The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

metaldev · Post by **metaldev** » Mon May 23, 2005 8:52 am

hidy ho everyone,

i made a scene manager for maya... i tried to make it as easy and quick to use as possible with the artist as user in mind. Basically you just tag any objects you want to export with parameters. and then click export. Any parameters you tagged have been saved to the object. Also it can export a .scene / dotScene data file for you to load into your app.

more detailed instructions are can be found by clicking help in the UI (which prints out the readme in maya)
and also here:
http://www.lfa.com/help.php

to use it... you need the native exporter installed and working... then the file:
LFA_sceneManager.zip

unzip to:
C:\Documents and Settings\userName\My Documents\maya\x.x\scripts

then make a button or run the script: lfa;

hopefully it will make our lives a little easier.

any suggestions or critiques welcome.

Bringer of Darkness · Mon May 23, 2005 11:59 am

Hmm, thanks, just testing it.
But I came to the problem immediately even during the installation;-))
At first when I used the provided files, Ogre menu from the popup menus dissapeared:-(((
Once I ran the script, it throws me in an huge amount of script errors.
A will keep trying to install that in a better way.
I am wondering, if anyone else is experiencing this problem, or am I doing something wrong?

metaldev · Post by **metaldev** » Mon May 23, 2005 5:22 pm

very strange,

you'll have to be more specific... whats the first error you get?

what version of maya?... although it should work on other versions i created it on 6.5

what os?

Also, when you export, it does need to shut down your native ogre window if you happen to have it open, because for some reason the exporter doesnt get all its info passed by arguments and tries to grab some values from the UI. So unfortunately allowing you to keep it open could pass erroneous settings.

Bringer of Darkness · Tue May 24, 2005 10:59 am

Well, I am using 6.5, so I believe no compatibility problem should be an issue. I am also running Win XP SP2

The first problem is, that once I use the provided userSetup.mel (or copy/paste the last line from your file), the Ogre menu dissapears...

But it may be as a result that there is a lot of problems in script. Alternatively it can be an issue of my runtime environment, I got no idea.

Here is what it throws me once I start the Maya... Any ideas?

// Error: {
//
// Error: Syntax error //
// Error: $exampleFileName = toNativePath($exampleFileName);
//
// Error: "$exampleFileName" is an undeclared variable. //
// Error: $fileId=`fopen $exampleFileName "r"`;
//
// Error: "$exampleFileName" is an undeclared variable. //
// Error: string $nextLine = `fgetline $fileId`;
//
// Error: "$fileId" is an undeclared variable. //
// Error: $nextLine = `fgetline $fileId`;
//
// Error: "$fileId" is an undeclared variable. //
....

Post by **jacmoe** » Tue May 24, 2005 11:16 am

That's quite an error report you've got there!

Could the problem be that you already have the old Ogre plugin?
How could that be fixed?

Bringer of Darkness · Post by **Bringer of Darkness** » Tue May 24, 2005 3:20 pm

Mhm, I have the lastest Ogre plugin I could have had - 6.5c - at least I think so;-)))
I can go step by step and fix all the reports in the script of course. But I am just not sure, if there isn't some problem elsewhere, therefore I am checking if someone else is experiencing the same problems as I do, or it is working fine everywhere else?;-)

metaldev · Post by **metaldev** » Tue May 24, 2005 3:30 pm

haha ill say

!!

it looks like the mel file got truncated at the top on the uploaded file... i apologize for that... i re-uploaded it. If it is downloading as a text file that is unreliable... i also put the files in this zip:

http://www.lofiapocalypse.com/ACCESS/OG ... porter.zip

NOTE: i also changed the script so all the files can go in:
C:\Documents and Settings\userName\My Documents\maya\6.5\scripts

please try to download again, and thank you!

metaldev · Post by **metaldev** » Tue May 24, 2005 3:37 pm

jacmoe wrote: Could the problem be that you already have the old Ogre plugin?
How could that be fixed?

you need the regular ogre installed, as mine is an add-on

Bringer of Darkness · Post by **Bringer of Darkness** » Tue May 24, 2005 6:15 pm

Yeah, now it seems to be working al fine....

Thanks

metaldev · Post by **metaldev** » Tue May 24, 2005 7:34 pm

sweet! tell me what you think!

hopefully it will help you out

Bringer of Darkness · Post by **Bringer of Darkness** » Wed May 25, 2005 9:43 am

Definitively will help a lot indeed;-))
Quite some piece of code:-)
We are just searching for the way how to adapt it to our needs - with this script (as it is done with MEL, which is quite easy to extend and adapt to our needs) we will need no editor I hope and can use directly modeling package as the level editor, which will be great help - that was intention of the script I believe;-)
It will take some time anyway to test it fully, but I will keep you informed. Thanks a lot for the script, it would take me some time to write my own

Right on time:D, great

cstnt · Post by **cstnt** » Wed May 25, 2005 3:40 pm

I am a beginner of maya , when I want to use this plug-in,I find the follow questions.
in the readme txt,it said:
2. If you want this object to be exported, tag it by clicking on
"Make Exportable" button. Tag all objects you want to export.

but I can not find the "Make Exportable"button.
how to make it Exportable?
please help me ! thanks

metaldev · Post by **metaldev** » Wed May 25, 2005 5:59 pm

ok,

first you have to run the UI by running the line of code: runExporterLFA;

then select an object... if the object is of an exportable type, the UI will display a 'make exportable' button... thats it!

btw you might want to make a button out of that line of code... to do that, type it in the script editor window and select the text and MMB drag to the shelf... then anytime you press it it will launch the window

metaldev · Post by **metaldev** » Wed May 25, 2005 6:11 pm

Bringer of Darkness wrote:Definitively will help a lot indeed;-))
Quite some piece of code:-)
We are just searching for the way how to adapt it to our needs - with this script (as it is done with MEL, which is quite easy to extend and adapt to our needs) we will need no editor ...

super!

that was exactly the intent of the script, and thank you, i really appreciate your comments, i worked hard to make it good

Bringer of Darkness · Post by **Bringer of Darkness** » Wed May 25, 2005 6:47 pm

One quick note I have realized.
In case I do export the scene, only one object is being compiled into .mesh (or maybe all do, but I suspect that these are converted into the same file, so only one file is the result;-))
Not that it is a problem, .xml files are being exported correctly, so it is only a matter of converting these after the export is realized.

metaldev · Post by **metaldev** » Wed May 25, 2005 6:50 pm

if tagged objects are instances, it will use one mesh for them... but if they are not instances it will export a .mesh for each ... if you want them to be 1 .mesh, you should make them 1 mesh in maya.

also by default it always converts your .xml to .mesh .
nor do you need to triangulate or anything like you do in the regular exporter, it does it all cleanly for you without messing with your models.

Bringer of Darkness · Thu May 26, 2005 11:18 am

Nope, it works a bit different at least in my case:-)))
Only one .mesh file is created for the whole scene. I am searching for the ways to fix it of course right now

metaldev · Post by **metaldev** » Thu May 26, 2005 6:06 pm

hmmm,

im unable to replicate

- have you tagged more than 1 polygon? it should give you a .mesh for each tagged polygon (other types are exported to .lfa data file only)

-are you pressing export scene? not export selected?

-also keep in mind that exported meshes are named what is in the UI, not their maya name.

i can't think of what else it could be.

Bringer of Darkness · Fri May 27, 2005 10:27 am

Well, the situation is an ambiguos one:-)

I see, that usualy conversion to .mesh file runs fine. USUALY:-)

But this doesn't mean that works that way always...

According to my attempts it is unpredictable, whether there is a correct amount of .mesh files exported or not.
Assume:
1. I have been playing around and clicking Export scene while testing and searching for the combinations of checkboxes/selections/activities that makes troubles/enables safe export.
2. Once the export ran correctly, I stopped all activities and have been clicking only export scene button. It did not exported twice or three times correctly...

Not sure what is the conclusion though;-)

metaldev · Post by **metaldev** » Fri May 27, 2005 6:04 pm

i don't know, i havent had that happen to me once yet

does the correct amount of .xml files always export correctly?

do you get any errors?

also, what is your processor speed?

btw, thank you so much for helping me test this out!

Vectrex · Post by **Vectrex** » Sat May 28, 2005 10:44 am

howdy, quick question, this doesn't export dotscene format, but a custom scene format? If that's true are there any particular reasons?

metaldev · Post by **metaldev** » Sat May 28, 2005 4:16 pm

actually, i just learned about the .scene format...and i was thinking of switching it to spit out .scene instead (or maybe also -depending on its flexibility)... could you be so kind as to point me to recources on how i can learn the format? and how to load it into ogre?

(i was searching but didnt have much luck finding anything but cursory mentions of it in the forums)

to my understanding though... it forces all entities to be in 1 file?

Vectrex · Post by **Vectrex** » Sat May 28, 2005 5:51 pm

sure, well I'm no expert but I think the xml specs are in the OgreAddons CVS, along with a couple of scenemanagers that load the format (octtree I think does)
http://www.ogre3d.org/index.php?option= ... &Itemid=70
Apart from the scene managers most of the editors in development process and use dotscene and www.yake.org uses it (full game framework written by dotscene dev)

ps Kit rules

psyclonist · Post by **psyclonist** » Sat May 28, 2005 6:49 pm

metaldev wrote:to my understanding though... it forces all entities to be in 1 file?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that. I try to explain a bit. If I'm totally off the track, feel free to correct me and I'll try to give a more precise answer.

Generally, .scene is used for defining scenes (or subscenes). In essence, it mirrors scene graphs with all the different objects that they may contain (hierachy of nodes, lights, entities, cameras, particle system ...).

I use .scene both for description of complete environments and for as a 'graphical model' format.

To get back to your question: If you want you can split a scene into several files. For example, I use one .scene for the static environment, and at least another one per application/game entity that contains the graphical representation.

-psy

metaldev · Post by **metaldev** » Sat May 28, 2005 7:09 pm

first of all, thank you guys for the help!

well i believe that you did answer my question -which more clearly stated is: if the actual vertex data for entities is contained inside the .scene format... which from your response i take to be yes.

if so, unfortunately, i think it may be beyond my programming abilities and knowledge of 3D to make my addon spit out a .scene

however, if i can make a .scene that simply calls .mesh files, this may be feasible for me to make.
i guess ill have to get cvs so i can see/learn the format

to psy, and those of you who know more than i, do you believe this is possible?

Ogre Forums

The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

The LFA Scene Manager for MAYA

how to make it exportable