Celestia Forums

Hi,

A bit of advice or preference as to which "mesh" is better to use ".cmod" or ".3ds" and perhaps the advantage of using one or the other.

thanks

Derek wrote:Hi,

A bit of advice or preference as to which "mesh" is better to use ".cmod" or ".3ds" and perhaps the advantage of using one or the other.

thanks

I will sometimes create an ASCII cmod from a 3ds file in order to repair a texture which is not behaving as it should.
Of course, if I could figure out how to change the texture names using Anim8or, or some other 3D creation program,
this would probably be unnecessary. I do very often use this technique to create first, ASCII models, and then binary
cmods when I'm finished correcting any problems though. The cmods are simply much easier to deal with when you are
having to modify something and you don't know what you are doing with a 3D program.

Cmods are much faster within Celestia (better loading time, better FPS)...

ElChristou wrote:Cmods are much faster within Celestia (better loading time, better FPS)...

Yes it is faster in Cmod, i use now them in my addons but the final file is very big, for example Discovery.3ds = 8 mb
and i use this script to convert it ( wine mean that i use it on linux )

wine 3dstocmod.exe discovery.3ds>discovery.cmod

wine cmodfix -b discovery.cmod discovery.cmod

wine cmodfix -u -w -n -s 45 discovery.cmod discovery.cmod

wine cmodfix -o dave.cmod dave.cmod

The final file: Discovery.cmod = 30Mb

Is that the good way ?

(Discovery.cmod 30Mb run faster with best fps)

Linuxman

I don't use the command lines so I don't have them in mind, but what is important to reduce the final file size is to use the 'Eliminate duplicate vertices' and 'Optimize triangle lists to strips'. Also a Binary will be lighter than a text Cmod...

BobHegwood wrote:

Derek wrote:Hi,

A bit of advice or preference as to which "mesh" is better to use ".cmod" or ".3ds" and perhaps the advantage of using one or the other.

thanks

I will sometimes create an ASCII cmod from a 3ds file in order to repair a texture which is not behaving as it should.
Of course, if I could figure out how to change the texture names using Anim8or, or some other 3D creation program,
this would probably be unnecessary. I do very often use this technique to create first, ASCII models, and then binary
cmods when I'm finished correcting any problems though. The cmods are simply much easier to deal with when you are
having to modify something and you don't know what you are doing with a 3D program.

You wouldn't happen to have a tutorial on how to make an ASCII cmod from a .3ds model? I've been trying to convert .lwo modes to .3ds but the texture names often need to be changed or altered.

Reiko wrote:You wouldn't happen to have a tutorial on how to make an ASCII cmod from a .3ds model? I've been trying to convert .lwo modes to .3ds but the texture names often need to be changed or altered.

For OSX there is a nice 3ds>cmod converter by dirkpitt, and there is a similar tool for windows also somewhere in the forums. But you don?t need this just to fix texture names - just get a hex editor (several freeware ones around) and open the 3ds files in that. Then it is a simple search-replace. But of course, cmods are a better deal if you are going to use your model with Celestia.

- rthorvald

rthorvald wrote:

Reiko wrote:You wouldn't happen to have a tutorial on how to make an ASCII cmod from a .3ds model? I've been trying to convert .lwo modes to .3ds but the texture names often need to be changed or altered.

For OSX there is a nice 3ds>cmod converter by dirkpitt, and there is a similar tool for windows also somewhere in the forums. But you don?t need this just to fix texture names - just get a hex editor (several freeware ones around) and open the 3ds files in that. Then it is a simple search-replace. But of course, cmods are a better deal if you are going to use your model with Celestia.

- rthorvald

You know of a good HEX editor to recommend?

You know of a good HEX editor to recommend?

I am on OSX, and use HexEdit. If you are on a different platform, i am afraid you?ll have to turn to Google.

- rthorvald

Just a tip: do not create tangents when are not required (all the situations in which the "ray tracing" is not important as well as bumps); the end file will be much more small.

Reiko wrote:You wouldn't happen to have a tutorial on how to make an ASCII cmod from a .3ds model? I've been trying to convert .lwo modes to .3ds but the texture names often need to be changed or altered.

Reiko,

For Windows you can find a very easy to use converter on the Motherlode at the following URL.
http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catal ... ities.html

Is very easy to use. For non-Windows systems, please reference the other advice listed above.
Thanks, Bob

BobHegwood wrote:

Reiko wrote:You wouldn't happen to have a tutorial on how to make an ASCII cmod from a .3ds model? I've been trying to convert .lwo modes to .3ds but the texture names often need to be changed or altered.

Reiko,

For Windows you can find a very easy to use converter on the Motherlode at the following URL.
http://www.celestiamotherlode.net/catal ... ities.html

Is very easy to use. For non-Windows systems, please reference the other advice listed above.
Thanks, Bob

Thank you.