Just did a git pull and noticed the new activity around the AWD2 classes. I’m curious what the status/progress is on the format. Richard?

Hi,

AWD2 (and it’s tool-chain) is constantly being developed. It’s still not finalized, which means that things can still be (and are) changing. Because a major feature of AWD2 is that it’s both forward and backward compatible, we need to lock it down completely before it’s final, and to do that I have to feel comfortable with the structure in all parts of the format. It’s not quite done yet, but definitely getting there. We’re talking weeks now.

That said, it is usable even at this point. I’m on a project that uses AWD2 extensively, and the maya exporter (which is now in a generally usable state) to create content.

If you are curious about the Maya exporter and AWD2 in general, and want to help test it, just let me know and I’ll help you get set up with the tools.

Also remember that AWD2 is a separate project, so to follow it’s progress more closely, check out the Google Code page and the mercurial repository at http://code.google.com/p/awd . In the Away3D repo all you can see is what happens to the AWD2Parser, and that’s far from all the work that’s being done.

“If you are curious about the Maya exporter and AWD2 in general, and want to help test it”

Running Maya 2009 and winXP and want to play/test.

John, I’d be interested in having you test it, because so far I’ve only tested it in Windows 7 and OSX and with Maya 2011 and 2012. It could potentially work for older versions as well so please e-mail me (e.g. via Google Code) and we can give it a try!

Cheers

good to hear, Richard. I’m interested to look at it, but I don’t work in Maya. I have 3DS Max 2011 and the latest Blender. I am on Vista though so we’d have all the latest Windows releases covered if you’ve got something working with those apps.

I have been experimenting a bit with a Blender exporter, but there is nothing for 3dsmax yet. I’ll post in this thread when I’ve pushed the blender exporter, but initially it will be little more than a mesh exporter (no animation et c yet.)

@Richard ,As I suggested a while ago (when AWD2 specs was still under dev) that once you have the exporter finished I can give a try to port it for 3DsMax.
Once question   .I have seen that you have a Python and C++ SDKs .Is C++ SDK stable ? Python is not my domain .
Regards,
Michael

@Choons:
There is blender exporter code on Google Code now, but it’s not really in a “general purpose” state yet. It can export static, untextured meshes, containers and parent-child relationships. I’m working on skeletal animation right now. It always exports to a file called “blendout.awd” in the CWD, but if you can live with that then it should be fine to use for meshes for the time being.

I’m not sure you’ll be able to get it to run though because I’ve only compiled libawd and PyAWD on Windows 7, and I don’t know how compatible they are. Find me on Skype (“rofreelance”) if you want to give it a try!

@Michael:
Thank you for your interest in helping out with a 3dsmax exporter. The C++ SDK is indeed what one would use to build it. Both the SDK and specification is still moving, but much closer to final than ever before.

I potentially have a project coming up where I’ll be creating a 3dsmax exporter under contract, but if it falls through I’ll let you know and we’d be happy to accept your contribution!

@SasMaster:
Yeah 3DsMax we surely need (and Cinema4D/Blender/what more?)
I think David Gregory was working on a exporter for 3DsMax, might be for Collada (DAE) though.

@Ringo:
No one is currently working on an exporter for 3dsmax, because we’re not quite there with the format yet. David G is working on a Collada importer (completely unrelated.) See my previous post about the plans for a 3dsmax exporter.

Hey Richard, I just had a look at AWD2Parser.as and am pretty amazed by the progress since I last saw it. I’m really curious to try it out. I have some time in the next few days that I could do some experiments with it and Blender if you want to get me up to speed on where that stands. I really think AWD2 is going to open Away3D up for creating all kinds of new things.

@Choons:
Make sure you can build the PyAWD library (and libawd dependency) per the instructions on the Google Code wiki. Then come find me on Skype (“rofreelance”) and I’ll help you with the Blender stuff. Let me know if you have any problems.

will do, Richard. I’ve only ever dabbled with python but I’ll give it a go and get back to you soon with how it goes and with any questions. It’s going to be so nice to have a new fast export format.

I am going to wait for the go from Richard. If he doesn’t write the exporter on his own for max ( as he suggested earlier ) I will try to do it .
Michael

any toughts about a “zbrush” exporter ?

i dont know anything about creating plugins for zbrush but i guess a awd2-exporter would be nice to have.

of course most times one would want to prepare zbrush-created objects for exports in a different package (maya/c4d), but i think there are lots of objects who could be sended directly from zbrush to away3d (including their texture/normal maps)

its not something that should appear very high on a todo-list, but would be a nice component for our production-pipelines.

If Z brush comes with an SDK it should be possible .