Gauge

So after reading carefully what you are saying.

My problem with this is, I can do 2 things.

1. Make my engine compatible with all the modeling programs I want to support by adding readers to my engine. This is rough for me. It makes me think every time one of the programs updated their software I will have to release a new version of my engine. (which in modeling programs is very frequently, i'm sure you know) If this is not true then my engine just got done a heck of a lot sooner.

2. Make plugins for the modeling programs to make a universal file format for my engine. This would mean only the plugins would need to be updated. Which I could have users, artists, or anyone else do. Scripting isn't the hardest thing in the world to do.



As far as how to do it.

I'm thinking that having segmented bones pointing to each other with an attached mesh of vertices and weights of bones is the way to go. I'll move the bones like I'm moving my segmented models now. Then on a last pass I can use the rotations of the bones and the weights attached to each vertex on the mesh to move the mesh.

Thoughts?

EDIT:

What would be truly awesome is if anyone knew how to get data out of the Maya, max and light wave files. then I could just make a program that extracts the data I need to a text file, already formatted and everything. I am not even a newbie at encryption stuff, so I know nothing about it.

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