Max Importer

[tazpn]

NIF Importer v 0.1.3

Sorry this is a rehash of my post at the ES Board but since gundalf is here and the exporter is largely here to this site I thought I'd add it here as well.

I've been working for a couple of weeks (on and off) on an importer for NIF files from Oblivion and Morrowind. Its based on current build of NifLib on the NifTools sourceforge site. Yesterday I had Oblivion, Morrowind, and Civ4 meshes importing fairly decently so I figured its time to put out an alpha and perhaps someone else can make some use of it.

* Updated with screen shots and animation. The exporter is still at 0.1.2 as I'm waiting for gundalf/fladnug to reappear and make a build.

What is it for:

• 3ds Max 7 and 8
  

What does it do:

1. Imports Bones and Meshes from Nif files.
   • Specifically, NiNodes, NiTriShapes, NiTriStrips are supported.
     
2. Import materials and textures.
   
3. Binds Skin data to the bones and the meshes from the nif.
   
4. Nominal support for animations both embedded in .NIF and .KF.
   

Changes in 0.1.3:

1. Added Max 7 Support (I think)
   
2. Fixed a ton if issues with bones and skin.
   
3. Import UV coordinates even if texture is not present.
   
4. Added initial support for animation.
   

What doesn't it do:

1. Everything else
   

Known issues:

• Bipeds are still not importing well so I've defaulted to bones do better.
  
• DAoC nifs are still not quite right. Need to save and reload from MAX to avoid crashes with Civ4 exporter.
  
• Civ4 Leaderheads still do not align properly.
  
• If the skin does not import correctly, try changing ApplyOverallTransformToSkinAndBones to 0.
  
• Most of the Oblivion Animations are missing primary movement unless saved and reloaded.
  
• The Oblivion Animation seem to require the Bip01 to be rotated 90 degrees so Z-Axis is back to zero.
  
• Many, many more.
  

Plans for the future:

1. Continue work on cleaning up animations and skin import.
   

What else is included:

• The complete max package has an Exporter and some other Utilities written by gundalf which I can't go into details on but it is geared towards exporting havok data.
  

How to use it:
I highly recommend editing the ini file in the plugcfg directory and fixing the paths for me it makes it much easier to import things as it automatically tries to locate texture files and other supporting files as it imports so you dont have to reenter the data in max.

1. Remove irrelevant applications from the KnownApplications list, no need to do extra work if is not needed.
   
2. Fix the RootPaths, TexturePaths and TextureSearchPaths in the Applications for your machine.
   • The ini file has a substitution mechanism to make it easier to just change one location and refer to that path in other areas.
     
   • RootPaths is used to determine if the imported nif is in one of those directories if so it assumes the nif is from that app and uses those settings for import.
     
   • TexturePaths is used to test if the relative path in the nif is relative to that directory.
     
   • TextureSearchPaths will be recursively scanned for file names that match the extensions (this can be time consuming so keep it to only relevant directories to you).
     

Please remember that this is an alpha (anything before alpha?) and is buggy but may be useful to people never the less.

Screenshots (new):
Arena Champion Heavy (Male)
Storm Atronach
DAoC Ice Queen
Dark Brotherhood (Female)
Morrowind Indoril Cuirass
Mehrunes Dagon
Civ4 Knight

Video [req. Flash 8] (new):
Two Handed Forward Power Attack
Two Handed Right Power Attack
Sneak Bow Attack
Bed Roll Entry Crawl

Download site:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles..._id=149157

NifTools support forum:
http://niftools.sourceforge.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=6

[Greybeard]

Great news for those with Max 7 & 8. :banana: For those still with version 5, -well- Blender's still ok.

[Razorwing]

Thanks for posting the information, tazpn! I sometimes import nif files into Max and have been enjoying your plugin for some time now, it's so much easier than exporting .obj through NifSkope. I've also had a problem with the NifSkope method, especially with community-made Morrowind nifs, because the .obj pieces lost their position so when I imported an old outhose model everything came jumbled like the outhouse had collapsed. Admittedly I haven't tested that particular model with your plugin but I have no reason to doubt that it wouldn't import perfectly.

Also, I was overjoyed when I found out your plugin could import nifs with baked-in textures because I had an early rope model with baked-in textures that I'd lost the max scene for and I thought it was locked in forever in that nif file, but thanks to your plugin I could turn it into an advanced nif.