Hi, I am wanting to use the x file format for my models. Now I know you can use panda plugin in 3d studio, is there one for Maya ? What do you guys use ? Any advice is much appreciated. Steve

Hi,

Ok, I've found that for MAYA you can use DirectX geometry export converter from Okino, using a program called PolyTrans, has anybody used this ? You can also used this in may other 3d modelling programs. Here is a link :

http://www.okino.com/conv/conv.htm

As anybody used this ?

I use messiahAnimate which is a top notch animation program. The directX exporter is great.

There is a demo available I believe...

www.projectmessiah.com

There seems to be some many modelling programs, I'm just confused as to which one to use. I must admit I'm swaying toward 3d studio due to the many books available for it.

Best regards,
Steve

Thanks Red Falcon,

I just want to start using one to do models, I know MilkShape 3D seems a good choice and is very cheap and does support x files. Have you used this ?

Hi. Personally I use 3dsMax but I'm in the fortunate position of being in the industry and so have access to these tools. 3ds has the abililty to be customised through scripts allowing you to add your own features and custom exporters to it. This kind of addaptability may be something you want to consider when deciding on a package for yourself if you intent to eventually use it as a scene/level editor as well as for simply modelling individual meshes. This kind of thing will save you bucket loads of time in the future since the last thing you want to be doing is coding your level layouts, enemy positions and paths, trigger zones etc by hand. If you can't get access to a copy of 3ds though I wouldn't plump up the huge amounts of cash for it since this is just a hobby. I doubt any of the cheap/free ones come with this high a level of expandability so you may want to consider how well documented and easy to parse their output file formats are and how many features these include (eg lights, cameras, helpers etc). This way you can write your own converter and use helpers and naming conventions to introduce game elements into your modelling package so it can be used as a level editor. Of course you don't have to worry about this and could just create your own stand alone level editor but I think this will end up being a lot more work for you.

Thanks Motorherp,

I know a lot of my friends use max as like yourself, they are in the industry.

I've PM'd you.

Kind regards,
Steve