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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 3:14 pm
by funshark
maybe it's because i don't use the .mb format ? ( but .ma )

Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2007 4:09 pm
by metaldev
you are correct, i was able to reproduce it. I will fix it soon.

good catch!

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:22 am
by metaldev
ok new update available!

update to 2.4 >>HERE<<

for more info :arrow: HERE


CHANGES + NEW FEATURES:
- fixed bug with exporting nameOfScene.ma.scene if end of file name was not .mb

- scene manager UI now saves export path changes to the file (using a scriptNode)

- added renameIt! from the well known "workMenu" tool set by Mike Comet to the included tools


:!: there is a known issue now since the export directory is saved to your maya scene, rarely you will type in a new directory name into the export path and it will reset to the default path. Just type it in again and it will be fine. Im not sure why this happens yet, but it is a tiny problem compared to the advantage of now being able to have different maya files to be pointing to different directories automagically.

post any problems here.

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 12:39 pm
by JeDi
Hi,

We are creating a virtual conference room to be used in a video conferencing application. We already created and successfully tried to export the geometry of the conference room (a room with a table and 8 small screens in the middle, and a big screen on the wall).

Now for the next step, we need the user to be able to "zoom in" on the screens. So we need camera viewpoints for each screen and one for an overview (where all screens are visible), and camera paths between the overview and the screen views.

Does anyone know how we could do that with the current exporters? For the viewpoints, I thought of either actual cameras or locators exported with names that I can filter. For the paths I actually have no idea, but in the regular exporter there's an option to export paths to .anim files...

So if anyone can give us some hints on how to proceed with this, that would be greatly appreciated!

Greetz,
JeDi

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 2:35 pm
by hmoraldo
Thanks a lot for this tool... I have a simple question: does the lfa exporter allow exporting User Data?

Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:09 pm
by metaldev
hmoraldo wrote:Thanks a lot for this tool... I have a simple question: does the lfa exporter allow exporting User Data?
yes. Use the string fields 'ID' and 'subID' on tagged objects. Then you can parse the data in along with your dotScene file.

the string in ID gets posted to the node containing the entity, the string in subID gets posted to the entity itself, be it a light, mesh etc.

Here's how it looks when exported:


Code: Select all

        <node name="pTorus1Node" id="some -ID- Data">
            <position x="0" y="0" z="0" />
            <rotation qx="0" qy="0" qz="0" qw="1" />
            <scale x="325.1554183" y="325.1554183" z="325.1554183" />
            <entity name="pTorus1" id="some -subID- Data" meshFile="pTorus1.mesh" static="false" castShadows="false" />
        </node>

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:54 pm
by dellatails
Hi Metaldev, does the exporter export morphs and skeletal animation as well? Thank you!

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:35 pm
by metaldev
no it doesnt yet. Its been on my todo list for a while, but its going to be a significant undertaking so ive been waiting to get a nice chunk of time. It will be done, but for now you will have to use the regular exporter.

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2007 3:47 pm
by dellatails
Thank you, metaldev, please keep us updated when you get the feature added, would love to have it~

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 5:56 am
by metaldev
hey everybody, a bug fix and small updates have been added

update to 2.5 >>HERE<<

for more info :arrow: HERE


CHANGES + NEW FEATURES:
- fixed an error with the 'instance heirarchy' tool that i accidentally introduced in 2.4 (thanks to prolow for pointing this out to me)

-some other minor improvements that can be seen in the changelist

TODO:
i've identified some ways to make the default materials definitions more intuitive. Probably some people have already modified them on their own to achieve this. But I will most likely be changing the way their default behavior works and possibly adding more types later on.

instance hierarchy fix

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:21 pm
by prolow
thanks metaldev, works like a charm

THE BIG ONE

Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 2:41 am
by metaldev
HIDY-HO EVERYONE!!

finally...
ANNOUNCING... the BIG UPDATE everybody has been waiting for!

arbitrary per-object animation support in Maya!

tons of new changes and improvements have been added (aside from the animation system). Please test and let me know of any issues! enjoy! :o

update to 3.0 >>HERE<< :!:

for more details on how to use the scene manager and the the animation system :arrow: HERE
things should work exactly as noted in these docs.

CHANGES + NEW FEATURES:

- added SUPPORT FOR SKELETAL ANIMATION AND BLEND SHAPE ANIMATION via the new animation manager

- created a preference to use Maya object names as entity names

- created a preference to prompt for .scene file name

- added 'fix shape names' tool

- added 'match to' tool

- multiple objects can now be made non-exportable using the regular 'remove' button

- changed all global procs to head up with lfa_ for safety

- fixed a serious bug where not all the proper flags were getting added to the command line

- fixed bug while exporting camera to .scene file would always use 'camera1'

- fixed sceneName.ma.material bug (only filtering .mb)

- when re-opening window it now brings it to the front instead of giving a warning

- exposed a scale offset, dotSceneNodePrefix and dotSceneNodeSuffix among other variables to lfa_settings.mel

- added internet FAQ help directly in Maya
TODO:
the next changes planned are to beef up the material system a bit

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:58 am
by metaldev
I just fixed 2 nasty bugs that i found... sorry new system :oops:
luckily its the weekend and i was able to get the fixes out quick! :wink:

update to 3.1 >>HERE<<

for more info :arrow: HERE these docs have been updated to reflect some changes, please let me know if anyone finds more bugs or has trouble... thanks!

Here's what changed:
  • - fixed crash bug that if a mesh has animation parameters but no blend shapes. (plugin bug? workaround)

    - fixed improper flag in case where a joint with a single bound mesh with blendshapes, would not get blendshapes exported (missing -shared flag)

    - bind pose frame intFieldGrp now disabled in animation manager when displaying blend shape animations (mesh selected).

    - exposed all animation clip defaults to lfa_settings.mel

    - "use maya names as entity names" pref now defaults to on

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 10:14 am
by funshark
nice job! :o

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 9:28 pm
by metaldev
funshark wrote:nice job! :o
thanks funshark ^_^ i hope it helps you out.

:!: BTW I have found another bug that sometimes causes a script error during blend shape checking under certain circumstances. This has been fixed in the upcoming 3.2, but im in the middle of adding another feature that i want to finish before publishing the next update. If you are running into this and its got you stuck let me know and I'll post the fix for you... it shouldnt be more than a couple days before my next update though. ...oh and HAPPY HALLOWEEN ^_^

Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:06 pm
by metaldev
alright! :o

new version!

update to 3.2 >>HERE<<

the FAQ/manual :arrow: HERE

Here's what changed:
Big updates to materials and material handling, we now have out-of-the-box normal mapping and all the materials presets have been improved!
  • NOTE:
    For any of you who already have used the tools on a scene, you will probably need to 'HARD delete parameters' on materials that you have previously exported if you want to update and use the new presets.
    NOTE:
    exported cameras in the .scene now export Field Of View in RADIANS, NOT DEGREES. The the change was made because radians are the default FOV input for ogre cameras:
    http://www.ogre3d.org/docs/api/html/cla ... 1Frustump1
    (plus its an easy adjustment in any .scene loader)


    - fixed bug where sometimes the export errored on single iterations on 'for-in' loops in blend shape check

    - camera FOV changed to output Radians instead of Degrees (as ogre cameras expect by default)

    - added out-of-the-box normal mapping material presets! w00t!

    - added <include> type to material definitions so that vertex programs and shaders can be handled and copied automatically by the material system.

    - materials can now 'read through' bump2d nodes to find textures (ideal for use with materials that use bump offsets or normal mapping)

    - changed all material presets to be more intuitive (ambient is now disconnected and defaults to 1 since its not actual ambience, only accepted ambience from ogre)

    - fixed up specMask material preset
as always, please let me know if you find any bugs!

Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 5:38 pm
by prolow
thanks so much for the hard work there metaldev, with the new maya orge exporter and this, i can fully switch over to the maya 2008

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 12:58 am
by metaldev
prolow wrote:thanks so much for the hard work there metaldev, with the new maya orge exporter and this, i can fully switch over to the maya 2008

your welcome!

I hope it helps saves you lots of time :)

LFA Scene Manager discontinued?

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:00 pm
by z0
Hi metaldev,

im very curious to try your LFA, but couldn't access the LFA site for 2 weeks now, so i was wondering if the project is discontinued?

best regards.

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:16 am
by metaldev
z0 wrote:Hi metaldev,

im very curious to try your LFA, but couldn't access the LFA site for 2 weeks now, so i was wondering if the project is discontinued?

best regards.
nope, its not discontinued. one other user posted the same problem, he was from switzerland, im not sure if its related to country. If you continue to have issues you can PM me with your email and ill simply email you the latest version. I suppose i can post it somewhere on the Ogre site, but i don't know where i should do that.

materialFile

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 2:24 am
by DZ
Hi, metaldev!

Does LFA exports references to material files? I can't see any materialFile attribute for entity nodes in .scene file.

Thanks.

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 3:04 am
by metaldev
DZ wrote:Does LFA exports references to material files? I can't see any materialFile attribute for entity nodes in .scene file.
if the Ogre material name is the same as the material name assigned to the model in maya it should hook up just fine after you export the mesh.

However, the scene manager is expecting referenced materials to be exported from it.
Simply select a material in maya and select one of the templates from the LFA window.

If you turn your specialized material into a new material template and use it like that, you're life will be much easier while using the scene manager because its easy to make variants of that material from inside maya (plus you wont have to worry about duplicate material names etc).
have a look at the existing templates and the instructions in this directory:

maya\x.x\scripts\LFA_sceneManager\materialDefinitions\

if you need more help please continue asking or if there is something you think i should add to the documentation.

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 1:59 pm
by DZ
As i saw from LFA exporter code, it doesn't put materialFile
attribute to entity node.

Code: Select all

fprint $fileID ($depth+"<entity name=\""+ $nodeName +"\" id=\""+`getAttr ($currentObject+".exportSubID")`+"\" meshFile=\""+ $meshToUseName  +".mesh\" static=\""+$static+"\" castShadows=\""+$shadows+"\" />\n");
But as I've realized from OGRE wiki it should be there.

Code: Select all

<!ELEMENT entity (vertexBuffer?, indexBuffer?, userDataReference?)>
<!ATTLIST entity
	name			CDATA	#IMPLIED
	id				ID		#IMPLIED
	meshFile		CDATA	#REQUIRED
	materialFile	CDATA	#IMPLIED
	static			(true | false) "false"
	castShadows		(true | false) "true"
>
And new dotscene loader ( modified version of which you're using ? ) expects it to be there

Code: Select all

void DotSceneLoader::processEntity(TiXmlElement *XMLNode, SceneNode *pParent)
{
	// Process attributes
	String materialFile = getAttrib(XMLNode, "materialFile");
Am I correct in my examination, or this materials should work in some other way? Like to be hooked up from .mesh file or something?

Thanks.

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 4:53 pm
by metaldev
yes and no, the dtd states that it is #IMPLIED.
I believe the purpose of including that in the dtd is if you wanted to override whatever material assignment was already on the object. However, since in the case of the LFA tools both the .scene and the mesh should be coming from the same maya file there isnt much use to overwriting what you can just set correctly in the first place. Feel free to modify the tools if you want that, but i think a much easier route is to either simply name the material in maya the same as your Ogre material or to use the included material handling system where material assignments, material names, and material variants are all handled automagically as long as the exported material file(s) are held along with the meshes (or in one of the directories loaded as a resource dir) in which case this issue is transparent.

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 5:55 pm
by DZ
Thanks for explanation! :)