[REL] Open Horizons II

Originally Posted by gap

I have also read some good reviews about meshlab, but it might be a more complex program to learn.

MeshLab is very easy to use and does have some very nice filters that do many cool things.
However!
It's obj output is in a format which will not work with GR2 Editor yet.

Importing to another program then exporting can wreck everything MeshLab did.

Data Parse can move things around to the right order though.


Sometimes you can import the obj to a dat with S3D then export it again and it will work fine.
Sometimes. Not all the time.

[gap]

Originally Posted by privateer

MeshLab is very easy to use and does have some very nice filters that do many cool things.
However!
It's obj output is in a format which will not work with GR2 Editor yet.

Importing to another program then exporting can wreck everything MeshLab did.

Data Parse can move things around to the right order though.

Honestly I didn't start messing with Data Parse yet, but having ran it once I can say that it doesn't look like a program that you can use without knowing exactly what you are doing. One should read its manual first (which I will asap)

Anyway, what imo we really need is having an intelligent post-processing tool, by someone with a deep knowledge of both informatics and 3d files, that will automatically optimize obj files generated by various modelling programs for import in GR2 Editor.

In four letters: PIFT

Originally Posted by privateer

Sometimes you can import the obj to a dat with S3D then export it again and it will work fine.
Sometimes. Not all the time.

Tried it with the balloon, but the UV map was equally corrupetd after import in GR2 Editor.

Originally Posted by gap

Honestly I didn't start messing with Data Parse yet, but having ran it once I can say that it doesn't look like a program that you can use without knowing exactly what you are doing. One should read its manual first

Yes. The free version requires you to write scripts.
I do that in 010 but not everyone will/can pony up the $50.00 or so.
(They did take a few of my suggestions and are going to add some cool features to 010 soon like Macro recording and scriptable column stuff )

I'm looking at Data Parse as a free program that can do what PIFT did.

So all I need to do is write the script and Bob's your Uncle!

It's really nothing more then some shuffling/fudgeing of text based information!

One thing about the Barrage Balloon I need to know. Did you export it from a GR2 or have the original model to work with?

[gap]

Originally Posted by privateer

Yes. The free version requires you to write scripts.
I do that in 010 but not everyone will/can pony up the $50.00 or so.
(They did take a few of my suggestions and are going to add some cool features to 010 soon like Macro recording and scriptable column stuff )

I'm looking at Data Parse as a free program that can do what PIFT did.

So all I need to do is write the script and Bob's your Uncle!

It's really nothing more then some shuffling/fudgeing of text based information!

yes, from your previous comments I imagined that it wasn't nothing more than re-arranging file sections based on what one can see from a GR2 Editor-exported file. I would have focused on this task, but during the last days I was more absorbed by the "artistic" aspect of 3d modelling

P.S: why are you talking about PIFT using the past? Is it MIA?

Originally Posted by privateer

One thing about the Barrage Balloon I need to know. Did you export it from a GR2 or have the original model to work with?

I modelled it based on Trevally's meshes. I don't remember if I used as base an obj file exported from OH's dat, or directly the original files that Trevally had sent to me more than one year ago.

I thought I had sent you my working files in obj format. Didn't I?

Yes. I have your files just didn't know if it was new or an export from a GR2 or dat.

I first did a 'PIFT' conversion by hand in 010. I then wrote an Alpha version in C.

That was on an old system and I scrubbed that when I got this one.
I lost A LOT of good stuff I thought I saved. (Ever wiped 500+ GIG of data and go OMG!!!)


The basic thing is it's all done by messing with text files as that's what obj files are.
Now, export an obj from a GR2 and import it to some 3D program and then export it without doing anything to it.
Notice it has changed? The model is still good but it lost file size (on disk) and data!


I noticed this way back when trying to Hex some files for the first interior mods and my Open Bunker stuff.
Files did not match for verts and so on.
I'd import to Max, make changes and export and loose verts, normals, and tex-coords!


So I studied the original exports (I used my exporter back then, It does bulk exports)

I imported to Max and exported again and compared files.
I found that the GR2 files 'adds' things so that the way they are placed in the GR2 allows the structures!
So if the AO tex-coords are greater then the base tex-coords?
We just grab a few verts and all the other things with it and throw them in till file things match!
It can be zeros it don't matter!!


We just need to make sure the structure is correct!
That means We need to match the verts between Base an AO obj files so that's where a shuffle comes in.
Any missing stuff we fudge.

[gap]

Originally Posted by privateer

I first did a 'PIFT' conversion by hand in 010. I then wrote an Alpha version in C.

That was on an old system and I scrubbed that when I got this one.
I lost A LOT of good stuff I thought I saved. (Ever wiped 500+ GIG of data and go OMG!!!)

Originally Posted by privateer

...export an obj from a GR2 and import it to some 3D program and then export it without doing anything to it.
Notice it has changed? The model is still good but it lost file size (on disk) and data!

...I'd import to Max, make changes and export and loose verts, normals, and tex-coords!...

...I found that the GR2 files 'adds' things so that the way they are placed in the GR2 allows the structures!...

...So if the AO tex-coords are greater then the base tex-coords?
We just grab a few verts and all the other things with it and throw them in till file things match!
It can be zeros it don't matter!!


...We just need to make sure the structure is correct!
That means We need to match the verts between Base an AO obj files so that's where a shuffle comes in.
Any missing stuff we fudge.

Do you mean that GR2 objects contain dummy/redundant data, whose use is just to keep a certain file structure and/or size?

How does it relate to my problem? my "buggy" Wings 3d obj files, once processed in 3ds, are read correctly by GR2 Editor (or at least it looks so)... does 3ds add the missing strings?

[Targor Avelany]

Originally Posted by privateer

Yes. I have your files just didn't know if it was new or an export from a GR2 or dat.

I first did a 'PIFT' conversion by hand in 010. I then wrote an Alpha version in C.

That was on an old system and I scrubbed that when I got this one.
I lost A LOT of good stuff I thought I saved. (Ever wiped 500+ GIG of data and go OMG!!!)


The basic thing is it's all done by messing with text files as that's what obj files are.
Now, export an obj from a GR2 and import it to some 3D program and then export it without doing anything to it.
Notice it has changed? The model is still good but it lost file size (on disk) and data!


I noticed this way back when trying to Hex some files for the first interior mods and my Open Bunker stuff.
Files did not match for verts and so on.
I'd import to Max, make changes and export and loose verts, normals, and tex-coords!


So I studied the original exports (I used my exporter back then, It does bulk exports)

I imported to Max and exported again and compared files.
I found that the GR2 files 'adds' things so that the way they are placed in the GR2 allows the structures!
So if the AO tex-coords are greater then the base tex-coords?
We just grab a few verts and all the other things with it and throw them in till file things match!
It can be zeros it don't matter!!


We just need to make sure the structure is correct!
That means We need to match the verts between Base an AO obj files so that's where a shuffle comes in.
Any missing stuff we fudge.

In gentoo:

 
bash$ > parted:
: rm 1
: rm 2
: rm 3
: rm 4
: rm 5
: rm 6

Without realizing that the program is not like fdisk, that actually asks for confirmation... parted just writes tha partitions. 500gb... Unrestorable.

[gap]

Originally Posted by Targor Avelany

In gentoo:

 
bash$ > parted:
: rm 1
: rm 2
: rm 3
: rm 4
: rm 5
: rm 6

Without realizing that the program is not like fdisk, that actually asks for confirmation... parted just writes tha partitions. 500gb... Unrestorable.

What? When?

[Targor Avelany]

Originally Posted by gap

What? When?

a while back. on my linux computer. Just mentioned to relay to the tragedy of loosing information due to your own stupidity.

[gap]

Originally Posted by Targor Avelany

a while back. on my linux computer. Just mentioned to relay to the tragedy of loosing information due to your own stupidity.

I thought it had just happened.

[Targor Avelany]

I usually learn on my mistakes from on the first try

[gap]

Originally Posted by Targor Avelany

I usually learn on my mistakes from on the first try

Off topic: going to import your exported files. Fingers crossed and stay online if you can

[gap]

@ Targor

two remarks:

1 - the vertex coordinated of the objects you have exported where offset so to center the model on the y axis, while I had it set so that cables started at y = 0. This might pose some problem when placing the unit in game. Could you re-export the balloon by keeping the original coordinates.

2 - even worst: every time I import the cables, everything looks fine until I try saving; at this point I get a broken chain error, and the saving is aborted. Tried with my original cables, and I get the same error. To know what is wrong with them now

[gap]

Originally Posted by gap

2 - even worst: every time I import the cables, everything looks fine until I try saving; at this point I get a broken chain error, and the saving is aborted. Tried with my original cables, and I get the same error. To know what is wrong with them now

Update: the problem is not in the model I am trying to import, but in the GR2 file I am using as base (costal_guns_small.GR2). Every time I try replacing the second mesh (Costal_Gun_Small_mount) with whatever obj file, I get the same error, no matter if do it on a clean file.

Time to rest now, I will try again tomorrow with another file.

[gap]

Originally Posted by gap

1 - the vertex coordinated of the objects you have exported where offset so to center the model on the y axis, while I had it set so that cables started at y = 0. This might pose some problem when placing the unit in game. Could you re-export the balloon by keeping the original coordinates.

Nevermind. Please ignore the above statement: it was my mistake. I am sending you a new set of files for 3ds export