[INFO] ASE 3d- format discovery

i´ll try making it short in this first post:

this is a insight of me about the ASE (3dsmax ASCI Export) format. Hopefully everthing important is within the image:
http://mitglied.lycos.de/mmvr1/flash...mat_blocks.gif


here is a little tutorial how to get your 3d-models out of 3dsmax into a ASE file suitable for flash:
http://mitglied.lycos.de/mmvr1/flash...max_export.gif


just to make sure here is the sample file again as actual text:

Code:

---

*3DSMAX_ASCIIEXPORT        200
*COMMENT "AsciiExport Version  2.00 - Sun Feb 11 01:16:37 2007"
*SCENE {
        *SCENE_FILENAME ""
        *SCENE_FIRSTFRAME 0
        *SCENE_LASTFRAME 100
        *SCENE_FRAMESPEED 30
        *SCENE_TICKSPERFRAME 160
        *SCENE_BACKGROUND_STATIC 0.0000        0.0000        0.0000
        *SCENE_AMBIENT_STATIC 0.0000        0.0000        0.0000
}
*GEOMOBJECT {
        *NODE_NAME "Plane01"
        *NODE_TM {
                *NODE_NAME "Plane01"
                *INHERIT_POS 0 0 0
                *INHERIT_ROT 0 0 0
                *INHERIT_SCL 0 0 0
                *TM_ROW0 1.0000        0.0000        0.0000
                *TM_ROW1 0.0000        1.0000        0.0000
                *TM_ROW2 0.0000        0.0000        1.0000
                *TM_ROW3 -1.0840        1.0840        0.0000
                *TM_POS -1.0840        1.0840        0.0000
                *TM_ROTAXIS 0.0000        0.0000        0.0000
                *TM_ROTANGLE 0.0000
                *TM_SCALE 1.0000        1.0000        1.0000
                *TM_SCALEAXIS 0.0000        0.0000        0.0000
                *TM_SCALEAXISANG 0.0000
        }
        *MESH {
                *TIMEVALUE 0
                *MESH_NUMVERTEX 4
                *MESH_NUMFACES 2
                *MESH_VERTEX_LIST {
                        *MESH_VERTEX    0        -33.0840        -30.9160        0.0000
                        *MESH_VERTEX    1        30.9160        -30.9160        0.0000
                        *MESH_VERTEX    2        -33.0840        33.0840        0.0000
                        *MESH_VERTEX    3        30.9160        33.0840        0.0000
                }
                *MESH_FACE_LIST {
                        *MESH_FACE    0:    A:    0 B:    1 C:    3 AB:    1 BC:    1 CA:    0        *MESH_SMOOTHING 1        *MESH_MTLID 0
                        *MESH_FACE    1:    A:    3 B:    2 C:    0 AB:    1 BC:    1 CA:    0        *MESH_SMOOTHING 1        *MESH_MTLID 0
                }
                *MESH_NUMTVERTEX 4
                *MESH_TVERTLIST {
                        *MESH_TVERT 0        0.0000        1.0000        0.0000
                        *MESH_TVERT 1        0.0000        0.0000        0.0000
                        *MESH_TVERT 2        1.0000        1.0000        0.0000
                        *MESH_TVERT 3        1.0000        0.0000        0.0000
                }
                *MESH_NUMTVFACES 2
                *MESH_TFACELIST {
                        *MESH_TFACE 0        1        3        2
                        *MESH_TFACE 1        2        0        1
                }
        }
        *PROP_MOTIONBLUR 0
        *PROP_CASTSHADOW 1
        *PROP_RECVSHADOW 1
}

---

some samples of what can be done with ASE files:

my personal current development,- an isometric game:
http://board.flashkit.com/board/
starting @ http://board.flashkit.com/board/show...9&postcount=41

papervision, opensource fast flash 3d engine
http://osflash.org/papervision3d

sandy, self claimed best 3d API
http://www.flashsandy.org/


hope that gives some newcommers some basic insight,- still here some interesting links I found during my discovery (no particular order):
http://www.devmaster.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2258
http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/wiki/ASE_File_Format
http://www.solosnake.com/main/ase.htm (very good insight)

totally forgot here are some usefull functions I wrote for parsing the ASE files (some very rough ones, but they worked very well for me):

1 function for finding and replacing text elements of a particular string:

Code:

---

function fr(txt,id,r){//fr = find and replace
        var max = 1000;//security!
        var pos = 0;
        var done=0;
        while (done<=max && pos<>-1){
                pos = txt.indexOf(id);
                if (pos<>-1){
                        done++;
                        var a = txt.slice(0,pos);
                        var b = txt.slice(pos+id.length,txt.length);
                        txt = a+""+r+""+b;
                }else{
                        done++;
                        break;
                }
        }
        return(txt);
}

---

what it does: it searches within the string variable txt for the string variable id and replaces it with the string variable r.
samples:
removing all tabs within text

Code:

---

var new_text = fr(my_string , "\t" , "");

---

remove double returns (for some reason some parts of my loaded ASE file had always a new line after a return)

Code:

---

var new_text = fr(my_string , "\r\n" , "\n" );

---

replacing weired '"' with real quotes:
[/code]var new_text = fr(my_string , """ , "\"" );[/code]

--------------------------------------------------------
1 function for getting a node- block of the text

Code:

---

function getNode(from,header){
        var p = from.indexOf(header)
        if (p<>-1){
                var s1 = p+header.length;
                var s2 = from.indexOf("}",s1);
                var out = from.slice(s1,s2);
                return({val:out,s:s2});
        }else{
                return("");
        }
}

---

what it does: again from given string from it searches for the string variable header. If it finds it it returns 2 Objects, 1 with all characters following after the search string till the first curly brace "}", the other one of the position of where the curly brace character was found. So it is only usefull for single element blocks not for blocks that contain other blocks.
sample:

Code:

---

my_block = getNode(my_string , "*MESH_TVERTLIST {" ).val;

---

feel free to use them or improve them

Thanks a ton for sharing... I'll be redoing the 3D resources thread... mind if I add this to the list?

np,- feel free to ad, I thought that goes without saying if someone posts something here.

whoot! go render!

repost of the first post since I had to swtich image servers:

i´ll try making it short in this first post:

this is a insight of me about the ASE (3dsmax ASCI Export) format. Hopefully everthing important is within the image:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...mat_blocks.gif


here is a little tutorial how to get your 3d-models out of 3dsmax into a ASE file suitable for flash:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...max_export.gif


just to make sure here is the sample file again as actual text:

Code:

---

*3DSMAX_ASCIIEXPORT        200
*COMMENT "AsciiExport Version  2.00 - Sun Feb 11 01:16:37 2007"
*SCENE {
        *SCENE_FILENAME ""
        *SCENE_FIRSTFRAME 0
        *SCENE_LASTFRAME 100
        *SCENE_FRAMESPEED 30
        *SCENE_TICKSPERFRAME 160
        *SCENE_BACKGROUND_STATIC 0.0000        0.0000        0.0000
        *SCENE_AMBIENT_STATIC 0.0000        0.0000        0.0000
}
*GEOMOBJECT {
        *NODE_NAME "Plane01"
        *NODE_TM {
                *NODE_NAME "Plane01"
                *INHERIT_POS 0 0 0
                *INHERIT_ROT 0 0 0
                *INHERIT_SCL 0 0 0
                *TM_ROW0 1.0000        0.0000        0.0000
                *TM_ROW1 0.0000        1.0000        0.0000
                *TM_ROW2 0.0000        0.0000        1.0000
                *TM_ROW3 -1.0840        1.0840        0.0000
                *TM_POS -1.0840        1.0840        0.0000
                *TM_ROTAXIS 0.0000        0.0000        0.0000
                *TM_ROTANGLE 0.0000
                *TM_SCALE 1.0000        1.0000        1.0000
                *TM_SCALEAXIS 0.0000        0.0000        0.0000
                *TM_SCALEAXISANG 0.0000
        }
        *MESH {
                *TIMEVALUE 0
                *MESH_NUMVERTEX 4
                *MESH_NUMFACES 2
                *MESH_VERTEX_LIST {
                        *MESH_VERTEX    0        -33.0840        -30.9160        0.0000
                        *MESH_VERTEX    1        30.9160        -30.9160        0.0000
                        *MESH_VERTEX    2        -33.0840        33.0840        0.0000
                        *MESH_VERTEX    3        30.9160        33.0840        0.0000
                }
                *MESH_FACE_LIST {
                        *MESH_FACE    0:    A:    0 B:    1 C:    3 AB:    1 BC:    1 CA:    0        *MESH_SMOOTHING 1        *MESH_MTLID 0
                        *MESH_FACE    1:    A:    3 B:    2 C:    0 AB:    1 BC:    1 CA:    0        *MESH_SMOOTHING 1        *MESH_MTLID 0
                }
                *MESH_NUMTVERTEX 4
                *MESH_TVERTLIST {
                        *MESH_TVERT 0        0.0000        1.0000        0.0000
                        *MESH_TVERT 1        0.0000        0.0000        0.0000
                        *MESH_TVERT 2        1.0000        1.0000        0.0000
                        *MESH_TVERT 3        1.0000        0.0000        0.0000
                }
                *MESH_NUMTVFACES 2
                *MESH_TFACELIST {
                        *MESH_TFACE 0        1        3        2
                        *MESH_TFACE 1        2        0        1
                }
        }
        *PROP_MOTIONBLUR 0
        *PROP_CASTSHADOW 1
        *PROP_RECVSHADOW 1
}

---

some samples of what can be done with ASE files:

my personal current development,- an isometric game:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/flashki...eriment_07.jpg
starting @ http://board.flashkit.com/board/show...9&postcount=41

papervision, opensource fast flash 3d engine
http://osflash.org/papervision3d

sandy, self claimed best 3d API
http://www.flashsandy.org/


hope that gives some newcommers some basic insight,- still here some interesting links I found during my discovery (no particular order):
http://www.devmaster.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2258
http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/wiki/ASE_File_Format
http://www.solosnake.com/main/ase.htm (very good insight)

...... amazing! thanks bro for all info!