Glasgow cheap hotelsPlatforms: Windows95/98 & NT 4.x (3.51?)
NOTE: This version will stop working after 7/30/98. If it times out on you, you should check to see if a newer version of the program is available. I probably won't set a timeout for later versions, I just wanted to remind people that this is beta software... you can always just turn you system clock back if you want, though... :-)
!!THIS IS AN UNSUPPORTED PRODUCT!!
6/21/98 10:57 PM
OK, got back from a wedding this weekend (not mine) and wrapped up a little more work on Unrealinator. I've made the VRML parsing a bit more forgiving so now output VRML output from 3D programs like Truespace and Hash Animation should work just as well as 3D Studio (which was the preliminary program I was really supporting).
Also, I fixed a few other parsing bugs and added some visual feedback so that you'll know Unrealinator hasn't stalled out on you while working on large files.
Finally, it will now translate VRML "World Info" into the converted file (basically, "map name"). Not a biggie, but a nice extra touch.
Hoteles baratos con descuento NaplesI still haven't tackled primitive support yet. We'll see how that goes...
Also, a lot of people seem to be getting confused as to why their geometry is so damn small when imported into UnrealED. It seems a lot of you are forgetting scale issues when working within your 3D editors. If your mesh in 3D Studio is .05 wide, .03 high, and .03 deep, that's the "size" it's going to import as. The converter has no idea that the wall you're building is supposed to be human-high or ant-high so you have to scale things properly in your 3D program. Here's some good reference: Each unit in Unreal is equivalent to about 6" in the real world.
Final note-
If you've merged 2 separate mesh elements/objects in your 3D program and then export to VRML, it might look fine in a VRML viewer but it's going to choke in Unreal. That's because UnrealED will only understand objects that are a single, contiguous mesh. If you do manage to convert such an object, UnrealED will get confused and drop vertices and faces on you. the only way to get objects like that to work is to run a Boolean operation on the objects. For example:
-------| || -------| | | |----|-- | | | -------
Won't work in UnrealED, but this will:
-------| || -----| |----| | | | -------
Got it? Don't know what a Boolean is? Can't help you there...
This is not a limitation with Unrealinator! It's a limitation of UnrealEd/Unreal so it's not possible to work around.
Other than that, there are no limitations to the objects you can get into Unreal. I've included a file called orgainic.wrl to prove this. It was created in Organica and then exported to 3D Studio. From there, I just exported to VRML and ran it through Unrealinator. It's an obviously inefficient, unoptimized pile of "blobbiness" but should prove my point. :-)
6/12/98 2:52 AM
Well, I've scripted the first map converter for Unreal. Right now it's beta (actually more like Alpha) but it does the job.
Here's what's working right now: Converts VRML 2.0 files (.WRL) to UnrealED's .T3D format. There are, however, a few limitations...
- It doesn't yet calculate rotations or other translations (such as scaling), so your conversions may look "strange" when imported into Unreal. For now, just avoid doing those types of translations and simply play around with this program to see what it can do. If you're using a tool like 3D Studio Max to create your maps, you can bypass this limitation by first exporting your file from 3D Studio as .DXF and then re-importing it into 3D Studio. This basically has the affect of clearing all the relative object translations which will make your conversions work really well.
- It can handle "Ngon" polygons but sometimes polygons with more than 4 edges get translated wrong (I'm still trying to figure this out). Stick to triangular or 4-sided polygons for now.
- It ignores additional polygon "normal" information - I'm not sure if this is a problem but it *may* affect texture mapping within UnrealED. I haven't tested this yet.
- It doesn't handle VRML primitive shapes yet - this involves a lot of geometry coding that I'm not prepared to tackle right now. Don't export any primitives into your VRML files for now... (any one care to share their geometric skills with me? - I could use a refresher course.)
- Extremely complex objects within a file (a single object with more than 100 faces) will tend to stall out the program... just keep it simple for now. It will still do fairly complex objects as you'll see in the sample files included. (actually, the threshhold is much higher, I just don't want people to get carried away yet and say "Hey, this thing sucks! It can't even handle a 500,000-polygon rendition of the Statue of Liberty!" :-P
The first 3 limitations can be addressed as soon as I get the time to delve further into UnrealED's .T3D format. The fourth & fifth limitations will take longer...
I can attempt to implement more features as people suggest them to me. However, please don't ask me to implement texture-mapping, animation, or scripting support yet. This stuff is pretty hard for me as it is (I'm just an artist with a hacking nature).
NOTES WHEN EXPORTING TO VRML FROM 3D STUDIO MAX:
3D Studio's XYZ coordinate system goes against the grain of standard 3D geometry, so please choose "y" (yes) when the program asks if your VRML file was exported from 3D Studio otherwise your objects will be misaligned and improperly translated. Also, when you export to VRML from 3D Studio, follow these rules:
The only check-off options completely supported are
- indentation
- export hidden objects
NOTE: DO NOT CHECK THE "PRIMITIVES" OPTION (at least not for this version...)!
Other than that, feel free to experiment with your settings but be sure to follow the outlined information above to get reasonable results.
WHAT'S COOL ABOUT THIS PROGRAM:
Unlike the Legend Entertainment 3ds2unr "mesh converter" that was recently released, there are no limits to the size, postion, or geometry of your creations when you convert them with UNREALINATOR. You can create your entire map in something like 3D Studio and then export/convert/import in one fell swoop. Technically, any program that supports exporting to the VRML 2.0 format will probably work with this translator.
I've included a sample file (in .DXF, .WRL, and .T3D formats) so you can see a sampling of what UNREALINATOR can handle. I will leave you all to your imaginations...
If you run across any weird bugs that aren't explained in this document, zip up all the files you used (.3DS, .MAX, .WRL, .DXF, .T3D, etc.) along with a brief description of the problem and the version of UNREALINATOR that had the error and e-mail it to me. I'll put up an online bug report form soon. If I don't respond to your e-mail, don't feel bad - I'm just probably up to my eyeballs in work.
~jihad
!!AGAIN: THIS IS AN UNSUPPORTED PRODUCT!!
I'LL TRY TO BE AS HELPFUL AS POSSIBLE BUT RESERVE THE RIGHT TO BECOME A HERMIT AND IGNORE MY E-MAIL.
If this thing blows up your PC, I'm not responsible. However, if you win the lottery while using it, feel free to give me full credit :-)
If you do run into a serious problem, I've found that CTRL+ALT+DEL usually helps
Oh yeah, there's a short readme.txt file with the program. It's short 'cuz this program ain't that hard to use...