Based on the Mark Callow VRML exporter, which was based on original VRML exporter
that comes with the Max SDK.
Just click the following links and unzip the file into your Max's 'stdplugs' folder,
and start up Max
Version 5
or Version 6
Max Version 7: Reports from the field say that the Version
6 exporter works in most cases in Max 7.
What it has:
Backward-compatible with VRML97 scenes and helpers
Classic VRML encoding and XML encoding flavors of X3D (VRML97 is NOT there)
Multi-texture support - specifically: diffuse, self-illumination (as shadows),
and bump (as normals)
More DEF's, notably on Inlines, ImageTextures, and others
Some bug fixes, including memory leaks and crashers, that were in the VRML97
exporter
Can create a LoadSensor (which currently does nothing, but IS accessible via
SAI)
What it lacks:
NURBS
New X3D-specific nodes as helpers (such as arbitrary LoadSensors etc)
Multitextures when NGons or Quads are output (triangle-based objects no problem)
On the list of things to do:
NURBS
2D Coord interpolators for animated textures (UV's and texture transforms)
Multitextures for non-triangle-based objects
Proto Interface
Rip out all the old classic VRML97 file output code, override the XML (DOM) serializer
to output the classic VRML encoding. This will GREATLY reduce, simplify, and cleanup this code.
Known Problems:
See above
Can crash after 3 exports, need to restart Max
Flux currently does not handle multiple coordinates for multitexture nodes. But
if all your texture maps use the same (or default) mapping, should work ok.
If you have problems with X3D (XML) encoding, try X3DV (VRML) encoding (you may
be missing some DLLs)
If you're having problems witn NGons, try Triangles, and vice/versa
Not all mapping modes are supported for doing multi-texturing. It was designed
to output one big light-map with different UV's from the many diffuse maps (as you typically find in large world
scenes (as opposed to small objects or characters), see below for tips.
The Plan:
1. Get some Alpha testing done by the good folks in the public. It's a big spec,
needs a lot of testing, I need help.
2. Fix as many new problems as possible. Put Beta code in open-source, publish
Beta version and get more testing.
3. Release final code and plugin to open-source
4. Ongoing fixes will include: cleanup of VRML/XML encoding process, NURBS, etc.
Exporting multitextures:
This exporter was written with the intent to export different UV's
for different channels. The idea is to allow diffuse textures to remain unbaked, and bake lights to one bitmap
per object. If you want are having trouble with the method below, you might try baking diffuse to a single bitmap
per object. 'Course, what's the point, you might as well bake diffuse and light together and put them in the diffuse
channel. Otherwise:
The trick:
1. Use Max 6. The baking is done via
a script, which is much better in Max 6 than 5 (although it could probably be back-adapted to 5). Since most multitextures
will have a different set of UV's (or texture transforms) per layer, you need to make everything that uses them
Meshes (IFS's). You may want to add a UV mapping to each such object, try UVWtoXYZ or Face. You may need to collapse
its stack. Or you could uncheck the 'Primitives' option during Export (unless you have some primitives you need
to preserve). 2. Set up all lights etc exactly
how you want them. 3. Select All 4. Save As the scene. This is
so you can undo the entire baking process quickly if you need to. 5. Render/Render To Texture:
a. Choose Map Channel 2 because the exporter
only uses channel 1 for diffuse and 2 for lights (3 for bump) b. Set the file type to JPG if
you can (I could not, this is a problem in the max script, it defaults
to TGA and teases you that you could maybe change it. There is a workaround posted on the 'net) c. Choose 'light map' because
we're going to reduce lights etc (if baking light to diffuse, use 'complete map') d. Choose 'lightmap' as the map
slot e. Choose 'Output to source' as
we want to replace the UVW's and maps with the newly baked ones f. Choose a map size of 512 or
better. Choosing 'auto size' makes all the maps 32 pixels wide, I don't know why. g. Render
6. Export to VRML (the one that ships
with Max 6 at this point) 7. Since step 5b is problematic,
it probably made a bunch of TGA files, so batch convert them to JPG with your favorite
utility for doing such. 8. Edit the resulting WRL file,
replace all .tga with .jpg (you may also want to put in a NavigationInfo if needed) and Save
That's it!
That baking script is editable. Would be nice to get a Max guru to look at it, or see if Discreet can provide some
support,
to fix a few little things, but otherwise, not too bad.
