Using Doga models in SE5/Starfury

Ed Kolis · #1 July 4th, 2005, 04:58 PM

The only reason we can't use Doga models in SE5 or Starfury is because of all the extra polygons that appear on the "inside" of the models, right? Well then all you need is a program which can perform boolean (aka Constructive Solid Geometry) operations on triangle meshes, because that will "solidify" the model, removing all those interior polygons. If I'm not mistaken, Blender can do such a thing... so here's what you do:

1. Create model in DoGA
2. Export as 3DS or whatever DoGA exports as
3. Import into Blender
4. Apply boolean "add" operations to merge all the parts into one big mesh
5. Export as .X

Keep in mind I haven't tried this yet, but it's an idea - I'm not 100% sure Blender actually supports booleans, and if it does, I'm not sure how it handles merging multiple objects with different materials, but it's worth trying out...

Atrocities · #2 July 4th, 2005, 07:24 PM

When you do try PLEASE let us know how it works. With detailed instructions - or step by step directions, on how to accomplish this great task.

Thanks Ed.

ToxicSlurpee · #3 July 4th, 2005, 10:44 PM

If this works, that'll be downright wonderful.

Ed Kolis · #4 July 4th, 2005, 11:24 PM

And not just that - I'm also trying to make a plugin for Wings which exports to DoGA format:
http://kolis.dyndns.org/ed/prog/suf_exp.tar.gz
It's not actually working yet, but maybe if someone here knows Erlang (yeah right

) they could help me out... it's based on an existing Povray plugin; I just took out all the Povray-specific stuff and replaced it with DoGA-specific stuff but it won't load into wings

I posted in the Wings forum about it as well...

zircher · #5 July 5th, 2005, 12:18 AM

Plan B: If Blender does not work for you or it adds too many polygons during the boolean union/CSG process, you can always export the DoGA model as a SUF file, read that into Metasequoia LE, clean up the geometry, and export that as an .X file.

That how I make a lot of my game models. I do the rough design in DOGA and the finish work in Meta.
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TAZ

Atrocities · #6 July 5th, 2005, 12:28 AM

Zircher, if only you had the time to write us detailed instructions on specifically how to do that..

Oh boy.

zircher · #7 July 5th, 2005, 12:32 AM

It's all a matter of patience. You just need to know how to select points, weld them together, select faces so you can hide them and then delete the stuff that's hidden. Really just a bunch of grunt work once you get a feel for Meta.

Here's a quick gallery of game meshes that I made with DoGA/Meta that I'm making for a friend. They still need textures, but you might recognize the geometry from FASA's Renegade Legion: Interceptor.

http://www.geocities.com/tzircher/renleg.htm
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TAZ

I've tried to teach Meta before. The absolute best way I have seen so far is to use something like Remote Assist so you can both work on the same the program at the same time. But, I've found that really requires that both ends have broadband to make it work smoothly.

zircher · #8 July 5th, 2005, 12:51 AM

Given time, I'll see about writing up a Meta tutorial. It's something that I've wanted to do. But, I would deliberately make it only for Metasequoia LE r2.1. It's very accessible and does not require the shareware registration that the other versions do. Very important since you can only effectively register the shareware version if you have Japanese speaking friends.

I figure it would have to be a multi-part tutorial. Intro to DOGA, design, export to SUF; intro to Meta, converting from parts to a mesh; texturing, and finally exporting to .X Not rocket science, but something that would require a little patience from my wife for me to finish it. :-)
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TAZ

Ed Kolis · #9 July 6th, 2005, 11:29 PM

Hmm, I just remembered that Art of Illusion also supports booleans, and (IMO at least) has a shallower learning curve than Blender...
Now, if I could just get that wings plugin to stop crashing...

http://kolis.dyndns.org/ed/prog/wpc_suf.tar.gz <-- latest version

zircher · #10 July 8th, 2005, 09:27 AM

I'm going to try and have daily updates of my DoGA\Meta tutorial as I write it. You can find the links in the tutorial section of my DoGA support page at httP://zircher.iwarp.com/doga . When the beast is done, I'll also add a download link for the whole tutorial plus the files created by it.
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TAZ