ase or md3 models

[kryta]

Hi guys.

In my first map (ut4_carentan_kryta_v1b) I had made md3 models with blender like trees, arches, window box,etc... I know that there is another type (ase) but I don't know the difference between two types of models.

Anyone know the difference? And what is better for urban terror?


Thank you and regards.

[JRandomNoob]

MD3 can be animated (for example the player models are in this format), but it has a 1000 vertex limit per model. ASE does not have that limitation, but can’t be animated. ASE is a text-based format meaning that you can open a third-party model in a text editor and change the texture paths and whatnot with no problems. (You can — to some extent — do this in MD3 too, but you have to manually delete or add NULs to keep the character count the same.)

A Windows program called Biturn can convert between many model formats including MD3 and ASE.

[kryta]

[JRandomNoob]

It’s possible that the Quake 3 engine counts vertices differently, I don’t really have much experience with models:-P Other people have run into this limit though, so obviously it exists in some form. Actually, googling a bit it appears the limit is per object (and a model can contain several objects).

As far as I know there are no fundamental differences between ASE and MD3 — both look identical and have the same (low-ish) performance impact. Apparently MD3 can’t be used for very large structures though — 512 unit limit?. ASE can be edited more easily and it’s a “real” model format, supported by many programs, unlike MD3 which is only used in some games.

BTW, you can also use OBJ format, but this can be tricky to pull off. There are a few more formats listed in the model selection window of Radiant; never heard of anyone using them for UrT though.

[Rayne]

It's not 1000 vertices per model.
It's 1024 vertices per GROUP.
So you can have one model, one MD3 file that contains 3 groups, each has 500 vertices, altogether the model has 1500 vertices but it should load normally cause the model is made out of 3 different groups.

So the 1024 vertice rule isn't 100% correct.

However i use ASE files, easier to export, easier to import, easier to share with people that might not all use same 3D modeling software as i am, and of course easier to edit since it can be opened in notepad, as JRandomNoob already mentioned.
Virtually it has no relevant limitations.

I'd avoid OBJ, it's just too quirky to handle.

[kryta]

Ok. Thank you for your comments.

Now I want to export in blender one model to ase but nothing happen, I have test this ase export script (http://code.google.com/p/ase-export-vmc/downloads/list) but I don't know if I make anything wrong.

Anybody use blender to export ase models? And what script you use? There is a blender tutorial for ase exports? My blender version is 2.69.

Regards Kryta.