert). Does that make sense? If I could convert a max file that would be great, I think I'll go look at that Ultimate Urwrap right now :) |
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| That is true (that b3d supports features which 3ds doesn't) which is why I also referred to .x with skeletal animation. You can get a skeletal animated model into b3d file format that way: export from 3D Studio Max to DirectX file format, and then convert to b3d using Ultimate Unwrap. Furthermore however there are additional features you can take advantage of after having converted the model and so converting 3ds to b3d is still useful. For example, using B3D Tweak you can add all sorts of cool multi-texturing and other texturing effects to b3d models, things which can't be done using 3ds models. Similarly Ultimate Unwrap can be used to add to the model, resulting in a b3d model with more features than 3ds supports. For example you can load a 3ds model, add a second UV, and save to b3d with that additional feature. Besides all that there is a subtler, pretty irrational reason to use b3d file format instead of 3ds. Even if you don't need any features besides what 3ds provides, it looks more professional to use the special purpose b3d file format rather than the older publicly known 3ds file format. |
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| Ah, excellent, that's good thinking. I'll try that out. Also, that b3d tweak looks really cool and useful. Thanks for the advice. |
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