[Bf-committers] FBX import support

Ton Roosendaal ton at blender.org
Fri Apr 25 14:37:51 CEST 2014


Hi,

The strong part of FBX was that it started as a native file format (MotionBuilder). Autodesk then has been hacking a lot on top of it... so it might have grown hairy and ugly, but it definitely works and gets used a lot. It's a big shame that Autodesk refuses to make an open standard out of it - even when only partially.

The alternative - Collada - is hardly an option either. When Collada got published nobody was using it natively. Even after 5 years there's no reference stakeholder to make sure the format has a decent user base and momentum. And let's not start the discussion why a 3D media project would use XML formatted text for 3d data...

What Alembic would offer - just baked meshes - is probably the best future. Any serious attempt to match rigs, constraints and modifiers between 3d apps is doomed anyway! :)

-Ton-

--------------------------------------------------------
Ton Roosendaal  -  ton at blender.org   -   www.blender.org
Chairman Blender Foundation - Producer Blender Institute
Entrepotdok 57A  -  1018AD Amsterdam  -  The Netherlands



On 25 Apr, 2014, at 8:47, <toni at playsign.net> <toni at playsign.net> wrote:

> This is why I’ve figured Collada may still be better to use -- at least it is open and ~specified.
> 
> 
> Does not seem like a good idea to build the future on something secret (and ugly?) in the long run.
> 
> 
> ~Toni
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From: Bastien Montagne
> Sent: ‎Friday‎, ‎April‎ ‎25‎, ‎2014 ‎9‎:‎45‎ ‎AM
> To: bf-blender developers
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tom said the essential. :)
> 
> We had to understand both the binary encoding[1] and format layout[2] of 
> this ugly thing,
> and directly write from the py scripts… Highly frustrating and 
> time-consuming tasks, esp.
> since FBX has some very odd inconsistencies and odd & picky expectations.
> 
> Note that armature and animation support on import side are on my TODO, 
> just have to find
> some time for this, bugs are another frustrating and time consuming task. :/
> 
> Bastien
> 
> [1] 
> http://code.blender.org/index.php/2013/08/fbx-binary-file-format-specification/
> [2] 
> http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Mont29/Foundation/FBX_File_Structure 
> (still heavy WIP).
> 
> On 25/04/2014 01:45, Tom M wrote:
>> The license for the FBX library is incompatible with the GPL, so not
>> it is not included.  The FBX importer and exporter are based on
>> reverse engineering the format.  The format is not documented.
>> 
>> LetterRip
>> 
>> On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 2:31 PM, Stefano Corazza <stefano at mixamo.com> wrote:
>>> I hear there are improvements coming up... but many users are sending a
>>> lot of complaints about FBX import in Blender.
>>> 
>>> A few questions:
>>> 
>>> 1 - Did we include in Blender the FBX SDK or otherwise how are these FBX
>>> created?
>>> 
>>> 2 - Right now there is no support for rigged/animated characters in the
>>> FBX importer. Is this something anyone is working on?
>>> 
>>> FBX is a very complex format we have deeply studied in the past year, I
>>> just want to make sure we have a realistic vision of what is possible.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Please please please comment on this post!!!  We want to know!!!
>>> 
>>> Thanks
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Stefano
>>> 
>>> 
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