[Bf-gamedev] Proposal to (try to) get better FBX support

[Jens Christian Restemeier]

Don't forget: One of the big remaining problems with FBX is the difference
between the FBX scenegraph and the Blender scenegraph. Switching to the FBX
SDK is not going to fix that.

I tried to work with the original FBX SDK and it had its own problems.
Mainly documentation: you get little more than single-line comments for the
headers (if you're lucky!), a lot of the rest is just badly documented (and
often obsolete) example code. I had some fun with code FROM THE OFFICIAL
SAMPLES that just fails silently, and that probably hasn't been tried for
ages.

And, because it is closed source, if you use the official Python bindings
you are limited to the version of Python they support. At the point when I
tried it it was just different enough that it wasn't usable from Blender.

I think there are three parts of the problem:
- FBX loading: I've got the feeling that the current code is 90% there, and
it just needs testing against the reference applications. My 30 day trials
of Maya and Motionbuilder have expired, but I may get access to a proper
license of Maya in a few months time.
- translating between the FBX and Blender scenegraph: I put a lot of work
into that, and it really needs testing.
- Application compatibility: Some applications use the official SDK, but
don't do a particularly good job adapting info from the file into their own
scenegraph. Cameras and Lights are examples, and some applications don't
bother changing between FBX orientation and application orientation. You
can go mad trying to support them all with options, or you could report
bugs with them.
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