M&B Model importer (Alpha release)

[Lurb]

Update 23/11/05

-Added Thorgrim's DDS reading fix. Some texture saving tools work better than others. ATI The Compressonator works great for me. Thorgrim reports that PSP DDS export works OK too. I have had some problems with the DirectX SDK DDS tool and DXTBmp.
-Fixed about 80% of the memory leaks.
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It's a bit buggy, but mostly works,  I won't have time to work on it too much in the next few weeks, but after that i'll try to improve it.

The good:
It reads M&B BRF mesh files. Can show the models packed in the files. Can import/export models to and from Wavefront OBJ mesh files. Can also clone the models inside the files to make multiple versions.

The bad:
For now only "static" meshes can be properly imported. So helmets, furniture, weapons work, but body parts, horses or faces lose their bone attachment information,as the OBJ format cannot store this information. "Dinamic" meshes can be cloned though. Skeletons cannot be read yet. Quivers and bolt bags are also "special" so they aren't fully supported yet.
The material editor is a late addition, coded very fast to be able to release before the coming hiatus, so it has not been tested.

The ugly:
Is quite crude , not much user-friendliness in there. If you don't know what you are doing, it will crash.
BACKUP YOUR ORIGINAL FILES!
I don't check for input values, so the tool will crash.
I don't check for input values, so M&B will refuse to start, or will crash
so again,
BACKUP!
Only clean, pretty, kosher OBJ files will work, others will (you guessed it), crash the tool. Usual problems are relative vertex indices (not supported, use absolute if your conversion tool can do that) and missing vertex normals (LWO meshes lack them and some exporters to OBJ don't calculate and add them).

The link:
HERE

The (short) manual:
Open a brf mesh file (other brfs will crash at loading).
Click on meshes to see them.
CTRL-Mouse SHIFT-Mouse and mousewheel to move the mesh around.
Edit stuff, save your file and have fun.
Duplicated material or mesh names will crash M&B.
If you add a new material, click on the mesh reload button to update the materials on the combo box to reflect it (yes, that's crazy, but is late here).
I use mostly Wings3D for my 3D testing. Deceivingly ugly but with lots of hidden power. OBJ files exported from Wings tend to work well.

Post questions, suggestions and bug reports here, I'll read and will try to answer/implement/fix as time permits.

[-GandalfTheGrey]

You are the hero of all the mod designers. Great job!
One thing though, where do you live ? I mean, when is tonight for you ?

[Thorn]

Lurb, can't you go for another format? Although OBJ isn't that bad, it's really basic and not very standard. IMHO Either .lwo (lightwave, as a lightwave fan. Most tools can export to this, plenty of free converters around) or .3ds (THE standard in the scene, although a bit depricated (will mesup your model if it's badly modelled))

[Thorn]

Lurb, can't you go for another format? Although OBJ isn't that bad, it's really basic and not very standard. IMHO Either .lwo (lightwave, as a lightwave fan. Most tools can export to this, plenty of free converters around) or .3ds (THE standard in the scene, although a bit depricated (will mesup your model if it's badly modelled))

I still love you though, great work

[Yoshiboy]

no, .obj is great AND widely used IMO.

[Taurandhir]

Wow, that's awesome news, I've been hoping for such a program for many months. Can you explain the structure of the BRF format, because I had almost decrypted the older RSF format and am very interested to find out how the new one works.
 
 And can you make a Blender importer/exporter?

[jik]

Sounds awsome.  Even if you can't do the body parts yet, at least we can get the scale and work on other things.  Exellent

[Lurb]

OBJ is nice because it's quite simple, text based and usable with many tools. The drawback is the lack of support for "animatable" meshes.
LWO is harder to read and write, and lacks support for per-vertex normals, which are needed.
I'll start looking for a more suitable format, COLLADA maybe?, after I get some work and school stuff made, been delaying it too much.

[Seff]

Quick questions:

Will we be able to make new armor models?

Can we give them their own texture?

and....um....thats aboot it, i think...

[[P]aradox]

Seff: no and yes. Like he said, the models with animation embedded in them are currently inaccessable. However, there will be an option to copy current models and give them new materials.

[Seff]

Seff: no and yes. Like he said, the models with animation embedded in them are currently inaccessable. However, there will be an option to copy current models and give them new materials.

m'kay...

*Cries!* I want more armours!!! WAAAHHHHH!!!

[Ubberdorc]

So can we take an existing armor, copy it, rename it, then give it a new texture?

[Leodan Flamelock]

Interesting, well after reading all this I have one question Lurb.

Will you be my daddy?

[Lurb]

Interesting, well after reading all this I have one question Lurb.

Will you be my daddy?

Wait until it crashes wiping out your M&B install, then I'll be your daddy  

It's almost finished, but I added a lot of stuff in the last few hours that will be going out virtually untested.

[Lurb]

It's out. I edited the first post with the link and some basic info. Now have fun. I have to plunge into real work 'til  Xmas