[Bf-committers] REF: GSoC Import/Export Support

[Mitchell Stokes]

Hello Benson,

As Mike mentioned, blendergltf (https://github.com/Kupoman/blendergltf),
handles glTF export from Blender, and it already exports everything in the
glTF 1.0 spec. There is certainly more work to do on glTF export (e.g.,
support more extensions, fix bugs, implement the glTF 2.0 draft spec, etc).
However, blendergltf is not currently under the Blender Foundation (nor any
org involved in GSoC), which makes glTF export a poor GSoC candidate.

This leaves glTF import. I am not sure if there is enough work on import to
support a GSoC project, but I will try to answer your questions.

1. You would start with easy things (meshes, nodes, cameras, materials,
etc.) and eventually move on to skeletal meshes and animations.

2. A new addon would be created to handle glTF import. I cannot think of
any existing Blender files that would need to be modified for a glTF
importer.

3. Between the Python standard library and Blender's Python API, you should
have most, if not all, of the utility classes necessary for glTF import.

4. An importer should be able to import everything defined in the glTF
spec. It will likely also need to support some glTF extensions such as
KHR_materials_common (
https://github.com/KhronosGroup/glTF/tree/master/extensions/Khronos/KHR_materials_common)
and KHR_binary_glTF (
https://github.com/KhronosGroup/glTF/tree/master/extensions/Khronos/KHR_binary_glTF
).


--Mitchell Stokes

On Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 6:57 AM, Benson Chepkwony <bchepkwny at att.net> wrote:

> Hi,
> Thanks for the respond about the Import/Export Util and for the links.
> And in relation, I have this questions.
> 1. Is the Import/Export only going to involve Skinned Meshes? or does
> this includes Export of surface properties and shapes such as Texture,
> Materials, Light, Cameras, Transforms, Animations etc?
>
> 2. What part of Blender files needs to written since there is already an
> existing exporter code?
>
> 4. Are all gITF utility classes such as Files IOs, Bufferedreader,
> Inputstream etc. Have been written already?
>
> 5. What functionality should the Importer/Export have? Like load file,
> write file to output, read in input file?
>
> Thanks.
>
> From,
> Benson Chepkwony
>
>
> On 3/28/2017 12:42 PM, Mike Erwin wrote:
> > Hi Benson, I can answer some of these questions.
> >
> > The latest Blender glTF exporter can be found at
> > https://github.com/Kupoman/blendergltf. It's implemented in Python
> (same as
> > nearly all import/export code).
> >
> > Right now glTF is mostly used for WebGL engines, but it should not be
> > limited to that. LibreOffice and a future version of MS Office can import
> > glTF assets. I expect other game engines & applications to add glTF once
> it
> > becomes more mainstream.
> >
> > Read more about the glTF format at https://github.com/KhronosGroup/glTF.
> > It's JSON (not XML) with lots of binary data. The spec describes the
> object
> > model. Current spec is 1.0; 2.0 is nearly finished.
> >
> > Import/export plugin will probably be invoked from the user interface.
> Just
> > a simple menu item.
> >
> > Hope this helps!
> >
> > Mike Erwin
> > musician, naturalist, pixel pusher, hacker extraordinaire
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 11:30 AM, Benson Chepkwony <bchepkwny at att.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Hi,
> >> Hay, I would like to ask a few regarding the Import/Export support for
> >> gITF file format project.
> >> 1. How is the current Import/Export implemented?
> >> 2. Does the Import/Export targets web applications only or non-web
> >> applications too?
> >> 3. What is the Import/Export pipeline made of?
> >> 4. Where is the best place to start on this project?
> >> 5. Is the gITF scene encoded with XML or DOM?
> >> 6. Is Import/Export process to be invoked from User Interface, Import
> >> Wizard or from a command line?
> >> 7. Is there any criteria that the Import/Export loader should be
> >> implemented?
> >>
> >> Thank you.
> >>
> >> Sincerely,
> >> Benson Chepkwony
> >>
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