First of all, if this is in the wrong forum, please move or delete this. I didn't know exactly where to put this thread so please correct me if I'm wrong to prevent me making the same mistake in the future. Second, English is not my native language so there might be some spelling / grammar mistakes here and there. Now for the beef: I have been looking around here on GameDev and googled my butt off the past couple of days trying to find a model extension that will fill my needs. What I am looking for a model type that can be created trough the use of 3DS MAX since I have decided to go back into game programming once again but to take the next step forward. A friend of mine is a modeler with some hobby experience in 3DS MAX up to the point that he can start using animation techniques. The question is simple: what kind of existing model formats would you guys suggest that are exportable from 3DS (or then again convertible through a converter) that supports animation (vertex displacement or bones) and multitexture. The truth is that I have been looking through different format (MD2, MD3, OBJ) but couldn't decide on one. I don't know if we have time (since it will delay getting something feasible once again, a reason for stopping our attempts earlier) to make our own format and we should we because there are already a gazillion formats on the planet. All I'm asking for are some suggestions or a push in the right direction. Any help at all is appreciated! Slightly offtopic: We are thinking of making a spacegame starting with spaceships only, with future plans to explore fps like elements as well.

There are two major file formats coming to mind:

1. collada:
XML based interchange asset format including animations, multitexturing even physics. Widely supported by all major 3d tools like max, maya, blender etc. Import/exports SDKs are available. It is not best suited for direct use, best to make a converter which convertes collada to your own (binary) format.

2. FBX:
A format from autodesk, SDK and converters are available (don't know the license behind the SDK/tools). Supported by many tools including max and blender. It seems to be text based too (but not xml), so a converter might be necessary for large meshes.

I myself use my own collada converter and I'm quite happy with this solution.

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Ashaman

Quote: Original post by Ashaman73
There are two major file formats coming to mind:

1. collada:
XML based interchange asset format including animations, multitexturing even physics. Widely supported by all major 3d tools like max, maya, blender etc. Import/exports SDKs are available. It is not best suited for direct use, best to make a converter which convertes collada to your own (binary) format.

2. FBX:
A format from autodesk, SDK and converters are available (don't know the license behind the SDK/tools). Supported by many tools including max and blender. It seems to be text based too (but not xml), so a converter might be necessary for large meshes.

I myself use my own collada converter and I'm quite happy with this solution.

--
Ashaman

If you have to write your own loader for the mesh, you're probably better off with Collada. FBX has a SDK available, but as far as I can tell, the actual specification is proprietary.

One issue with the points made about Collada above - support for Collada in Blender is actually pretty awful, and no effort really seems to have been made to improve it. I think that Max and Maya have much better Collada support - but use neither of these, so can't say for sure.

Thanks for your replies everyone, it means a lot to me.

I have been doing a little bit more searching and also found the MD5 model format. As I do not mind using a parsed format, this might suit my needs, seeing that there are also exporters available.

Does anyone have experience with the MD5 format? Please let me know. :)

If you want to be able to test different modelformats try the ASSIMP-library:
Asset importer library.
It imports a lot of different file formats into its own fileformat. And of course its supports animations ;-).

Kimmi