See also the sister PolyTrans-for-Director native plug-in version of PolyTrans for Macromedia Director.
Shockwave is a WEB streaming file format that can be played back into an (estimated) 300 million Shockwave-enabled WEB browsers. The Shockwave file and its contents are most often authored in a software package called "Director" by Macromedia. In 2001 Macromedia introduced Director 8.5 which included the ability to add 3D models to a published Shockwave file. The 3D "engine" was developed by Intel Architecture Labs.
This export converter will convert 3D content into a Macromedia Director .w3d file. The conversion process is shown in the following diagram:
The original 3D content is imported into Okino's NuGraf or PolyTrans software, or alternatively into PolyTrans-for-MAX or PolyTrans-for-Maya.
The 3D content is exported to the Director .w3d file format via the Okino Shockwave-3D exporter.
The .w3d file is imported into Macromedia Director where it is added to a Director "movie" as a cast member.
A "Shockwave" movie is published from the user interface of Macromedia Director.
The Shockwave" movie (.dir extension) is placed on a WEB server and allowed to be viewed from the Internet via a WEB browser which has the Shockwave player installed.
NOTE: This export converter does not export or publish a Shockwave movie directly. It exports a .w3d file which is the 3D asset (content) data. This .w3d file must be loaded into Director for further publishing. Alternatively, you can create a special Director movie which will allow .w3d files to be loaded from a WEB browser into the movie for display.
Features of this .w3d Export Converter:
Mesh output with vertex normals and uv texture coordinates.
Materials with all .w3d supported attributes.
Default camera.
Lights with all supported .w3d parameters.
Texture maps for the diffuse, luminous and reflective channels.
Notes:
You will probably find that the export process is very slow, or extremely slow, for moderate sized models. This is the time taken by the Intel compression algorithm on the raw geometry and is not under control of Okino software.
Very tiny triangles can cause the Intel core compression library to crash. This is/was a known problem with the core Shockwave-3D code. This might occur if you are importing from a CAD model that uses small units; in this case ask the CAD importer to pre-scale the scene by 1000 units.
'General' Dialog Box Options
The "Main/General" panel controls the compression of the exported data, the preview options and which data items are exported into the Shockwave-3D palettes.
Compression Quality
The Shockwave-3D .w3d file format uses what is known as "lossy" data compression in order to convert large 3D data files into much smaller files for transmission across the Internet. "Lossy" means that the quality of the model, or of the texture maps, are degraded in order to achieve better data compression. These sliders control the degree of compression.
Geometry
This slider controls the degree of geometry compression. Lower values result in a coarser model, while higher values (towards the right side) result in higher quality models. The default value is 25.
Textures
This slider controls the degree of texture image compression. Lower values result in a fuzzier texture images, while higher values (towards the right side) result in sharper texture images. The default value is 50.
Preview .w3d scene after export
If this checkbox is enabled then a preview window (of the X and Y resolution shown on the dialog box) will appear. You can then rotate, pan and dolly around the scene using these mouse and keyboard settings:
Dolly
CTRL + left click + drag = dolly
CTRL + SHIFT + left click + drag = dolly faster
Rotate
left click + drag = rotate around the world Z axis
Y + left click + drag = rotate aound the world Y axis
Pan
SPACE + left click + drag = pan
Shockwave 3D Resources to Export
Shockwave-3D .w3d files are structured as repositories of "resource" data. The following options control which data elements are output to these repositories.
Mesh Geometry
Polygon mesh geometry is output to the .w3d file.
Materials
Material definitions are output to the .w3d file.
Texture maps
Texture maps are output to the .w3d file.
Lights
Lights are output to the .w3d file.
'Materials' Dialog Box Options
Enable Texture Images (embed within .w3d file)
If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then any texture images referenced by the exported data will be embedded directly within the Shockwave-3D .w3d file; the image will be compressed based on the "Texture Compression" slider of the previous panel. If this checkbox is disabled then no texture maps will be output.
X & Y Resolution
These drop-down combo boxes control the resolution (size) of the bitmap images embedded within the Shockwave-3D .w3d files. In general you should set these to "Closest" which will increase the texture image sizes so that their X and Y resolutions are both a power of 2 (64, 128, 256, 512, etc).
Multiply Colors by Material Shading Coefficients
The Shockwave-3D renderer only accepts raw color information for the diffuse, ambient, specular and luminous shading channels. In many 3D renderers they would also accept what are called "shading coefficients" which act as intensity controls of these corresponding colors. For example, a diffuse shading coefficient of 0.5 would reduce the intensity of the diffuse color in the shading calculations by 50%. Internally within the PolyTrans/NuGraf database each color has its own corresponding shading coefficient.
If you enable this option then the internal shading coefficients will be multiplied into their corresponding colors before being exported to the Shockwave-3D .w3d file. You should enable this if the exported file appears too bright or the shading on the models appear "washed out". Otherwise, keep it disabled.
Material Color Intensity Multipliers
These 4 type-in values allow you to change the overall intensity of the diffuse, specular, ambient and luminous colors exported to the .w3d file. Values greater than 1.0 will make the colors brighter while values between 0.0 and 1.0 will make the colors darker. If the model appears too dark then try using a diffuse scaling value from 1.1 to 2.0 (as a ball park figure). If the model appears too bright then try using a diffuse scaling value of 0.7 (for example).
'General' Dialog Box Options
