MDB to FBX, FBX to MDB converter

[FreshLook]

I was just wondering, will this tool able to handle ASCII FBX files such as this one? I'm currently not able to import the Rakshi Games FBX files into Blender for that reason.

Yes, the tool can read that ASCII FBX file. However, if you intend to convert a random FBX found at the Internet directly to MDB it will probably not work because the models in the FBX should follow certain conventions required by MDB. At present, I don't know exactly what the conventions should be, but I guess they should be similar to those used by Exportron and the Blender MDB plug-in. For example, is *_C2 and *_C3 required for placeables? So, generally a random FBX should be imported into Blender (or max, Maya, ...), modified to follow conventions, exported to FBX and then converted to MDB.

 

You could convert that ASCII FBX file to another format supported by Blender, maybe using Autodesk FBX Converter.

[rjshae]

Cool, thanks for the link.

[Semp3r]

it's coming along. really impressive work you've done here! it will be the first time nwn2 is on par with nwn1's modding capabilities regarding free tools. perhaps this even pumps new life into the rather small modding community.

[TrinitalMod]

Hey Freshlook.. I really want to use this ASAP for a few projects.

 

I tried compiling your project but it's missing yaml-cpp\build\yaml-cpp.vcxproj

What is YAML? Isn't it licensed under MIT? Can you push that to your git repo as well?

 

Or just include a compiled binary? Most of the animators who are excited about this don't use C++ and have no idea how to even download a git repo.

 

(And there are quite a few of them!)

Edited August 25, 2017 by TrinitalMod

[FreshLook]

Hey Freshlook.. I really want to use this ASAP for a few projects.

 

I tried compiling your project but it's missing yaml-cpp\build\yaml-cpp.vcxproj

What is YAML? Isn't it licensed under MIT? Can you push that to your git repo as well?

 

Or just include a compiled binary? Most of the animators who are excited about this don't use C++ and have no idea how to even download a git repo.

 

(And there are quite a few of them!)

 

I guess the easiest thing would be to release the binaries. The tool isn't finished yet. MDB/GR2 to FBX conversion is quite advanced. FBX to MDB/GR2 is like 30% done. At the moment the tool is command-line based (you need to use cmd). I'm worried about weather this will be a problem. Maybe I'll have to do a GUI. If you want to try the tool at its current state I could release binaries.

 

yaml-cpp is a YAML parser in C++. The repo is https://github.com/jbeder/yaml-cpp . To compile the entire solution you should download this repo and generate the Visual Studio project files with CMake.

[TrinitalMod]

 

Hey Freshlook.. I really want to use this ASAP for a few projects.

 

I tried compiling your project but it's missing yaml-cpp\build\yaml-cpp.vcxproj

What is YAML? Isn't it licensed under MIT? Can you push that to your git repo as well?

 

Or just include a compiled binary? Most of the animators who are excited about this don't use C++ and have no idea how to even download a git repo.

 

(And there are quite a few of them!)

 

I guess the easiest thing would be to release the binaries. The tool isn't finished yet. MDB/GR2 to FBX conversion is quite advanced. FBX to MDB/GR2 is like 30% done. At the moment the tool is command-line based (you need to use cmd). I'm worried about weather this will be a problem. Maybe I'll have to do a GUI. If you want to try the tool at its current state I could release binaries.

 

yaml-cpp is a YAML parser in C++. The repo is https://github.com/jbeder/yaml-cpp . To compile the entire solution you should download this repo and generate the Visual Studio project files with CMake.

 

 

Thanks for the quick response..!

 

Does the FBX to GR2 work? That's like.. the most insanely useful feature for most of us.

 

Also,

You don't need a fancy UI or anything..

 

If you setup the command line arguments that people can click and drag .GR2 / .FBX files onto the program and they auto convert into relative path.. as tedious as that is.. for now - I think most animators can deal with it. (This tool alone will save us weeks of work.. that's a tiny price to pay)

 

(Just have it take a single file path as an arg, and maybe auto convert based on file type?)

 

This tool will unlock so many things.. it's just that your demographic is mostly non-coders.. :laugh:

 

 

Thank again for your hard work.. !

Edited August 25, 2017 by TrinitalMod

[FreshLook]

FBX to GR2 is what I'm just now working and it's not done yet. If you are interested in a binary release anyway, let me now.

 

I think the click and drag is only feasible if you just need to pass one command line argument (the path to the file). If you just need to convert one file, then the tool could be used that way. There some uses of the tool that would require to use the command line:

1. You can convert a MDB/GR2 to FBX by typing a search string: the tool searches in the ZIP files located at the Nevewinter Nights 2/Data.
2. You can convert multiple MDB/GR2 to FBX at once: this is useful for converting body+boots+gloves+head+cloack+skeleton+animation into one FBX.

[rjshae]

While a GUI interface will be very nice, I agree with Trinital that even just having a command line version will be a major boon. Thanks for all of your work on this.

[TrinitalMod]

 

FBX to GR2 is what I'm just now working and it's not done yet. If you are interested in a binary release anyway, let me now.

 

I think the click and drag is only feasible if you just need to pass one command line argument (the path to the file). If you just need to convert one file, then the tool could be used that way. There some uses of the tool that would require to use the command line:

1. You can convert a MDB/GR2 to FBX by typing a search string: the tool searches in the ZIP files located at the Nevewinter Nights 2/Data.
2. You can convert multiple MDB/GR2 to FBX at once: this is useful for converting body+boots+gloves+head+cloack+skeleton+animation into one FBX.

 

I generally won't want to convert all animations in the data folder. I will generally be doing animations one at a time. If I need the keyframing info from a vanilla animation - doing it 1 by 1 is totally fine.

 

You could also allow multiple file parameters.. so I could drag like 6 .GR2 files onto the console app and have them all converted.. I think windows will do this automatically if your program takes comma separated file paths as an input.

 

I saw you had gotten some custom animations into the game (overriding run) for example.. I would kill for that capability.

 

Thanks again FreshLook.

Edited August 25, 2017 by TrinitalMod

[FreshLook]

I will investigate about dragging multiple files.

 

I did the custom run animation when I was investigating the GR2 format. I have the experimental code I did back then and now I'm working on adding this capability to the tool.