Guild of Writers

Heya Ahra Pahts team,

Any chance I can get my shell file in a format that 3DS Max will read? I ask so that I can begin modeling quickly, without having to spend a lot of time learning Blender. I can then import the modeled objects into Blender as I learn to use it.

I can double-check what file types I can import and give you a list of possible extensions. I'm guessing .obj will work, though, since Max exports to .obj. (Of course, there are expensive software downloads out there that claim they do .obj to Max. Hmmm.) Anyway, I'll take a look and get back to you? Thanks much. <3

That\'s an interesting question.. Being the main artist on AP I don\'t use 3DS Max. But even if I had it that wouldn\'t help us, so that\'s irrelevant.
The problem is that you wouldn\'t be able to import everything you\'d need to make the shell work. Importing the geometry & UV mapping should be OK. I\'m not sure about the materials and the lights.
But even then you\'d also need the Alcscript, the logic properties, the Book, and the Fni parameters. And unless you spend the time to re-create all those by hand there\'s no direct way to import any of these in Max. If only because Max and Blender use very different interfaces, and I\'m not sure how Max could handle those text files.

So, if anything can be exported it\'ll only be geometry and UV mapping.

When the Cyan Max tools are released I may try to convert the shells to Max (or given the Blend file to someone whiling to do it), but I fear that\'ll be a lot of work..

Hmm. Well, for now, I'm not so much worried about making the entire shell work as I am about being able to make things to put in the shell. All I really want is the raw sizing, so I can model and know that my stuff will be the right scale. I understand that anything I make will need to be imported and re-textured and Pythoned-up in Blender when I'm done.

To be honest, there's so much in the whole operation of making Age files that I don't understand yet .. basically everything after "materials and lights" that you talked about is stuff I have no experience with. I expect I'll get there eventually ... but man, modeling in Blender is such a pain after modeling in Max!

Anyway, if there's a chance I can poke at the geometry in Max, great. If not, I'll get back to trying to figure out Blender.

Jishin: have you tried exporting the shell file to 3DS format from within Blender, then loading the 3ds file in MAX?

Not yet, but it's on my list of things to try out.

.3ds file import and exports tend to fail between Blender and Max. I have had success converting a Pahts shell from Blender to Max (2008) as a .fbx file.

You can export and import obj files best. These keep meshes and textures intact. All the other things like friction collision etc have to be done in blender.

The nice thing about using max is it let's you use scale tools and actually make a door for a 6 ft avitar, build ladders and steps to scale then export. Just remember to reset xforms before you export obj files from max. If you don't the object is created where you modeled it, not where you moved it to.

The easiest way to export to blender and keep scale is build a big sphere around everything with a diameter of 1000ft. Export as an object file then import obj in blender. In the import dialog set the Clamp Scale to 1000. Import the object then unselect select the sphere and delete it. All your created objects will be blender scale and export to the right size as an age file.

If you need something bigger than 1000ft you will need to edit the blender import_obj.py file. This is located in C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender\.blender\scripts
Right click on the import_obj.py file and select the Edit with Idle option. Go down to about line 780 or find this text.
('Clamp Scale:', CLAMP_SIZE, 0.0, 1000.0, 'Clamp the size to this maximum (Zero to Disable)'),\
0.0 is the minimum and 1000.0 is the max. Add another zero or two to make a thousand ten-thousand or one-hundred thousand. The actual minimum maximum is +- [ 1000000000]*3 but I wouldn't push it. The 1000 limit is arbitrary but you cant push past it without editing this file.