I want to make all my models the same format, and they need to be animated. I've learned that 3ds is not well supported, so I'm wondering which is the best supported format. Can I use MD3 and assume it will be well supported? I don't want to use X unless I have to.
Thanks for your reply.
Which is the best supported animated format
You have to experiment. You can also use for example b3d. But this always depends on what you need, which applications you use and which exporters you use. Just make a few tests and export them in all formats which can be exported by your modeler and try them in the irrlicht meshviewer.
IRC: #irrlicht on irc.libera.chat
Code snippet repository: https://github.com/mzeilfelder/irr-playground-micha
Free racer made with Irrlicht: http://www.irrgheist.com/hcraftsource.htm
Code snippet repository: https://github.com/mzeilfelder/irr-playground-micha
Free racer made with Irrlicht: http://www.irrgheist.com/hcraftsource.htm
I am just a programmer, and don't know much about modeling or animation, but where could I find a list or something that will tell me what each format can and cannot do. For example I heard that X format can only have one texture on it. I am not expert enought to just run some blind tests and then pick a format. I won't even know what those models have and don't have. The best I could do would be a smoke screen test, and just hope the unit test cover all the options I need.
If I need to add support for a model type, could I submit it for review to be added in the engine? I would hate to have to keep adding bits of code in the irrlicht engine, that is just sloppy.
If I need to add support for a model type, could I submit it for review to be added in the engine? I would hate to have to keep adding bits of code in the irrlicht engine, that is just sloppy.
In the same conditions, B3D gives better filesizes than other formats (they're smaller) and besides, it can store more than 1 UV coordinate set, which are correctly loaded in the engine. Not obstant, DirectX format is also very good, and it is not tied in any way with the Direct3D API, is just another skeletal mesh format (i.e. you can still use directX models in Open GL apps). Its advantage maybe the flexibility, because it doesn't seem to set anything on its own to render. So, its behavior is a bit more predictable.
Maybe you are confusing the number of textures with the number of UV coordinate sets, which, in the X files is 1, although you can use all the textures you need in a .X model (perhaps diferent heads, arms or torsos can be aplied as textures to the same model). You may have only 1 set of texture coordinates to map the textures, but you may have several textures.
Maybe you are confusing the number of textures with the number of UV coordinate sets, which, in the X files is 1, although you can use all the textures you need in a .X model (perhaps diferent heads, arms or torsos can be aplied as textures to the same model). You may have only 1 set of texture coordinates to map the textures, but you may have several textures.
"There is nothing truly useless, it always serves as a bad example". Arthur A. Schmitt