The Long and Winding md5 road

[cdxbow]

We are very excited 'cause we finally have have our mech animated in Red Eclipse. Only early days cause theres lots of tuning and tweaking of the animation and the config. But here it is, http://mekarcade.com/media/w.mp4 It's only a single part mesh and doesn't contain all the animations of the md3.

This has been such such a struggle. After spending months trying to get the md3 format mech to animate in Red Eclipse we gave up on it. I got Walter to try md5 format which never worked, as his Max exporter kept crapping up the mesh when we tried to export an md5. We were becoming desperate.

The only options remaining to us were the smd (we didn't even know if it animated, and still don't) and the new 'inter quake format', iqm. If the smd didn't work I was going to try to compile the smd to the iqm, there is a compiler in the SDK to do it.

Needless to say, they didn't work.

Exporting out of Max was good. The smd exporters seem robust and the integrity of the model maintained. The smd mesh loaded but didn't animate. I configured as best I could, but it didn't animate. Textured OK though. I tried the iqm compiler from the sdk. They appeared to export OK but the I couldn't even get the mesh even to render, and at least for the iqm I had the working config of the player model to use as a guide.

Stuffed. Razor blades, a warm bath and a bottle of Temazepam........

After I awoke, I remembered that Walter and I both commented that the smd import and exported much better out of max than the quake models. I have a much older version of max with different exporters. So I imported Walters smd mesh and animations, started playing around and tried an md5 export. It seemed to work, so I tried it in the engine. Viola! A working mech. Theres much to be done to get it better, but at least the project is alive. The toolchain ended up like this:

3DStudio max 2010 -> export smd -> smd -> import smd -> 3DStudio max 9/Quake ET md5 exporter -> md5 v 11 -> manual edit of mesh header to V 10

This could be trimmed a bit! We need to work on the mech over the next month, trying to add the additional animations. Then we will post it on Quadropolis. Neither Walter or I have any previous experience with md5 so its the blind leading the blind.

I still would like to know can an smd be used as a player model? The smd format seems an excellant one for transferring skeletally animated models. It's robust, theres a heap of tools for it and just about everything can import and export it successfully.

[Kitsune]

SMD would be way better to use than md5, moreso a format like .DPM/.ZYM used by nexuiz, however Cube2 only supports MD3/MD5 unless a SMD loader is coded for it. The thing about .smd thou is that it is better compiled as it is similar to .md5 it consist of mesh.smd anim1.smd anim2.smd etc etc etc.

[cdxbow]

Yes, Linux and Mac pencilled in for the 0.4 release, the first public release is the windows only 0.3, due hopefully early August. I did manage to get a working Linux compile ages ago, but I haven't tried in a while. I put codeblocks on my daughters MacBook last week, and had a quick try at compling but the compiler seemed to be missing or was misconfigured.

If anyone out there would like to compile a Linux or Mac version I would love to here from you. I would love to have a linux and max version in the 0.3 release, its just a time thing. If your interested in helping out see postitions vacant - see http://www.mekarcade.com/vacancy.htm And as an active contributor you would be entitled to our goodies pack - see link on postitions vacant page.

[Kitsune]

about that webhosting, leme guess its a free reseller account like byethost or something?
I can help with the project but i'm currently busy with several others, Red Eclipse, being a GM for MAT Online, and several other things going on. i'll download it and see what i can do messing with it. If anything i can host the dedicated server for ya, I have 5 RE servers as it is.

[cdxbow]

Kitsune,
The host is a commercial web host (dreamhost) and we have a number of sites/domains. They tell me I can have unlimited traffic, unlimited space and unlimited sub domains. I never believe any 'unlimited' claim but I am keen to test these! And the offer is legit, the goodies page http://www.mekarcade.com/goodies.htm are available for active contributors, see the postions vacant page http://www.mekarcade.com/vacancy.htm The subdomain could be in mekarcade or any of the teamxbow sites,http://redarmor.orgfor example is sitting there waiting for the right people. Dreamhost have a whole heap of 'one click' install web apps and I would be happy to help contributors with these on their subdomains.

[Kitsune]

Well I don't need webhosting, I own several webservers including a reselller. I'll see if i can get up a dedicated server.

[cdxbow]

Just an update on our MD5 toolchain, which has got significantly better.

We have released a mod of Misfit3D, called Misffit Cubed which exports md5 files. We have player models running around in MekArcade and RE exported from Misfit; in a few days I will post a model that you can play with. Mod it, export it and watch with joy as md5 model runs the around in RE. There is a windows binary ready to go, and for the nix there is a plugin. Sorry no MacOS(anyone want to make one?)

You can download it from http://sourceforge.net/projects/misfitcubed/

Read the pages at the wiki about how to use it for cube models carefully. There are 2 important points to note when using it:

1. Do not tag your model in Misfit, and if its got Misfit tags delete them.
2. You will have to fix up a couple of lines in the mesh file and make your own config file. Misfit Cubed does make an md5.cfg but it's not very good at it. It does contain the correct names of the mesh file and mesh.

Once you have your model set up with the animations it becomes very easy and efficent production line.



In a few days we will put up some models already set up to export a player models for RE (and mekarcade [and Sauer])