Blender is being used a lot as part of a pipeline, thus having a great need for import and export of various formats. In this article I list what formats used to be supported in Blender 2.4x series and how well these did their jobs, and then compare them to the current status.
I try to be as complete as possible, but since there are lots of those formats available in both versions I”m bound to overlook something. Feel free to comment about that too, and I”ll modify this article accordingly.
We”re seeking through this article feedback from users on the formats and the take is on how much should be officially supported, and what should we expect the user community to maintain. For Blender 2.5x we have a mechanism to show what is officially supported (considered core to Blender) and what not. Not so long ago this happened in such a way that core import/export scripts resided inside bf-blender repository, but this month we saw a shift towards having those (Python) scripts also hosted in the bf-extensions repository. One reason is to tap into the large scripter user base we have: instead of giving every potential fixer write access to bf-blender repository, we can now defer that to bf-extensions, where this can be managed in a nicer manner without having to control bf-blender repository access more (our centralized approach to write access and such can be discussed to great lengths, but that”s not further the focus of this article).
In Blender 2.4 we have the following list of formats supported, import, export or both.
| Blender 2.4x | Blender 2.5x | |||||
| script | import | export | import | export | official | notes |
| 3D Studio (.3ds) | V | V | V | V | V | |
| AC3D (.ac3d) | V | – | – | – | ||
| BioVision Motion Capture (.bvh) | V | – | V | V | V | |
| C3D Motion Capture (.c3d) | V | – | – | – | ||
| Camera Animation export (.py) | – | – | – | V | V | |
| COLLADA (.dae) | V | V | V | V | V | not a script since 2.5 |
| Direct X (.x) | V | V | V | V | ||
| Autodesk DXF (.dxf/.dwg) | V | V | V | – | ||
| DEC Object File Format (.off) | V | V | – | – | ||
| Video Edit EDL (.edl) | V | – | – | – | ||
| Autodesk FBX (.fbx) | – | V | – | V | ||
| GIMP Image to Scene (.xcf/.xjt) | – | – | V | – | ||
| HiRISE DTM(.img) | – | – | V | – | ||
| Lightwave Object (.lwo) | V | V | V | – | ||
| Make Human (.mxh) | – | – | V | – | ||
| Mobile 3D Graphics (.m3g/.java) | – | V | – | – | ||
| Quake Map (.map) | – | V | – | – | ||
| Newtek MDD (Vertex Keyframe) | V | V | V | V | V | |
| Quake 2 (.md2) | V | V | – | – | ||
| Wavefront (.obj) | V | V | V | V | V | |
| OpenInventor (.iv) | – | V | – | – | ||
| OpenFlight (.flt) | V | V | – | – | ||
| Blizzard M3 (.m3) | – | – | V | – | ||
| Milkshape 3D (.ms3d) | V | V | – | – | ||
| Ogre Mesh (.mesh) | – | V | – | – | externally developed for 2.5 | |
| Ogre Scene (.scene) | – | V | – | – | externally developed for 2.5 | |
| SVG/EPS/AI (.svg, .ps, .eps, .ai, Gimp) | V | – | – | – | ||
| Stanford PLY (.ply) | V | V | V | V | V | |
| STL (.stl) | – | – | V | V | V | |
| RAW vertices and faces (.raw) | V | V | V | V | ||
| Pro Engineer (.slp) | V | – | – | – | ||
| Unreal Skeletal Mesh and Animation (.psk/.psa) | – | – | – | V | ||
| Pointcache (.pc2) | V | – | – | – | ||
| VRML97 (.wrl) | – | V | V | V | V | |
| X3D (.x3d) | – | V | V | V | V | |
| XNA (.fbx) | – | – | – | V | ||
| Softimage XSI (.xsi) | – | V | – | – | ||
Many formats have already been ported to the new Blender 2.5 platform and as you can see from the table, we”ve selected currently a few scripts that we more or less support officially.
We”re seeking now feedback from users on the current list of officially supported scripts and on the available formats as a whole. Is it complete? Too much? Of course, input on the working level of formats is also welcome.
As I wrote earlier on this blog, we have now a team to work on our COLLADA support, and since last week there has been also huge interest in our efforts to improve our current integration level from Rémi Arnaud and OpenCOLLADA. Still enough work to be done there to be able to support the specification properly.
For the other listed official formats, much work has been done by Campbell Barton. While porting the VRML and X3D formats to our new platform, he also ensured they work better than before. Further BVH support is greatly improved.
There are many more formats to say something about, and no doubt I missed something (peculiarities for certain formats, etc.) Just notify in comments and I”ll adapt the list in this article accordingly.
To conclude this article, a short screencast about the import/export scripts and the new structure.
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in blender 2.49 all ready have uplyed m3g export suport with instaled payton 2.6…i have payton files(m3g,3do-export),can my be this file maneged with payton IDLE and input in blender…is this posible and how?
thank you…
I wish they had .m3g import/export support now.
I am unable to import .x3d and .3ds format images or objects in blender,what should i do…?
Can anybody tell me how to convert blender models to egg files..please its urgent..
when I am exporting 3D model from blender(2.6) to .3ds file, only one cube is shown into .3ds viewer please guide me,how to export complete design with camera,
i am having problems with the 3ds import and export on the latest version of blender. i am trying to import a 13.5 megabyte file but it is not working(see here http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?265389-more-problems-with-3ds-import-export )and i want to export a model i have created as a 3ds but only some parts are being exported(see here http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?264825-3ds-export . please help, thanks.
Please can you put back LWO export, and this time have it export everything: Multiple UVs, morphs, weights, color vmaps etc.
Also your LWO import in 2.6 is currently broken. It’s not bringing in UV’s properly, (I suspect if there’s more than one UV map in the object)- you’ve got to get that right. It can’t be half right has to be 100%.
LWO import/export 100% working should be a >>priority<<, not an extra.
Is the ply format suppose to export all of it’s faces clockwise? I thought it did, but I just finished exporting an object I created and one strip of faces were counter clockwise. If this is an error please email me and I can send you the model.
Thanks
Now that Blender has the new motion tracking tools, I would have even more use for an FBX-exporter that would also write Shape Keys. I see that in the wiki, it’s mentioned under Missing and I would really like to get my morphs imported into game development tools such as UDK.
Why Blender 2.60 can not import and export formats m3g?
Reply to Chris’ post from 23. January 2011:
Chris, please DO reinvent the wheel :)
I dl’ed Blender 2.59 because of the new option “Import/Export MikuMikuDance .PMD”. My goal was to convert all my DirectX files into this new PMD format because it allows better handling of bones. But when I found out that the DirectX-Import was not possible, I was very disappointed. I think that DirectX is a platform-indipendent format (just like Adobe’s PDF) and should be supported in every single 3D-CAD software, with both import and export.
Just my two cents.
OOps See Newbie ?
I forgot OpenSim (Secondlife)
prims/sculpties en terrain files etc.
pfffffffffffffffffff
Well for those of us who cant a fort (or who do not wish to use payed products because of/or out of principal reasons,same reasons as why we are using Blender b.t.w.) and who therefor are using for example;
PaintNet / InkScape / Gimp … it would be nice if they where supported, possible by using svg but i’m a newbie/rookie and have no clue to what would be best.
Hello
is there going to be a Export blender to SVG format for 2.5 ?
ive just started up working seriusly with blender but my custommers want pictures in SVG format and havent found the ability to make it yet either for the model itself or a rendered image of some sort any solutions ? if SVG isent possible is there a way to make an eps or ai file instead?
I agree with Hal that FlightGear uses AC3D files and Blender is used by many developers for modelling aircraft.
The important point is that FlightGear is like Blender – an open source and platform independent application – and offers many Windows, Linux and Mac users a high quality flight simulator.
Thanks anyway for Blender whether it has AC3D import/export or not.
(I came across this blog whilst searching for Blender 2.5X .ac import and just had to support for FlightGear on this).
It would be nice to have Sketchup importer!
For the correct transmission components (dependent copies), and smoothing groups.
sorry for my english.
FlightGear uses AC3D files by default and many aircraft developers use Blender and depend on the AC3D import/export functionality in Blender. As a FlightGear developer I would like to use the newer Blender but can’t at this point. When can we expect to see AC3D file support?
I suspect that the reason for keeping to a basic set of import/export types and making the rest be addons is so that the program does not grow unnecessary bloat in that area supporting countless file formats, many of which may only be used by a very few people. By keeping only the most commonly used formats in the core program and offering a robust means of extending that from the outside, they keep the program code easier to maintain yet still give everyone access to any data format which is wanted badly enough.
A b3d exporter will be nice
Just downloaded a very recent Mac intel version from Graphicall and the svg import is working brilliantly! It’s intuitive and pretty seamless from illustrator to Blender. For me this is huge! It even brings in the colour assigned in illustrator. Big kudos for making it work so smoothly! Kevin
..I know for me as a hobbyist and I would guess many other hobbyist’s working with Indie, opensource, or commercial game engines like CRX, Darkplaces, eDuke32, Fte, Halflife, Openarena, QFusion, Quake, Quake2, Quake3, source, etc having an export right out of blender to many of the established model formats would be greatly appreciated. Some of the formats have been already mentioned in the previous comments like ASE, MD2, MD3, MD5mesh, MD5anim, but then there is MAP, MDL(quake) and MDL(source), SMD(valve/half-life) and the slightly newer IQM(Inter-Quake Model). Right now you need to jump through some hoops relying heavily on 3rd party programs some of which aren’t free such as MilkShape or the ancient but effective Qme along with a few free to use:Quark army knife and Noesis to get some of these formats from your blends in 2.56. I’ve yet to find any exporters that have worked for me for any of those formats under the current beta release. Just makes for a frustrating experience fighting to get your labor and love out of blender and into its intended target. I just wish each Blender update didn’t break working plugins, but that’s just the way it is I guess.
I couldn’t stand Blender until the 2.5’s and 2.56 was the 1st time I could actually work my way around the interface and actually have fun trying to learn Blender with thanks to Roland Hess’s book: Blender Foundations – The Essential Guide to Learning Blender 2.5 and a BIG thanks to Andrew Price for Blender Guru, his video tutorials and all his work to show people such how easy Blender is to work with to make some awesome stuff appear!
Hi there,
Great work so far, but kinda sad that there’s missing some essential support for svg. Should be a must have!
Thanks for all your fish guys,
DVM
I’d like to see FBX Import in the list .Is there a script that allows the importation of fbx files into blender.Or give some suggestions about how to use FBX file in Blender.
There will be times when I want to use Blender only for compositing video, so options for importing ProRes422 and ProRes4444 would be very useful.
Thanks for your work.
I am happy to see that SVG Import will be supported.:)
I have a suggestion about All/Enabled/Disabled categories. It will be cool if it could become Supported Level like Official/Community
I currently maintains the OpenSceneGraph exporter for blender, and it can be found here
https://bitbucket.org/cedricpinson/osgexport
You should include the Doom3 Md5mesh and Md5anim files. And the batch md5anim export(saves the most time ever) They export perfectly in 2.49 and should be kept in 2.5, since new games like Brink may use them.
Derton’s md5mesh could use some documentation, however.
Wow, lots of comments; I’m thinking this little note will get lost in the pile :)
Anyway – I see that “osg” isn’t included. I still use that with 2.49 on occasion, handy to have a text edit file I can tweak for my application.
Additionally, since osg isn’t available with 2.5x I use 3DS instead. There’s an issue with the 8.3 file ref if you use relative paths off the project folders for textures – Blender prefixes the file name and therefore it can’t be found when using the exported 3DS file. Some juggling to change the path and file-name are required.
Overall, nice to see a consolidated list of available formats. Looking forward to using VRML/X3D (though HTML5 isn’t official yet).
I’m coming from the simulation industry and we use Openflight and Ogre Mesh. We have customers who do the same, some of which inquired about Blender support. I believe a new ogre script is in the works as soon as the API is stable.
I have two gripes about the functionality of existing importers / exporters:
1. 3ds importer is not reading pivots correctly – there’s a pivot offset property to 3ds objects that is ignored, so when a file is imported objects appear in the wrong place. It’s not a feature I actually need – I rarely use 3ds anymore – but I did notice it and it’s been like that for years now.
2. Openflight materials are loaded as game textures, while colors, opacity, glosiness data etc. is ignored. if they could be imported as material instead that would be so much better.
Hi Michael,
Indeed, the script you mention is the one I linked to in the table. This is for the RealXtend (Naali) platform, for which I worked six months last year (hoping to do more RealXtend-based development later this year). From what I’ve seen the new Ogre exporter is pretty advanced.
Please report the 3DS pivot bug to our tracker, I can then assign it to the right developer. A test file would be nice to have. Same for OpenFlight really.
@Cornell, Blenders FBX exporter does export edge smoothing info, (soft/hard edges), this could be converted into smoothing groups on export as long as these edges isolate faces entirely.
Such a feature is not so hard to implement but would become slow on high poly meshes.
Alternately UDK could support edge smoothing :).
Quick solution is to use edge-split modifier on export, then the hard edges are written into the mesh.
I use Blender professionaly for the creation of game models for UDK. I find it very frustrating that it is impossible to export simple static meshes for direct use in UDK, even though UDK can import both Collada and FBX formats.
Exporting as Collada means the collision boxes are not available or correctly recognized and exporting as FBX means smoothing groups are not available. So I am forced to use 3D Studio Max to convert my models to .ASE files.
An .ase export option, or more complete Collada or FBX would mean a much more streamlined production process.
Definitely make SVG imports and exports easier. I use mostly Ubuntu, and Inkscape and Open Office Draw are bundled or easily installed. For architectural work, being able to move from 2d Inkscape to 3d Blender and back is a must; in 2.49b all you get are mostly unmanageable curves; what I need is mesh that I can extrude (2.49b) or Solidify (2.56a.).
I’d like to see Blitz3D (.b3d) and Quake 3 (.md3) in the list.
These formats are especially useful when working with the Irrlicht engine.
Exporters for both formats are available for 2.49.
.md3 is also available for 2.5: http://www.katsbits.com/tools/
As far as I know there is no .b3d exporter for 2.5 yet.
I’d like to echo the requests for SVG/AI support.
I would like to see Openflight support rolled into 2.5. Its old format but still used in Sim work.
Once upon a time, there was a flash(.swf) render/exporter script. but it was left in the dirt for a long time.
The script can be thought as an NPR render like what freestyle does.
@campbell && persons interested SVG import
I wrote simple Inksace import for blender few years ago.
http://opendimension.org/blender_en/svg_import.php
It uses SAX for parsing. It supports small subset of SVG commands (not short forms) but it was useful for 2D importing. Maybe that could used as a base for 2.5 SVG import?
CAD Formats like IGES and STEP would be great.I think the donatations would grows up because much companys would use Blender for
ProductVisualisation.
Like a lot of people, I miss SVG import the most!
For many companies that are working in the mobile sector (like mine) the usage of older game-engine-formats is quite usefulll, since mobiles nowadays have around the same capacities as PCs those days.
Therefore I’d vote for a convertion of the md2-exporter, which is quite essential to me.
Thanks for your efforts!
+1 to MD2
I really need it to my thesis, and i have 4 month left to finish it, so i need it in the neer future :)
I’ll jump on the .MD2 wagon as well. Still using in my work flow.
In addition, I’d like to see the .MAP exporter stick around too!
Great job in any case.
Perhaps a direct Sketchup importer for SKP files, like in 3DSMax? This latter is really powerful and handles smoothing, instances, materials, camera, sun, etc… very well! I always have troubles with smoothing for instance when using Collada import in Blender…
@All, we will make sure blender has good SVG support as a minimum (if people want to add AI, EPS they are free to), a port from 2.4x is not desirable IMHO because it included its own XML parser, now we have a full python install we can use pythons xml libs and write it much more easily and more maintainable.
@Jorsalsa. Unity3D will update their workflow to allow drag and drop for blends, but when they do this and which version of blender they support is out of our control.
@Pagan MAX file importer is not going to happen, search blenderartist for explanations why.
@Beatriz. better FBX support is a bit vague, what exactly do you want it to support, or do you mean importer support?
@Richard, get a recent build, BVH export has been added since 2.56!
@Steve, again, X3D Import was added since 2.56 also, try a recent build.
Campbell,
Short question on FBX importer to Unity.
The issue I have with the current export FBX script is that I create the individual named Actions in the file (idle, walk, run, shoot, lean, fly, etc). Now, if I try to export the entire file, then when I import it to Unity the length of the animation is the same for all actions (All actions hae different frames lenght – 30, 40, 50 frames but the file takes always the lenght of the last saved animation).
Because of it, I have to export each individual animation as [email protected] (model@idle, model@walk, etc). As you imagine that is a lot of work, and error-prone.
Unless I am doing something wrong on the export? Thanks for the clarification.
The RAW Faces RAW export doesn’t seem to work in 2.5x, as it
displays a script error. Also, DXF, LWO, M3, IMG, and MHX import
scripts are missing and VRML WRL import/export script is missing.
The DirectX X exporter surprised me when it exported all the models
in a scene but no animation frame data.
I have to say though, that the user interface is vastly improved
over 2.49 and animating has been made much easier. All in all, a
great job developers! Of the 11 3D modelling software programs I
currently use, Blender 2.56a beta is #2 in my favorites list!
My 2 votes are:
1) SVG import back to Blender so that we can use Inkscape
2) Same Blender-Unity workflow as in 2.49 that allowed to drop the .blend file in Unity assets, and would pickup models and animations.
Thanks for the great work
Oh if possible I would like to see a script for importing 3d max (.max).
You forgot to mention .obj (wave front). It is important to me that I can make morph targets in Blender. Being able to make the correct settings so the mesh imports and expeorts correctly is important. A tutorial on the making morph targets for poser and daz using Blend 2.5x would be great. So much of the interface has changed. It would be a shame with the new sculpting tools if I could no longer use blender for making morph targets.
IGS import export as use by RailSimulator.Com for their product RailWorks.
RailSimulator.Com promote Blender as one of the 3d programs to use for making models for RailWorks but there is no official unrestricted Import/Export script available.
Hi, really important is for us Torque developer a good torque3d exporter, as now we have:
http://www.jsgreenawalt.com/Blender-DTS-Exporter/documentation/index.html
But it has been halted since the passage from 2.49 to 2.5x.
Hope someone can find some time for this.
Hi, I’m the developer of the DirectX (.x) Exporter.
This is a pretty cool list. However, I just noticed that the list says that DirectX import is also supported, which to my knowledge is not true. I don’t think there is currently an importer for this format, but if anyone can enlighten me, please do. I was thinking of tackling an importer one of these days, but I don’t want to reinvent the wheel if there’s already one out there. :P
Chris, please DO reinvent the wheel :)
I dl’ed Blender 2.59 because of the new option “Import/Export MikuMikuDance .PMD”. My goal was to convert all my DirectX files into this new PMD format because it allows better handling of bones. But when I found out that the DirectX-Import was not possible, I was very disappointed. I think that DirectX is a platform-indipendent format (just like Adobe’s PDF) and should be supported in every single 3D-CAD software, with both import and export.
Just my two cents.
About the After Effects exporter I’ve tried all have been done for Blender in the past years. Well, the best solution I’ve found ever is the script by the user OSXrules on Blender Artists. It’s simply the best because the user has just to select the script and everything will be done automatically. A maya file will be created with camera, lights, nulls, and the position of the objects. No need of particular workaround like camera to parent, or javascript files. Have a look at that script and you’ll be amazed.
I’d also like better fbx support since I work with max and maya a lot, and would like to exchange seamlessly my work from blender to them and viceversa
Thnx
My absolute vote here also for COLLADA and FBX.
(I have made a small test).
They are totally key in new engines for 3d in the web, for indy games, and for exchange with other Studios workflows (or between different artists in same studio). Imho for Blender the most important are the exporters, as is how we can output useful stuff for game engines and 3D Packages for film or game projects.
(md5, directx *.x and blitz3d *.b3d would be handy also, GNU gpl code for b3d: http://downloads.lineof7s.com/Blender_B3D_Exporter_2.04.zip , I can provide if link stops working. )
I have just been now making test for COLLADA with a very recent trunk build, ( 1693_BF_Turnk_Win32.zip ) and what I found, testing in FX Composer, which is a shader and general tool from NVIDIA, which can display collada files ( http://developer.nvidia.com/object/fx_composer_home.html ) is the following:
– In this, and in a pair of other viewers, if I set the texture as texture slot of the material (with ‘UV’ coords option), not just applied in UV Image Editor, texture and all seem to show correct in external viewers. Have not made more complex shaders or other stuff. But this already allows for a lot of game work.
– It actually seem to traslate the bones and weights and seem to do it well, but perhaps the bones, the joints info, is wrecked in the way a bit. Is similar effect that happened in many *.x exporters I used to beta-test (for Character fx, 3DS Max, Blender, Ultimate Unwrap, etc) .Perhaps is same error: The system coords is different, it has some weird bone scale or mirror, or some axe flipped. What you can see in FX Composer is some animation happening, and in same timing, but like very stretched in one axe, I think is Z axe, and probably sth else wrecked.
My bet is just an issue with some axe, some flip of joints, in x files there was some stuff of the matrix transforms or whatever was the name, that caused an issue with certain tool I beta tested.
In the cases this happened, was no biggie think to fix, so hopefully it’s almost there…
Please, excuse me if the developers of Blender collada exporter are pretty aware of this already(I just don’t know), I just wanted to add my 2c for if it is useful.
The thing is, if at least collada gets that: correct uv mapped model with bones and weights animation, then we are set to produce a lot of character animation for the new webgl and flash 3d engines. (And for all other mass of types of projects), hopefully able to interact smoothly as well with Maya/Max/XSI people. (probably things to care later on, in collada, is normal maps and lightmaps.)
Kudos for all! :)
We are game developers who want to work with UDK and I could use blender as part of the entire pipeline if there were good .fbx support, the actual fbx export from blender is outdated and doesn’t support something they call smoothing groups, which is something very similar to smooth in blender. it doesn’t export neither armatures nor animations. At this time I’ve had to model in blender and make the whole riggin/animation in maya, and that’s something I would like to avoid since blender is capable to do everything we need… another important issue would be the possibility to scale the export to match the UDK measure system.
The collada exporter always gives me a crash when trying to import to UDK
+1 to dwg and better performance of the dxf exporter/importer.
Blender has a enormous potential to become a “must know” architectural visulization program, but a good workflow between other arch viz aplications (AutoCad, for example) is needed.
Definitly an exporter for After Effects cuase the ones out there aren’t 100% accurate. And it’s necessary.
I’m not sure which exporter to After Effects you are using, but I can assure you that my exporter is 100% accurate. It supports non-square pixels, transfers locations and rotations of all objects you select, You can animate focal length and it will be transfered. You can have objects parented to one another, you can use animated NLA strips… Everything will transfer 100% accurately, camera doesn’t have to be parented to anything, nor tracked to anything, but even if it is – it will be exported.
Cameras will appear as AE’s cameras, all of the other objects will appear as nulls.
At the moment lamps will also appear as nulls, but I don’t think it is a big problem.
I mostly concentrated on accuracy, rather than on functionality that can be achieved easily other ways.
I personally use Blender in my pipeline with UDK, as well as know many who do likewise. I’d just like to request as many UDK related polishings and even additions. Also, any GoZ type addition would ROCK! Yes, blender has its own sculpt tool, but people do use it professionally with Zbrush so that has to be taken into mind.
Thanks!
– Leighton
In the list of supported formats BioVision Motion Capture (.bvh) is shown as both an import and export for Blender 2.5x. Blender version 2.56 Beta does not have BVH as an export option. Perhaps this is a future option?
What about Paul Ciccone’s exporter for After Effects? http://bit.ly/f7NdQD
I too am keen on a WebGL exporter.
Would also like to see support for STEP (.stp) files. I have access to a lot of standardized parts in this format, so adding support (even for just importing .stp’s) would greatly improve Blender’s usefulness as a tool in the early design process.
Hello, could MDD be made to export multiple object point cache? With only 1 object at a time, it makes it very difficult to export a dynamics simulation, for example. Thank you.
+1 for SVG
Also, dxf/dwg are of course super-important ,albeit challenging because of the ways those formats are maintained. Still, autoCAD is the standard of exchange among architects and engineers, and if one wants to integrate objects from those trades into blender, those formats are must-haves.
The PCB layout program I use has AC3D models for it’s 3D rendering, so I still use 2.49 for that.
Whilst I’m a C/C++ programmer, I’ve never touched Python. Are there any tutorials about converting a 2.49 script to 2.5 ?
Or even just a brief list of ‘this is how it was done in 2.49’ -> ‘this is how you do it now’.
P.S. I also still use 2.49 for STL export for Shapeways. I haven’t tried 2.5’s STL export, because I also use the 2.49 ‘Shapeways tools’ script.
I think that CAD files (.dwg) importer is really needed for blender
I put a lot of work into supporting Second Life Sculpties in Blender 2.49 through my Primstar add-on. The sculptie format is an image based format for storing mesh information. Unfortunately until Blender 2.5.x supports pixel level modifications on images via Python, I can’t port Primstar over.
As I am trying to include Blender in small ways into our feature film pipeline, I am always looking for exchange formats to suit. I would like to see PC2 and Collada and BVH supported as well as better hooks into 3rd party renderes like 3delight, renderman and Vray. Iknow much of this is on the way but a pfully polished suite of tools would be very handy.
@ Reaction: AI is important too. Obviously since the absence of a vector support in 2.5 the svg would be just enough. But don’t forget all those people who work with Adobe. Despite Illustrator can export svg as well, the chance to have ai format is not bad. Cinema 4D imports ai files in a very good way, keeping the layers structure of the illustrator file. I know, that’s beyond the real hope ;)
In 2.56 there is no X3D import yet.
X3D is a must because the work being done at http://www.x3dom.org
means we have web 3D with NO PLUGINS
You missed the .pc2 exporter for 2.5. I rewrote it and it is already in release.
SVG +1
My vote goes for .pc2 format too. Fbx and collada have issues among different packages, caching vertices is a good way to get exact same result in every dcc application. Regards.
great job ! that’s cool to see arriving that lot’s of IO
I’m also really waiting for svg support, that’s the only thing why I still have the 2.4 version on my pc…
good job keep going team !
+1 SVG. A must have for motion graphics.
I’m also still using 2.49 for that reason.
It’s worth to notice that 2.4x SVG importer isn’t perfect, though. If it’s ported to 2.5 it should be revised too.
Personally I’d really like to see SVG import back with a bias towards Inkscape or a plain flavour that Inkscape can save too – not using Illustrator I don’t know its options on save, perhaps if they both support plain SVG it would be a simpler importer to write?
Looking to future of 3D on the web I’d love to see this WebGL exporter ported to Blender 2.5: http://code.google.com/p/blender-webgl-exporter/
I think that would be a better focus than VRML/X3D looking forward with HTML5 and future browsers as it doesn’t require plugins to view.
SVG is essential, since it is a universal standard formnat that can be exported from many other packages. Illustrator AI is NOT essential as it is proprietary, and is probably fiendishly hard to support judging by Adobe’s own inability to support it properly within Adobe FrameMaker!
VRML is already on the list for 2.5x, so I can’t wait to see that appear in future build. VRML is often provided by engineering companies providing 3D model downloads, so VRML is essential.
thanks for improving blender!
i would suggest to stabilize existing import/export scripts.
blender 2.56 is likely to crash when trying to import complex meshes.
SVG or .eps,.ai….. +1
Oh, and as a response to Maui at the top:
I think that the primary concern now is just getting the data out in a streamlined and reliable way, after that it is just scripting.
This plays nicely with the intent of the move to bf-extensions (which i applaud!) and besides every pipeline looks different even if they use the same programs. Everybody uses passes in different ways and gets them in to other programs in different ways. Even when working on the same show they look different from each other depending on the position.
Keep it up!
I would love to see the .ase importer/exporter fully supported. The one available here is missing multiple material IDs and support for normals. Anyone working in games would be eternally grateful as it allows for interaction with UDK.
http://www.katsbits.com/smforum/index.php?topic=147.0
@ DIM: the script works ok for the version(s) of Blender it was written for. It’s not yet been updated for the latest release (2.56b as of writing), and whilst it does have some issues (noted in that topic you linked to and elsewhere in the forums), it *does* export a *complete* model so I’m not sure what’s going on if you’re getting material issues.
@ DIM, the ase script has been updated slightly to work with 2.56. See the link you posted for details.
As mentioned before Vector (SVG/AI) support would be nice. But i think the main focus should be to get the data out in a universal open format that is backed by the major vendors and studios. And to my great pleasure COLLADA is being worked on, i hope blender implements it so well everybody else could learn something from it :)
I saw EDL in the list, this was something i didn’t really think about but it would make blender a very powerfull tool to fit in the pipelines!
There is one i would like to see included and i think this will be a very important format for VFX seeing that blender is trying to move in that direction. It is Alembic (http://alembic.io/) check out the site for more info. This format will make the creation of VFX especially involving dynamics a lot smoother when jumping between programs or even between different installments of the same program. It is still a 0.9 release but it is soon to be declared stable and that should count for something because it has been tested for a good 2 years at ILM, Sony Imageworks and WETA Digital.
Rio
I think that import SVG/Illustrator and EDL are important
Thanks
=:-)
I agree too, SVG is needed !
but ahnks for your great work developpers ;)
Another thing wich may be useful in the futur : export to WebGL. It may be too early for now (but Chrome support this already, and Firefox 4 will in one month). Maybe include the three.js export script as a community exporter is a good start :
http://tech.lab212.org/2010/07/export-textured-models-from-blender2-5-to-three-js/
Thanks again
Great work!
In order to insert blender in a pro pipeline, it needs a pc2 importer/exporter. With a good point cache communication, you can do nearly every exchange. PC2 is the only point cache Autodesk format. With only one format support, you will be compatible with 3 major softwares (maya, 3dsmax, XSI) with all vertex animation, no matter how objects are deformed. So if you want blender in a professionnal pipeline, you need pc2.
SVG import in 2.5 will be great! Only why I still use 2.4x
I wont use the gimp importer working on windows operating system. I think that this one is really shame on blender, cause gimp is one of the most used program in open source community. And this kind of feature may increase the professional usage of blender. (If we had tutorials of it.)
I know many people who would be happy seeing EDL support in 2.5
Nearly everyone who uses Blender for Video-Editing needs EDL or something equal…
SVG would be great!
I agree with the comments above. Great work so far, but really hope to see a solid support for vector formats, AI and/or SVG and After Effects. Hope the guys @ Blender will recognize the importance of these connections.
I think that SVG Import is a must have.
It really helps to animate quickly in 3D any kind of logo.
It is a great tool which can be used for modeling or compositing like .xcf Import.
I hope that JMS will port it to 2.5.
Even if it does not support proprietary formats, I think that an import from free opensource software should be officially maintain.
Thanks to all the developers for the hard work.
I just finished some testing using Collada between Blender and C4D and had some really promising results. The only issue I came across was the animation data was incorrect due to Blenders unusual world co-ordinates (z being Up instead of depth) is there a reason Blender sticks to this convention?
I really miss some way to import 2D vectors. SVG from Inkscape/Ai and DXF, DWG or something else from CAD programs.
Even though nice work as always.
It is looking very good with the work on Collada.
3ds and obj Imp/exp is very nice as well and also some of the more specialized formats for certain areas (games, motion, point clouds etc.) :)
I’m looking forward to when I can import SVG, EPS or AI into 2.5, I use 2.49 to easily import SVG files from Illustrator and it’s super useful for me.
Maybe having more importers would help if the end goal is to grow more users? It would create a svelte “toolbox” for a broad range of users who happen to be searching for something that converts x to z. Which many of those users might discover the other amazing tools and become fanatic Blender users!
Or
Keep it to a minimal core importer/exporters to keep the overall program lighter. Not to mention the man power that was spent on import/export could be used on bug fixing, strengthening core features and implementing new features.
Who I am to say! I don’t have enough experience to really take a stance on either issue. I would swing towards the first option of more importers/exporters. But I do see advantages in either way!
I would love to be able to do SVG, EPS and AI imports. I use 2.49 to get them into Blender all the time.
i still can’t understand why there isn’t an after effects, ramenHDR, flame, shake, fusion and nuke (all the composition programs out there) exporter right inside of blender. especially afx because so many people use it in a day to day basis (Bartek Skorupa develops one but you always have to download it separatly and it isn’t always up to date with every blender build http://www.blender.bartekskorupa.com/-video/109.html). it would be so great, if these options would be right inside of every blender build. because it would push this awesome programm to the next level.
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