MDD Exporter.js / MDD Baker.js

It seems to be working now but when I open my tank object it doesn't appear in the object browser so I can't drag it into the Baker window. Is this a limitation of the demo or have I misunderstood something about c3d.

When I create geometry in C3d it does appear in the Object browser.
 
BazC said:
It seems to be working now but when I open my tank object it doesn't appear in the object browser so I can't drag it into the Baker window. Is this a limitation of the demo or have I misunderstood something about c3d.

When I create geometry in C3d it does appear in the Object browser.
Click to expand...

Open a new document in C3D and go file-> open, then select the tank.obj and it drops straight into your document. The only limitation of the demo is save disabled, nothing else.
 
Thanks, I've got the object in and applied the .mdd to it. If I cycle through the frames in the plugin properties window the tank moves but if I press play or render the animation it stays put.

It's obviously users error, I need to study C3d a bit more! The plug appears to be working very nicely, thanks very much!
 
BazC said:
Thanks, I've got the object in and applied the .mdd to it. If I cycle through the frames in the plugin properties window the tank moves but if I press play or render the animation it stays put.

It's obviously users error, I need to study C3d a bit more! The plug appears to be working very nicely, thanks very much!
Click to expand...

Ummm, doesn't sound like user error. I'd expect the frames to be written to the timeline. Maybe Hiroto expects you to advance the frames in the plugin and record new keys in the timeline?
 
hi,

fused said:
Ummm, doesn't sound like user error. I'd expect the frames to be written to the timeline. Maybe Hiroto expects you to advance the frames in the plugin and record new keys in the timeline?
Click to expand...

Cheetah3D's script system has not some API to access animation keying yet. :)

a parameter 'frame' is recordable. so, you have to record 'frame' parameter manually. you can animate 'frame' parameter as you like ( play/rewind/fast/slow.. ).

regards.

tg_jp, Hiroto
 
Last edited:
tg_jp said:
hi,



Cheetah3D's script system has not some API to access animation keying yet. :)

a parameter 'frame' is recordable. so, you have to record 'frame' parameter manually. you can animate 'frame' parameter as you like ( play/rewind/fast/slow.. ).

regards.

tg_jp, Hiroto
Click to expand...
Not a problem, thanks for the script Hiroto.:D
 
BazC said:
Ah OK that makes sense, thanks for the info and for the speedy production of the scripts!
Click to expand...
I'm interested Barry, what's your workflow going to be? I see you're an established Modo user and an illustrator. Where does C3D fit into the scheme of things for you?
 
Cheers guys, I'm looking to expand my horizons. Some of my clients are getting into ebook publishing with the possibility of simple animated illustrations plus I've recently made contact with a local 3d company that specialise in technical illustration and animation.

Modo's animation abilities are limited at the moment and it has almost zero CA capability. C3d could fill that gap in my toolset nicely! I actually have Lightwave but I find the rigging and animation workflow in LW frustrating and unintuitive. C3d looks a lot easier! :)
 
Script in 5.8 not working

Hi Hiroto,
I'm trying to use your export to mdd script but it keeps crashing Cheetah, is this compatible with 5.8? Error report is below. Thanks for making this and all of your other scripts, they are very helpful.

Thanks
Brian
 

Attachments

  • Error report MDD Export.pdf
    57.7 KB · Views: 626
hi

Unfortunately, I couldn't make sure what happened when it crashed from that error report, but please check some for fixing it.

* script file is installed ~/---/scripts/Tool folder?
* how big object's mesh in your scene to be exported?
* how long your scene to be exported?

could you post your scene file, causes crash when exporting?

v6.0 will have new api for animation, so I will update for MDD Baker.js.

regards.

tg_jp, Hiroto.
 
tg_jp said:
hi

Unfortunately, I couldn't make sure what happened when it crashed from that error report, but please check some for fixing it.

* script file is installed ~/---/scripts/Tool folder?
* how big object's mesh in your scene to be exported?
* how long your scene to be exported?

could you post your scene file, causes crash when exporting?

v6.0 will have new api for animation, so I will update for MDD Baker.js.

regards.

tg_jp, Hiroto.
Click to expand...

Hi,
I do have the file in the correct folder. The Object's mesh, I'm not sure on how to check that specifically but the polygon count is about 49,500. The scene is 450 frames. I tried to post the file but even when zipped, it exceeds the 500 MB filter on the site. I'll try to get it on here but I'm wondering if I'm using the script properly. Also I have the 5.8 from the App store so I don't know if that makes any difference either. This was just an experiment on my end to see if I could find a faster renderer so I may need to try something else.

Thanks
Brian
 
tg_jp said:
hi

Unfortunately, I couldn't make sure what happened when it crashed from that error report, but please check some for fixing it.

* script file is installed ~/---/scripts/Tool folder?
* how big object's mesh in your scene to be exported?
* how long your scene to be exported?

could you post your scene file, causes crash when exporting?

v6.0 will have new api for animation, so I will update for MDD Baker.js.

regards.

tg_jp, Hiroto.
Click to expand...


Hi Hiroto

It seems the MDD exporter script immediately crashes Cheetah (v6.01) on selecting it from the Tool Script menu. This is even with a completely empty file...
 
hi,

thank you for reporting, I've just updated script files.
please replace it.

regards.

tg_jp, Hiroto.
 
Thanks Hiroto. The exporter and import scripts load fine now into Cheetah. However there is a problem exporting one of my test meshes. I've attached 2 simple model files below to illustrate.

The spring model is a continuous single mesh - and stays that way during the deformation by the modifier for the whole animation (which I set to 2.0 seconds in the MMD tool parameters). The MDD Exporter script seems to have no problem with this, and I can successfully re-apply the exported mdd file to the the generated obj, using the MDD Baker script to recover the original animation. Fantastic!

However the iso model (initially) consists of three disjoint meshes, which during the course of the animation (again 2.0 seconds) join together at various times to become 2 disjoint meshes. MDD Exporter hangs after a short time with an "out of range" error. I'm wondering if it's because the mesh is disconnected - i.e. it consists of several disjoint sub meshes?
 

Attachments

  • spring.jas.zip
    9.9 KB · Views: 531
  • iso.jas.zip
    8.6 KB · Views: 535
hi, thank you for using this.

about ISO-Surface, it's not available to export ISO-Surface object with MDD format. Because MDD file format requires same vertices count, but ISO-Surface will take different vertices count at each animation frame.

if you want to export ISO-Surface animation, you have to take other approach ( sequential object file ? ).

regards.

tg_jp, Hiroto
 
Ah yes, OK I see. Thanks for the explanation Hiroto.

The exporter will be very useful getting vertex animations into Unity.
 
tg_jp said:
hi, thank you for using this.

about ISO-Surface, it's not available to export ISO-Surface object with MDD format. Because MDD file format requires same vertices count, but ISO-Surface will take different vertices count at each animation frame.

if you want to export ISO-Surface animation, you have to take other approach ( sequential object file ? ).

regards.

tg_jp, Hiroto
Click to expand...

Hi Hiroto

Would it be possible to extend your MDD Exporter script to bake morph animations as well? This would be tremendously useful in getting morph animations into Unity. (Ideally, Unity would be able to directly import Cheetah morph targets, which it cannot, but at least if we can do the morph animations in Cheetah and then export the baked animations via MDD that would help...)

Cheers!
 
Can someone explain to me what MDD Baker is and how to set up and use it?

I have successfully used MDD Exporter to send morph or transformation animations to Blender so that works for me. But I haven't a clue how to use the Baker script, or what that is supposed to do.

Thanks!
 
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