@toni - FBX isn't exactly secret, since it has a pain-text (ascii) version its not so hard to support, also its data maps much more cleanly to Blender then Collada does (just similar conventions - armatures especially).
Supporting the binary format was harder, but proabably still less hassle then parsing the ASCII (I tried doing both). @Jeffrey H, Blender had FBX export for years, just not import (unless you count the ASCII importer we had in addons_contrib). For users making content for Unity and some other engines, this was still useful. Also, we had 2 developers work on armature support in FBX already (I think they even got it working OK). so probably this isn't such a big task, Bastien can reuse their work if it helps. On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 5:49 PM, Jeffrey H <[email protected]> wrote: > Unfortunately, FBX is currently the standard for the industry, which uses > pretty much everything except Blender. All Autodesk products and Cinema 4D, > Modo, etc. can use FBX, so that's what everybody's going to do. I believe > Collada is much older and Autodesk is neglecting their own support for the > format. Both are very inconsistent formats, but FBX seems to be more > prevalent today. I'd wish for an open format like Collada, but with current > standards that support most - if not all - of today's animation needs. > > > On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 11:47 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > >> This is why I’ve figured Collada may still be better to use -- at least it >> is open and ~specified. >> >> >> Does not seem like a good idea to build the future on something secret >> (and ugly?) in the long run. >> >> >> ~Toni >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> From: Bastien Montagne >> Sent: Friday, April 25, 2014 9:45 AM >> To: bf-blender developers >> >> >> >> >> >> Tom said the essential. :) >> >> We had to understand both the binary encoding[1] and format layout[2] of >> this ugly thing, >> and directly write from the py scripts… Highly frustrating and >> time-consuming tasks, esp. >> since FBX has some very odd inconsistencies and odd & picky expectations. >> >> Note that armature and animation support on import side are on my TODO, >> just have to find >> some time for this, bugs are another frustrating and time consuming task. >> :/ >> >> Bastien >> >> [1] >> >> http://code.blender.org/index.php/2013/08/fbx-binary-file-format-specification/ >> [2] >> http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Mont29/Foundation/FBX_File_Structure >> (still heavy WIP). >> >> On 25/04/2014 01:45, Tom M wrote: >> > The license for the FBX library is incompatible with the GPL, so not >> > it is not included. The FBX importer and exporter are based on >> > reverse engineering the format. The format is not documented. >> > >> > LetterRip >> > >> > On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 2:31 PM, Stefano Corazza <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> I hear there are improvements coming up... but many users are sending a >> >> lot of complaints about FBX import in Blender. >> >> >> >> A few questions: >> >> >> >> 1 - Did we include in Blender the FBX SDK or otherwise how are these FBX >> >> created? >> >> >> >> 2 - Right now there is no support for rigged/animated characters in the >> >> FBX importer. Is this something anyone is working on? >> >> >> >> FBX is a very complex format we have deeply studied in the past year, I >> >> just want to make sure we have a realistic vision of what is possible. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Please please please comment on this post!!! We want to know!!! >> >> >> >> Thanks >> >> >> >> >> >> Stefano >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> Bf-committers mailing list >> >> [email protected] >> >> http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Bf-committers mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers >> > >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Bf-committers mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers >> _______________________________________________ >> Bf-committers mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers >> > > > > -- > Jeffrey "Italic_" Hoover > _______________________________________________ > Bf-committers mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers -- - Campbell _______________________________________________ Bf-committers mailing list [email protected] http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers
