Models not rendering correctly

[isfk]

I am using a number of models to determine what the problem is here... Every model I open up is not rendering the same as it would in 3DS or poser. They are missing there textures, or the colors are not correct. Some are just either white or grey. Then I take the same model and open it up in poser or 3DS, and they render just fine. Is there a material setting I need, or something else I need to do?

I'm using irrEdit to open the models up, and in code.

Thanks from a nooby.

[hybrid]

Where are your models from, what formats do they use, are they publicly available? Can you convert them in order to get a better rendering?

[Shane]

They are free models I have found online. Mostly 3DS, OBJ files.

[hybrid]

If the models are not textured, they won't be textured in 3ds or poser either. anyway, most downloadable models are not properly textured, you need to invest some effort on your own. If you can show some screenshots or link to some models which are not working we might help you further, but for now this is all we can do.

[christianclavet]

Yes, Hybrid is right.

Textures setuped in 3DS, have their own set of shader and procedural textures.

If you can try to bake everything at least to a diffuse texture, then it should really start to look similar.

[isfk]

Looks like I have to manually set the materials? I am working with one building that looks like a cartoon when its in irrEdit until I start going through all 44 materials and setting some to "solid_2layer", but much of it is still cartoony. We shouldn't have to manually set the materials, the model file should already set that right? Sorry I can't show any pics, how do I upload an image?

[isfk]

I'm getting this error too:
Error: Normal map renderer only supports vertices of type EVT_TANGENTS

Could that be part of the problem?

[3DModelerMan]

You have to bake the normal maps, try blender.

[evoltix]

You have to bake the normal maps, try blender.

What do you mean "bake?"

[christianclavet]

"Bake" is the process of taking all or selected attribute of a surface/material and rendering it inside a texture (picture). This way you could "render" the look of the mesh inside a "diffuse" texture and the look should be really similar of what you had in that 3D application.

[Shane]

But why do we have to do that for the editor to render it correctly, when the models are rendering correclty in poser? These last few models I've been working with where from the Dosch industry buildings CD, so they are complete and good quality.

[3DModelerMan]

Irredit doesn't support creating tangents for your mesh like in the
per pixel lighting example so you have to create them manually. From what I understand bakingin tangent space should do the trick. I don't know though.

[hybrid]

But why do we have to do that for the editor to render it correctly, when the models are rendering correclty in poser? These last few models I've been working with where from the Dosch industry buildings CD, so they are complete and good quality.

'Because they obviously use features which are not supported by Irrlicht (and maybe not by any realtime rendering engine). You simply cannot take any mesh and expect it to work in every engine. Moreover, 3ds is one of the worst supported formats in Irrlicht, so better use a different one.

[hybrid]

But why do we have to do that for the editor to render it correctly, when the models are rendering correclty in poser? These last few models I've been working with where from the Dosch industry buildings CD, so they are complete and good quality.

'Because they obviously use features which are not supported by Irrlicht (and maybe not by any realtime rendering engine). You simply cannot take any mesh and expect it to work in every engine. Moreover, 3ds is one of the worst supported formats in Irrlicht, so better use a different one.

[Shane]

I will try other formats, but these models are not complex by any means. How is the support for MD3? I would like to stick to one file type thoughout the game if possible.

Thanks for your help.