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Text File | 1998-03-26 | 13.9 KB | 298 lines

How to Install the 3DS MAX Plugins ---------------------------------- NOTES: 1) For those receiving PolyTrans or NuGraf on a CDROM, the MAX plug-ins will be copied to your hard disk to the '3dsmax' sub-directory located in the main "polytrans" or "nugraf" installation directory. 2) The MAX plugins for the demonstration versions of PolyTrans and NuGraf are available via the following page on the Okino WEB site: http://www.okino.com/conv/max_demo.htm 3) The MAX plugins do not ship together with the v2.0 PolyTrans and NuGraf incremental updates. The MAX plugins are shipped separately in a ZIP file due to size. Please email support@okino.com if you do not have this separate ZIP file. 4) The MAX plugins do not function with the VRML export-only version of PolyTrans. 3DS MAX v2 Problems - *** IMPORTANT *** --------------------------------------- There are currently 2 problems with MAX2: 1) MAX v2 will exit immediately if you install the PolyTrans plugins and select the "File/Import" menu item. This is because there is now too many geometry import converters and it overflows the static 2048 byte name buffer in MAX2. We had reported this bug to Kinetix during the beta program but it was not fixed. Temporary solution: since MAX2 crashes due to too many PolyTrans converters, a temporary solution is to disable some of the PolyTrans import converter DLLs. To do this, go to the "vcplugin" sub-directory of the main NuGraf or PolyTrans program and rename some of the files which have .DLL extensions to ".DLL.OLD". Do this for the import converters which you do not need to use, such as VistaPro, USGS DEM, NFF, Imagine, etc. 2) MAX2 sorts the drop-down list of filetypes shown on the File/Import and File/Export filename selector dialog box. This did not occur in MAX v1.2. This is a problem for the PolyTrans converters because it expects the file type list to be unsorted. It does not affect performance but it does mess up our file type list (as you will see). Hopefully Kinetix will fix this soon. Installing the MAX v1.2 and MAX v2 Plugins ------------------------------------------ There are two plugin modules located within the "3dsmax\max12" and "3dsmax\max2" subdirectories in this distribution. These are 3DS MAX v1.2 and v2 plugins that fool MAX into believing that it is communicating directly with the PolyTrans import/export converters. To install the plugins: 1) If using 3DS Studio MAX v1.2, copy the two plugins from the "3dsmax/max12" sub-directory of this distribution to the 3DS MAX v1.2 "plugin" directory. 1b) If using 3DS Studio MAX v2, copy the two plugins from the "3dsmax/max2" sub-directory of this distribution to the 3DS MAX v2 "plugin" directory. 2) If using Windows 95, skip to section (2b) Next, go to the Windows NT control panel, double click on the "System" icon and follow these instructions: - Choose the "Environment" tab - In the "System Variables" section click on the "Path" variable - At the bottom of the dialog box place the cursor in the "Value" type-in box and move the cursor all the way to the end of the current path text. - Assuming NuGraf is currently installed in "c:\program files\nugraf", append the following to the current "Path" variable (if using PolyTrans then replace "polytrans" for "nugraf"): ;c:\program files\nugraf - Press the "Set" button and then the 'OK" button on the dialog box. 2b) If using Windows 95: Using a text editor, such as notepad, edit the "autoexec.bat" file located in the root directory of your "c:" hard disk. In the autoexec.bat file find the environment variable called "Path". Append to this variable a suitable modified version of the following line (which assumes NuGraf is currently installed in "c:\program files\nugraf"). If using PolyTrans then replace "polytrans" for "nugraf"): ;c:\progra~1\nugraf NOTE: This file path uses the old DOS "8.3" naming convention in which the directory "program files" has been replaced with the 8.3 version of "progra~1". If there is no autoexec.bat file then create one. If there is no 'Path' environment variable within the autoexec.bat file then set up the autoexec.bat file to contain the following (with the correct path): Path c:\progra~1\nugraf 3) For Windows NT, log out out of Windows NT and log back in. For Windows 95, restart Windows. This is necessary so that the "PATH" variable gets propagated throughout Windows. 4) Execute NuGraf or PolyTrans and (optionally) exit the program. This will initialize an environment variable which will tell 3D Studio MAX where the PolyTrans import/export converter modules are located. 5) Execute 3D Studio MAX. All of the PolyTrans import/export converters should now be available via the File/Import or File/Export file selector. Exporting Data Directly to a SoftImage Database ----------------------------------------------- Please follow these steps to export a 3DS MAX scene direclty into a SoftImage database. Basically the important step to consider is #3 in which you are to enter an arbitrary filename (a.dsc) when asked by MAX - in actual fact there is no reason why a filename is required to export a database to SoftImage but 3DS MAX will always ask you for a filename regardless. 1) Choose 'File/Export' from the 3DS MAX main menu. 2) Choose the "SoftImage Files" export option from the drop-down box. 3) Enter the arbitrary filename "a.dsc" in the file name selector. This filename is not used by the export converter but MAX always asks for a filename regardless. 4) Press "OK" on the "General Options" dialog box which appears next. 5) When the "SoftImage Export Filter" dialog box appears click on the "Output SoftImage Scene Files" checkbox then click on "OK". 6) When the "Scene Name Request" dialog box appears enter a name for SoftImage database scene. Click "OK" to start exporting. The scene will then appear within the chosen SoftImage database. Trouble Shooting ---------------- 1) If the import/export converters do not show up in the 3DS MAX import/export menu then the 'Path' environment variable has not been initialized properly. This 'Path' variable is necessary so that Microsoft Windows knows where to locate and load the main NuGraf DLL modules from (vc4_nu.dll, vc4_imp.dll). If you had placed quotation marks around the path name then try removing these quotes and try again (it has been known to work). A very rare few number of people report that they cannot get the MAX plug-ins to operate. We assure you that the MAX plug-ins do indeed work. It is known that some MAX plug-ins (from other companies) may not work due to the order in which 3DS MAX loads the plug-in modules at start-up time. One trick that has solved the loading problem is to physically move every file located in the 3DS MAX 'stdplugs' directory to another temporary directory (using Windows Explorer), then moving the files back again to the 'stdplugs' directory; this causes the order in which the plug-ins are loaded to change. Please also note that 3DS MAX must be executed from the Windows user interface (via the 'Start' menu or an icon) in order for the MAX plug-ins to load properly. See point #2 below. Worse comes to worse, copy all of the files that begin with the letters "vc4_" (such as vc4_nu.dll and vc4_imp.dll) from the main PolyTrans or NuGraf directory to the main MAX directory. This should always make the MAX plugins function properly. However, you must ensure that these DLL modules get updated in the future as new DLLs are distributed by Okino Computer Graphics. 2) If you are executing 3DSMAX.EXE from a DOS command line, in Windows NT, then the MAX plugins probably won't work unless you modify the 'PATH' variable in c:\autoexec.bat. Theory of Operation ------------------- When 3DS MAX is loaded it looks in the "max/plugins" directory where it finds ptimp.dli (the PolyTrans import module) and ptexp.dle (the PolyTrans export module). These 2 plugins "fool" MAX into believing that there are several dozen import/export converter DLL modules located within the "max/plugins" directory; instead, the actual import/export converter DLLs are located in the Okino "vcplugin" directory and in the Okino vc4_nu.dll file. The function of the ptimp.dli and ptexp.dle plugin modules is to make the PolyTrans import/export DLLs available through the 3DS MAX "File/Import" and "File/Export" menu items. After the ptimp.dli pr ptexp.dle DLL modules are loaded into MAX, Microsoft Windows also must load in "vc4_nu.dll" and "vc4_imp.dll" which are necessary Okino core files. In order to locate these files Microsoft Windows searches for them in the "Path" environment variable where it locates them in the home NuGraf or PolyTrans directory (this is why the "Path" variable must be set up to include the NuGraf or PolyTrans home directory). Now, when you choose "File/Import" or "File/Export" from MAX, the ptimp.dli or ptexp.dle DLL module is executed. The DLL then locates where NuGraf or PolyTrans is located on your hard disk and determines which import or export converters are available in the main NuGraf or PolyTrans program. These import or export converters are then listed in the 3DS MAX file import/export selector dialog box. After you choose a specific file format to import/export, the ptimp.dli or ptexp.dle DLL modules route the 3DS MAX scene data directly to the PolyTrans import/export converter modules using an unseen data routing process. To the user it will seem as though the import/export process is being performed by DLL modules located within the max/plugins directory where in reality they are occuring using the converters located in the main NuGraf or PolyTrans directory. In this manner the PolyTrans import/export DLLs do not have to be duplicated in the max/plugins directory. Known Problems -------------- 1) Mixing import/export converters that handle the same file format causes problems with MAX 1.2. For example, you may choose the "PolyTrans 3D Studio" import converter but find instead that the default 3DS MAX "3D Studio" import converter is executed instead. This is a bug in MAX 1.2 (Kinetix is aware of this problem). The only solution to this problem at this time is to disable the default MAX import/export converter(s) that are causing trouble - this can be done by going into the MAX "plugins" or "stdplugins" directory and renaming the extension of the troublesome import or export converter to ".old". This problem has been corrected in 3DS MAX v2.0. 2) The PolyTrans plugins for MAX currently do not support hierarchy or animation. This is not to say that we at Okino are not spending 150% of our time working on this functionality! An explanation of the 3DS MAX internal animation system is in order here so that you, as a user of MAX and the PolyTrans plugins, can gain a better understanding of MAX's complex animation system. First, in other traditional animation programs all animation data is typically stored as explicit scale, rotate and translate keyframes with bezier or tension/continituity and bias tangent control. If MAX used this simple animation mechanism then life would be simple, but in fact MAX uses the most complex animation mechanism we have come across. MAX has plugin animation controllers which allow keyframe data to be stored as explicit X/Y/Z locations, single X/Y/Z motion path points, TCB interpolated angle/axis rotations, TCB interpolated quaternions, bezier-interpolated quaternions, bezier interpolated Euler angles, smooth interpolated quaternions, and so on. It also allows for a plugin-defined transformation matrix to be defined at each keyframe instead of explicit scale/rotate/translate values. WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN? It means: 1) As a user of 3DS MAX you have much freedom to do animation without too many limitations from the underlying structure of the program. 2) As a company which writes animation translation software, this flexibility makes it near-impossible to properly convert animation data to other file formats such as SoftImage, DirectX and Lightwave! Whereas with other animation programs we only have to deal with bezier or TCB interpolated lists of scale/rotate/translate keyframes, with MAX we have to deal with a dozen or so methods by which animation keyframe data can be defined or created by a user. Thus, for example, to convert MAX rotation keyframes to Microsoft DirectX (which only uses quaternions) we have to devise methods to convert the Euler/quaternion/explicit/tcb/ bezier/custom-controller/matrix/etc. rotation controller keyframes of MAX into quaternion keyframes of Microsoft DirectX. This is a very hard problem with only approximate solutions in some cases (as can be seen by exporting Character Studio animation data to .3ds format via the .3ds export converter developed by Kinetix - it doesn't always work properly which is more to do with the limitations of the .3ds file format than with MAX itself). Disabling the PolyTrans Converters in MAX ----------------------------------------- If you wish to temporarily disable the PolyTrans import converters inside 3DS MAX then exit 3DS MAX and rename the "ptimp.dli" file to something such as "ptimp.dli.old". If you wish to temporarily disable the PolyTrans export converters inside 3DS MAX then exit 3DS MAX and rename the "ptexp.dle" file to something such as "ptexp.dle.old".