Subject:
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Crazy, OK Heretical Idea ...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad
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Date:
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Sat, 26 Apr 2003 06:52:17 GMT
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Viewed:
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649 times
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I've been kicking this idea around in my head for a while and I'd like
to throw it out for discussion.
I think the ldraw specification needs to evolve in order to take the
great work that James started and make it into the "toy" that everyone
really wants it to be. We all want programs that can spin and animate
large assemblies of parts, in glorious detail, in real time. We want
bricks to snap together and we want gears to slide onto shafts. We want
to be able to work with our parts in whatever modeling program we feel
like. Unfortunately the current file format isn't capable of this and
probably won't ever be : (
So what would we want in a new file format ? Here's a short list
1. Easy upgrade path (convert the current parts easily)
2. Fast rendering
3. Cross-Platform portablity
4. Supported by common modellers/renders
5. Human Readable/Editable
6. Capable of animation
7. supports "mating" of parts
8. supports texture/material mapping
What existing formats come close ?
Md2 (Quake II)
Milkshape
OBJ
Md3 (Quake III)
Here's my crazy Idea: We should choose one of the formats above or
something simmilar and start converting the existing parts to work with
it. We'll get better performance, more tools, and more features without
having to re-invent the wheel. My personal preference would be to
convert to md2 in the short term and md3 down the road.
OK, Begin Flaming : P
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Message has 6 Replies:
 | | Re: Crazy, OK Heretical Idea ...
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| (...) Im not sure about md2, obj or md3, but at least milkshape is human readable. unfortunately, It doesn't support include files like ldraw .dat files do. I like the idea of extending the ldraw format to include the features you outlined. -Chuck (22 years ago, 26-Apr-03, to lugnet.cad)
| | | Re: Crazy, OK Heretical Idea ...
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| (...) My vote is for MD3. Heres why: Discreet (makers of 3ds max) released a special version called Gmax. Gmax is designed as a way to make new graphics for games and can only save to its own special format (*.gmax) and can only export via special (...) (22 years ago, 27-Apr-03, to lugnet.cad)
| | | Re: Crazy, OK Heretical Idea ...
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| (...) Hi Jason, Sure there is much discussion about standardization of "1st generation" LDraw file format and nothing about a "2nd generation" file format that would break compatibility. Using only these 5 bricks i have built 30+ lego animals: * (...) (22 years ago, 27-Apr-03, to lugnet.cad)
| | | Re: Crazy, OK Heretical Idea ...
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| (...) Jason: There are lots of 3D formats out there; some proprietary, some semi-proprietary, and some completely open. Besides the 3D game folks, there are the 3D art programs (e.g. 3D Studio Max) and the 3D CAD/CAM folks (e.g. AutoCAD.) Each area (...) (22 years ago, 27-Apr-03, to lugnet.cad)
| | | Re: Crazy, OK Heretical Idea ...
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| Quoting out of the original order: (...) Flaming? Well, you should go research LDraw II, now that Jacob's server is back online. (...) How do these formats do with the number of triangles normally found in an LDraw model? My impression is that these (...) (22 years ago, 1-May-03, to lugnet.cad)
| | | Re: Crazy, OK Heretical Idea ...
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| (...) Since Jason brought this up -- *is* there a method for material/texture mapping in z-buffer renderers like LDraw? TLG is using more 'special treatment' materials in their parts, and it would be very nice if LDraw could keep up. I'd be a very (...) (22 years ago, 1-May-03, to lugnet.cad)
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