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3DS plugin

PostPosted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 6:36 am
by Aaron
Hi Everyone,

I've added export support for the '3ds' mesh file to the latest build of L3DT, which is v2.7 build 18, and is now available from the downloads page. To export the heightmap and texture to a 3DS file, use the 'File->Export->Export to 3DS with texture' menu option.

Please note that the 3DS file format is limited to 32k vertices and triangles. Since the raw terrain would normally consist of millions of triangles, the the 3DS plugin will always call the mesh decimator plugin to help you reduce the terrain triangle count. When using the mesh decimator, be sure to increase the max error value until the triangle count is less than 32k.

Please let me know if you find any problems.

Cheerio,
Aaron.

PS: Kudos and thanks to Jan Eric Kyprianidis for writing and making available the marvellous open-source lib3ds, which is used by the new L3DTio_3DS plugin.

Mosaic?

PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:55 pm
by dobinz
Is there an option to save the terrain as a 3ds mosaic? If not then is it something which you could easily add to this plugin? It would be extremely useful in saving terrains as a set of smaller tiles for use in Blitz3d.

Thankyou Aaron, And I must say what an amazing bit of programming you have done making this much needed program. I will definetly be purchasing it when my trial ends.

PostPosted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:02 pm
by Aaron
Hi Dobinz,

Sorry, I didn't implement mosaic exports in 3DS because the mesh optimiser would produce obvious seams at tile borders.

I may be able to fix this if I modify the mesh optimiser to use high-resolution, unoptimised triangles at tile edges, as these will then line-up between tiles. However, this will consume many triangles, and when you're talking about 3DS files, you don't have many to spare. Anyway, I'll put this on my to-do list, and see how I go. If it works, I'll back-port it to the B3D, OBJ and X plugins too.

Cheerio,
Aaron.

Thankyou Aaron

PostPosted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 11:55 am
by dobinz
Thanks Aaron. Cool. I used a program from Mootools called 3D PhotoBrowser + Polygon Cruncher to do the same thing before because my border edges didn't match up. It was able to reduce the polygon count by upto 95% and there is an option there to exclude the borders. Works like a dream and doesn't use too many more triangles on the whole.

Just thought it may be useful for you to take a look at. I believe they have a trial usage when you download it. Quite useful for looking at mesh files too.

http://www.mootools.com/plugins/us/3dbrowserpro/index.asp#cruncher

Re: 3DS plugin

PostPosted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:07 pm
by Aaron
Hi All,

The new mesh exporter will export seamlessly tiled sets of optimised 3DS and other mesh files, along with the tiled textures.

Cheers,
Aaron.