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Exporting from Gmax to 3ds Max with FFG - a new tool

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There is a new tool for exporting from Gmax to 3ds Max. FFG is a MaxScript-based tool and utility process which exports a scene from Gmax in a form readable by 3ds Max. Mesh, Gmax materials, UV mappings, smoothing, pivots, object names and hierarchy are exported, as are Gmax primitives (cube, cylinder etc). The output from the process has been tested in 3ds Max 2008 and 2011, and a Max 2012 user has reported a successful export.

The FFG process is a collaboration between Tom Faulds and Manfred Jahn based on the BFF script by Borislav 'Bobo' Petrov and we want to thank Bobo for his permission to modify the script.

The main limitation is the entire process has to exist in a 2GB memory space, so we don't expect a 350K poly model will export in a single pass: a 37K poly model did export successfully but the process took around 25 minutes in total, while 10-15K poly selections went quite quickly.

In addition, users should be aware that FSX materials do NOT export successfully and animations are unreliable at best. The script has animation export turned off by default, the user can experiment at his own risk.

edit: Please also note that bones are NOT supported.


The download includes :-

FFG 0_1_4.ms ............................... the MacroScript for Gmax
GMaxSLGRAB.exe ........................... the 'Grabber'
FFG_pp.bat and FFG_pp.exe ............ the post-processor batch file and executable
ICONX.exe .................................... Icon language runtime

readmeFFG.pdf .............................. user instructions

and is available here at FSDeveloper in the Resources section! http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/ffg.80/

************************************************************************************
Please regard this as BETA software and let us know of any issues you may encounter.

THE AUTHORS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE THAT YOU MIGHT INCUR AS A RESULT OF USING
THESE FILES. YOU ASSUME THE RISK OF USE.

************************************************************************************

emilingmax.jpg



emilinmax.jpg
 
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Installing FFG

Please refer to readmeFFG.pdf in the zip file and especially Manfred's ingenious method for setting the target directory. Once set up it's a simple drag & drop to process the output ready for 3ds Max.

Users who already have GMaxSLGRAB.exe for Gmax please note the zip contains a version modified to save in .txt format by default.
 
A little history

Many years ago Autodesk/Discreet released 3ds Max version 5 to howls of anguish from 3ds Max version 4.2 users and others who found they couldn't read files saved in version 5. Saving in a previous version format was not an option, so Borislav 'Bobo' Petrov wrote a MaxScript to export model data from any version of 3ds Max in a form readable by other versions. This script was named BFF, short for Back From Five.

Users found BFF v0.3.6 would export from 3ds Max versions 6, 7 and 8 but version 9 introduced some new wrinkles which broke the script. Raúl Ortega Palacios rewrote the affected portions in BFF 0.4.3 (2007) to be compatible with Max 9, it continues to work as recently as Max 2012 and is the preferred method for exporting from 3ds Max to Gmax. Nowadays it's called Bobo's File Format. (file transfer between versions of 3ds Max from v5 to present day can now be done with Autodesk's FBX format, but there's still no Gmax plugin)

Gmax just doesn't export except through gamepack-specific exporters: Autodesk made it that way. Various methods have been tried to export from Gmax to 3ds Max over the years. One script-based method writes data to the Gmax Listener window in LightWave-compatible format and uses GMaxSLGRAB.exe to save this to file. I wondered if the same method applied to BFF might work and in collaboration with Manfred Jahn (who wrote the FFG_pp utility) we came up with FFG.

The name FFG is a nod to Bobo's original script: it means Forward From Gmax. We hope you find it useful!
 
This is awesome! Thanks gentlemen for doing this. Ingenious that you were able to figure out out. I have tried it and it literally works. I was very impressed.

Now we can export our priceless work from Gmax into Max and use the Max tools on our work to bring more life into them.

Awesome!!!!
 
A very generous contribution to the world of Flightsim !

Thankyou for sharing this.
 
Great tools !
I tried to find something to do that task for a long time and You realize it ! Wonderful :wizard:
 
Hey guys,

Small issue. In installing the latest version, I am to add a -s to the 'target' address settings in the shortcut to the Grabber. But, when clicking apply, it is denied, stating that target and location must match. Shall I do this to both windows in the Shortcut properties?

Can I run without this if I cannot get it to work? :S


I am running Windows 7 Ultimate x86.


Bill
 
Wonderful!
I think it can be use with scenery as well, not only for aircraft model.
 
Hi Bill,

lionheart said:
Small issue. In installing the latest version, I am to add a -s to the 'target' address settings in the shortcut to the Grabber. But, when clicking apply, it is denied, stating that target and location must match. Shall I do this to both windows in the Shortcut properties?
Click to expand...

Edit only the Properties/Target slot and note the -s switch there should be outside the quotation marks, e.g. thus:

"c:\Gmax\gamepacks\FSX_GmaxGamePack\scripts\FFG\Grabber\GMaxSLGRAB.exe" -s
Click to expand...

.. and then it should work because it doesn't mean any change in location. I'm on Win 7/86 here, too.

Yes, the Grabber will also work without the -s, the only difference being that you need a couple more clicks to get it going and shut down.
 
Roger that and thanks. I'll add the quotation marks and try it again.


I was trying to export the ole Junkers W33 yesterday. I thought I might try the entire thing, which ended up crashing the PP program. I then tried smaller, and that too crashed. I tried it with animation and that took a very long time, but I had tried the entire model (huge) and when I left out animations on the second attempt (on the entire model) the export went very fast.

Still getting the hang of it. The engine I exported out of the Pasped Skylark went like lightning. Couldnt believe how fast it exported out of Gmax and was in Max in no time, fully textured, everything. Loved it!


Bill
 
Do you mean models in .3ds format or those built in 3ds Max? FFG does nothing for either, it's only for exporting from Gmax to 3ds Max.

Please note that FFG doesn't produce a .max file, just a collection of script and data files which 3ds Max uses to reconstruct the original model. If you don't have Max you can't make an actual 3ds Max-format model from the output.

On the other hand, if you use MCX to convert a .mdl file to .3ds format or other for importing to 3ds Max, you don't get the objects as originally modeled in Gmax or other modeling program, you get a collection of mesh objects which are drawcalls in the .mdl file afaik. FFG preserves the original Gmax objects, object names, object hierarchy etc: you end up with the same model but it's in 3ds Max. (subject to the animation limit)
 
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lionheart said:
I was trying to export the ole Junkers W33 yesterday. I thought I might try the entire thing, which ended up crashing the PP program. I then tried smaller, and that too crashed.
Click to expand...

As the Postprocessor really only handles one line of .txt code at a time it has very little memory overhead. On the other hand, it has to open and close files all the time (two per part name), and this could be a vulnerable point.

Anyone re-encountering this problem -- the Postprocessor crashing on long input txt files -- please send me a zip of the .txt file for error tracing (email at the end of the Readme pdf). Bill, you still got the txt files (or can do them again?)

Thanks for any feedback. Being Beta, there may be the occasional error.

@Bernardo, for me, the great boon of FFG is that it carries editable polies across, ready for further treatment by Max's superior poly tools.

Manfred
 
A Wierd Problem...

In the process of porting the SR22 Turbo Perspective model over to Max, everything went swimmingly well until I got to the CAPS (ballistic parachute). For some truly odd reason, the Max Listener .txt file is fubaring the .ms file in the "Hierarchy" section...

Here is a clip of the first few lines illustrating the problem.

---------------
-- Hierarchy --
---------------
try($'SR20_Valid'.parent = $'Exterior')catch()
try($'SR20_chute_deploy'.parent = $'SR20_Valid')catch()
try($'SR20_chute_cover_on'.parent = $'SR20_chute_deploy')catch()
try($'SR20_chute_one_3'.parent = $'SR20_chute_deploy')catch()

Note how the name on the right does not match the name on the left! Even stranger, after the first few lines, 'SR20_chute_deploy' is repeated ad infinitum for the remaining parts...

Okay, I found that if I carefuly copy/paste the correct part names from the left to the right so that they match, the .ms script will be read into Max9 without any errors. It's just odd as hell that for these few parts the process is falling over with these errors...
 
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A weird problem and no bones about it...

Very odd.

However I recall some discussion about ballistic parachutes a while back: does this have bones to animate the CAPS somwewhere? I'm afraid I forgot that FFG will be subject to the same limitations as BFF and one of those is it doesn't support bones... :( OP duly amended

Please let me know if I'm on the right lines, and please also check the .txt file output by FFG had the same errors before it was dropped on the post-processor. The hierarchy section is at the end of the .txt file.

All feedback welcome, here or by PM. :)
 
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No bones at all in this ancient project. Strictly sequential conditional appearances providing the illusion of deployment, descent, and collapse.

The problem does seem to have originated in the .ms script run in GMax that populates the Listener, and is captured by Grabber and saved as the .txt file.

On the other hand, this CAPS has a rather involved hierarchy, so perhaps it's just too complicated.

In any event, I managed to export the CAPS in "chunks" and Merge them in Max, all but the last "chunk" which I had to massage the hierarchy list before it would convert properly. I can reassemble the actual hierarchy within Max faster than I can sort out why it fell over and died... ;)

I expected some minor issues and I wasn't "disappointed" in that expectation, but taken as a whole I am absolutely THRILLED to finally have this project in Max9!!!

Thanks to everyone involved for a fabulous new tool! :cool:
 
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