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ModelConverterX 1.1 release

arno

arno

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Today I finished the release of ModelConverterX version 1.1, as it was a long time ago that a stable version had been released. Actually so long ago, that I lost track of all the improvements made compared to version 1.0. The most important improvements are:

  • Added a FS2004 scenery MDL reader
  • Added a COLLADA reader
  • Added a Wavefront OBJ reader and writer
  • Improved the user interface
  • And many many smaller changes (in total about 90 issues from my issue list have been addressed in this version)

You can get this latest stable release here.
 
Xmas wishlist

Anything you had in mind as a Xmas gift?:D

PS Terribly busy working on making buildings with Sketchup to use in FS.
As long as there are no animations involved, GSU is a lot faster, more user friendly and FPS friendly than Gmax. At least, that is my idea.
Great tool.
 
Have you had any problems with sketchup image textures? I'm in learning mode, and I just applied colors to my faces and it went fine, but then when I started adding a texture it didn't import correctly.

scott s.
.
 
I've actually found a few uses for this little gem, and I'm interested in where it is heading.

Talking about Sketchup, I am interested in going the other way -- GMAX to Sketchup -- as I've promised to place one of my airport models on Google Earth. It would be nice if I could use the original models, rather than redoing it from scratch.

I can use MdlConvertX to convert to 3DS, but is there another way which anyone can recommend?
 
Re: Have you had any problems with sketchup image textures?

The only thing that is a bit cumbersome is that you have to convert the texture jpg into bmp, change the texture names in MCX, and change the GUID, but it does not give problems. I do get an error message each time I want to change the name and GUID but when I ignore it and continue, everything goes well.
 
error on importing

Hi,

After having continued working on a building and having updated MCX to v1.1, I now get the following error on import:

An error occured during importing the selected file

Message:
De objectverwijzing is niet op een exemplaar van een object ingesteld.

StackTrace:
bij ASToFra.DAEReader.FindNode(Node start, String url)
bij ASToFra.DAEReader.FindNode(String url)
bij ASToFra.DAEReader.ProcessNode(Node node, SceneGraphNode root)
bij ASToFra.DAEReader.ProcessNode(Node node, SceneGraphNode root)
bij ASToFra.DAEReader.Read(String filename)
bij ASToFra.ObjectReader.read(String fileName)
bij ASToFra.MainWindow.bwImporter_DoWork(Object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)

Strange and I do not know if that has to do with something I added in Sketchup or with the new stable release.
 
Error overcome.
For everybody's info: unchecking "preserve component hierarchies" in sketchup exporting options solved the problem.
 
Hi Rob,

robystar said:
PS Terribly busy working on making buildings with Sketchup to use in FS. As long as there are no animations involved, GSU is a lot faster, more user friendly and FPS friendly than Gmax. At least, that is my idea.
Click to expand...

I think for many people it is true that Sketchup is a lot easier to learn and you can get same quality results. The FPS does not matter though, since if you model carefully the results are the same :). It is just the process of getting to that results that became more user friendly.
 
Hi Scott,

scott967 said:
Have you had any problems with sketchup image textures? I'm in learning mode, and I just applied colors to my faces and it went fine, but then when I started adding a texture it didn't import correctly.
Click to expand...

As already mentioned the texture conversion will have to be done manually. Sketchup uses JPG textures most of the time. I have it on my wishlist to add texture conversions to ModelConverterX as well, but that will be a little bit later.
 
Hi Robin,

toprob said:
Talking about Sketchup, I am interested in going the other way -- GMAX to Sketchup -- as I've promised to place one of my airport models on Google Earth. It would be nice if I could use the original models, rather than redoing it from scratch.

I can use MdlConvertX to convert to 3DS, but is there another way which anyone can recommend?
Click to expand...

I do have export support for COLLADA on my wishlist as well, so in the future that would help you.

For now I think 3DS is your only choice. It seems Sketchup does not support importing Wavefront OBJ, else that would be a good one to try as well.
 
Hi Rob,

robystar said:
Error overcome.
For everybody's info: unchecking "preserve component hierarchies" in sketchup exporting options solved the problem.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I'll try to export with that option on and see if I can find out why the reader crashes, since it should not do so :).
 
Hi Rob,

robystar said:
Hi,

After having continued working on a building and having updated MCX to v1.1, I now get the following error on import:

An error occured during importing the selected file

Message:
De objectverwijzing is niet op een exemplaar van een object ingesteld.

StackTrace:
bij ASToFra.DAEReader.FindNode(Node start, String url)
bij ASToFra.DAEReader.FindNode(String url)
bij ASToFra.DAEReader.ProcessNode(Node node, SceneGraphNode root)
bij ASToFra.DAEReader.ProcessNode(Node node, SceneGraphNode root)
bij ASToFra.DAEReader.Read(String filename)
bij ASToFra.ObjectReader.read(String fileName)
bij ASToFra.MainWindow.bwImporter_DoWork(Object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)

Strange and I do not know if that has to do with something I added in Sketchup or with the new stable release.
Click to expand...

Can you send me a DAE file that has this problem? Since the export option that solved it for you is on by default and not all objects give the crash, it might be something with the model as well. If I have a file to debug I can make the COLLADA reader better.
 
Excellent work Arno, and the new dev version with the day/night texture switch is superb.

Stevo ;)
 
Another thing that gives me some headaches:
the translucent textures are no longer translucent upon conversion, obviously I'd say, because they are jpg's that have to be converted. But it does take some doing to get them translucent again in FS.
But maybe I overlook something obvious for a change?


PS: this is in no way to be considered as critics. It is just a minor inconvenience that might or might not be remedied and does not affect the overall value of the program. On the contrary, I think that this extra COLLADA functionality will give some new impetus to FS as it links Google potential to an otherwise (developmentwise) dead MSFS.
 
robystar said:
File is on its way.
Click to expand...

Thanks, found it and fixed this crash (can't guarantee you won't find others with different COLLADA files). Will be fixed in the next development release.
 
Hi Rob,

robystar said:
Another thing that gives me some headaches:
the translucent textures are no longer translucent upon conversion, obviously I'd say, because they are jpg's that have to be converted. But it does take some doing to get them translucent again in FS.
But maybe I overlook something obvious for a change?
Click to expand...

With those JPG textures ModelConverterX will not detect the alpha channel, so you will manually have to set the material settings to use the alpha channel. This is done by hitting the "Set Default Transparent" button in the ModelConverterX material editor. And of course you need to make sure the alpha is in the texture you use in FS.

But how did you specify the transparency in Sketchup? I am not sure if JPG textures can have alpha at all. Or did you make the whole polygon transparent, can be that is not read correctly by ModelConverterX (would also not work that good in FS).

robystar said:
PS: this is in no way to be considered as critics. It is just a minor inconvenience that might or might not be remedied and does not affect the overall value of the program. On the contrary, I think that this extra COLLADA functionality will give some new impetus to FS as it links Google potential to an otherwise (developmentwise) dead MSFS.
Click to expand...

All feedback helps to improve the tool and the COLLADA reader is a recent development, so I am sure it can still be fine tuned more, it still has some rough edges. So keep the feedback coming :).
 
It just keeps getting better. At the risk of thread drift, it seems like in sketchup that each use of a texture results in sketchup creating a new texture file when exporting the dae. Is there some way to get sketchup to use a single texture sheet for multiple applications?

scott s.
.
 
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