LOD, 3DS and not multires
by David Fielder · in Torque Game Engine · 03/16/2004 (2:21 pm) · 8 replies
I am trying to get a test object, made in 3D Studio Max 3.1, to display it's detail levels properly in Torque.
I used three meshes for each level, a cylider for detail128, a sphere for detail 64 and a cone for detail1. (I did this so it would be easy to tell when the LOD has changed).
Using the show utility, I can see that all levels are present in the DTS file. However...
For some reason, torque is not automatically displaying the meshes based on display size. It is only displaying the top level (detail128). I am using the starter.fps example as a test bed, so I have made no alterations to the code. Doing a similar test with the MilkShape LOD plug-in, this works perfectly.
An interesting note is that the lowest detsil setting (detail1) is indeed being used to generate the shadow, since the shadow is a cone shape.
It is important to note that I am not using the multires plug-in, since I am using 3DS Max 3.1, which does not include it.
Can anybody think of how to convince torque to use the different levels, taking note of the fact that I am not using the multires plugin to generate the meshes?
Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Dave
I used three meshes for each level, a cylider for detail128, a sphere for detail 64 and a cone for detail1. (I did this so it would be easy to tell when the LOD has changed).
Using the show utility, I can see that all levels are present in the DTS file. However...
For some reason, torque is not automatically displaying the meshes based on display size. It is only displaying the top level (detail128). I am using the starter.fps example as a test bed, so I have made no alterations to the code. Doing a similar test with the MilkShape LOD plug-in, this works perfectly.
An interesting note is that the lowest detsil setting (detail1) is indeed being used to generate the shadow, since the shadow is a cone shape.
It is important to note that I am not using the multires plug-in, since I am using 3DS Max 3.1, which does not include it.
Can anybody think of how to convince torque to use the different levels, taking note of the fact that I am not using the multires plugin to generate the meshes?
Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Dave
#2
Overall, the DTS exporter works fine. With Clark's release of the dtsPlus SDK I think that we'll see a new round of high quality exporters for a variety of programs.
03/17/2004 (12:02 pm)
Glad to see you got your problem fixed.Overall, the DTS exporter works fine. With Clark's release of the dtsPlus SDK I think that we'll see a new round of high quality exporters for a variety of programs.
#4
03/18/2004 (8:52 am)
DtsPlus? Whats the plus?
#5
As for where you can find info on it... It's in CVS, man. :) Look in lib/dtsSDKPlus. The Maya exporter uses it.
03/18/2004 (11:00 am)
It's a rewritten DTS exporter SDK. That's why it's called dtsSDKPlus.As for where you can find info on it... It's in CVS, man. :) Look in lib/dtsSDKPlus. The Maya exporter uses it.
#6
=Params::T2AutoDetail 0
This should disable the auto detailing system that unMessDts corrects for.(A hold over from Tribes 2 that didn't make it into torque)
03/18/2004 (1:53 pm)
David put the following line in your scene's config file:=Params::T2AutoDetail 0
This should disable the auto detailing system that unMessDts corrects for.(A hold over from Tribes 2 that didn't make it into torque)
#7
Oddly enough, that is not helping. I am not too concerned now that I've got it to work with unmess.dts. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I'm using the 3dsMax 3.1 exporter? The dump file does indicate that Params::T2AutoDetail 0. Oh well.
Perhaps the tutorials should be edited, so right at the top, in big, bold letters, it says (ALWAYS RUN UNMESS.DTS AFTER EXPORTING YOUR MODELS). I like my information spoon fed ;o)
Dave
03/19/2004 (6:12 am)
Hey Martin,Oddly enough, that is not helping. I am not too concerned now that I've got it to work with unmess.dts. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I'm using the 3dsMax 3.1 exporter? The dump file does indicate that Params::T2AutoDetail 0. Oh well.
Perhaps the tutorials should be edited, so right at the top, in big, bold letters, it says (ALWAYS RUN UNMESS.DTS AFTER EXPORTING YOUR MODELS). I like my information spoon fed ;o)
Dave
#8
03/19/2004 (7:17 am)
Btw, I didn't find a need for unmessdts.exe when I am exporting static shapes in 3d Studio Max 4.2 
Torque Owner David Fielder
I have to run UnmessDTS.exe on the file after exporting. After doing this, the levels of detail work perfectly.
Is there any reason why we can't implement changes that UnmessDTS.exe makes directly into the MAX exporter? I spent the good part of a day trying to figure this one out :oS
Dave