The Renderware 2.x geometry export converter writes out the entire scene
database as triangle meshes along with their associated material
definitions that are defined in the converter's database. The
converter can also automatically convert all referenced bitmaps (in
the source 3D file) to a 2D bitmap format supported by Renderware.
The Renderware file written is an ASCII .rwx (version 2.0) file containing the 3D
scene as a Renderware script. These files are typically used in
conjunction with real-time 3D software developed by Criterion Software
Ltd. (http://www.csl.com), namely the Renderware API and related
software. Please note that this is for the Renderware 2.0 file format and not the 3.0 or newer games
middle-ware systems.
Attributes exported to the Renderware file include (u,v) texture
coordinates, vertex normals, surface materials and texture references.
Hierarchy information in the source 3D database is preserved in the
structure of the Renderware file.
A current limitation of the export filter is the lack of cameras and
lights in the exported file. The Renderware scripting language does
not have a mechanism to include cameras and lights. Also, since
Renderware supports only a single texture map applied to any single
polygon, only the first 2D texture applied to an object can be
exported to the Renderware script. Procedural 3D textures are not
supported.
It is important to note that all 2D bitmaps which are referenced by
the exported Renderware script file should be in a location where the
software making use of the file can find them. If the bitmaps cannot
be located, an error may result while reading the script.
Dialog Box Options
The following information explains the various options on the dialog box:
Export Options
Output All Polygons As Triangles
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then all polygons that have 4
or more sides will be converted to triangles prior to output. Concave
polygons and polygons with holes will be properly triangulated.
Reverse Orientation of all Polygons
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then the orientation of all
polygons will be reversed (this will effectively swap the orientation
of the polygons' geometric normals).
Add Comments To Renderware File
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then comments indicating
object and material names as well as polygon indices will be output to
the Renderware file.
Double-sided Material Mode
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then any materials output to
the Renderware file will be flagged as double-sided materials.
Scale Geometry to be no Large Than...
This option allows the geometry data to be automatically rescaled if
it is too large. If set to 'Do not scale the geometry' then no scaling
will be done. If set to '1x1x1 units' then all the objects will be
scaled smaller should they exceed 1x1x1 units in total size. Likewise
for the '2x2x2 units' option. If set to 'User defined maximum size'
then the maximum size of all the objects can be set using the type-in
numeric box.
Although not quite the same, if the option is set to 'Use Absolute
Scaling Factor' then all objects exported to the Renderware file will
be scaled absolutely by the user-specified value. Thus, if you set the
type-in value to 0.25 then all objects will be made 4 times smaller
and if the value if set to 4 then all objects will be scaled 4 times
larger. This is useful is you are converting a variety of different
models to Renderware format and you want them all uniformly scaled
with the same scaling factor.
Geometric Sampling
This set of three radio buttons determines whether the objects
exported to the Renderware file should be flagged to be displayed as
either point cloud, wireframe, or solid objects.
Light Sampling
This pair of radio buttons selects whether the objects exported to the
Renderware file should be flagged with facet or vertex light sampling.
Vertex sampling uses the normal at each vertex when doing light
calculations (which creates smoothed surfaces) while facet sampling
uses the geometric normal of the polygons (which creates flat-shaded
surfaces).
Texture Modes
This group of checkboxes indicates which of the three texture modes
should be enabled for textures output to the Renderware file. If
'Lit' is checked then the textures will be lit according to the light
sampling of the material. If 'Foreshorten' is checked then the
textures will be foreshortened in a perspectively correct manner. If
'Filter' is checked then the textures will be filtered in order to
reduce pixelation caused by aliasing.
Line Terminator Type
This common option selects which line terminator is to be used for the ASCII
output file:
Files destined for DOS/PC machines should use CR/LF,
Files for UNIX machines should use LF, and
Files for Macintosh machines should use CR.
The default is specific to which machine this converter is presently
running on: CRLF for DOS/PC, LF for UNIX and CR for Macintosh. This option
normally does not have to be specified unless you will be using the exported
ASCII file on a different type of computer.
Output Enables
The check boxes inside the 'Output Enables' section control what type
of data will be output to the Renderware file:
Mesh Data
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then all geometry currently
defined in the 3d database will be output to the Renderware file.
Materials
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then all materials (surfaces)
referenced by the current 3d database will be output to the Renderware
file.
Normals
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then normals used by the
polygon data will be output to the Renderware file. If this option is
not enabled then the polygon data will appear faceted when it is
rendered.
Hierarchy Information
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then the hierarchical
relationship of objects in the scene will be recreated in the
Renderware output file.
(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 Renderware file.
Bitmap References
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then texture bitmap references
will be output to the Renderware file by any material that references
any bitmap files.
Auto Bitmap Conversion
Convert Filenames to 8.3 (DOS) Format
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then the filenames for
referenced bitmaps will be truncated to 8 character filenames with a 3
character extension. If naming conflicts arise as a result of
truncating a long filename, then the filenames will be adjusted to
eliminate the conflict.
Strip Off File Path From Filenames
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then all bitmap references
within the exported scene will consist of a filename without a path.
It is important to note that if this option is enabled the resulting
script will likely result in an error when read unless the filenames
referenced can be located by the software using the Renderware script
file.
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 Renderware, and the Lightwave file references IFF
bitmap files then this option can be enabled so that the IFF images
get converted to BMP format automatically.
The converted bitmap files will be placed in the same output directory
as the converted .rwx 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 "BMP" then all bitmap filenames
exported to the Renderware file will be changed so that their file
extensions end in ".bmp". 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.
Dialog Box Options