Print Page - ActorX Importer for 3ds Max

English Forum => News => Topic started by: Gildor on September 22, 2009, 15:26

Title: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on September 22, 2009, 15:26

ActorX Importer script for 3ds Max has been released (/projects/unactorx).
It can load PSK mesh and PSA animations directly to Max without the need for extra applications. There is no more "-md5" switch requirements for umodel (but it will be retained). Also it looks like this plugin is faster than md5importer.
Any feedback is welcome.
Tested with Max 9, 2009 and 2010.
Good luck :)

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: esr911 on September 22, 2009, 20:37

I have enjoyed Beta Testing it for Gildor. I have to say that this is the most reliable way to get mesh and animation data using Umodel. It is really a pity that someone hasn't done this years ago. My congratulations an another fine release.

Notes:

1. Problems with bone rotations as seen in Damnation has been corrected.
2. Animation interpolation (Skipping) between frames has been corrected.

And yes, It is wickedly FAST!!

My Beta Testing was on Windows 7 x64 - 3DSMAX 2010 x64

Now you have time to work on your renderer 8)

..:: ESR911 ::..

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: pixellegolas on September 22, 2009, 21:00

works perfect on vista 64bit max 2008

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: NexusElite on September 24, 2009, 09:56

Nice job on the importer.

I did however, find some small error to the plugins.

(http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/4271/actorxnotice.th.jpg)
(http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/4271/actorxnotice.jpg)

Seem like the x actor import the rig a bit off, such as the picture is shown.

So far Max2008, max 9 and max 2009 work but with that error.

MAx8 does not work for those who uses 8

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on September 24, 2009, 12:06

I've found a weighting bug by myself. Currently working to fix it. Looks like bug in Max Script :(

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on September 24, 2009, 14:24

New version (1.01) is out.
Changes:

fixed bug in a vertex weighting code
saving settings to ActorXImporter.ini (Max 9 and higher)
saving last used psk/psa directory
settings to change bone size for a new mesh

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on September 25, 2009, 11:34

Version 1.02

added option to scale mesh and animations when loading
added options for texture search (path, recursive search)
added option to ask for missing texture files when mesh is loading

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: NexusElite on September 26, 2009, 08:46

Hmm so everything fine now? i will try this again soon, when i can.

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: esr911 on September 26, 2009, 08:48

Quote from: NexusElite on September 26, 2009, 08:46

Hmm so everything fine now? i will try this again soon, when i can.

There is an animation issue that I found, that will be addressed in version 1.03 along with some needed features. It will be released later today, I recommend anyone who is using this script to wait for 1.03.

..:: ESR911 ::..

Note: if you need to know what frame start and frame end each animation from a PSA collection is in Max hit F11 and enter the following code: (Special thanks for Gildor & Chrrox for helping)

for a in Anims do format "% % %\n" a.Name a.FirstRawFrame (a.FirstRawFrame+a.NumRawFrames)

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on September 26, 2009, 12:08

Version 1.03

fixed bug with interpolation between first two animation keyframes
option to fix animation looping (duplicate first animation frame after last frame)
added button to load all animations from psa file
progress bar for loading animation with "cancel" capabilities
option to not load mesh skin (load skeleton only)
storing last used directory separately for psk and psa

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on September 29, 2009, 17:40

Version 1.04

implemented support for loading non-skeletal (static) meshes

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on October 18, 2009, 11:36

Version 1.05

implemented materal loading
fixing duplicate bone names

To use this feature you should export meshes with latest umodel. Umodel will automatically create *.mat files (in my own format) with description of material parameters (diffuse, specular, normal etc). These files will be imported by Actor X Importer. To find *.mat files you should set up "Path to materials" value.
Note: currently only UE3 materials can be exported/imported.

I have a strange troubles with Max 2009 hardware renderer. It's slightly complicated to turn on hardware rendering for materials, plus sometimes Max renders wrong texture map for some parameters (mostly for self-illumination).

(changelog updated)

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on December 12, 2009, 14:36

Version 1.06

fixed merging meshes on a single skeleton when previously loaded mesh is not in bind pose
improved compatibility with Epic's Actor X Exporter (dropping trailing spaces from bone names)

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: CriticalError on February 18, 2010, 10:08

thanks a lot Gildor for your hard work and for help in this community, continues working :) be gratefull

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on February 20, 2010, 01:45

Version 1.07

added "Load confirmation" setting to display message box after completion of operation
added "Reposition existing bones" option
fixed error when loading .mat files with missing textures

1st option is made for Esr911 - he performed automated mesh loading into 3ds Max using confirmation message boxes.
2nd option will allow to use old Actor X Importer behaviour when merging mesh with existing skeleton.
3rd option is a fix for this problem (/smf/index.php/topic,393.0.html)

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Thorongil on March 01, 2010, 08:27

Works perfect with Moh Airborne meshes and animations !

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on March 01, 2010, 13:33

It should work with any game supported by umodel ;)
(there are some troubles with Unreal Championship 2 animations, but it will be fixed in near future)

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: sn00p on March 05, 2010, 21:01

gildor, can I import more that 2 characters without having problems with the bones ? ( now if i try to import let's say Miranda and Garrus both of them will reset and ill get only one set of bones )

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on March 05, 2010, 22:03

No. You should import these meshes into separate scenes.

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on April 14, 2010, 01:40

Version 1.08

fixed loading of psk files with root bone parent set to -1 (usually it is 0)

Now Star Wars: Republic Commando meshes will not cause importer crash.

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on April 24, 2010, 11:30

Version 1.09

applying normalmap using correct technique (previously was a bumpmap)

Probably will fix this issue (/smf/index.php/topic,321.0.html).

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: pixellegolas on May 11, 2010, 00:47

I don't know if this is the right place to ask for request but please send it to right thread if not.

Almost all diffuse map have an alpha when it comes to game models. I always need to manually copy the diffuse to opacity, enter the settings and tick off premultiplied alpha and then in the mono channel output go from rgb intensity to alpha.

This is done on almost all models, especially hair textures and often body.

I think chrrox sent me a script once but would be nice to have it automated with umodel

This is what the listener is giving me:

Quote

meditMaterials[1] = $.material
meditMaterials[1].material1.opacityMap = Bitmaptexture fileName:"M:\TERA\S1Game\CookedPC\Art_Data\Packages\CH\Castanic_F_R\Texture2D\Castanic_F_R13_Body_diff.tga"
meditMaterials[1].material1[#Maps][#Opacity__Map__1__Castanic_F_R13_Body_diff_tga].preMultAlpha = off
meditMaterials[1].material1[#Maps][#Opacity__Map__1__Castanic_F_R13_Body_diff_tga].monoOutput = 1

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on May 11, 2010, 01:36

Probably that material is displayed in umodel without alpha channel too. Am I correct?

P.S. Main purpose of this importer is to import meshes and animations, materials are imported only for better look. 3ds Max is not a model viewer ;)
Umodel's material exporter is also very basic and I think it will never export full Unreal materials. It's very hard (or even impossible) to convert complex UE3 shaders to Max's material structure. It is (theoretically) possible to export GLSL (or HLSL) shader, but I'll need to significantly upgrade umodel's material renderer first.

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: pixellegolas on May 11, 2010, 01:40

yeah i understand it is not meant for all the things i want it for ;) But I think it just adds a couple of lines and it is used like this for almost all models

But I can make separate alpha converter later on. I was trying to figure out how to make a script for aligning the tera heads but seems very hard :)

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: jetv435 on June 05, 2010, 20:27

Does this work on the original .3d files for vertex meshes?

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on June 06, 2010, 02:21

Quote from: jetv435 on June 05, 2010, 20:27

Does this work on the original .3d files for vertex meshes?

Of course not. This plugin is intended for loading Actor X data only.

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on July 23, 2010, 19:43

Version 1.10

implemented extended Actor X format (pskx and psax) support
"tools" rollout with options to restore mesh bindpose and remove animations

This Actor X Importer in conjunction with a new umodel version will allow you to correctly import Unreal Championship 2 animations.

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on September 09, 2010, 13:49

Version 1.11

added "reorient bones" option

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: pixellegolas on September 09, 2010, 22:30

what does it mean? :)

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on September 09, 2010, 22:33

Made by request from the russian board (/smf/index.php/topic,585.0.html). Exactly the same option exists in the md5importer.

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on December 15, 2010, 14:20

Version 1.12

added mesh rotation settings
added protection from errors appeared when updating this script while 3ds Max is running

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: SLI_Fallen on December 15, 2010, 17:04

Thank you Gildor!

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on December 22, 2010, 23:33

Version 1.13

mesh rotation formula is now identical to used in UnrealEd
added "Clear scene" tool

Title: Re: Actor X Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on December 30, 2010, 00:40

Version 1.14

added "Batch export" tool

Actor X Importer package is now included script for batch conversion from this topic (/smf/index.php/topic,602.0.html)

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on May 03, 2011, 13:01

Version 1.16

improved animation cleanup

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on November 06, 2011, 15:41

Version 1.17

eliminated error messages when loading psk or psa file with unknown section name (SCALEKEYS etc)
implemented support for pskx with 2 or more UV channels

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on November 09, 2011, 23:14

Version 1.18

implemented support for animation tracks without translation keys
reading extended psa information from the .config file, removed psax ANIMFLAGS section support

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on November 26, 2011, 22:50

Version 1.19

implemented support for loading pskx files with more than 64k vertices
added option to control behaviour of animation with rotation-only tracks: you can let AnimSet to decide which bones will use animated translation, you can force to use translation from the animation (old, pre-1.18 behaviour) or force to not use animated translation at all; the option is located in "Animation import" group

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on December 01, 2011, 19:16

Version 1.20

implemented loading of DDS textures

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on December 06, 2011, 20:54

Version 1.21

fixed "translation mode" checkbox to work with psa without config file

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on January 23, 2012, 12:21

Version 1.22

fixed automatic loading of DDS textures for materials

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on February 07, 2012, 12:54

Version 1.23

support for extra UV sets stored in standard psk format (ActorX 2010)

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on February 18, 2012, 13:46

Version 1.24

fixed parsing psa config file with spaces in track names

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on June 02, 2012, 11:21

Version 1.25

fixed Max 2013 support; fix made by sunnydavis, check http://www.gildor.org/smf/index.php/topic,1408.0.html for details

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on June 10, 2012, 13:40

Version 1.26

stability improvements

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on November 28, 2014, 22:07

Version 1.27

added option "Don't conjugate root bone"

Version 1.28

added "mesh translation" options to settings
"advanced settings" are not stored to the ini file anymore

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on December 02, 2014, 18:48

Version 1.29

ActorX Imported now could be bound to toolbar, keyboard or menu - use "Customize user interface", category "Gildor Tools", and then use "ActorX Importer" as you like
reordered controls, separated some options to own rollouts for easy reordering etc
preserving dialog position, scroll position and rollout "open" state during 3ds Max session (until Max closed)

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on December 02, 2014, 19:04

More information regarding last version.

Layout settings are not stored to ini file, so they're preserved until you'll exit from 3ds Max.

How to install menu option/keyboard shortcut/toolbar button. Go to "Customize | Customize user interface". Choose a page which corresponds to action you'd like to add - for example, "Menus" to add a menu item. Select a category "Gildor Tools". There'll be only one item - "ActorX Importer". Drag it to menu wherever you like (or assign a shortcut etc).

Installation process is very similar to "Pivot Painter" tool from UE4, which you may watch here: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Content/Tools/PivotPainter/index.html#installation.

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on February 01, 2015, 22:39

Version 1.30

added animation import option "import at slider position"
integrated patch by Ayrshi (http://www.gildor.org/smf/index.php/topic,1925.0.html) intended to improve mesh normals

The option "import at slider position" would allow you to concatenate animations. Disable "update animation length" checkbox, set time range to some large value, set time slider to desired position, enable "import at slider position" and then import any animation track - it will be imported into selected position without cleaning up existing animation.

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on July 14, 2015, 23:11

Version 1.31

trying to detect and repair bad vertex weights for imported psk file

Sometimes Max will bind wrong bones to vertices. This happens when vertex is weighted to some bone, but another one bone is close enough to that vertex. Now ActorX Importer tries to detect this case and doing repair. In that case it works a bit slower (depending on number of vertices to repair), but at least it produces much better mesh.

An example: one mesh is a man who holds (in bind pose) his hand close to his face. In this case some vertices of hand will be bound to head bone, and some face vertices - to hand. Awful and unexpected behavior of MaxScript.

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on July 18, 2015, 22:45

Version 1.32

allowing psa import to work with any mesh, i.e. without previously imported psk file

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on July 21, 2015, 16:17

Version 1.33

saving bind pose information inside bone objects, this information will survive saving scene to a max file

Some notes about this update. With older versions of importer, if you'll load a psk file into Max, save it to the .max file, restart Max and load that scene - you wasn't able to load animation unless you'll reload that psk file again. Now all necessary information is stored within bones, and it survives saving to .max file. So, you may load any animation immediately after loading .max file.

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: rroobboo on July 22, 2015, 11:14

Quote from: Gildor on July 21, 2015, 16:17

Version 1.33

saving bind pose information inside bone objects, this information will survive saving scene to a max file

That's is a very very useful feature man! Thanks a lot!

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on July 31, 2016, 14:15

New version of the script got a feature for conversion of PSA animation into a single FBX file. Earlier, batch converter was able to convert each animation track into a separate FBX file - in my example run, the conversion took a few minutes and used nearly 700Mb of disk space. Now I've added "Save multi-take FBX file" option (see under "Animation" rollout). When this option is enabled, all animations will go into the single FBX file. Such conversion for me took just a few seconds, and resulting file was just 20-30Mb of size. I've tested result in UE4, and everything works well.

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on October 17, 2017, 17:04

Version v1.34

added possibility to select and open multiple psk files at time

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Juso3D on October 27, 2017, 08:01

Hey Gildor, just downloaded the 1.34 version and for some reason the psk/pskx files won't show up, worked fine on 1.33 not sure if it just for me or everyone.

(https://thumb.ibb.co/njm0mR/actorxbug.png) (https://ibb.co/njm0mR)

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on October 27, 2017, 11:42

Fixed, thank you for report.

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Juso3D on October 27, 2017, 13:28

No worries man, that tool is useful to batch convert all them to FBX :D

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: John83 on October 31, 2017, 17:52

Hi!
I have a such problem in 3ds max 7-8 when i press "Import PSK":
(https://i.imgur.com/hMFB9cP.png)

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on October 31, 2017, 20:22

It seems you're using too old version of Max. I used one function which allowed me to select multiple psk files at once. It is not new, but newer than your Max. I've added fallback for old Max, however I can't properly test it. Please try an updated importer.

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: John83 on October 31, 2017, 22:57

Thanks, it seems it works! However, multiple psk import function doesn't work at all. But I think it's because of old 3ds max version (i've tried version 6-8). Anyway, thanks for fallback of main functions for old Max!

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on December 05, 2017, 00:42

I've decided to rename "Recurse" option to "Look in subfolders". I hope it won't confuse users anymore :) There's a new ActorX Importer, I didn't change a version number - this change doesn't deserve anything but mentioning it here.

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: venturion on December 18, 2017, 07:39

Last update gave me broken smoothings on import. Tried both max 2012 and 2017, same result.

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/367082739096354817/391859922624577536/do_not_yet.PNG)

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on December 18, 2017, 08:38

Did you import a mesh into 3ds Max exported with old UModel or with new UModel?

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: venturion on December 18, 2017, 10:09

The old one.

Update: I just updated my umodel with the latest one to export psks and imported it with latest ActorX importer, everything worked well on my end. Thank you for the updates and apologize for inconvenience.

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on May 19, 2018, 22:47

Version 1.36

using case-insensitive comparison when finding bones in scene for animation

This should fix at least part of "unable to find root bone" issues.

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on August 28, 2019, 20:43

Version 1.37

implemented loading of PNG textures

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on October 13, 2019, 15:56

Version 1.38

implemented loading of vertex colors

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Juso3D on October 14, 2019, 06:25

Nice! useful for when importing into UE4 :D.

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: r_populik on April 11, 2020, 19:15

Looks like it doesn't work with 3ds max 2020:

Code:

-- Error occurred in anonymous codeblock; filename: C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\2020 - 64bit\ENU\usermacros\DragAndDrop-Macro1.mcr; position: 14945; line: 505
-- MAXScript Rollout Handler Exception:
-- Unable to convert: undefined to type: FileName
-- MAXScript callstack:
--	thread data: threadID:7928
--	------------------------------------------------------
--	[stack level: 0]
--	In getMultiOpenFilenames(); filename: C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\2020 - 64bit\ENU\usermacros\DragAndDrop-Macro1.mcr; position: 14946; line: 505
--	member of: codeblock macroScript: DragAndDrop_Macro1
--		Parameters:
--			caption: "Open"
--			filename: undefined
--			types: "ActorX Mesh (*.psk,*.pskx)|*.psk;*.pskx|All (*.*)|*.*"
--			default: 1
--		Locals:
--			filename: undefined
--			types: "ActorX Mesh (*.psk,*.pskx)|*.psk;*.pskx|All (*.*)|*.*"
--			p: undefined
--			result: undefined
--			default: 1
--			caption: "Open"
--			dlg: dotNetObject:System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog
--		Externals:
--			DragAndDrop_Macro1: <CodeBlock:DragAndDrop_Macro1>
--			owner: <CodeBlock:DragAndDrop_Macro1>
--	------------------------------------------------------
--	[stack level: 1]
--	called from BtnImportPsk.pressed(); filename: C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\2020 - 64bit\ENU\usermacros\DragAndDrop-Macro1.mcr; position: 57709; line: 2110
--	member of: Rollout:axMeshImportRollout
--		Locals:
--			filename: undefined
--			filenames: undefined
--		Externals:
--			MeshFileName: Global:MeshFileName : undefined
--			getMultiOpenFilenames: getMultiOpenFilenames()
--			g_skelOnly: Global:g_skelOnly : false
--			ImportPskFile: ImportPskFile()
--			axMeshImportRollout: Rollout:axMeshImportRollout
--			g_lastDir1: Global:g_lastDir1 : undefined
--			owner: Rollout:axMeshImportRollout
--	------------------------------------------------------
--	[stack level: 2]
--	called from top-level

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on April 11, 2020, 20:15

Looks like you have a problem somewhere else

Code:

DragAndDrop-Macro1.mcr; position: 14945; line: 505

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: RedBear on April 11, 2020, 20:59

I just checked the ActorX Importer for 3ds Max 2020 and everything works fine for me.

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Juso3D on April 12, 2020, 07:32

Works fine in 3ds Max 2021 also.

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: Gildor on February 15, 2023, 04:09

Moved issue to the separate topic, and to the appropriate forum place (this thread is intended for news)
https://www.gildor.org/smf/index.php/topic,8505.0.html

Title: Re: ActorX Importer for 3ds Max
Post by: EhsanAkbari on April 12, 2023, 02:08

Hi Gildor. I want to load some animations in this section, but I can only load one animation - everything works fine and it loads the animations one by one - but because there are too many animations, I want to have them all here. and load one by one into Max and export to fbx. I use Max 2022.
Thank you for your answer :)

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English Forum => News => Topic started by: Gildor on September 22, 2009, 15:26