JBEngine: Level Editor Export, Artwork and Library updates blog - Bonser

Okay so I really haven't managed to get much done in terms of coding but I have learnt quite a bit that will hopefully be very useful.

Okay so I started off by creating the Export part of the Level Editor which means I now have a full pipeline for level production, I can create assets, place them in the scene and then save them to an XML file. This XML file can then be either imported into the Level Editor again for further work or can be used in the game.

I have been getting used to using 3DS Max and I have become much more efficient with it, learning to model and texture objects. I have also learnt to use the biped tools to create simple walk and jump animations.

This is when I ran into some troubles as when I exported my model to collada I couldn't get the animations to export properly. I initially thoguht this was an issue with my engine but as I tested the animation in two other assimp featured model viewers I decided it was an issue with the file format.

To combat this I decided to try and export the model as an .FBX which worked with the modelling programs. .FBX is only supported in the newer version of the assimp library that I didn't have at the time so it was time to update the library.

Okay so I set off downloading the newest version of the assimp library. The first time I compiled assimp it came with a setup visual studio solution so I simply had to compile the program and it would create all the files for me.

Since then they have decided to go for a CMake alternative as it is the most cross platform approach and I'm guessing take the least work on their part.

I had never used CMake before and was a bit worried about using it as it all seemed overly confusing. After reading up a bit on the internet about Make Files and how to use CMake I finally managed to get the assimp library to compile.

It was actually not as difficult as it first seemed and I will will more than likely use it many times again with other libraries that I need to update.

As a final note I still haven't got the character to display properly as there is an issue with how the bones are setup in the engine. I know this file format does work as it has worked with the model viewer so I will just need to do a little more debugging to figure out what is going on.

I really need to get something demoable very shortly as this is making me lose motivation some what. Once I have my character model in and walking round I will feel much better.

Cheers :)