Irrlicht Engine

now takes international orders via Paypal!

For those who don't know, metasequoia is a powerful Japanese 3d modeler with excellent subdivision-smoothing capabilities. They also got a free version called LE, which now may be used for commercial purposes. Info here:

http://www.metaseq.net/english/index.html

I know this is also one of Vermeers favs!

ps. Just tested version LE and works nicely. You can also export to .X or truespace's .cob. I exported as .cob and the file imported fine in blender, so then you can pick up and continue your work there!
-Metasequoia shot:
afecelis.gdlib.net/Irrlicht/metaseq_01.jpg
-Imported into blendah :
afecelis.gdlib.net/Irrlicht/metaseq_02.jpg

EDIT: HUGE info with also huge video tuts made by me, space provided by Spintz... In this exact post of this thread:
http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/ ... 6859#86859

yay
you start to become a real source of 3d great finds!


Even paypal, lol, I can purchase it finally!

I wrote many times the author to buy it some way...

I know A LOT of that tool...

I started my real good modellingwith it...I only jumped into Wings3d once realized I couldnt purchase the software...as the LE was not allowed for comercial projects...is freaking good modeler, trust me. And some which cant stand wings, go for this tool.

Just remember to deactivate "basic mode" in file menu, or you'll be loosing a lot of the tool, like also happens with "advanced menus" in wings...

I modeled several game characters with it...
also , there are some important settings in configuration....in the same ui, you needda put "directx" instead of the GDI in which is by default, activate smooth shading, and for world handling , certain settings, if u want I can write a paragraph once am backfrom job...

sure! sounds cool!

yup, Vermeer's tip is nice. Go to file, and uncheck basic mode. I think now that LE is allowed for commercial it's a must have tool, isn't it?
As of the renderer, you can now simply pick it up from the tools menu:


I also like to use the STstyle2.style as default. It has a nice set of icons

yehaw

the man also changed the way LE goes...

i used to just use that...wasnt allowed for comercial..

NOW IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe this x files work better for irrlicht?
dunno, is dx7 I think.

"Q2. Can I use MetasequoiaLE for commercial purposes?
A2. Yes. Old version of MetasequoiaLE is provided for edutional or non-profit purposes only, but now current version is used for any purposes included commercial use."

indeedy, LE is enough, just no 4 windows, poorer uvmapping andmore stuff, but is a heck of a great thing. Surely 2.40 is amazing.Am downloading and if interest can tell later what has improved...

an absolutely must have, but there's a load of tricks I learnt from "powr use" ..I'll tell several hours later...

power use? wow! that sounds fun! Waiting eagerly for those tips!

ps. Vermeer, I also think you ought to update your signature. None of the links are working anymore
ps2: You think we should "sticky" this one?

I think we should sticky a thread with all free uber cool tools; that is many of your finds

Tho the metasequoia deserves a thread by it self...hmmm...

maybe what we could do is...in a big thread about free tools...go storing links to this trheas, like initially was the idea of tools and faqs, but I mean, ONLY for art tools... Is asked a lot. A big percentage of beguiner doubts are with 3d related problems, in some occassions, cause most ppl dont have a lot of 3d esperience, many others, as dont kno well blender, others have problems with the loaders, and what i see, most dont have deep knowledge of the format, and most dont know all the free tools out there, I happen to see many ppl out there dont even kno of meta...would be uber cool if someone have the time to test its exported x files in irrlicht, as I see many ppl use x for statics! While I thought allways better to use OBJ for that, but maybe in irrlicht has sense...

Look, except the texturing and uvs (which Meta also supports) I modeled tthis fully in Metasequoia LE...
(click to enlarge )


If u wish so, I can write a longer key explnation; thi smodeler is amazing and learning curve is fantastic. I could be moedlling in 3 days, and I had only a little knowledge of Amorphium and metaballs modelling by then...wow, EONs AND EONS ago...You cant imagine the time I am speaking about... ;D XD

BTW, Meta *has* 3d painting, 2d texturing, and uv mapping...is NOT easy in that area, reason why I used just to uv map in unwrap3d, my fav in that, but fo rthos etimes, it was Uv Mapper classic and later Lithunwrap, which became unwrap3d...(am getting old..)...textured in deep paint3d...Which I own. (in both senses hehe)
It's a game character, unreal t 2003 geared, 2600 tris.

Before I used to model with softy (i made a head with it which was used way later on for a raytracing contest, was fun to check...) a metashapes modeler, organica a metashapes modeler, Amorphium, and Anim8or...and of course ye old 3ds Studio for dos 4.0... Later on had to get the grips of max, for job reasons...for a long time I substituted all this for WIngs, unwrap3d, and Blender/Max, plus Aobe/Gimp for 2d texturing, and Deep3d for 3d painting, I use to mix both techs...

Lol, one mention me meta and I become nostalgic...
later, I'd enjoy putting the key tips for meta, if u'd like to have that...

closer look of th ejust modelled part, which was part done in meta...

http://xs.to/xs.php?f=closer.jpg&h=xs65&d=06046

BTW, Meta *has* 3d painting, 2d texturing, and uv mapping

Do you mean the LE version or all this fun is just in the PRO version?

I'd enjoy putting the key tips for meta, if u'd like to have that...

Sure! It would be great to learn from your experience! (btw, I had seen those images already in your portfolio but they just keep amazing me!).

Who knows, perhaps you'll end up writing a Metasequoia tutorial for Irrlichters!

About reorganizing the art-tools related posts, sounds like a good idea. It would take a bit of time but I think it's doable. I will comment it with the other guys in the team

sharaware is NOT COOL!

It's better than really expensive commercial software with no free version, give it a break

qBiN wrote:sharaware is NOT COOL!

?????? WTF? Dude, no one obliges you to buy the full version; still we thought the LE free version was a tool that would grab the community's attention. Metasequoia (yes, even the LE version) is a great modeler, just check Vermeer's screenshots. Best part is that now it's allowed for commercial use, so you can create content with it, export to other apps to texture or animate your mesh and then integrate into Irrlicht.

To top things off, I just found that Parthenon (GPU accelerated global illumination renderer) reads .mqo files directly and renders them with high quality. Check the shots and info here:
http://www.bee-www.com/parthenon/index.htm
DL parthenon here (feb. 2006 version):
http://www.bee-www.com/parthenon/Parthenon.zip

Parthenon's GI works with mesh emitters set with emissive materials value higher than 0. Check info here:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthr ... n+renderer

more Metasequoia power!

That cowboy is fully modeled with the LE version.but before, it was not -actually- allowed to use in comercial projects. No limited in anyway, just would have not been correct. So that cowboy was for a free project. And I say, was fully moedled in that one, and I had quite littl experience in modelling, I didnt use by then edgeloops nor any of the mirai's like techniques...

LE is uber powerful. Just you dont have the 4 windows, but luckily I allways just use one no matter what I model...

basically, you couldnt even either buy the shareware full version...I tried; emailing the author, but he had the problem of exchange with japan coin or something... Now you can buy it easy by paypal -in the times was uber cheap , I suppose is yet so..- , but he went even farer and now is giving the LE ....FREE! .I mean, free for comercial too!.

If I made that cowboy with liitle 3d experience by then compared to today.. the tool should be expected to be good

i know ppl that didnt find his way with wings, did with meta. I prefer now wings, but would haver really loved meta were by then purchaseable, or the lee free for comercial how is today. Meta has a way softer learning curve than blender -but does not render, neither animate. Is a modeler.

Sorry, today I have not more time, I'll do the tips and/or tut tomorrow or on weekend...

To top things off, I just found that Parthenon (GPU accelerated global illumination renderer) reads .mqo files directly and renders them with high quality. Check the shots and info here:
http://www.bee-www.com/parthenon/index.htm
DL parthenon here (feb. 2006 version):
http://www.bee-www.com/parthenon/Parthenon.zip

Parthenon's GI works with mesh emitters set with emissive materials value higher than 0. Check info here:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthr ... n+renderer

more Metasequoia power!

hehe.Yup, I know. In its time I even crossed some mails with the author(years ago I think)...And tehre's an animator for meta, just is not translated from japanese, and not very advanced....


There's a tut, great to get started, about modelling a plane...meta's way mor ethan that, nice thing is u can start easy and teh power keeps coming without pain...Not a hard thing from start...

There's an mqo format i/o plugin for max....Unwrap 3d loads and saves a SO freaking perfect mqo...so u have full two ways meta<-->unwrap... only thing may get lost is smoothing, but unsure...and would be for th eprob of unwrap keeping that info...


Today, I say, I prefer wings, but meta is freaking sweet, actually.

BTW, Meta *has* 3d painting, 2d texturing, and uv mapping

Do you mean the LE version or all this fun is just in the PRO version?

LE *does* have it

BUt...

basic texturing -in both versions-

basic uv mapping -more basic in LE


difficult to handle 3d painting. yet tho, nice for a touchup and continue the real thing in 2d, as is best...

sweet!

Checkin around for some links, I also ran into this other Japanese free app: Marbleclay:
http://homepage3.nifty.com/escargot/MCLFrm.html (check the English version on the top-right)

It's still in Beta and its last update is from 2005 but it looks promising as well. pros: Loads mqo files (don't know why but it seems like all Japanese apps load it as a standard), exports files to be rendered by redqueen (another Japanese GI renderer, similar to Parthenon). Cons: needs registration to export high polycount and dunno if the author still is behind this project.

Marbleclay could also act as a good bridge between several modeling-rendering-game developing tasks

Looking forward to your weekend tips, Vermeer. Great news to know your cowboy was made in LE. Any chance of having the mqo file? (I mean since it was used in a free project).