.lmf Lava Mesh file skeletal model support

[roland714]

.lmf Lava Mesh file skeletal model support

Hello, The provided .Re red engine exporter for 3ds max has some complications with skinned meshes causing some verticies to snap to the world (or rootbone)

I noticed that the majority of skinned meshes in the witcher 2 were imported in the lava mesh format .lmf (according to the Redkit file source display for character models)and i presumed that is the most stable format for skinned models

I wanted to know how to export in that format there is no 3d application i know of that can do it and i have searched the web to no avail

Any help with this would be appreciated thanks in advanced.

 

[roland714]

Never mind I actually figured out how to fix my issue with the Red engine model the issue stem from having too many bone influences on a vertex

stuff works perfectly now

However the .RE format is not allowed when importing "mimic" face models so i wonder how i can work around this hmm

anyways thanks

 

[JLouisB]

You can export skinned meshes with the 3DS Max exporter in a .RE file ?
You use a skeleton and animations provided in the Redkit to do this, no ?

I have tested the exporter, and I have concluded that skeleton and animations can't be exported in a .re file, Havok seem to be necessary to do this.
Someone can confirm this information or I have missed something ?

 

[roland714]

that is false, or atleast in 3ds max 2013 the RE exporter will export the skeleton as long as the mesh in question has a skin modifier. or you can export the skeleton directly and apply a material to see it in realtime.

Animations cannot be exported with the .RE format

The issue with the vertices snapping to the ground stems from having inconsistencies with the skeletal rig in 3ds max and the character rig in engine (for example a character like geralt or triss .w2rig .w2ragdoll) (which you need havok to modify .hkx format) the redkit mentions that there is no support for the format same for the nif format. I doubt they can do anything about that though. they may not have the licence for havok. so we're out of luck in that regard.

---------- Updated at 02:15 PM ----------

that is false, or atleast in 3ds max 2013 the RE exporter will export the skeleton as long as the mesh in question has a skin modifier. or you can export the skeleton directly and apply a material to see it in realtime.

Animations cannot be exported with the .RE format

The issue with the vertices snapping to the ground stems from having inconsistencies with the skeletal rig in 3ds max and the character rig in engine (for example a character like geralt or triss .w2rig .w2ragdoll) (which you need havok to modify .hkx format) the redkit mentions that there is no support for the format same for the nif format. I doubt they can do anything about that though. they may not have the licence for havok. so we're out of luck in that regard.

 

[Fartuess.807]

Just for your information. Red Engine was internally called "Lava Engine" at some point (there are some leftover information hinting that). So *.lmf format was internal format used by CDPR. Was patch with .fbx support released?

 

[roland714]

Ah ok that closes some doors
there is no direct support for fbx in the redkit though
thanks man

 

[JLouisB]

Ok, thanks to the infos.

It's correponding to that I have found when I have studied some .re files.
They contains the lists of bones and skinning data, but not the hierarchy of the bones and the animations (they come from Havok)
So you should use the same skeleton that the skeletons described by the w2rig files, you can't import a skinned mesh with a custom hierarchy.

 

[roland714]

Ok, thanks to the infos.

It's correponding to that I have found when I have studied some .re files.
They contains the lists of bones and skinning data, but not the hierarchy of the bones and the animations (they come from Havok)
So you should use the same skeleton that the skeletons described by the w2rig files, you can't import a skinned mesh with a custom hierarchy.

hierarchy is given in the bone list inside the redkit in case you want to recreate it but it is unimportant.
the Bone axis however is ultra important ive found one imperfect method of aligning the bones but to get the exact angles for each bone would be helpful in the long run the redkit only offers a display for the axises and no one has managed to preserve the bone axis when reverse engineering the w2ent format or even the w2mesh for the witcher 2

done with dx ripper 1.82