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GM Exporter

M

moetman

Landlubber
Storm Modder
HI All ,
is anyone here using Maya 4.5 for any modelling ? I'm currentl trying to build a few characters and everytime I try to export to .gm using the gm exporter it will crash Maya. I've set up a parent locator and the model is UV mapped but halfway through rebuilding the BSP - CRASH !

Another thing - I'm unable to use other plugins because they've been built against an older version of Maya, are others able to export animations ?

Kind Regards
 
I've got bum luck with this Maya buisiness too. The GMViewer exports to some kind of file, (I think it starts with a D) and then Maya exports that to vrml, and then theoretically Inez' Tool can change the VRML back to a .gm.

I'm not aware that Maya can export directly to .gm... and it looks like only one of the three plugins Akella released actually works.
 
There ya go, Moetman, what he said! (thanks, Alan!) <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheeky" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />

I'm not sure how it all works, but supposedly if you can save to VRML in Maya, you can use Inez's utility to export to GM.

Please let us know if you have any success with this! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />
 
Unfortunately Maya stock VRML exporter only exports vrml 2.0. I've had trouble getting VRML 2.0 into CharactarTool , some luck with VRML 1.0 and 97 . It depends on the VRML exporter in max. I don't have Discreets vrmlexp (Maybe someone could send me theirs <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> ) so I had to use a couple of evaluation versions with limited exports . I've had success with Inez's CharactarTool, however I had some trouble with the skeleton information for the arms - The lengths of the arms should match the length of the male charactar models and I currently don't know how to get that information. The model I have working looks great but the deviations in the arm length means there are locators where there shouldn't be and the arms look VERY strange.

If only we could get this Akella gm exporter thing worked out. I wonder if Keith could ask the folks over there if they could release some tools - maybe for 'Age of Pirates' , seeing how they aren't tied to Disneys shoestrings on that one.

Seeya
 
I did a google and came up with this, have NO IDEA if it will work, but if it might... Well...

<a href="http://www.ori.org/~aaronc/code/nebula/" target="_blank">http://www.ori.org/~aaronc/code/nebula/</a> See "Sand Dune"...

There's also a list of converters on this page (with links) -

<a href="http://www.staigerland.com/amapi/obj2amapi.html" target="_blank">http://www.staigerland.com/amapi/obj2amapi.html</a>

Hope this helps! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />
 
Thanks Cat <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> looks good , I'll give them a try.

Did my own search and found this which might be useful:

<a href="http://www.neeneenee.de/vrml/downloads.html" target="_blank">http://www.neeneenee.de/vrml/downloads.html</a>

contains a few avatar programs (including Avatar Studio) , also contains VRML exporter for max - <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

Regards
 
Hopefully that will help everyone trying to do this... Thanks for the link, Moetman! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />

<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/william.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":will" border="0" alt="william.gif" /> Whatcha working on? Do you have screenshots? <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/keith.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":keith" border="0" alt="keith.gif" />
 
I've got a model of a girl I've been importing , She still needs to be UV mapped properly . What is the key for taking screenshots ? I've forgotten.. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mybad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":facepalm" border="0" alt="mybad.gif" />
 
Ah that's F8 - or PrtScr, if you're not in the game, say like if you're in GMView. That copies to the clipboard, just create a new blank image and paste the clipboard into it. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />
 
Here are some screens - the models are not properly texture mapped

You can see the trouble I'm having with the arms.

<img src="http://onfinite.com/libraries/243255/b4c.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

<img src="http://onfinite.com/libraries/243259/aac.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

still trying to find a VRML exporter that Inez's charactarTool will accept, there are so many combinations you can export to .wrl due to the way the format is , it makes it hard to find a good app. Discreet's max2vrml plugin I found was way too old so back to the drawing board. I'll have to sort through those links again Cat <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
 
Moetman, check your height on your model - it's a female, and she is not the same height as the male. That may be why you're getting such a weird effect with her arms.

Female model height is 1.75, and the default is male model height is 1.8.

HTH! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />
 
Hi Moetman,
As I said before, the tool supports only a very limited subset of vrml. If you can send me an exaple for a model that doesn't get converted, I'm more than willing to fix the tool accordingly. I could test it only with an old version of 3dsmax, which can export vrml (and I used vrml 2.0, not vrml 1.0 or 97).
Are the arms ok in GmViewer? Could you export to gm with the "Bone Locators" checkbox on and make a screenshot in GmViewer showing those locators ? Compare that to the screenshot in the tool's helpfile to see if the arms are too long or too short.
However, this looks as if the binding didn't work correctly for the arms. Did you have them in horizontal position (stretched out to the sides) for the binding?
 
Hi Inez

Yea I had the arms out 90 degrees, I played with the settings - had it at 80 , 85 etc . Don't think it made much difference.

I did the dance -
Open the File (gm oder vrml)
Resize the model so it's the same height as other characters
Drop and center the model so it's in the middle of the coordinate system, feet on the ground
Bind the model to the skeleton (put the skeleton information in)
Save in gm format

Then I used AutoImport and the arms were down in gm viewer and the model looked good. However looking at the picture in your help.htm I think the arms could be shorter on my model . I did resize them a number of times before but no luck , it was pretty much getting to a hit and miss thing .
However I've only got a limited amount of exports on this evaluation version max vrml exporter I've got .. enough though <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

Cat -> thanks (as always) for the model info , I'll give a try <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />
 
I'm no modeler... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/oops3.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":eek:ops2" border="0" alt="oops3.gif" /> I only offer that because I believe I've seen this kind of thing before on this forum - if the female model does not have the correct height, (none or default instead of indicated), the arms do exactly that. Weird stuff... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":?" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" /> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huhh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":eek:k" border="0" alt="huhh.gif" />
 
Moetman, if you say you played withe the settings, do you mean in the tool? The "lower arms" textbox lets you select only how many degrees the arms get *lowered* - the *raising* (stretching out horizontally) has to be done in the modeler! But from rest of what you're saying I suppose you have done that right.
And yes, Cat, the height can have an impact on this, too, because the binding is entirely based on position - so what's in the wrong place gets bound to the wrong bone. However, the tool lets you resize models so they have the correct height, and if Moetman says he "did the dance" he's got the height right.
I'm at loss here - Moetman, could I see a screenshot of the model in GmViewer with the arms stil up ?
I'll also take a look at the Avatarstudio model you sent me a while ago - will do it today.
 
Oh, and one more thing: I found another bug in the tool resulting in the export to fail when a vrml model is not textured.
Uploaded a new version to <a href="http://home.arcor.de/swigard/Downloads/TOOL/" target="_blank">http://home.arcor.de/swigard/Downloads/TOOL/</a>
 
Ah, glad you got it working! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="onya.gif" />

(thanks for the update!)

Yes, like I said, I'm no modeler... I looked through the forum because I thought I'd seen a reference to it before - but I couldn't find it. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":?" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" /> It probably applied to an existing model retexture of Danielle that someone was trying to put into the game and because they didn't put in the height, her arms got all stretched out. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

I wish I had more time to learn this; it's bugging me that I don't know it! And I have Maya 4.5... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/william.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":will" border="0" alt="william.gif" /> Ah well... Can't know everything! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bookish.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":mm" border="0" alt="bookish.gif" /> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="xD:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />
 
Re: screwy arms on chicks. This is a small thing but vital, just to be sure. Is your character's sex or gender "woman" instead of "man"?
 
<b>alan_smithee</b>, valid point. However, if the binding is done with the character tool, the animation *must* be man.an, not woman.an.
So the sex should be "man", even for female models.
<b>moetman</b>, have you checked that? Alan might have just hit the point here.
 
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