The Detailer geometry export converter writes out the entire scene database as smoothed triangle meshes along with their associated material definitions, textures, cameras and lights.
Dialog Box Options
The following information explains the various options on the dialog box:
Auto Bitmap Conversion
Auto-Convert Bitmap Files to Another Format
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then all 2d bitmap textures which are currently defined and referenced by the internal database scene will be automatically tagged then converted to a new user-specified 2d bitmap file format. For example, if you are converting a Lightwave scene to Detailer, and the Lightwave file references IFF bitmap files then this option can be enabled so that the IFF images get converted to TIFF format automatically.
The converted bitmap files will be placed in the same output directory as the converted Detailer file. If the texture(s) cannot be found in the location specified by the pathname prepended to the texture filename then the export converter will search for the texture(s) in all directories specified in the ‘Default Search Path’ and the ‘Texture Bitmaps Search Path’ file search paths (these can be modified by choosing the ‘Preferences/Configure File Search Paths’ menu item.
Bitmap Depth (Bits/Pixel): 2, 4, 8, 24
These radio buttons determine the number of bits/pixel to write out to the new 2d bitmap file. The default is 24 bits. A color quantization algorithm will be used for the 2, 4 and 8 bits/pixel output formats.
Dimensions: X = #, Y = #
These two drop-down list boxes determine the X and Y resolution for the converted bitmap file(s):
No Change = Do not change the X or Y size
Closest = Use the next highest power-of-2 size
2, 4, 8, ... 256, 512 = Choose a specific size for the X or Y
Confirm Potential Bitmap File Overwrites
If this checkbox is enabled (checkmarked) then the bitmap converter will confirm any potential overwrites of existing bitmap files on disk which have the same filename and extension as the one being written. If this option is disabled then no confirmation will be made.
Convert all Bitmap File References To...
If the ‘Auto-Convert Bitmap Files to Another Format’ option is disabled then this option can be enabled. Rather than convert referenced bitmap images to another file format this option (when enabled) simply changes all the file extensions on bitmap files to a specific type. For example, if set to “TIFF” then all bitmap filenames exported to the Detailer file will be changed so that their file extensions end in “.tif”. This is a useful option is you already have all of the referenced texture maps converted to the desired file format (either from a previous invocation of this export converter or by using a batch bitmap conversion program). If this option and the ‘Auto-Convert Bitmap Files to Another Format’ option is turned off then the filename extension will remain unmodified.
Truncate Filenames to Short (DOS) 8.3 Length
Normally this converter will output all texture bitmap filenames unmodified (except for the file extension change as outlined above). However, long filenames (greater than 8 characters) will not work properly by some programs running on Windows 3.1. In this case this option can be enabled so that any filename longer than 8 characters will be truncated to 8 main characters and 3 characters for the file extension.
Output Enables
The check boxes inside the ‘Output Enables’ section control what type of data will be output to the Detailer file:
Materials
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then all materials (surfaces) referenced by the current 3d database will be output to the Detailer file.
Bitmap References
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then texture bitmap references will be output to the Detailer file by any material which references any bitmap files (such as environment maps and 2d texture maps).
(u,v) Texture Coordinates
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then any (u,v) texture coordinates that are assigned to polygon vertices will be output to the Detailer file.
Add MacBinary Header
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then a ‘MacBinary’ header will be added to the start of the Detailer file. This will allow the file to be written by a PC machine but read into Detailer on the Macintosh.
Limitations
Each Detailer file is limited to 240 objects, 240 textures, 240 materials and 10 lights.
Dialog Box Options