Feb. 16, 2007 @ 17:12
3DS Max 9 SMD Exporter Update

Well that’ll teach me to release something on the 13th…

I’ve managed to nail a bunch of reported and un-reported bugs and update the 3DSMax 9 SMD exporter. So we’re now at version 0.2b! Bug fixes are as follows:

  • Fixed bug where floating point numbers were output in user’s regional locale format. (Thanks a bunch Microsoft for adding that “feature”…)
  • Fixed hidden bones and meshes being exported. Now, in normal “Export” mode only what is visible is exported. In “Export Selected” mode, what is selected is exported even if it is hidden.
  • Fixed bug where a bone who’s parent is not to be exported had its position and rotation misplaced.
  • Revised mesh output so that if a vertex’s weights include a bone that isn’t to be exported, all weights are collapsed and assigned to the meshes default bone. This stops invalid vertex weights.
  • Stopped exporter over-writing file with nothing if Cancel button pressed.

So, we’re still in beta so keep reporting those bugs. You should re-download the plug-in and replace the file in your Max plug-ins folder.

Responses to “3DS Max 9 SMD Exporter Update”


Any chance of a 9 importer?

Posted by FrostedBitesCereal
Fri, February 16th, 2007 @ 22:33

Yeah, it’s on my to-do list when I have some free time.

Posted by Jed
Sat, February 17th, 2007 @ 12:54

sad that my mod was stuck becasue i cant export my models. thanks for this plugin, now i can continue making my game 🙂

Posted by dudethedreamer
Sat, February 17th, 2007 @ 18:09

Is there a possibility of an option that will mimic the behaviour of the max 8 exporter when it comes to the heiarchy? IIRC that would just export all the bones, regardless of whether they were hidden or not, without dingling around with the heiarchy. These new exporters are working for me when I export all the animations in question with them, but I can’t use it to make revisions to a single sequence in an old set without re-exporting the whole thing in 9.

Posted by xander
Mon, February 19th, 2007 @ 04:23

actually i jusy did some more testing, my smd’s all seem to not correspond with each other even when exported with your exporter?

here are some examples, the skeletons in the ref dont match up right or something causing the animations not to work correctly:
http://www.daellum67.com/tests.rar

Posted by xander
Mon, February 19th, 2007 @ 06:09

OK well to answer your first point – I don’t see the big problem with Export mode only exporting whats visible in the scene. I mean thats what pretty much every other Max plug-in does anyway. If you want all the bones just stick them on a layer and make that layer visible before export or just do layer select (or use a saved selection) to select what you need before export. I don’t think it’s that big an issue.

Regarding the files you posted as a test – I opened them in Max 8 (as that version works with Cannonfodders SMD importer) and the AK47 ref seems to be screwed as the right hand bones aren’t linked to the mesh. Hence, I can’t really tell if its screwed because I can’t see from what you were trying to export. I can tell if my exporter is causing a corrupt reference model or something else.

However, your pistol I had no problem with importing the ref and anim models. The only issue, which is down to the SMD importer, is that any extra bones which come from things like helpers tend to get included in the Skin modifier envelope which can pull vertices out of whack. All I did was delete those erroneous bones and the animations were fine.

When I tested the plugin I exported one of the HL2 player models and a set of anims and brought them into Max 8 and saved the max file. I then opened that in Max 9 and re-exported the anims and ref as different filenames. Max 8 had no problem importing the Max 9 SMD’s and mixing ones made from Cannonfodder’s and my plug-in.

So with that said, I’m at a lost to exactly where the error lies. If the Ak47 was meant to be an example of a screwed reference, I need it as a Max 8 files so I can see what it should looklike exported from 8 and 9 to find the error.

Posted by Jed
Mon, February 19th, 2007 @ 20:33

I would love you for ever if you made a max 9 importer. Plus I got a little dough 😉

Posted by deMon
Tue, February 20th, 2007 @ 07:41