Made a B3D Loader

Announce new projects or updates of Irrlicht Engine related tools, games, and applications.
Also check the Wiki
Post Reply
Cezaro
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri Jul 07, 2006 2:31 pm
Location: Korytow Poland

Post by Cezaro »

Hi !

Please put this path to SVN.

Best regards

Thanks
PC 8086 4.77MHz 1MB RAM CGA GRAPHICS
juliusctw
Posts: 392
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 6:56 am
Contact:

no experience with b3d format

Post by juliusctw »

Hello

it seems that this b3d format is really amzing, I have used md2, obj, x, but never heard of b3d, so far i have only seen buildings examples,
is this format mainly for buildings and archetectures?

What kinda advantage does this format have over others?

Any suggestion of a good "free" program that exports b3d format?


thanx
afecelis
Admin
Posts: 3075
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2004 10:44 pm
Location: Colombia
Contact:

Post by afecelis »

b3d is great for character animation. Check the previous page for luke's animation test:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/8/10/ ... itions.zip

a free program that exports to b3d is deled, but only lightmapped levels. Dunno of a free tool that exports animated b3d.

edit: misfit model 3d seems like a good free modeler-animator. Unfortunately doesn't export to b3d, but perhaps it's planned... yuo never know.
http://www.misfitcode.com/misfitmodel3d ... shots.html
Luke
Admin
Posts: 449
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 7:55 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Post by Luke »

Cezaro:
Please put this path to SVN.
Sorry, not sure what you mean, could you please explain


juliusctw:


Unfortunately there are not many free programs exporting to b3d yet,

These are some programs exporting to b3d but are not free:
3d Max, Lightwave, Milkshape 3D, Unwrap3d, fragmotion, PaceMaker, CharacterFX, 3D World Studio, Giles, Maplet (free), DeleD (free LITE version)
There are probably many more.
is this format mainly for buildings and archetectures?
No, I think the b3d format is best for animated characters.

Any suggestion of a good "free" program that exports b3d format
For buildings: Maplet is an easy to use map editor, even I can use it and I’m no artist.

For animated characters I cannot think of any free tools, I might have a look into making or helping with a b3d exporter for blender, I think some other people have started making one already. (I find blender a hard program to make meshes in, so no promises)
juliusctw
Posts: 392
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 6:56 am
Contact:

thank you

Post by juliusctw »

Wow that example test was cool

I thought the dwarve was in x format, what program did you guys use to convert it to b3d?

Sorry to ask such a noob question,

what's the general idea with b3d format, do we pre define the frames in the 3D program and in irrlicht we call out the frame numbers?

kinda like md2, from 0 - 100 is run, etc ,, like that????

I am currently considering getting Poser to make humanoids? and then export them to 3ds for animation, if b3d is so great then i'll export it in b3d format?

Any idea if poser makes making humanoids easier???
omaremad
Competition winner
Posts: 1027
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:30 pm
Location: Cairo,Egypt

Post by omaremad »

Poser is advanced but too high poly, i would use the free :D makehuman 1.8 for blender, its free, easy to reduce polies and has an auto rig feature

It doesnt seem like there are much b3rd exporter for major 3d packages but there is an .x to b3d thus the dwarf
juliusctw
Posts: 392
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 6:56 am
Contact:

I have talked to people about make human

Post by juliusctw »

I have had big conversations with people about MakeHuman

http://www.lowpolycoop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=390

It seems to me that people are not in favor of using it cus it takes up just as much time, unless you know some secrete way to reduce the poly automatically, please share it with us :)
vermeer
Posts: 2017
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 3:22 pm
Contact:

Post by vermeer »

Very interesting if you do a b3d exporter for Blender, Luke. And not only for Irrlicht. Surely you know, but many Blitz & Blender users are dreaming with it for a while...

I'll answer some of those questions later, as well as in other thread...gotta go to work..
Finally making games again!
http://www.konekogames.com
Luke
Admin
Posts: 449
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 7:55 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Post by Luke »

Hi guys,

I was playing around with the joint control thing I’m making, and I made a little example,

Controls are: WASD to move, move mouse to turn the character and make him look up and down, click to shoot.

It’s a fairly basic animation example but it should give you an idea of some of the things you can do with the joints, I might try and make a more advanced one later.


Image

(Yeah, the dwarf with a pistol looks strange)


Download: (includes full source of example and engine changes)

http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/8/10/ ... ntTest.zip



It example’s code is very poor and it is pretty rushed.


Note: The joint system is not complete, not optimised, and so far only works with b3d meshes, but it should be pretty easy to get it to work with other meshes.


Any comments or questions?
afecelis
Admin
Posts: 3075
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2004 10:44 pm
Location: Colombia
Contact:

Post by afecelis »

awesome test Luke! (grumpy server though, hehehe) :D keep it up!

ps. What are you animating your characters with?
Luke
Admin
Posts: 449
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 7:55 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Post by Luke »

The extra animations I made are pretty bad, its animated with CharacterFX, I’ve heard charaterFX is pretty bad and fragmotion is a lot better, but I have not learnt how to use fragmotion yet.


The demo is just to show joint control, and tricks like playing reloading and running animations at the same time with joint control.
vermeer
Posts: 2017
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 3:22 pm
Contact:

Post by vermeer »

Haha...

cool.

the real time shadowing did look a bit weird over the dwarf...but cool over the floor...

cool what you achieved, really.

Character Fx and fragmo, imo, are , while ok, inferior in power to Blender.

In CFX you cannot glue a feet to floor, in Blender there are some easy ways to do it. Is quite important to avoid feet sinking and sliding...also to do mor elife like animations. An dhas a zillion of other animation richness (cosntraints, ik, etc) Is quite good for that, not only for being free, also in that field really blows away most mid cost tools. I yet prefer Max and biped, but hey, it comes quite close, which is amazing for 7 mb file that download in seconds...and freely.

Well, there's an export in Anim8or for b3d, but...neither all those needed features are in that free tool either. No feet glueing, no ik, no constraints. When you start animating a bit, you realize those are more than essential...

I have tested something close to perfection in Blender+md5+game engine. if you get to do what Der Ton did with using Pose Mode (a code stuff for bones, armatures, constraints...dunno) so to avoid the extra bake...But anyway, how ever you may be able to do an exporter of b3d from Blender, I know how many of BC and blitzcoders will love you ;)
Also, here there's already a bunch of Blender users. Mainly, as works win , in linux and mac...And is quite open by python for plugins...

Imo you could grab der ton's or cal3d code to have a nice start, in case you decide so...

If not, you've done such a great work already. Whenever a b3d exporter for bledner is done by someone, I suspect animation from blender would be way eaiser to put into irrlicht...

Anim8or is building in its latest beta a plugin system, but i strongly recommend better Blender for character animation(all my interest in the tool are for this). Besides is multi platform.

Lol, been using lately blender at job -not games now- ...First time allowed..usually only allowed wings...


@Julius,

make human, hi poly , etc...quite a complex way for what you want.Same with poser, and is not legal to use poser 3d meshes...besides not good for games..

Character animation is one of the hardest parts in 3d. I doubt there's an easy way to avoid it...
I'd adive to start with something low poly. Blender is better in the long run, if you are patient.Learning with the doc all time, is way many times easier. i learnt without it.
Finally making games again!
http://www.konekogames.com
juliusctw
Posts: 392
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 6:56 am
Contact:

blender

Post by juliusctw »

Hello Veermer

The reason why i have stayed away from blender till this point is because i have not gotten any mesh to work in irrlicht, obj, x, md2, collada, I have tried x so many times i'm tired of it, i really just want to have something i can just press export and it would work, it just seems that there are so many tricks to get it working in blender,

luke, if you build an b3d exporter for blender, i'll praise you like a god :)
about the example you have shown,

sorry, i gotta ask it again, what in the world is this join thing? I am used to md2 where you just play from frame x to y, with joints does that mean you can create any animation you want with it????

how in the world did you get the dwarve to hold a pistol????? :shock:
Luke
Admin
Posts: 449
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 7:55 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Post by Luke »

juliusctw:

Yeah, basically the animation can be created in real-time using the joints.
(It’s not much slower then md2 as md2 has to interpolate each vertex separately)

Acki’s CustomBones can edit joint position of .x meshes but (correct me if I wrong) the mesh can’t play animations at the same time, and it changes the Irrlicht interface a fair bit, and seems hard to work with.

To get the dwarf to hold the pistol I made it a child of a joint on the dwarf hand, easy, the engine already lets you do this.
Luke
Admin
Posts: 449
Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2006 7:55 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Post by Luke »

Hi,

Just a quick update, to show I’m not dead

I decided to make a b3d exporter for blender 2 days ago.

I leant a bit of Python (I’ve never used in before in my life) and I’m trying to learn the basics of blender.

The b3d exporter so far exports untextured static meshes but I’ve not spent much time on it yet.

This a ‘.blend’ mesh (I found on the internet) exported to b3d with my script.
Image

I’ve been having trouble finding ‘.blend’ meshes meant for games, so if you know any links or have any, they would be very helpful.

I’m working to the textures and materials right now, then I work on the animations, I thinking on basing the animation’s export on md5 like Vermeer recommends.


Edit:

materials are working:

Image
Last edited by Luke on Sat Sep 02, 2006 11:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
Post Reply