3ds2mgf - convert 3D Studio binary file to Materials and Geometry Format

NAME

SYNOPSIS

3ds2mgf input [ output ][ -lMatlib ][ -xObjname ][ -sAngle ][ -aAnimfile ]

DESCRIPTION

3ds2mgf converts a 3D Studio binary scene description to the Materials and Geometry Format (MGF). If no output file name is given, the input root name will be taken as the output root, and an "mgf" extension will be added. This file will contain any light sources and materials, and an include statement for a similarly named file ending in "inc", which will contain the MGF geometry of all the translated 3DS meshes.

The MGF material names and properties for the surfaces will be those assigned in 3D Studio, unless they are named in one or more MGF material libraries given in a -l option.

The -a option may be used to specify a 3D Studio animation file, and together with the -f option, 3ds2mgf will generate a scene description for the specified frame.

Note that there are no spaces between the options and their arguments.

LIMITATIONS

Obviously, since 3D Studio has no notion of physical materials, the translation to MGF material descriptions is very ad hoc, and it will usually be necessary to edit the materials and light sources in the output file or replace materials with proper entries from a material library using the -l option.

With smoothing turned on (i.e., a non-zero value for the -s option), vertices in the MGF output will not be linked in a proper mesh for each object. This is due to the way the automatic smoothing code was originally written, and is too difficult to repair. If a good mesh is needed, then smoothing must be turned off.

EXAMPLES

To convert a 3D Studio robot model to MGF without smoothing. (Output will be put into "robot.mgf" and "robot.inc".)

	3ds2mgf robot.3ds -s0

To convert a DC10 jet model to MGF using a hand-created material library:

	3ds2mgf dc10.3ds -ldc10mat.mgf

AUTHORS

Steve Anger, Jeff Bowermaster and Greg Ward