Help with Model for DTS

#1 I haven't upgraded to max7 so I can't open the file, but are you sure you're setting up your detail marker(s) correctly?
Post a screenshot of your schematic view.

#2 If you are getting a "No Details to Export" error its typically one of these things that has gone wrong:

1) No detail markers in your scene (ie. detail128, detail64, detail32, etc.)
2) No detail data on your geometry. This is either done with a trailing number at the end of the node name that matches a detail marker number in your scene (ie. playermesh128), or through the multires modifier setup (which is explain in more detail than I have time right now to explain in the DTS Exporter Docs)
3) You don't have your scene hierarchy properly setup. If you have an object that doesnt use the skin modifier then it should be a child of the start01 node (or equivilent). If you do use the skin modifer, the node should be on the scene root.

You will need to go back and check your scene to be certain (sorry I don't have the time to look through your scene and give you a more detail explaination of what you have done wrong with your setup, but by using my response and reading the DTS Exporter Docs its really easy to figure out)


Logan

#3 Here are those pics, I have a crazy rig going on so I had to divide em up. I've tried everything I can think of and reread the docs but I can't get it working, Thanks for any help.

#4 The images doesn't seem to work. If you want to you can find my email in my profile and send them along.

#5 Sorry Just realized that Yahoo Brefcase dosn't allow public sharing unless you pay. Sigh. I hade my own web space from school but upon graduation my college shut it off. I sent those pics in an email. Thanks alot for taking the time.

#6 Okay, I can see several problems.

1. The name of your multires snapshot is incorrect. It should be Multires::OgreLP.
2. You don't have any detail markers. You need to create dummies called detailXX (replace XX with the detail number) for each of your LODs.
3. This one I can't see, but as L Foster say; make sure you have proper detail data on the multires snapshot. If you go into the "user defined" properties for the mesh you should have something like:

MULTIRES::DETAILS = 1.0,0.7,0.35,0.18
MULTIRES::SIZES = 128,64,16,2

(That is provided you have detail markers called detail128, detail64, detail16 and detail2).

#7 Just thought i'd jump in on this with a question..
when you are doing Multires Lod like this do you need to add anything special to the "*.cfg" file ?
..say like "autodetail" or something?

#8 @TenRhook: I don't quite know actually. This is what I put at the end of my config files. I don't really know why or what it does. It was probably just stolen of some sample cfg file somewhere =).


+Error::AllowEmptySubtrees
+Error::AllowCrossedDetails
+Error::AllowUnusedMeshes
-Error::AllowOldSequences
-Error::RequireViconNode
-Param::CollapseTransforms

-Param::findMergeIndices
-Param::computeScreenError
=Params::T2AutoDetail 0

#9 Thanks alot for the help.

Sorry to be a pain but I still can't get it working :(.


couple things. I renamed the multires modifier per your advice. Also I went in to the user properties of MultiRes::OgerLP and set them up with the following

MULTIRES::DETAILS = 1.0,0.8,0.4,0.10
MULTIRES::SIZES = 128,64,16,2

I then created dummy objects named
Detail128, Detail64, Detail16, and Detail2

I then tried linking those dummys to several diffrent places in my Schematic. I tried linking them under PlacementCtrl wich is my root but is in itself a dummy

I also tried linking them under
HipPlacement0 another dummy and

Oger_Hip wich is sort of the root bone of my mesh (though the spine ect isn't really connected to the hip bone it is with constraints and scripts

But no matter where I put them I still get the same error.


where should I like the dummys? My rig isn't standard so I'm confused about that?

Also I noticed in the example file... Player.max
that the bones are all linked together in a standard way

If you look at my schematic the hand bones on my oger for example are not linked to the skeleton. This is because I'm using scripted constraints inside 3dstudio to give me more control of how the wrist twists ect.. Is this going to cause a problem?



One other thing. I opened the example file player.max For some reason while it exports OK it crashes show tools when I bring it in. Any idea why that is?

I can get through the simple shape tutorial OK, export it with LODs and import it into showtools with no problem. The problems I'm having seem to be related to haveing a skeleton.


Thanks again. I really appreciate you takeing the time to help. I'm coming from a film background so while I know 3ds really well getting a model into a game is compleatly new to me.

Hopefully this new space works for images.
The first image is of the schematic with the new naming convention on the multires object
www.sharemation.com/hoesterey/NewSca1.jpg?uniq=baypvt

The second is the dummys linked under the hip bone
www.sharemation.com/hoesterey/NewSca2.jpg?uniq=baypvz

The thierd is of my code in the mutlires objects user preffs
www.sharemation.com/hoesterey/NewSca3.jpg?uniq=baypw5

#10 Still can't get the images to load (it asks me for a password).

Anyway, you do need to have an uninterrupted skeleton (that is, link your hands to the rest of the bones). Having various control objects that aren't attached to the skeleton is fine though as long as you don't export them. You should put those in your NeverExport list in your cfg file, keep in mind that you can use wildcards in the cfg! What I do is to prefix my control objects with Ctrl (like LeftHandCtrl) or something similar and just put *Ctrl in the NeverExport list.

You can also have objects in the middle of your skeleton hierarchy that isn't exported (the bones below the removed nodes will automatically get transformed correctly by the exporter). I've used all sorts of scripts, constrains and ik chains and it works fine as long as you keep in mind that the game won't understand those things and need a fully connected skeleton. So you're probably going to have to restructure your bones a bit, but it should be possible to get the same setup as your describing with a couple of extra dummies.

I've had some very unstandard rigs and they worked just fine. (the messiest one had about 80 bones, and close to 200 other objects in the scene that were never exported =).

Another thing I noticed in the images you emailed me is that you may have bones that have names preceded with a number; this is a big no-no as the exporter will think they're meshes. You're going to have to rename those. Shouldn't give you the error your seeing though.

Not sure if it matters where you link the detail dummies, but I always link them to the root of my skeleton. (shouldn't matter what this one is called, as long as it's the root).

Neither of these things should really give you the "no details to export" error though. Can you try it without the multires and see what happens? Just remove the multires snapshot, rename the mesh to OgreLP128 and remove the detail markers (except for detail128).

#11 Hey thanks alot. ya I already tried without the multirez. I think The problem may now be that my skeleton is in so many pieces it doesn't know where to find the detail marker. I tried renaming it to OgerLP128 and linking the detail marker to my hip bone with the same result. I'll just do a quick rig with a uninterrupted skeleton and try again.

Thanks alot for the help, I'll let you know what happens :)

#12 OK here is another try. I know it's been awhile but I wanted to try "everything" before I posted again. Sadly I have literaly worked on this for more then a week with no results. I'm still getting the same error message.

Here is a pic of the most striped down rig I could make. Simply a few bones, no IK, no multirez, just the mesh the detail marker and the bones.

I still get the "no details to export" error.

I'm using 3dstudio max 7

Heres the pic of my scamatic view. Is thier anything outside of how the scamatic is set up that could be causing this error? or have I run into some kind of bug?

thanks again for any help.

#13 I am an expert in messing up the torque exporter (i've done it a lot :D)...
maybe i can help...

i cant seem to be able to view your pictures or download the max file?
could u send the max file (any one that dont work) to my e-mail
mrludo@hotmail.com ***.zip first plz***

here is a tool for setting up multires.. hopefully it will elimate some possible errors..care o good aul magnus

http://www.garagegames.com/index.php?sec=mg&mod=resource&page=view&qid=7830

the detail markers are attached to the top o your "hierarchy chain"/"root"/"topmost parent" ...
if you have multiple hierarchy chains and need them all just make a dummy and link all these chains to it.. purely for the sake of having one root... the root in character studio is Bip01

.. if you have multiple chains do you have multiple skin modifiers?... that seems like something that would be an issue... though i am not 100% bout that

anyway.. send to me mail as you like?..

#14 Great Thanks ALOT!!!! I'll send it right over.

#15 I can see the image just fine, and... well. There doesn't seem to be anything apparently wrong.
Do you have anything in the mesh properties? (that is MULTIRES::DETAILS etc?). Those can sometimes mess things up if you don't use multires so make sure you clear the user properties whenever you're doing it this way.

#16 No sign o the file yet ... did ya zip it?..

i got 1.7(ish) megs free in the account

mrludo@hotmail.com

or if that dont work try

mrludorama@gmail.com

hope ta help ya...

#17 K I send again to your gmail account. It is ziped, hopefully you get it.

Thanks alot.

#18 Thanks Magnus. The properties are clear, I can't figure this one out. The wierdiest thing is that the player.max example file exports but crashes showtools when it's loaded in.

I Hope there is not some kind of bug :(.

Thanks for looking, can you guys think of anything else that could cause this?

#19 Just at a glance at max file...

-loose verts (unassigned)..this causes an error.. the exporter should catch it though.."vertex 1101 is unassigned" etc..u knew this tho

-model is facing wrong way.. the back view is the front view for torque.. and vice versa..
shouldnt affect details though

-the pivot point is facing the wrong way.go to hierarchy tab. hit affect pivot point and then hit transform ..set pivot point of the mesh and make sure u have set the scale reset b4 u skin a model.. (box trick)

-u got stl errors!.. open faces,double edges etc.. mainly cus o mouth n eyes

these are just possibilities that may or may not be causing a problem...

my personal hunch is that it is how the bones structure is setup.. feels like the exporter dont know where to look for them?... thats my hunch

-the unassigned verts would give an error exporting..
-the stl errors shouldnt affect details.. i just did a test.. i deleted the leg of a model i had worked on and tried exportin.. it worked..
-the model facing problem would just mess up animations and stuff
-i even renamed a biped to ogre_hip etc... so it aint the names..
-i tried exporting using multires and that didnt work neither.. gave same error (no details to export|).. so its not just a manual LOD thing..

basically i think its how your bones are set up.. thats my hunch... i'll look at the model more 2moro..

#20 Just hooked up the model to a biped..
i got an unassigned vert error.. and not a no details error..

i defo think its the bone setup...
i personally aint used anythin besides biped.. so i cant advise ya...

i know there is a torque skeleton generator that uses a custom rig setup in the resources section o this website..
i assume that would be worth a look to see how to setup the skeleton?..
get someone to confirm they have exported a skeleton to torque with it though..(ie read the comments to see if it has been successful)

hope ur on your way..