[Bf-committers] The future of FBX and/or other formats in Blender

[Mike Erwin]

Timur Ariman <timur_ariman at yahoo.de> wrote:
>
> After or if possible during integration of the fileformat into Blender,
> adding big game engine developers for implementing the same interchange
> format
> should be a given!
>

Keith Boshoff <wahooney at gmail.com> wrote:

> As much as using a proper, open interchange format would be fantastic, it's
> just about useless if no other apps actually use the format.
>
> I'm speaking from a Unity perspective and the chances of them including
> other mesh formats in the near future are slim to none (Though I'm still
> going to nag them about it). I'm pretty sure the same is true for Unreal,
> Crytek, Lumberyard and definitely Stingray.
>

Why assume that other project's developers have no interest in open
formats? I'll talk to some Epic folks tomorrow and see how interested they
are in accepting glTF data (alongside FBX). Maybe start simple with
StaticMesh import and build from there.

To get other people on board, what are the benefits? I'll focus on glTF
since I know nothing about the other formats mentioned:
- not controlled by a 3rd party
- simpler format / easier to implement correctly
- robust export from Blender (in the near future)
- what else?

Also keep in mind glTF is an export format, not an interchange format like
Collada & FBX. It's ideal for moving *finished* 3D work from Blender to a
game engine. It will be a good alternative to FBX for many tasks.

Mike Erwin
musician, naturalist, pixel pusher, hacker extraordinaire