This utility has two main parts:
1. Mesh extractor
Features:
Graphical user interface.
Mesh extraction to Lightwave 6.5 format, including UV texture mapping.
Mesh extraction to MilkShape 1.4.x format, including UV texture mapping.
Automatic export of textures to .PCX format (for textures in the same package
as the mesh).
Deus Ex character skins can be automatically exported as well.
Animation support via multiple output files.
Still to do:
Animation support using Lightwave Endomorphs (maybe someday)
Support for 2-sided, translucent, and weapon polygons (setting of surface names
and/or attributes)
Status: I'm basically done with this piece for now.
2. Direct mesh conversion for Lightwave 6.5 (and possibly MilkShape)
Description: Ideally, this will allow UV texturing and animating to be done
in Lightwave and the results exported directly to Deus Ex mesh files. I'll
also try to include better .uc file generation, including some specific Deus
Ex things, like calculation of collisionHeight and collisionRadius. This
will be designed to support re-importing of altered meshes that were extracted.
Without this converter, there will be no practical way of re-importing
animation based on the original animation. Plus it will allow Lightwave
artists to model, texture, and animate completely within Lightwave, with no
other utilities necessary.
Status as of 11/24/01: I'm around 60% complete, with the core functionality
(the hard stuff) in place. I've reworked much of the user interface and
I've come up with a way to handle animation that should be flexible enough.
Probable modeling and animation restrictions
Update #3 (11/24/01): I haven't worked on it for almost three months, but I finally dusted it off and it turns out I was about an hour away from solving the last of my UV conversion problems. Woo hoo! I should be able to make major progress now, as the "meat" of the conversion code is now basically complete.
Steve Tack
stack@planetdeusex.com