Model Conversion Tools

[Zippers]

Hey all, first post (long time lurker). I was curious as to what model conversion tools and exporters everyone is using when modeling for Quake engine games?

Here is my list:

Milkeshape
Pros: md3, md2, and mdl exporters. Imports a fair number of formats.
Cons: Not free. It has no IK, bad skeleton bugs, extremely limiting modeling tools, bad strict viewports interface, rudimentary UVmap editor.

QuArK
Pros: md3, md2, mdl exporters. Imports a fair number of formats.
Cons: None, except I found the interface clunky. Perhaps using it for a while might change my mind.

Noesis
Pros: md3, md2, mdl, iqm exporters. Imports a fair number of formats.
Cons: I couldn't find a way to set the path of the texture or shader used by exported models.

Asstools
Pros: Imports anything assimp can and spits out an iqe (which can be converted to an iqm).
Cons: You'll need a developer to compile a copy for you.

[leileilol]

Also the exported IQM format appears to be incompatible with ioQuake3.

Ioq3's IQM loader is broken, so it's not a "con" for Noesis.

You should list more cons for Milkshape3D. It has no IK (making it a bad choice for any serious animation), bad skeleton bugs (like rotating a bone shrinks or grows a bone unintentionally), extremely limiting modeling tools, bad strict viewports interface, rudimentary UVmap editor, etc. The only reason why it gained popularity is the game exporters and early Half-Life community work.

I don't convert models. Blender and Noesis are the only 3d tools in the pipelines of many engine toolchains I use.

[Zippers]

You should list more cons for Milkshape3D. It has no IK (making it a bad choice for any serious animation), bad skeleton bugs (like rotating a bone shrinks or grows a bone unintentionally), extremely limiting modeling tools, bad strict viewports interface, rudimentary UVmap editor, etc. The only reason why it gained popularity is the game exporters and early Half-Life community work.

Thanks, I've updated the list.

Ioq3's IQM loader is broken, so it's not a "con" for Noesis.

That's unfortunate to hear about Ioq3, but good for Noesis. Could I get more info on the bug? I'd like to look into it.

[drm_wayne]

Milkeshape
Pros: md3, md2, and mdl exporters. Imports a fair number of formats.
Cons: Not free. It has no IK, bad skeleton bugs, extremely limiting modeling tools, bad strict viewports interface, rudimentary UVmap editor.

the ms3d md2 exporter sucks.
Export md3 and convert it to md2 with noesis, theres a big difference

[goldenboy]

Blender.

IQM exporter and ASE exporter. Sometimes OBJ.

[ceriux]

from max i export to md3 then open in noesis and convert to mdl
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3018

[Zippers]

It seems like a lot of people like Noesis. Its definitely a great program.

from max i export to md3 then open in noesis and convert to mdl
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3018

Thanks for the tip and link! Any other exporters for modeling programs people could recommend are highly appreciated. Its not too hard to find md3 exporters for Blender, but finding them for max and maya is more difficult.

Ioq3's IQM loader is broken, so it's not a "con" for Noesis.

Silly me, this whole time I assumed it was Noesis. I decided to look into it, turns out Noesis exports its blend weights and indices as float/int and Ioq3 expects byte/byte. I've patched the loader to account for both cases. I've submitted a PR, hopefully it gets accepted.

[jim]

Export SMD from Blender, then use DPModel to compile them to DPM. I had some trouble with IQM, so I chose not to use it.

There used to be a gui for DPModel... maybe someone has it?

[qbism]

Blender can export mdl, and Noesis can convert to mdl, but the mdls created by either program are unshaded in-game. Not sure why. Maybe normal index is not set? Opening an mdl in Quark and just resaving fixes it.

[ceriux]

im pretty sure saving a model in quark doubles the tri count , doesnt it?

[qbism]

im pretty sure saving a model in quark doubles the tri count , doesnt it?

It does not, just looking at opening an mdl and saving it. The saved model is the same file size that was exported from Noesis. Now a quad model in some other format would get converted to tris and therefore double the polygons.