Nov. 12, 2004 @ 00:58
Source SMD converter

I dont, yet, have a copy of the Source SDK although a couple of people sent me some files from it to look at.

I noticed that the SMD format in Source is slightly different as it adds extra fields for vertex weighting and has an extra bone which *may* be there for legacy reasons or be something to do with with foot position. Anyway, it seems Source uses the old SMD format for some stuff and the newer format for a lot of reference models.

Currently SoftImage XSI is the only program available with an exporter for the new SMD format and I know a lot of people are having trouble getting to grips with it after using stuff as simple as Milkshap3D.

Although there will probably be new exporters for MAX with the release of the full SDK, I expect a few people might want to still use Milkshape even though they can’t take advantage of vertex weighting.

With that in mind I wrote a little command line program which will convert between the new Source SMD format and the old HL1 SMD format. Its fairly easy to use and works pretty well although, obviously, you’ll need to re-assign some vertices as it has to make allowances for Milkshape3D not supporting vertex weights. It will allow you to at least get the SMDs from the Source SDK into Milkshape to play with and export them back out again.

You can download smdconvert here, running it on the command line with no parameters gives you a help screen with how to use it.

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