Lightwave to XNA problems

#1

Hi guys,

I will probably post this problem on an XNA forum as well but I think that someone on here may well be able to help me. I have limited experience with Lightwave, I did a weeks introductory course here in Ireland. I know the basic layout and how to do some simple modelling and have done a small bit of animation too. More recently I have started to look into games programming and in particular using the XNA development tools. I’m having some trouble importing 3d models from Lightwave into XNA. I have downloaded the FBX plugin from alias that adds the Export to .FBX plugin and that seems to be working ok. However when I try to open a model in XNA is get the following error message.

Error 1 Skeleton not found. Meshes that contain a Weights vertex channel cannot be processed without access to the skeleton data. C:\Documents and Settings\Robert\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\Spaceship\Spaceship\Content\Models\f14.fbx Spaceship

I am using a model I obtained in a cd which contains lots of other 3d models that work fine in Lightwave but have the same error.

Is this a case of the plugin not working with the newer version of Lightwave (v9)? I had read somewhere that a few users had used this plugin in the new Lightwave and it worked fine for them. If not is there a quick fix like an option that I have not checked which will export the skeleton with the model as well? Or mayb I need to go back in and add a skeleton myself before I export. Would it be a matter of simply adding in a single bone and adding this to the whole object? I am not really familiar with weight maps in detail apart from a general idea what they do.

Anyway maybe I’m just plain missing something simple of really need to go back and get more familiar with Lightwave. I was hoping that by getting the models readymade on cd I could learn the games programming along with the 3d modelling as it would keep the interest up if I could have some nice models in my game. Anyway I hope someone has come across this kind of thing or from your knowledge of Lightwave is able to steer me in the right direction.

Robert

#2

Yea, you should post on the XNA forum. Some Lightwave guys there. I’ve published models within XNA but not any animation stuff.
Have you tried .x format? There are alot of exporters for LW.

http://forums.xna.com/post/13027.aspx maybe try pm this guy?

http://www.dstorm.co.jp/english/plugin/object.htm#DirectX2

#3

thankyou for taking the time to reply. i will try that exporter and let you know how i get on. might pm the fella you mentioned and see if he can give me some advice too. thanks again.

#4

i got the exact same error when i exported the model to the .x format. must be the way the models are set up on the cd i have not made them so unsure on that. i am registering on an xna forum now and post the porblem. hopefully i will be able to solve the problem I know its probably something relatively simple if you know how kinda thing.

#5

ok so i just figured out what was wrong or at least part of what was wrong. i had used the tab button to subdivide the edges to smooth out the object before i exported it. clearly xna doesnt like this at all. after i did this though I got the following problem with the model.

http://www.ziggyware.com/forum/viewthread.php?forum_id=14&thread_id=12686

do any of you have any thought on why this is happening?

#6

Well, upfront: I have to admit that I do not know anything about XNA at all…
So this is just a guess. But is it possible that the importer has to triangulate the mesh? If so, have you tried to triangulate it in LW Modeler (Shift-t) before exporting? Maybe that might make a difference and does prevent the converter from flipping every other triangle…

#7

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