LW Convert
Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Programming/LW Convert
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| Hi Guys, I thought I saw a version of LWConvert out there that did an internal geometry tripling. The one on Blitz Coder is the same one I have. Great program by the way. |
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| The B3D Tweak Utility imports .LWO including geometry tripling (code courtesy of skidracer) and then lets you save it to .B3D. It is $20, though. |
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| There is. It's here . It uses Fredborgs' code to triple n-gons up to 1024 points. It's still only in beta though and it appears there may be some problems with 2nd UV set mangling when multitexturing. This is the deform convert module only. On the bright side, both convertors should export weighted vertices ready for the next update! |
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| Kewl thanks! |
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| Actually I'm in the process of writing a lib that lets you use Lightwave Layout *.lws files as a levels in blitz. The lib uses the LW scene data to place, and animate b3d files and lights. Even imports fog, ambient, lens flares, and uses the lightmapper from the code archives to match LW's render look. So you can do your lighting in LW, Then when it all looks right in LW, render it in Blitz using the lightmapping functions. Seems to work pretty good so far. I'll post it when I've tested it more fully. |
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| Sounds great! |
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| Sweet indeed!!! |
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| Cool Craig! I had something similar in mind, but much more limited and more case-spesific. Your ".LWS loader" would be eons better! Do you have null support also? Nulls would be handy for particle effect placeholders, or spawn points etc. |
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| I would also be great if LW-object/surface names are preserverd and could be recognised in Blitz, this way 'indentifying' bits and pieces in your scene etc. (for collision settings, particle fx, object identification, etc.) would be an absolute blessing! All the best Craig! -Danny |
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| The object conversion is being done by lwconvert as b3d file. You have 2 objects in your content dir, the lwo and b3d. Lightwave loads the lwo, when blitz loads it, it uses the b3d instead. The key for me in this project is the lighting. Lightwave renders it so fast! Although the lightwave render is still not being used in any way, I've rigged the lightmapper to simulate the look of the render as close as possible. As far as object and surface support, That's really up to you. The objects are not compressed into one object file so you can do whattever you want with each object in blitz. And yes, nulls are fully supported, as is the LW hierachy and animation. As for now though, I can't match Lightwaves motion spline so all motions are linier, but you can make a key at every frame for the time being. I've also writen l-script front ends for modeller and layout for saving to objects and preview the blitz version straight from layout. I don't have web space, but if someone wants to give me an email address, I can e-mail you some stills to post in this forum. My e-mail is cnisbet@... |
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| As for now though, I can't match Lightwaves motion spline so all motions are linier, but you can make a key at every frame for the time being. Well that's easy enough... like using graph editor, selecting all (curves) and using "keys" dropdown menu and selecting "Bake Selected Curves" - Just remember to keep unbaked version too for easy animation tweaking! :) I've also writen l-script front ends for modeller and layout for saving to objects and preview the blitz version straight from layout. Wo-hoo! Amazing... I don't have web space, but if someone wants to give me an email address, I can e-mail you some stills to post in this forum. My e-mail is cnisbet@... Mailed you my email addy! |
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| I don't have web space, but if someone wants to give me an email address, I can e-mail you some stills to post in this forum. And here we go! Big image:  |
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| Awesome!! |
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| I'll pull my chin off the floor long enough to ask (beg) when is this Lightwave plugin going to see the light of day? Need anyone to test this tool for you? Craig, this is amazing stuff! |
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| Great stuff, as a Lighwave user, when? :) |
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| 8-0 Cooooool! |
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| Oh man that looks really good! Excellent job Craig! can't wait to give it a try! :) regards, Danny |
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| I think I can zip up a demo. I'm not ready to hand out the code yet. I'm still tweaking it. I figure it will take me a couple of weeks before it's usable by someone else other then me. It still seems to be working great though. Very few hangups as of thus far...oh wait, there is one. Looks like the lens flare options in the scene file are assigned using some kind of code. It's something like "Lensflareoptions 32" The number changes based on the all the verious lens flare options. There's nothing in LW SDK on it of course. Now I know why our coders here at DNA bitch about LW so much. Anyway, I think it's one those flag code systems. Something like, Flareoptions(GLOW+RINGS+LENSREFLECTIONS). I written that kind of option system before, but I alway forget how to do it. I think theres something in the code archives on that. I'll make another still of a new rendering. The lens flares look much better now, and the framerate for the animation is rockin' fast! I'll definately keep you guys posted on progress. I'm trying to make the system as generic as possible so you won't have to rig your game soley around my lib. And the lens flare code is seperate now, and is a post process, just like LW. It can be used for other projects not exclusive to ones using the LW lib. Thanks for the comments, and please, give me some ideas. I'm currently working on a triggering system that uses Custom Object L-Script in LW to trigger animation on objects the scene, so you won't have to code the interaction in blitz. It's not working yet, but the idea works in theory. |
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| Interesting :) use mod2x though |
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| Craig, how are you doing your object loading? .LWS of course has only .LWOs, do you replace those with .B3Ds? How easily can you use for example gile[s] with this thing of yours (I would prefer gile[s] instead of YAL because I have gile[s] licence)... sort of having the .LWS where I place & animate everything, then lightmap them with gile[s] and use Blitz to playback everything. Have you talked with Fredborg, would be nice to get support for this built-in to gile[s] too (at least position & null info so that gile[s] could lightmap the stuff correctly)? |
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| That's an option I hadn't thought of yet. It's unlikely that it will support Gile[s] at this point. I wanted direct control over the lightmapper, and actually with some tweaks the YAL mapper is pretty good. I'm actually using a slightly older version because it renders faster. I would consider working something with Gile[s] guy but, not really at this point. it's way too eary for that. |
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