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hybrid wrote:Not possible, because Irrlicht requires the possibility to load from zip files etc. But you can use those tools externally. Collada is a quite complex format, which requires to store many things in order to resolve the references in the last step. This is quite some overhead, so it's usually not suggested to use Collada for in-game data.
You mean i cant read things from memmory/raw data?
Maybe its time to support a irrlicht mesh format that contain all we need
Or maybe start using .mesh or something...
I think the point is "intermediate format" vs. "optimized format". Instead of supporting tons of intermediate formats, it will be nice for Irrlicht to develop its own optimized format and provide the conversion interfaces and (optionally)tools, rather than support other parties' intermediate/binary format. These conversion tools can also be easily expanded by the community.
Then the DCC tools can simply export to these formats(like .FBX or .Collada), then convert to Irrlicht format using the tools.
For any production level game development, having an optimized format is absolutely a need. This format will fit best with their rendering and tools pipeline, along with platform specific optimization etc. It's a win-win thing, bridging the art and engine tool pipelines together more intuitively.
@hybrid:
Thanks for the clarification. I checked the CColladaFileLoader class and found no animation loading methods inside.
As far as you know in the current stage what's the recommended format now Irrlicht 1.7.1 will support and play well with for skeleton animation?
Is it will the B3D format?
@Kalango:
ASSIMP sounds like an interesting tool and library. Might be able to write a tool quickly for Collada --> B3D(maybe) conversion.
hybrid wrote:Not possible, because Irrlicht requires the possibility to load from zip files etc. But you can use those tools externally. Collada is a quite complex format, which requires to store many things in order to resolve the references in the last step. This is quite some overhead, so it's usually not suggested to use Collada for in-game data.
You mean i cant read things from memmory/raw data?
Maybe its time to support a irrlicht mesh format that contain all we need
Or maybe start using .mesh or something...
Don't know which part you refer to. But regarding assimp it's ismply not possible to add such libraries (there are also others) because the virtual file system in Irrlicht requires specialized loading routines. Most external libs only provide raw FILE* access or fstream from STL.
@PJerry: b3d is quite well supported. ms3d, .x and OGRE .mesh are also usable, but sometimes have problems with missing features or strange exporters.
One thing that could be done with ASSIMP is using it to save to a IRRlicht optimised format, so create a little tool that use the library to convert all thoses meshes formats that something that is read and supported by Irrlicht 100%. Still we would need a IRRlicht format that can support animated meshes (and hopefully more IRRlicht features as shaders for examples).
Thanks for sharing the info. Nice to know that something like this exist. My current programming skills seem too low for me to tackle that thing (and I'm really busy on my current project), but it could happen someday...
Yeah, collada animation would be nice. I've been thinking about that myself as I'm currently coding on collada (although I mostly work on export right now) and people already asked for that.
