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Old 7th October 2009, 11:37 AM   #21
Gus
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Default Re: Collada

Sorry, but it failed again. Though the errors may be bit different than last error report.........

Quote:
COLLADA IMPORT: C:\BLUEMA~1\Bin32\bmImportCmd.exe -log -useFauxMap -fauxMapFilePath textures/ar/Common/ar_solid_255_255_255_diffuse.dds -autoProxy -mtl -texturePath "c:/users/gus/desktop/su test/lightwave/" "C:\Users\gus\Desktop\SU Test\lightwave\ac_tri.dae" "C:\Users\gus\Desktop\SU Test\lightwave\ac_tri.cgf"
bmImportCmd v3.7.0 : 26 Aug 2009

Command line:
C:\BLUEMA~1\Bin32\bmImportCmd.exe -log -useFauxMap -fauxMapFilePath textures/ar/Common/ar_solid_255_255_255_diffuse.dds -autoProxy -mtl -texturePath c:/users/gus/desktop/su test/lightwave/ C:\Users\gus\Desktop\SU Test\lightwave\ac_tri.dae C:\Users\gus\Desktop\SU Test\lightwave\ac_tri.cgf

Progress:
--> Executing name fix pass.
--> Executing triangulator.
--> Executing check pass.
--> Executing faux map pass.
--> Executing auto proxy pass.
--> Executing conforming pass.
--> Executing conversion pass.
ERROR : retrieveTextureVertexArrayData() : Geometry problem
ERROR : convert_Mesh() : Retrieve texture vertex array data failed
--> Writing geometry/animation file.
--> Executing material pass.
--> Writing material file.
--> Finished.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis View Post
Hi Gus,

There are a handful of differences in the LW and AC Collada files, but the majority should not affect imports at all (i.e., the AC file contains normals and texture coords, different poly shading model, different close tag methods used for "empty" keys, etc).

The only one that stood out as a possible issue is that the AC export doesn't include a <bind_material> key.

Without the <bind_material>, the triangle loses its red material when importing into LW. Because different Collada importers will define this behavior differently, it's possible that Blue Mars is throwing an error because it cannot map the material to the mesh.

I added the <bind_material> tag to the AC triangle, and now the red material shows up in LW --- hopefully this will also fix the Blue Mars import issues. Can you try the attached file in Blue Mars and let us know how that goes?

Thanks
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Old 7th October 2009, 12:37 PM   #22
Dennis
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Default Re: Collada

That's actually good news - think we're getting closer.

This actually looks like another <bind_material> issue. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to specify a <bind_material> for texture coordinates when there's no actual texture assigned.

I gave it a try using the material name as a semantic for binding the texture coordinates to the mesh --- would you mind trying this file?

Thanks again,
Dennis
Attached Files
File Type: txt ac_tri.dae.txt (3.3 KB, 323 views)
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Old 7th October 2009, 12:43 PM   #23
Gus
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Default Re: Collada

Sorry, but failed again.......


Quote:
COLLADA IMPORT: C:\BLUEMA~1\Bin32\bmImportCmd.exe -log -useFauxMap -fauxMapFilePath textures/ar/Common/ar_solid_255_255_255_diffuse.dds -autoProxy -mtl -texturePath "c:/users/gus/desktop/su test/lightwave/" "C:\Users\gus\Desktop\SU Test\lightwave\ac_tri.dae" "C:\Users\gus\Desktop\SU Test\lightwave\ac_tri.cgf"
bmImportCmd v3.7.0 : 26 Aug 2009

Command line:
C:\BLUEMA~1\Bin32\bmImportCmd.exe -log -useFauxMap -fauxMapFilePath textures/ar/Common/ar_solid_255_255_255_diffuse.dds -autoProxy -mtl -texturePath c:/users/gus/desktop/su test/lightwave/ C:\Users\gus\Desktop\SU Test\lightwave\ac_tri.dae C:\Users\gus\Desktop\SU Test\lightwave\ac_tri.cgf

Progress:
Warning: The DOM was unable to create an element named bind_vertex_input at line 105. Probably a schema violation.

--> Executing name fix pass.
--> Executing triangulator.
--> Executing check pass.
--> Executing faux map pass.
--> Executing auto proxy pass.
--> Executing conforming pass.
--> Executing conversion pass.
ERROR : retrieveTextureVertexArrayData() : Geometry problem
ERROR : convert_Mesh() : Retrieve texture vertex array data failed
--> Writing geometry/animation file.
--> Executing material pass.
--> Writing material file.
--> Finished.




Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis View Post
That's actually good news - think we're getting closer.

This actually looks like another <bind_material> issue. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to specify a <bind_material> for texture coordinates when there's no actual texture assigned.

I gave it a try using the material name as a semantic for binding the texture coordinates to the mesh --- would you mind trying this file?

Thanks again,
Dennis
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Old 7th October 2009, 02:27 PM   #24
Dennis
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Default Re: Collada

thanks Gus.

Unfortunately, I'm out of approaches from this end, --- not much I can do at this point without access to the Blue Mars importer. But we have identified a couple of potential issues with the Collada exporter:

* No <bind_material> tag is written. This is obviously impacting Blue Mars, and it also prevents the material from being applied when importing the Collada file into LightWave.

* No <bind_vertex_input> is written to bind the texture coordinates to the mesh. This may be causing issues with Blue Mars, but I'm not sure if that's exactly what's breaking with it.

* When a texture is assigned in AC3D, no <library_images> section specifying the texture is included in the Collada export file.

With the first two issues, I'm not sure how much it affects other importers outside of Blue Mars and LightWave, but the third issue (no texture written) is definitely an issue.

Dennis
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Old 7th October 2009, 02:42 PM   #25
Gus
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Default Re: Collada

If you wish to further research this you can apply as Blue Mars Developer at http://www.bluemarsdev.com/ ... once your in you will have access to the tools/editors ....

Note: Blue Mars is a platform technology and not a game. It uses CryEngine2 ....

On the list of Officially supported 3d applications include 3dsMax, Maya, Blender, Sketchup, Lightwave, and Shade.

I have tested Milkshape3d, Unwrap3d, and Bonzai3d ...these passed import of collada files to Blue Mars....


I've been an avid AC3D user for awhile now, but sadly didn't work with BM and hope the issue will be solved sometime....



Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis View Post
thanks Gus.

Unfortunately, I'm out of approaches from this end, --- not much I can do at this point without access to the Blue Mars importer. But we have identified a couple of potential issues with the Collada exporter:

* No <bind_material> tag is written. This is obviously impacting Blue Mars, and it also prevents the material from being applied when importing the Collada file into LightWave.

* No <bind_vertex_input> is written to bind the texture coordinates to the mesh. This may be causing issues with Blue Mars, but I'm not sure if that's exactly what's breaking with it.

* When a texture is assigned in AC3D, no <library_images> section specifying the texture is included in the Collada export file.

With the first two issues, I'm not sure how much it affects other importers outside of Blue Mars and LightWave, but the third issue (no texture written) is definitely an issue.

Dennis
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Old 7th October 2009, 05:40 PM   #26
Dennis
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Default Re: Collada

Andy/Inivis,

I pulled the Blue Mars dev kit so I could run the import with AC3D test data, and I think I've found the issues.

I've attached 2 AC3D Collada exports - one is a textured triangle created with AC3D (actri.dae) and the other is an edited version of that triangle (actri_EDITED.dae). The edited version contained indented/spaced/commented code that handles material/texture data that Blue Mars was erroring on.

Note that these changes also allow the materials and textures to show up when I import this into LightWave --- without the changes, the material colors/textures don't show. I can't guarantee that LightWave is doing everything correctly, of course, but it's the most trustworthy Collada importer that I own.

The changes that were made to make this import correctly into LightWave follow. Just to stress this, the import already worked for geometry, but materials/textures weren't showing up, and UV maps weren't being applied.
  1. Added a <library_images> tag to specify a texture.
  2. Updated the <library_effects>'s <profile_COMMON> tag to describe the texture format/source.
  3. Updated the <library_effects>'s <profile_COMMON>'s common techique <diffuse> tag to include the texture description.
  4. Updated the <visual_scene>'s <instance_geometry> tag to bind the material and texture coordinates to the mesh.

Beyond this, I made one other change that may be a problem with the Blue Mars importer. If the texture coordinate accessor is assigned to X/Y, Blue Mars apparently gets confused, probably with the position or normal array, but setting these coordinates to any other value worked (I used S/T). However, I don't see that using a different nomenclature than X/Y hurts anything, and I also notice that other Collada exporters do the same.

Gus,

I'm not sure whether these changes will be trivial to introduce into the exporter - it was very easy when the geometry consisted of only a single triangle, but in order to support more complex scenes it might not be that easy.

Here's hoping it turns out to be an easy fix, though .

Dennis
Attached Files
File Type: txt actri.dae.txt (2.8 KB, 334 views)
File Type: txt actri_EDITED.dae.txt (4.2 KB, 337 views)
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Old 7th October 2009, 06:24 PM   #27
Gus
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Default Re: Collada

Lightwave along with other 3d applications as I previously posted are officially listed of being compatible with Blue Mars. As long AC3D's .DAE doesn't work with Blue Mars it will not make it to the Blue Mars list.

The edited version you supplied did work........




Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis View Post
Andy/Inivis,

I pulled the Blue Mars dev kit so I could run the import with AC3D test data, and I think I've found the issues.

I've attached 2 AC3D Collada exports - one is a textured triangle created with AC3D (actri.dae) and the other is an edited version of that triangle (actri_EDITED.dae). The edited version contained indented/spaced/commented code that handles material/texture data that Blue Mars was erroring on.

Note that these changes also allow the materials and textures to show up when I import this into LightWave --- without the changes, the material colors/textures don't show. I can't guarantee that LightWave is doing everything correctly, of course, but it's the most trustworthy Collada importer that I own.

The changes that were made to make this import correctly into LightWave follow. Just to stress this, the import already worked for geometry, but materials/textures weren't showing up, and UV maps weren't being applied.
  1. Added a <library_images> tag to specify a texture.
  2. Updated the <library_effects>'s <profile_COMMON> tag to describe the texture format/source.
  3. Updated the <library_effects>'s <profile_COMMON>'s common techique <diffuse> tag to include the texture description.
  4. Updated the <visual_scene>'s <instance_geometry> tag to bind the material and texture coordinates to the mesh.

Beyond this, I made one other change that may be a problem with the Blue Mars importer. If the texture coordinate accessor is assigned to X/Y, Blue Mars apparently gets confused, probably with the position or normal array, but setting these coordinates to any other value worked (I used S/T). However, I don't see that using a different nomenclature than X/Y hurts anything, and I also notice that other Collada exporters do the same.

Gus,

I'm not sure whether these changes will be trivial to introduce into the exporter - it was very easy when the geometry consisted of only a single triangle, but in order to support more complex scenes it might not be that easy.

Here's hoping it turns out to be an easy fix, though .

Dennis
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Old 8th October 2009, 04:36 PM   #28
Imsaho
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Default Re: Collada

I'm pretty interested in this, for the same reason as Gus. Been looking at AC3D as a collada output for Blue Mars.

If it's any help, there is this post from Blue Mars admin. It's about sketchup but may apply here...

Quote:
The issue is not that Blue Mars doesn't support untextured meshes, but that SketchUp exports untextured meshes without vertex normals and UVs. Blue Mars importer doesn't support the import of meshes without vertex normals or UVs. FBX Converter is probably adding normals and UVs in the conversion process.

The exact details of what is and isn't supported can be found at the Blue Mars COLLADA compatibility guide
I'll keep watching this thread :-)
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Old 12th October 2009, 06:45 AM   #29
Andy
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Default Re: Collada

Thanks to Dennis for a lot of hard work, we now have a new Collada exporter.

Please download the attached Windows .zip file, unzip and put the collada_export.p file into the plugins folder. This plugin patches the existing exporter of AC3D 6.5.

Let us know here if it fixes the problems you were getting before.
Attached Files
File Type: zip collada_export09.zip (94.0 KB, 370 views)
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Old 12th October 2009, 02:56 PM   #30
Gus
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Default Re: Collada

On first round test it passed, will test more along the way.... thanks for the BIG cash box!!


Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy View Post
Thanks to Dennis for a lot of hard work, we now have a new Collada exporter.

Please download the attached Windows .zip file, unzip and put the collada_export.p file into the plugins folder. This plugin patches the existing exporter of AC3D 6.5.

Let us know here if it fixes the problems you were getting before.
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