Almost a year since my last post on this blog, it’s becoming a habit…
I’ve now updated all my 3DS Max plug-ins to support 3D Studio Max 2020. The version numbers haven’t changed but I’ve updated the download files to include the 2020 files. Head over to the 3D Modelling tools page to find the links.
I admit I actually had this ported over a while ago but I’ve just started a new job and have been so busy I’ve only just been able to get things uploaded. Sorry for the wait.
I’ve also started a GitHub account for my projects – feel free to check it out. I’ve decided to upload the source code for some of my older projects as they aren’t really that useful any more and someone might want to update them or just learn from it.
I have no idea if anyone still uses my Half-Life Model Viewer but I’ve wanted to update and fix it for a while now. When I first wrote it it was for Windows 2000! I think the original codebase that it was based on is so busted now it barely runs on Windows 10. I might just port it over to QT5 to make it cross platform compatible as a learning exercise if nothing else. Be interested to know if anyone would be interested in it still.
Should also note – it seems like Nem, who I wrote VTFLib with has moved on and isn’t really updating the code any more. It’s got issues and doesn’t compile with newer editions of Visual Studio. I’ve nailed down two off the issues but I think an update of the nVidia library that it uses is desperately needed. I think VTFLib is one of the few tools of mine people are still using so I will endeavour to get it sorted over the summer. It’s Open Source and on GitHub now so if you feel you’d like to contribute, feel free make a fork or submit a push request.
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Finally…
I’ve updated all of my plug-ins to include support from 3DS Max 2012 now. The VTF importer now also supports version 7.5 VTF files. I know a lot of people wanted them and I apologise for the delay. Real life gets in the way sometimes and takes priority.
I’ve tested them as thoroughly as I can but if you do find any bugs let me know. Remember to tell me how to recreate the issue you’re having and if possible send me the file that is causing the problem. No, I’m not going to steal your models – yes some people are that paranoid.
One final note – I’ve now officially dropped support for Max versions less then 9. Keeping a separate build environment going for that was pointless as it’s so old so I’m afraid no VTF importer for older versions of Max.
I haven’t added any new features this time around, but I have a few in the pipeline so keep watching this space. For now, just re-download the ZIP file which will have the 2012 included in it.
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As I hinted at in my previous post, I’ve made some changes to my 3DS Max SMD Exporter in collaboration with Shawn Olson and Hunted Cow Studios. This is not a game-changing update but it adds a few features that were specifically asked for.
Here’s a list of what’s new.
- Fixed issues with the options dialogue and added tool-tips to help explain features.
- The exporter will use the name of the material applied to the mesh if no diffuse texture is loaded.
- Meshes flagged as un-renderable will export their node but not their mesh. Useful for CAT rigs.
- Keyframe only and Bookend modes for specialised animation exports.
- Re-wrote the MaxScript interface from scratch. Example in the MaxScript folder.
Note: This update does not work with 3DS Max 2012! Support for that version is coming very soon. Promise!.
- 3DS Max SMD Exporter version 1.6
And with that, I’m off on my holidays. Tootle pip!
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So 3DS Max 2012 has been released for about 3 days now and already I’ve had at least a dozen emails pointing out that my SMD plug-ins don’t work with the newest version.
I know.
Almost every other release of 3DS Max changes enough in the plug-in API that compatibility is broken with other versions. That requires a new version of the Max SDK, maybe a new version of Visual Studio and often a good couple of man hours re-writing sections of code to work with any changes. For me it’s often more work still as I have a single code source that cross compiles for all versions and I need to know that a change for one version of Max won’t break the others and of course test them.
When will the plug-ins be updated? Well I don’t work a company with an Autodesk subscription license any more and an upgrade to 3DS Max 2012 + Visual studio will cost me about US $2500 – and who has that sort of money lying around? So we’ll have to wait and see. I would certainly recommend you don’t upgrade to 2012 if you’re doing any Valve based modelling right now and if you try the trial, don’t save over your files as you can’t open a 2012 file in an earlier version.
There will however be an update to one of the SMD plug-ins coming soon but only for Max 2011 and earlier. I’ve been expanding some features to the SMD Exporter on behalf of Shawn Olson and Hunted Cow Studios. For most users the upgrade won’t be necessary unless you want the tidier GUI or unless you’re using Shawn’s excellent Wallworm tool.
As for where I’ve been for a year?
Getting a new job, buying an Xbox, getting a girlfriend, travelling the world, working on other projects and generally getting a life 🙂
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Got an email from “superaldo” over at the Steampowered forums telling me he used my 3DS Max VTA exporter plug-in to make new face flexes for his custom player model for TF2.
You gotta check this out. 🙂
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Thanks to those who volunteered to test-drive the beta of my VTA exporter. No bug reports came back and all said they had successfully managed to get their face animations working so I figure we’re good for general release!
I’ve written up some rough instructions on how to use it here but basically it’s exactly the same as Cannonfodder’s exporter. The main difference is that you don’t have to delete a lot of stuff before export – just make sure you have the bones and morphed mesh selected and off you go.
Feel free to email me any pics/demos of any models you got working with it! 🙂
- 3DS Max VTA Exporter version 1.0
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Finally!
I’ve now finished a face-flex vertex animation (VTA) plug-in for 3DS Max 9 onwards and so far, with what limited testing I’ve done it works! 🙂
I’d like to get some of you guys to test it’s for me before I make an official public release so if you’re making character models with custom/new face flexes and using Max 9, 2008, 2009 or 2010 let me know and I’ll send you the plug-in for testing.
The offer only applies to those who know what their doing – I’m not going to teach anyone how to flex rig a model. The assumption is you already know how to do it but are still using Max 5 – 8 and Cannonfodder’s plug-in.
Oh, and in case you missed it I updated all my other Max plug-ins for 3DS Max 2010.
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I’ve now re-compiled my 3DS Max plug-ins to support 3DS Max 2010. Grab them while they’re hot! 🙂
The only change has been to the SMD exporter where I’ve added support for spline objects after user requests. I left it out on purpose to stop people using splines in place of bones or dummies in model skeletons. The reason being is that they are very quirky and it often results in the animation in Max not matching the rotation on export. They are fine to use to as controllers to influence the rotation of a bone or dummy but don’t use them as bones themselves. You’ll put yourself in a world of pain.
I’ve testing the plug-ins in the 32-bit version of 3DS Max 2010 but I’m assuming that they’ll work fine in the 64-bit version too.
As always, any problems let me know.
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Sorry folks. Not been posting at all of late due to some major upheavals in my life of late. 🙁
I’ve been getting a lot of email of late about my plug-ins and 3DS Max 2010 and the fact they don’t work – yes, I know.
Thing is, every time Autodesk release a new version of Max is means I need access to its SDK to recompile the plug-ins. I’ve been lucky in the past that through my professional associations I’ve been able to get access fairly easy but no-one I know is currently using Max 2010. As I’m not a student and don’t have the $3500 to buy a copy myself you’re just going to have to wait a while.
It’s also a bit of a task porting everything to new versions. Max 2010 requires Visual Studio 2008 which I need to run side-by-side Visual Studio 2005 and I need port and test all my code so it can be compiled and works in four different version of Max as well as 32-bit and 64-bit. As efficient as I try to make my code, it’s no easy task maintaining eight versions of each plug-in.
Oh and the VTA exporter – I got a very crude version working for Max 9 working which should be easy enough to port to other versions. It’s very rough around the edges and isn’t very user friendly but it does work – I used it for all the face flexes in the Ham and Jam player models.
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I’ve been suffering from insomnia so I decided to finish up some changes to the SMD importer bringing it up to release version 1.0.
Changes in this version from the alpha are fixes to try and handle SMD parsing better, a “pre-parse” option to speed up reading SMDs by skipping data you don’t want and most significantly, support for importing animations.
- 3DS Max SMD Importer version 1.0
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