Animation export to glTF?

[thommy24dd]

I get the impression you are not a developer yourself and that you are mainly interested in porting over an addon that you bought for FSX/P3D into the new MSFS. From that point of view it saves you money to not have to buy another addon.

But you also have to consider it from the developer point of view (remember we are a community of developers here). The developers do also want to save their money, because if their work is heavily pirated they loose their income and in the long run that might even mean some developers don't want to make new addons anymore. So that is why the conversion to glTF with animations is not publically available. Once a model is put in glTF it becomes too easy to use it for other purposes, for example because it can be imported in Blender and used for other purposes. That is against the interest of the developer of the addon.

I was not going to port bought stuff, but very good freebie stuff of POSKY or Project Airbus for instance for myself, from maker they do not have interest to port their stuff to MSFS2020 by theirself. I do want to port that stuff (what wouldn't be needed if the .mdl would work with new gauges and effects) only for my personal use not for making money. And I have never and I would never provide any convert since I am not maker of the stuff.

 

[arno]

I was not going to port bought stuff, but very good freebie stuff of POSKY or Project Airbus for instance for myself, from maker they do not have interest to port their stuff to MSFS2020 by theirself. I do want to port that stuff (what wouldn't be needed if the .mdl would work with new gauges and effects) only for my personal use not for making money. And I have never and I would never provide any convert since I am not maker of the stuff.

Thanks for the clarification.

Be aware that a conversion of MDL to glTF is not a one click action. I am not an aircraft developer myself, but what I heard back from developers that tried it is that it saves them the time of having to redo all animations, so that might save them a week or two. But there are still plenty of things that need to be tuned and configured before the plane works in MSFS.

But at the moment I do not see a way to safely release this feature to the general public. As you can read in this thread there has been quite some discussion already about which safety measures against piracy can be added, but none has been found that seems secure enough.

 

[thommy24dd]

Thanks for the clarification.

Be aware that a conversion of MDL to glTF is not a one click action. I am not an aircraft developer myself, but what I heard back from developers that tried it is that it saves them the time of having to redo all animations, so that might save them a week or two. But there are still plenty of things that need to be tuned and configured before the plane works in MSFS.

But at the moment I do not see a way to safely release this feature to the general public. As you can read in this thread there has been quite some discussion already about which safety measures against piracy can be added, but none has been found that seems secure enough.

thats very sad, but I also understand and have to accept!

 

[JanMartinHamburg]

Be aware that a conversion of MDL to glTF is not a one click action.

Hi Arno, would mind look into your Conversations box; I sent you a message yesterday. Thank you!

 

[Hiroshi Igami]

If it's a interesting suggestion we want to know too.

 

[Lagaffe]

Hello,

At the announcement of this evolution, I waited patiently for the new version and since Decembre 2020, I decided not to wait any longer and to switch some aircrafts for tests.
At the end of these last 3 months, I have at almost two aircrafts useable that have been worn and here is my return:
- the transformation to glTF is not so difficult and complicated when you have the sources
- as far as recreating animations is concerned, it's quite fast and especially the management of animations is quite different at least under Blender
- the XML code to manage variables has changed a lot and the arrival of "Behaviors" obliges/allows new things that needs some stuff ...

In the end, I think that an automatic tool to do the transcription would surely bring a plus but would not do everything because there is a lot of work afterwards to take into account the subtleties of this simu. To sum up, I think that the function is not as indispensable as one might have thought last year.

Go ahead and run it and you'll see

 

[=rk=]

Go ahead and run it and you'll see

Thank you for the suggestion, but it appears you are the only known respected developer and no path has been provided for anyone else to get onto that list.

The fact that the tool brings a plus, but would not do everything because there is a lot of work afterwards to take into account the subtleties of this simulator, suggests that it is useless for people that intend to make a quick profit from other people's work and may be best suited for an educational aid, after all.

 

[Lagaffe]

Hi RK,
I don't understand it well your first sentence : I am french and google translation can can lead to misinterpretation so ...
I don't think to be a "known respected developer", only a person who develop and considers this just as an hobby.

I'm just saying that I was expecting a lot from this tool but since it didn't come I decided to overlook it and carry it manually my planes. This attempt just allowed me to see that there were a lot of differences between the simulators and I honestly didn't think that such a well done tool could make all the adaptations possible.
That this tool could have an educational interest, I do not disagree at all, you're probably right
My intervention was just to specify that in the case of a port-over, this tool seems to me that it could not do everything. That's all it could do.

Sorry if I was misunderstood and if I use a bad english

 

[Essex]

Perhaps there would be no objections to pre fs9 MDLs being convertible and retaining animations?

Other than being insufficient, I'm not certain anyone objected to this?

 

[=rk=]

Hi RK,
I don't understand it well your first sentence : I am french and google translation can can lead to misinterpretation so ...
I don't think to be a "known respected developer", only a person who develop and considers this just as an hobby.

The blame for the misunderstanding is mine. Arno had used the term "respected developers" and elsewhere uses that term in the plural, but beyond that, you are the only member of that group we know of.

 

[Lagaffe]

No problem.

 

[tb110188]

I do think MCX should allow for fully convertion of MDL into gITF... animations and all...

 

[=rk=]

I do think MCX should allow for fully convertion of MDL into gITF... animations and all...

MCX is great for incorporating diverse tools into a familiar work space, but as is the case with most of its functions, the relevant tools can usually be found at their source.

 

[tb110188]

Adding a function to export animation to FS2020 without any limitation means .
Anyone can make it easy to make Models to FS2020.

As a model creator , this is a perfect NO.
Making a model takes years , research , make and check many times and build up.

Giving everyone a way to do convert to FS2020 will end up , flood of unpermitted converted models.

And that will be back as a claim to the original model builder . (Already seen)
Example (This doesn't work , that has a problem it flys terrible. ... and those makes motivation to make lower)

This kind of function should be ONLY given to a person who got the permission from the original author.
Not to all.

And one more

Is doing a poll like this fair ?
Think number who makes and number who just mods .
Which is much more .
I feel it's quite clear that people mods are much more.

We already have a small flood of converted aircrafts and all with Stock MSFS cockpit... Why not release the MCX tool with proper conversion including animations to glTF???

 

[Hiroshi Igami]

If read the whole thread , I think you can understand.
What I can say is , if you really feel needed.
Make from zero , not a conversion.
It's time for you guys to create .

 

[tb110188]

If read the whole thread , I think you can understand.
What I can say is , if you really feel needed.
Make from zero , not a conversion.
It's time for you guys to create .

But what if i just want that gorgeous airplane that i do have for FSX, that comes full (cockpit and all), have no intention to share with anyone else, it's a freeware and i just want to convert to a fully functional airplane for MSFS, for personal use???

I actually want to convert the stock FSX airplanes for my use only...

 

[=rk=]

We already have a small flood of converted aircrafts and all with Stock MSFS cockpit... Why not release the MCX tool with proper conversion including animations to glTF???

It is an understandable sentiment, but it is really not that easy and it's a consequence of simulations in general, I believe. For example, to incorporate even the very best FSX:SE aircraft into MSFS, would be like trying to put a 3d printed video game basketball, into an actual basketball game, or at least a very much more immersive simulation of one. You were able to believe your paper cut out FS9 airplane worked fine before, but if you saw it in MSFS, it would be exactly that.

I have been experimenting for weeks with the same importing algorithms and I have barely managed to include a unique VC, at this point. To put it bluntly, it is not a one to one conversion. The tools thus far provided are very good, hats off to the developers, but it is a "new ballfield," so to speak. What Hiroshi means to say, I think, is that it is simply more practical to start over.

 

[tb110188]

It is an understandable sentiment, but it is really not that easy and it's a consequence of simulations in general, I believe. For example, to incorporate even the very best FSX:SE aircraft into MSFS, would be like trying to put a 3d printed video game basketball, into an actual basketball game, or at least a very much more immersive simulation of one. You were able to believe your paper cut out FS9 airplane worked fine before, but if you saw it in MSFS, it would be exactly that.

I have been experimenting for weeks with the same importing algorithms and I have barely managed to include a unique VC, at this point. To put it bluntly, it is not a one to one conversion. The tools thus far provided are very good, hats off to the developers, but it is a "new ballfield," so to speak. What Hiroshi means to say, I think, is that it is simply more practical to start over.

Still, it's what i do want, to play with some of the aircrafts from FSX on MSFS... get rid of some half baked conversions using default cockpits and i think this kind of thinking is going against the community thoughts...

 

[Hiroshi Igami]

" this kind of thinking is going against the community thoughts"
Don't think you are the community.

Did you read the whole thread ?
Many people thinks different way.
Everyone is not same , each has each thoughts.
Everyone has a different back ground.

 

[arno]

and i think this kind of thinking is going against the community thoughts...

Some thoughts from my side. First of all the decision to not release this functionality to everybody at this moment has been largely based on inputs from the community here. Personally I was planning to release it, like any other MCX functionality, but the arguments of other developers in the community have convinced me that this is maybe not the right thing to do. You might have another community than the community of developers in mind when you make your statement, but you have to remember that MCX is primarily a tool for developers.

It is not a one-click automatic conversion tool. But it can help a developer to do his work easier, for example by saving the time to have to redo all animations from scratch. Some developers have tested the functionalities in their conversion and it saved them quite some time. But still developer skills are needed to make a functioning aircraft out of the conversion.

The main reason for not releasing the functionality at this moment is that it would make it easier to pirate on the work of developers and take it outside of the FS world. Once you have an aircraft with all animations in glTF format, it becomes very easy to use it in all kind of applications. If the target format would have been restricted to FS only I would have been less concerned. Because MCX can already do conversions with all animations from FSX to P3D for example, but there the content stays in the MDL format. If MSFS would have such a more restricted format I don't see why a conversion from FSX to P3D would be different than a conversion from FSX to MSFS.

And of course the genuine developers that only use a tool to convert their own work or work on models they have permission for to convert are never the problem. Just as user who only do the conversion for their own personal usage and don't share it with anybody else. But the problem are the small amount of users who misuse such a tool and use it to steal the work of others or make conversions of the work of others without their permission. In the end those misuses are against what the community as a whole needs. But I have to agree that balancing those various users is a hard decision.