MDB to FBX, FBX to MDB converter

[FreshLook]

I examined P_HHF_Hair21.fbx.

 

Your FBX exported from 3ds Max has the normal map assigned as a bump map. So when your FBX is converted, the hair within the MDB doesn't have a normal map assigned, then it isn't displayed in game. I don't know if 3ds Max exports normal maps to FBX this way or maybe you set the normal map as a bump map?

 

My tool expects the tint map assigned as displacement color (which I'm not sure if it's a good idea and I don't know how this is set in 3ds Max) and the glow map as emissive.

 

Since the mesh hair is now smooth, there are a lot of shared vertices in the generated MDB, which causes it to be is smaller.

Edited February 2, 2018 by FreshLook

[phil76]

Eureka, it works now !!!

 

After converting the modified .FBX to .MDB I reassigned the normal map via mdbconfig and I have the hairs in game.

 

As the maps were assigned in the original .MDB and in 3DSMax I didn't thought to check if they were also in the modified .MDB

 

I had always assigned in 3DS Max :

 

 

Finally, many thanks !

[FreshLook]

Nice hair :smile:.

 

For next version I could emit an error if the FBX has no normal map or take the bump map as normal map as second alternative.

 

Can I ask a favor? Could you make screenshots of the import FBX options and the export FBX options you're using? Just full screenshots and I edit them. It's for the wiki. No hurry at all, take your time (days, weeks, ...).

Edited February 3, 2018 by FreshLook

[phil76]

Thanks

 

The no normal map should not have occured if I had checked my MDB, but I was suspecting a complicated problem when it was only a file missing !

 

I will take the screenshot tomorrow.

[phil76]

There is a problem with the import/export FBX and 3DS MAX.

 

I can import a mesh, and a skeleton, rig the mesh and export the whole as FBX. But when I re-import the FBX I get an error "Incomplete BindPose"

 

This error has been reported to Autodesk and it's under investigation https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Error-Incomplete-BindPose-when-exporting-rigged-objects-from-3ds-Max-to-fbx-format.html

 

There is a workaround but when I use it the skin modifiers is not imported. It means that actually, with 3DS MAX, for every modifications to the MDB (and there are many of them when you rig something that has more than a few bones) you need to redo the rigging.

[FreshLook]

Is it an error or a warning? Is the FBX imported anyway and you can work with it? Why do you need to reimport a previously exported FBX?

[phil76]

Is it an error or a warning? Is the FBX imported anyway and you can work with it? Why do you need to reimport a previously exported FBX?

 

Why do I need to reimport a FBX ?

 

Because when I am debugging a new rig I have many back and forth between 3DS and NWN2 and they can't always be done in the same session. So I have to re-import an existing FBX. Indeed I could instead save as a MAx file and reopen it, I have not yet tried, because there is something else that question me : when I am working with meshes with many poly, like detailed heads or body/armor, the rigging is not kept complete.

 

As an example :

1 - convert body mdb+skel to fbx

2 - import fbx to 3DS

3 - import new body from an obj file, rig this new mesh to the skel from 1

4 - delete old mesh

5 - save as mdb. I have now a new body rigged to an existing skeleton

6 - look at this new mdb in NW2 - no error message, but incomplete mesh

7 - import this body in GMax : some part of the mesh have kept their weight to bones, some others have no weight. This is on a bone basis. For exmple upper left leg rigged, but lower left leg not rigged.

8 - To confirm 7 : convert this new mdb+skel to fbx - import this fbx in 3DS MAx, and same problem as explained in 7

[FreshLook]

When you convert FBX to MDB is there any error message in log.txt? Search for "ERROR" to find error messages.

 

Could you send me the FBX so I can investigate it?

 

I would use max files as source assets. FBX is an exchange format and may not store all info that a max file can store or store it differently. For example, you are going to lose quads because of triangulation.

[phil76]

There is definitively a problem with the way 3DS export to FBX.

 

I now save my Work in Progress as a Max file, and never reload a fbx done with your tool and it seems to work.

 

Now there is still a problem with coordinates : I am working on a head, in 3DS Max it is at the good scale, and at the right place. When I open it in NWN2 character creation screen it is not at the right place. I suspect a problem of coordinate.

 

I will continue to investigate next week.

[FreshLook]

There is definitively a problem with the way 3DS export to FBX.

 

I now save my Work in Progress as a Max file, and never reload a fbx done with your tool and it seems to work.

 

Now there is still a problem with coordinates : I am working on a head, in 3DS Max it is at the good scale, and at the right place. When I open it in NWN2 character creation screen it is not at the right place. I suspect a problem of coordinate.

 

I will continue to investigate next week.

 

Is the node at position (0, 0, 0), rotation (0, 0, 0) and scale (1, 1, 1)? Think that a MDB only stores the mesh. It doesn't store the transform of the node.