Exporting landscapes from Vue Loading with Irrlicht etc.

[insomniac1]

I am trying to export my landscape(terrain,atmosphere,trees,objects) textures from Vue in 3ds format. Ican export the terrain in 3ds or HeightField(jpg,png,bmp,ect) with out a problem but I can't get the ecosystem to export as a mesh 3ds. It seems like it should be a strait forward process but it is not or maybe Iam overlooking something. Does anyone use Vue and can give me some advice. "I hope we didnt just wast alot of $$ on Vue ) :"
I am creating an open world game with a very large realistic map thats why Vue seemed to be the best candidate If this isnt possible with Vue can you name off some other landscape creators that might work better with Irrlicht?

Thankyou!

[Vectrotek]

Nothing wrong with VUE..
There are different "flavors" of the same 3d formats out there..
Most modelers have made peace with the fact that they have to save and re-save models to and from different 3d apps
before they are accepted in any given software title.
Try "Blender" and other freeware apps and import- export between them until your object opens..
Tip: "*.obj" is more standardized than "*.3ds".
Post more info like screenshots etc of your project to make it interesting for people that might have answers.

[CuteAlien]

First time I heard about VUE, but from the website it looks like it should have exporteres for more formats (like .obj which Vectrotek mentioned).

[insomniac1]

I think all the eco system data should be stored in .3ds/terrain file but for some reason its only the terrain that gets exported. I was testing IrrEdit earlier seems pretty descent and was thinking if I cant get vue to work correctly for bit I can export some of the objectsfrom vue load them into irrEdit and populate some quick maps.
0x4D4D // Main Chunk
├─ 0x0002 // M3D Version
├─ 0x3D3D // 3D Editor Chunk
│ ├─ 0x4000 // Object Block
│ │ ├─ 0x4100 // Triangular Mesh <--------- ??
│ │ │ ├─ 0x4110 // Vertices List
│ │ │ ├─ 0x4120 // Faces Description
│ │ │ │ ├─ 0x4130 // Faces Material
│ │ │ │ └─ 0x4150 // Smoothing Group List
│ │ │ ├─ 0x4140 // Mapping Coordinates List
│ │ │ └─ 0x4160 // Local Coordinates System
│ │ ├─ 0x4600 // Light
│ │ │ └─ 0x4610 // Spotlight
│ │ └─ 0x4700 // Camera
│ └─ 0xAFFF // Material Block
│ ├─ 0xA000 // Material Name
│ ├─ 0xA010 // Ambient Color
│ ├─ 0xA020 // Diffuse Color
│ ├─ 0xA030 // Specular Color
│ ├─ 0xA200 // Texture Map 1
│ ├─ 0xA230 // Bump Map
│ └─ 0xA220 // Reflection Map
│ │ /* Sub Chunks For Each Map */
│ ├─ 0xA300 // Mapping Filename
│ └─ 0xA351 // Mapping Parameters
└─ 0xB000 // Keyframer Chunk
├─ 0xB002 // Mesh Information Block
├─ 0xB007 // Spot Light Information Block
└─ 0xB008 // Frames (Start and End)
├─ 0xB010 // Object Name
├─ 0xB013 // Object Pivot Point
├─ 0xB020 // Position Track
├─ 0xB021 // Rotation Track
├─ 0xB022 // Scale Track
└─ 0xB030 // Hierarchy Position

I will look into exporting as .obj and hopfully .b3d for animations. I will post a couple screen shots tomorrow aswell. Thankyou!!

[insomniac1]

I'm testing the .obj format useing the MeshViewer example I am getting this warning which makes scense
Loaded mesh: c:/users/insom_000/desktop/test_scene/procedural terrain2.obj
Needed 168ms to create Octree SceneNode.(3181 nodes, 133128 polys) <-- The node and poly count is not correct vue has 56 million polys at the moment
Too many vertices for 16bit index type, render artifacts may occur.
Too many vertices for 16bit index type, render artifacts may occur.

The mesh viewer is just showing the ground layer and 1 strip down the center of textured terrain.

I am currently running a test on a smaller terrain(100m 50m 100m) with 2 tress and found it is exporting the eco data but like you said I need to find a better format to export in.

Loaded texture: C:/Users/insom_000/Desktop/test_scene/2tree/Vegetat0.bmp
Loaded texture: C:/Users/insom_000/Desktop/test_scene/2tree/Vegetat1.bmp
Loaded texture: C:/Users/insom_000/Desktop/test_scene/2tree/Vegetat2.bmp
Loaded texture: C:/Users/insom_000/Desktop/test_scene/2tree/Autumn_0.bmp
Loaded texture: C:/Users/insom_000/Desktop/test_scene/2tree/Autumn_1.bmp
Loaded texture: C:/Users/insom_000/Desktop/test_scene/2tree/Autumn_2.bmp
Loaded texture: C:/Users/insom_000/Desktop/test_scene/2tree/Autumn_3.bmp
Loaded texture: C:/Users/insom_000/Desktop/test_scene/2tree/Autumn_4.bmp
Loaded texture: C:/Users/insom_000/Desktop/test_scene/2tree/Autumn_5.bmp
Found no matching material for Group in 3ds file. <------------------ ???
Found no matching material for Group in 3ds file. <------------------ ???
Loaded mesh: c:/users/insom_000/desktop/test_scene/2tree/2tree.3ds

Allthough the problem isnt solved I talked with my team and instead of 1 40km - 40km world map we will make multiple smaller level/area type maps.
I will be back tomorrow with more updates.
Thanks!

[CuteAlien]

Yeah, currently Irrlicht .obj loader is restricted to 16-bit meshbuffers, so larger meshes have to be split. It's not too hard to write a loader which can use 32-bit meshbuffers (http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/forum/v ... =9&t=51441). Unfortunately I can't apply that patch just like that (it will work for your case, but breaks some old code and needs some changes to meshbuffer interfaces to allow handling that smoothly).

edit: Note you don't have to change Irrlicht to have a new meshloader. You can copy existing meshloader code, change that part and add your own meshloader then to Irrlicht with ISceneManager::addExternalMeshLoader.

[insomniac1]

Yeah, currently Irrlicht .obj loader is restricted to 16-bit meshbuffers, so larger meshes have to be split. It's not too hard to write a loader which can use 32-bit meshbuffers (http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/forum/v ... =9&t=51441). Unfortunately I can't apply that patch just like that (it will work for your case, but breaks some old code and needs some changes to meshbuffer interfaces to allow handling that smoothly).

edit: Note you don't have to change Irrlicht to have a new meshloader. You can copy existing meshloader code, change that part and add your own meshloader then to Irrlicht with ISceneManager::addExternalMeshLoader.

Edit:
Is this worth useing ,seems like it could save a bit of time here?
https://github.com/JLouis-B/IrrAssimp
http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/forum/v ... =9&t=50751
or the base Assimp
http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/forum/v ... 19&t=47333

[CuteAlien]

Maybe. I never used myself, but sounds good.