W4 Mesh Converter

Scope

The W4 game engine uses its own asset storage format. Therefore, before using any fbx asset, it has to be converted. This can be done using the Mesh Converter tool that comes with the W4 SDK.

Mesh Converter converts assets from Autodesk FBX (.fbx) format. Other formats are not supported.

Technical limitations

Mesh Converter converts any fbx with the following restrictions:

Due to the hardware and software features of some popular device models, a skinned mesh may contain:

no more than 28 bones
no more than 8 vertices per bone

How to use

The procedure for obtaining the project repository is described in the Quick Start article. The W4MeshConverter.bin file is located in the w4framework/tools directory. The conversion is started from the command line, as described in the Short manual section and shown in the case below.

Mesh Exmple

Preparing

Let’s take the Utah teapot as an example. If you view the file using the utility Autodesk FBX Review, you will see something similar to the following figure.

Pay attention to the orientation of the teapot spout when viewing fbx, we will get back to this later.

Converting

Copy the model file to the directory where the file W4MeshConverter.bin is located.

To convert the model to the W4 Engine format (asset), the following command are executed:

./W4MeshConverter utah-teapot.fbx teapot

As a result, the 'teapot' directory will appear containing asset data.

Adding to the project structure

To work with an asset, you need to copy its directory (in our case, it is 'teapot') into the directory 'resources' of the project. The 'resources' directory is located at the same level of the project structure as the 'sources' directory. Thus, the structure of the project becomes similar to the following:

.
└── W4TemplateGame
    ├── resources
    │   └── teapot
    │       ├── Animations
    │       ├── BoneInfo
    │       ├── Materials
    │       │   ├── defaultMaterial.matInst
    │       │   └── defaultSkinnedMaterial.matInst
    │       ├── Splines
    │       ├── teapot.asset
    │       └── VertexData
    │           ├── Utah Teapot Quads_0.ib
    │           └── Utah Teapot Quads.vb
    └── sources
        └── main.cpp

Code example

Loading:

 auto asset = Asset::load(Path("resources/teapot", "teapot.asset"));

Adding to the Render:

auto cam = Render::getScreenCamera();
cam->setWorldTranslation({0.f, 0, -100.f});
Render::getRoot()->addChild(asset->getRoot());

Full source code of the example:

#include "W4Framework.h"
W4_USE_UNSTRICT_INTERFACE
class AssetSample : public w4::IGame
{
public:
    AssetSample() = default;
    ~AssetSample() = default;
    void onStart() override
    {
        auto cam = Render::getScreenCamera();
        cam->setWorldTranslation({0.f, 0, -100.f});
        auto asset = Asset::load(Path("resources/teapot", "teapot.asset"));
        Render::getRoot()->addChild(asset->getRoot());
    }
};
W4_RUN(AssetSample)

Result

As a result of execution, the same teapot is displayed, but with a slight difference.

If you compare the drawings, you may notice that the spout of the teapot has changed its directed after the program execution. This happens due to differences in coordinate systems.

The FBX coordinate system Scene Axis and Unit Conversion is right-handed (with the Y pointing up), whereas W4 coordinate system is left-handed (the the Y axis is also pointing up).

Animated mesh Exmple

Working with animated meshes is not much different from the simple meshes.

Preparing

Take, for example, Rigged Hand.

If you view it using Autodesk FBX Review you will see approximately the following:

Converting

Copy the model file to the directory where the file W4MeshConverter.bin is located.

Convert the model to the W4 Engine format (asset), using the following command:

./W4MeshConverter Hand_rigged.FBX hand

As a result, the 'hand' directory appears in the current folder, containing asset data.

Adding to the project structure

To work with an asset, you need to copy its directory (in our case, it is 'hand') into the directory 'resources' of the project. The 'resources' directory is located at the same level of the project structure as the 'sources' directory. Thus, the structure of the project will become similar to the following:

.
└── W4TemplateGame
    ├── resources
    │   └── hand
    │       ├── Animations
    │       │   └── Take 001.ssa
    │       ├── BoneInfo
    │       │   ├── bone_main_hande.skeleton
    │       │   └── Hand_rigged.skin
    │       ├── hand.asset
    │       ├── Materials
    │       │   ├── defaultMaterial.matInst
    │       │   └── defaultSkinnedMaterial.matInst
    │       ├── Splines
    │       └── VertexData
    │           ├── Hand_rigged_0.ib
    │           └── Hand_rigged.vb
    └── sources
        └── main.cpp

Code example

Download asset and add it to the render tree:

 auto asset = Asset::load(Path("resources/hand", "hand.asset"));
 render::getRoot()->addChild(asset->getRoot());

If you build the project now, most probably you will not see anything, because the camera is located inside of the asset.

Move the camera away (you may need to set other values, depending on the size of the browser window, the size of the object, etc.):

 auto cam = render::getScreenCamera();
 cam->setWorldTranslation({0.f, 125.f, -300.f});

If you build the project now, a hand will appear on the screen, but it will not be animated.

Run the animator on the corresponding skinned mesh. In this case there is one skinned mesh with one animation, so in a loop the program goes through the entire asset tree and all skinned meshes in it and we play the animation (in our example - the first one):

 asset->getRoot()->traversal([&](Node& node)
 {
   if(node.is<SkinnedMesh>())
   {
     auto skinned = node.as<SkinnedMesh>();
     skinned->getAnimator(0).setIsLooped(true);
     skinned->play(0);
   }
 });

Full source code for the example:

 #include "W4Framework.h"
 
 W4_USE_UNSTRICT_INTERFACE
 
 class MeshAnimatedSample : public w4::IGame
 {
 public:
     MeshAnimatedSample() = default;
 
     void onStart() override
     {
         auto asset = Asset::load(Path("resources/hand", "hand.asset"));
         render::getRoot()->addChild(asset->getRoot());
 
         auto cam = render::getScreenCamera();
         cam->setWorldTranslation({0.f, 150.f, -300.f});
 
         asset->getRoot()->traversal([&](Node &node)
         {
             if (node.is<SkinnedMesh>())
             {
                 auto skinned = node.as<SkinnedMesh>();
                 skinned->getAnimator(0).setIsLooped(true);
                 skinned->play(0);
             }
         });
     }
 };
 
 W4_RUN(MeshAnimatedSample)

Result

As a result of the program, the following animation is shown:

http://demo.w4-dev.ciliz.com/wiki-files/Hand_engine.mov

Short manual

Basics

Convert utah-teapot.fbx to asset with the name 'asset' (current directory):

./W4MeshConverter utah-teapot.fbx

Convert utah-teapot.fbx to asset with the name 'teapot' (current directory):

./W4MeshConverter utah-teapot.fbx teapot

Convert utah-teapot.fbx to asset with the name 'teapot' which will be saved in the directory ~/some/dir:

./W4MeshConverter utah-teapot.fbx teapot ~/some/dir

Common keys

Show manual:

-h, --help

Scene statistics output:

-v, --verbose

Example of statistics:

(DEBUG) ==================== Scene statistics ====================
(DEBUG) Nodes: 2
(DEBUG) Geometries: 1
(DEBUG) Poses: 0
(DEBUG) Materials: 1
(DEBUG) Textures: 0
(DEBUG) ====================== Axis & Scale ======================
(DEBUG) Up: +Y, Front: +ParityOdd, System: RightHanded
(DEBUG) Scale: 1.000000
(DEBUG) ================ Mesh: Red_label ================
(DEBUG) Vertex count: 404
(DEBUG) Index count: 2118
(DEBUG) All polygons are triangles: 1
(DEBUG) ==========================================================
(DEBUG) create default material...
(DEBUG) create default skinned material...

Size control (scale). Where 'arg' is the value. For example (10, 1, 0.1):

--scale arg

Flip vertical axis V of texture coordinates. If the flag is specified, then a transformation 'V = 1.0 - V' applies to the texture coordinates:

--uv-flip

Setting limitations

Restrictions on the maximum number of vertices and indices can be set for all meshes. For Skinned Meshes, the limit of the maximum number of bones and the maximum number of bones per vertex can be set.

A model that does not meet the specified limitation requirements can still be converted using the flag 'force'. However, performance is not guaranteed in this case:

-f, --force

Limit of the maximum number of vertices per object, where 'arg' is the value (it is not specified by default):

--max-vertex arg

Limit of the maximum number of indices per object, where 'arg' is the value (it is not specified by default):

--max-index arg

Limit of the maximum number of bones for Skinned Mesh, where 'arg' is value (28 by default). If the value is set higher than the default, operability is not guaranteed:

--max-bones arg

Limit of the maximum number of bones per vertex for Skinned Mesh, where 'arg' is the value (8 by default). If the value is set higher than the default, operability is not guaranteed:

--max-bones-per-vertex arg

W4 Mesh Converter

Contents

Scope

Technical limitations

How to use

Mesh Exmple

Preparing

Converting

Adding to the project structure

Code example

Result

Animated mesh Exmple

Preparing

Converting

Adding to the project structure

Code example

Result

Short manual

Basics

Common keys

Setting limitations