AM to Lightwave pipeline

#141

Apologies for the delay, but Yes, the converter is still in progress but I had to make many other works before and kept my medical activity too.
Furthermore, I’m certainly not the best programmer even seen, and the goal to give a PC and Mac solution adds some contraints.

I will post in this thread the first results as soon as possible.

Best regards.

Alain :slight_smile:

Note : Mark’s Mdd compiler is fully working, and that is already a great part of the project. Although I do not had tested Weta’s Mdd exporter, it seems to be a very serious piece of work too.

#142

Excellent ! Thanks for the info.

#143

Has anyone had success exporting an animation sequence from A:M of a reasonably complex character into LW for rendering? And if so, would they care to show us the results? :slight_smile:

#144

Was Alain’s AM2LW converter ever finished?

#145

Was Alain’s AM2LW converter ever finished?

Not yet, sorry. This project is one of several 3d projects I must solved and it is not the first in order of importance here at EIKON Medical.
But for now, each element movement of the choreography is fully imported into LW in one single pass (a lws file is generated). The models in mdl format are also fully converted, and the converter take into account Middle Hooks, 5 point patches, Mesh groups and … using another converter in developpement AMPatche to Subpatches conversion with no loss of volume (and trust me, that is not simple to make). All these conversions are done in one click (no point, no poly, no edge to edit : AM and LW are closed). I have taken care to keeping Loops and Rings during the conversion so the softwares can really be included in a professionnal pipeline (I mean additionnal polygonal modeling in a polyModeler -LW, Modo, Hexagon, Silo, Wings3D- is possible and then re-importing the more detailed mesh into AM with Hooks and all the needed topology : the unique goal is to Animate into AM).

BTW, The converter will also offer a impressive (because so simple) way to connect AM and Vue d’Esprit with no effort.

Best regards, and apologies for this delated reply,

Cheers,

Alain

#146

Thanks Alain :slight_smile:
Take care.
Cheers

#147

this will definatley be something great to wait for.

I can’t wait!! Give me now, LOL!!!

#148

This looks like it’s going to be a very impressive tool, well done Alain.

#149

Ah, yes it’s me again. I’ve been itching to try out this pipeline myself, but have never had the time or more importantly a copy of Lightwave until now.

Here’s a link to a short clip demonstrating where I’ve got to:

Clip

This is just a VERY rough walk cycle I used to test how faithful an animation from AM to LW would be on a moderately complicated model. I think it’s pretty accurate.
The model was exported using Masashi Watanabe’s plugin from A:M. The textures would have made it completely intact had I not changed all the 5 point patches and hooks into 3 point patches. I did try using the AVA2 plugin to try and preserve the decals, but the AVA2 conversion into a LW model wasn’t too pretty.
You’ll notice the LW model has lost a bit of detail compared to the A:M one. I ran the model through wings ‘Tighten’ feature and got all the subtlety back, unfortunately once that was done, the MDD playback in LW went screwy. I imagine the order of vertices is altered by Wings.

The walk cycle action sequence was again exported using Masashi Watanabe’s MDD exporter. I also tried Mark’s Point Oven conversion which was partly successful, but only half of the LW playback of the animation worked before the point order went haywire.

#150

Wow, this really seems to be coming together. Someone give Masashi Watanabe a beer.

#151

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