problem exporting to md2 in milkshape

BigEarl

Hi all,

I'm new to these forums so I'll introduce myself. My name's Dean, I'm 22 from England and I'm a student studying Video Game Development.

I've been given an assignment to create a small rally game, part of this assignment is to read in a variety of md2 files. As there doesn't seem to be too many of these floating around for free nowadays I decided to make my own.

I'm using milkshape as it seems to be the easiest way to export to md2 and also it's got a handy free trial that seems fully functional. I'm trying to create a billboard to go up around my track.

I've created the object and created a texture file and then used the texture coordinator thingie to map this onto the object. However when I try to export it to a md2 file I get an error saying "Found vertices's with no bone! No animations are exported!" and it fails to make the md2 file. So I added a joint to the model and assigned it to all the vertices's (as I've no need for animation in this model). But now when I try to export it I get "Warning: No md2.qc found!", this then crashes milkshape, a md2 file is created but when I load it into my game, it appears as just one, misshapen polygon with no texture.

I've looked around on google and cant find any explanation of what an md2.qc file is and if indeed that is my problem.

Can anybody help me? Any response given is really appreciated.

Thanks for reading my ramble,
Dean

jgarland

To be honest, I would suggest using a different modeling package, unless your instructor has told you to do otherwise. There are a lot of other free programs that can get the job done much better than Milkshape. One that truly stands out in my mind is the Maya Personal Learning Edition. It's essentially a full version of Maya, with very few limitations. It puts a watermark on renders, and isn't licenced for commercial work, but it's a great way to learn a tool that's used throughout the game industry.

Switching to a different modeling package may seem like a big undertaking, and in some cases, it is, but it will ultimately help you in the long run. In addition to being a sub-standard modeling package, having knowledge of Milkshape on your resume won't get you very far if you're looking for a job in the industry some time down the road.

I'm sure you'll be able to find an .md2 exporter for the Maya PLE if you look around. Give it a shot, and if you don't like Maya, you can go back to Milkshape. There's nothing to lose, and a lot to gain, so give it a shot.

BigEarl

Cheers I'll do that, the instructor told us theres no need to model for the assignment as its an assesment of my opengl and c++ programming not modeling skills so I'm doin this off my own back just to make it look nicer. It's my first time modeling but I seem to be getting the hang of it (slowly :P)

I'll get that Maya and let you know how I get on, cheers

-Dean

p.s wouldn't hapen to have any idea of where to start looking for a good md2 exporter would you? (lol asside from google)

diZzyWalnut

If I don't make mistake , VALVE was using XSI , so Your solution is there .
Forget MILKSHAPE and go for free -
XSI MOD TOOL 4.2
http://www.softimage.com/community/xsi_mod_tool/Default.aspxand then You can have look at
http://www.noesisinteractive.com/
to get DVD how to import a character into HL2.

Another one :
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Replacing_HL2DM_player_models_with_XSI_Mod_Tool

jgarland

I unfortunately don't know where you could find an exporter, as I use 3ds Max. I suggested Maya because I've heard a lot of good things about it. If you're not able to find one, Dizzy might be right about XSI.

CheapAlert

but the real question is: CAN THEY EXPORT MD2?



Blender's a great modeler and has MD2 import and export. (sort of buggy but it finally works now)

BigEarl

Cheers for those links guys, XSI looks like it needs plug-ins of some sort to import and export to md2 so that's something ill have to look into if I can't get this done.

I've downloaded Blender and can get it to import an md2 but the md2 has none of the texture mapping I did in Milkshape so I guess I'll have to redo the mapping. However it doesn't look quite as simple to do as it was in Milkshape so again ill have to look into it.

Hehe, didn't realise the learning curve would be quite so steep for all this, with each program having its own ways of doing things and none of them seeming to nativly export to md2. Perhaps I'll have to stick to finding some pre-made md2s to put in my game for now as it's got to be in on Wednesday next week and I've got a job to keep also.

Now that I've started into this HUGE world of modeling however, I'm pretty interested in it all now, so here's hoping I'll be as good as you guys some day

Cheers everyone for your help
-Dean

CrazyButcher

I'd suggest using md3 (quake3) as it is by far more popular, and basically features everything md2 (quake2) has as well and is more accurate on animation.

diZzyWalnut

oupps , that's all me dizzy ,....I'm sorry for the confusion of quake2 / half life2 files (MD2 /MDL or SMD).

Anyway thanks my mistake You can start to learn export character into HALF LIFE 2.