FBX or Collada

[kryton9]

Guys, I downloaded the FBX SDK. Am skimming through the documentation and thought I would post about how you guys could find it interesting.
It basically supports everything you could want in a scene. You can setup all your lights, animations, rigging in your favorite 3d app and just bring it in.

I guess Collada is similar, but I found it easier to download and read on for FBX than collada.

Since Mike is working on animation program and I know Petr is thinking about going with collada, but I think you guys would enjoy downloading and looking over the documentation of FBX.

On another front, I think you all would enjoy seeing this video of the new Houdini that is coming out. Talk about OOP and its advantages. You can see the power of apps that can be developed. What is cool about Houdini is that they have an Apprentice version which is not a crippled version to learn on. I just never could use it before as it is very different. But now they seemed to have gone more mainstream with their interface and a lot more accessible to users.

Enjoy the video:
http://download.sidefx.com/images/stories/news/anniversary/procedural_forest.mov

Don't let the start let you think it is uninteresting, you will see how cool this app is going to be.

[Michael Hartlef]

I remember the times when there was the hype about FBX, the holy grail of file formats. They envisioned that all mainstream 3D apps would support it by now. WRONG! Some do, some don't To me it is another fileformat, just that. Sure it is powerful. But so are others too. Thanks for the link anyway. Will have a look once I find time in these stressy days right now!

[kryton9]

Mike, when you have some time check out the video link, it has nothing to do with fbx, but houdini's new version. Great use of objects and what can be one.
Hope you find time to relax soon enough!

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi kryton,

thanks for the materials!

I think both FBX and Collada are quite interesting. I know FBX is used by ... at least one profi game studio in our country, so it is usable stuff.
But I must agree with Mike it needs long time to study both systems to decide which is better stuff for our work.


Thanks,
Petr

[kryton9]

I read last night that fbx and collada and other all encompassing formats are great for going in between app to app, but then game makers write their own format that imports from these files to use only what they need as they are too much for a game engine and full off stuff it won't need.

So perhaps we are on the right path using m15 with ini files or if need be xml.

[Michael Hartlef]

Yip, either use XML, INI or something we will come up with. I will see how easy it will be to use XML in Blender.

[kryton9]

Good luck Mike with your tests.

I am going to try playing with python too, so I can maybe do something useful in the future. I told our local library about the new blender book to see if they will order it.
Since I moved around a lot and over the years either got my library destoyed by mold, humidity and had to throw them away or just had to give the books away as too much to move. On this last move to Florida, I decided no more books. Just ebooks and borrow from friends and library. I am going all digital. Hopefully the library will order it. Then I can learn blender as well as I would like. As you know I love to read about languages and tech, the internet saves me to satisfy my reading about tech. Saves me a bundle when you think about it :)