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Old 15th April 2008, 09:58 PM   #1
Edymnion
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Default Of .3DR, .3DS, and .OBJ

Okay, long story short, I have a program that outputs 3D meshes and textures in .3dr format for the meshes, and .dds for the textures. It also outputs in more standard .obj format.

If using AC3D to try and import it's .obj file, I get a load_file_select error during loading. However, I do happen to have 3DS Max 7 which can import the .3dr format. When I do this, it brings up the mesh and the texture properly.

If I export from there back to .obj, AC3D still bails on me.
If I export from there to .3ds, and import that into AC3D, I get the mesh but no texture. And while I get the mesh, it looks like a checkerboard from where every other polygon is slightly darker.

So, could anyone help me figure out how to get the mesh and texture from .3dr/.dds over into something AC3D can use? Either directly, or by telling me in a 3DS for Dummies way how to export the mesh in a way that looks clean and smooth, and the texture... well, export the texture in the first place?
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Old 16th April 2008, 05:14 PM   #2
captainpeter
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Default Re: Of .3DR, .3DS, and .OBJ

Nota bene:
.3dr is the format used by an application that rips the geometry/textures from Direct3D apps. (think of it like 3D screenshots....)
This may be illegal since it de-compiles code not intended to be accessible publicly.

I'm unsure if instructions to properly convert these files to AC3D would be tolerated here. Maybe Andy can comment.....

It is possible though, even without having to buy 3DMax.

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Old 16th April 2008, 06:03 PM   #3
Edymnion
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Default Re: Of .3DR, .3DS, and .OBJ

And I found a program to convert the .dds into a more useable format (although apparently AC3D supports .dds already). As for what .3dr files are, I know. I'm the one who made them.

And I've been checking the legality, its fine as long as you don't distribute the files or use them for commercial/non-commercial ventures. I'm actually using them for the exact reason you're supposed to for this sort of thing, educational purposes. I'm seeing how the pro's built their models, how they make their skins, etc.

So, if we want to lock/delete this thread, no great loss.
Would like to know if there's any answer to the checkerboarding thing, but I've found work arounds for everything else.
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Last edited by Edymnion; 16th April 2008 at 06:12 PM.
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Old 16th April 2008, 11:03 PM   #4
captainpeter
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Default Re: Of .3DR, .3DS, and .OBJ

Allright, here's what works for me:

I'm using a Mac and VMware with WinXP Professional in a virtual machine.
Prerequisites:
-> DDSconverter (small windows app to convert the DDS files to PNG)
Those Direct3D textures seem to be in a weird format and no app on OS X can use them.

-> Blender3D (free) for the actual conversion process

1) you need the .obj and .mtl file from the screen grab
2) open the .mtl in a text editor and replace every occurrence of '.DDS' with '.PNG'
3) convert the .dds files to .png (batch process in DDSconverter)
4) copy all files (.obj, .png, .mtl) into the same folder
5) launch blender
6) file->import->Wavefront (.obj)...
7) wait - it may take a while
8) as soon as you see the scene press the 'a' key to select all
9) file->export->AC3D

I'm sure you are aware that the scaling is completely off on those 3dr files.
you need to correct that based on your view settings when grabbing the scene.

hint: have a look at line #1 of the obj file. it should contain some helpful scale factors.

you may need to flip surface normals on all objects after importing into ac3d.
you also need to set all objects to smooth shading in ac3d.

there are some additional steps which may or may not be required like mirroring the object along the x-axis.

this process will work exactly the same on Windows and Mac except that Mac users will want to move the files to their Mac after doing the DDS conversion.

cheers
peter
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