Animation Master model exporter

Animation:Master Model Exporter

• Animation:Master Model Exporter
  • Installation
  • Tools for A:M-Friendly Remeshing

This addon exports the following from Blender:

• Polygonal meshes converted to a patch-based representation in Animation:Master's .mdl format.

  The exporter tries to maintain good continuity, preserves UV mapping, and has an option to add "whiskers" (Add tails check box in the file export window) to extend discontinuous splines.

• If the mesh is associated with an armature, the bones and skin weights.

  Constraints, limits and all other rigging relationships are ignored.

• CP groups from vertex groups.

  Vertex groups named after the bones of an associated armature are skipped.

• Optionally, CP groups named after assigned materials (Group CPs by material option).

  These groups override any vertex groups with the same names, so make sure your vertex groups and materials have different names. The option is useful in round-trip import-export scenarios through the .obj format.

• Optionally, a spline action (.act) file for each shape key that is different from the base mesh (Export shape keys option).

  These .act files can be useful, for example, if you want to transfer spline shapes to your smartskins.

The resulting files are based on the Animation:Master V17 model format. The addon requires Blender 2.76 or later.

To export your Blender scene, click File | Export | Animation:Master model (.mdl). This will convert the active object (the one selected last).

Installation

Get the io_scene_am_mdl-*.*.*.zip file from the Files section.

1. Open Blender's User Preferences window and go to the Add-ons tab.
2. Click Install from File and specify the downloaded .zip file or the unpacked .py file.
3. Enable the Import-Export: Animation:Master Model addon.
4. To make your changes persistent, click Save User Settings.

Tools for A:M-Friendly Remeshing

The addon includes tools that help convert models created with Catmull–Clark subdivision in mind into more spline-friendly meshes. Here's a quick before-and-after:

Suzanne before and after (click to view)

Note that for best results you should keep your mesh all-quads and avoid more than five edges converging at a vertex. This is generally good subdivision modelling practice, but it is especially important for the kind of remeshing that this script does. Following these rules should give you a spline cage with nice criss-cross spline intersections.

The tools are available on the Tools panel (shortcut: T in the viewport) in the Misc tab:

The Make A:M-Friendly Copy command uses the custom Hatch Face command automatically to improve flow in problematic areas. Faces generated by the Hatch Face command will remain selected after Make A:M-Friendly Copy has completed.

Tip:
This pre-selection can help you reduce detail if you want. You can use the Select Boundary Loop command and then dissolve the edges it has selected.

You can use the Hatch Face command independently as well. It is available when face selection mode is on.