Hello again! I know that making a .md5 to .jme exporter is on the task list, but is anyone actually working on it yet? I have been playing around with making one myself, but I am getting a little confused… anyway, just wanted to know if anyone is already working on one so I can either stop working on mine or talk to them about it. If no one is working on it yet, then please just ignore me 
.Thanks!
Noone is working on one yet (officially), but that doesn’t mean we’ll ignore you :). I’m quite interested in getting it into the system, so if you have a start, maybe we could use yours. What are you stuck with at the moment?
I researched making a similar loader, but never coded anything. If you have any questions, ask here or just ask me directly with email/AIM and we could bounce ideas.
I am still in the research stage (I am trying to fully figure out how .md5 and .jme files work.) I really shouldn’t say I am confused about anything; I have never made a model exporter before so it is just a little hard at the beginning. Anyway, if I have questions I will be sure to post them. Don’t put me down as the person officially working on this! 
I am primarily doing this to increase my own understanding of what is going on. Since I use Blender, I thought about making a Python script so that Blender could directly export into the .jme format, but I think I am the only one masochistic enough to use Blender so that is not very useful to anyone else!!
Don’t study the .jme format directly, just look at how the XML is formated. And even then, don’t even bother studying that if you’re building the model in jME. Just create a way to load it, and I’ll figure out how to make JmeBinaryWriter work for it.
You’ld be suprised how many people use Blender. A direct export from blender would be really easy too. Just export what vertex/normal information looks like at each keyframe and use KeyframeController
just to add that lw also has md5 exporter now. Havent seen xsi, but well…
all stuff is here :
http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=3
seems maya exporter is not problems free…
"Exporting to MD5 using Maya will have to wait for the SDK"
Blender one is in the works.
Important thread with several exporters :
http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=5474&sid=6a1feca4fed7184626981c1444a74b4c
final md5 format:
http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=2884
theres more stuff there…
"fireside" wrote:
How about a blender exporter to jme? That would be cool. Also, it seems like blender would be a good tool for building worlds.
I made a editor for jme that you can use to make worlds form inside your game. I just finished it today (I hope) so I should be able to send it in in a day or so.
Edit: I am not saying that my editor is the only way
Edit2: just saying that it exists. A blender script would be good.
Badmi, that’s absolutely great. I as an artist often feel the pain of not having a game editor to visually compose basicly the thing…
The fact about doing a blender script…
is good idea, but if you dig about it a bit in these forums, there’s not much liking of Blender in several users, and I cannot acuse them for that, as the truth is Blender has a very different ui to everything else…Also , is way less powerful than the typical high end package like Max or Maya. But yes that for the indy developer, or just the free games maker, is THE tool to use, unless one is rich and has the 3400$ of Max, or the 2000 for Maya (I paid 500$ for and XSI limited version, and while is not easy, happy with it) .IMO, it’s better in quality than most midcost packages out there. But still harder to learn than any of those. Only tool that I know that has similar learning curve, is Quake Modeller, but due to several problems. And anyway, is less powerful, so easier than Blender.
Once you know Blender, it gives you quite a power for free.
All my point about this is…well, if is provided an x export, or an md5 export, then you are providing a connection with other tools, not just your favourite tool, so other artists using other packages can benefit from it, and in general the jME comuniy will gain, as the more artists get attracted, the better, same than with programmers. And one key thing to attract an artist is that he sees his/her tool is supported. As doing an specific plugin with each package sdk is a load of work, I wouldn’t see th ereason of not doing an md5 or x import.
That said as character and bones stuff is the more complex to deal with, and the fewer standard formats available. While for static, in practically no engine there’s a single problem. OBJ is quite more than enough to give static objects good support for any package out there. When we speak about lightmaps for levels, that’s another story. Only x supporting a second uv channel for the lightmap, at least that I know…but for example, while Max can export this x format and can have up to 99 uv channels for lightmaps and multitexture, Blender has …only one! .But fortunately comunity allways find a way.Now they’re making a plugin to bake lightmaps directly into textures. Only thing is it must be all baked in them. But is a way, actually. Not very professional, but could work with some limits.
Anyway, perhaps jME can -specially in editors like the one mentioned if it is supported- apply a lightmap tga into a second channel of UVs if that is present in jME format. I don’t know if this format support lseveral uv channels, and multitexturing. (is also used for way more powerful and better blended outside terrain sceneries…)
So…Yep, I think a direct blender script would be cool. But imho, an x or md5 one, would benefit a lot of othe rtype of users to. IE, an x export would allow me export character animations from my XSI, or from Character Fx. Or if I ever get a game job again, from Max 6, Maya, LW (and if they let me install the free x plugins…)… 
I mean, I think for the global amount of type of users, and standard format …seems more important to me…once having that, doing package-specific plugins would give more access to special packages features, traslated in a bette rconection package-jME and better resulting gfx quality.
In the same line of thought, if someone has zero intentio of working in x or md5, but would like to work on a Blender script, heh, why not…and anyway, I could be wrong in all what I say… }
BTW: I have the feeling that my long paragraphs are too long to be read…
XD ://
Badmi, did you finish your editor? It would be interesting to see. Someone mentioned that Blender has a .md5 exporter, but they didn’t check it out. I did, and it seems to be working correctly (though I haven’t tried any really complex animations with it yet.) I also don’t have Doom 3, so can’t say how well the models work in that. Cep21, did you get my PM? If you just didn’t reply that is O.K., I just wanted to know if you got it or not.
you can view it with the model viewer for md5, link is somewhere above in a post of mine in this thread…
I do have a viewer, I just assume that since .md5 is the Doom 3 format the best way to test the quality of a .md5 file is to look at it in Doom 3.
"Grad" wrote:
Badmi, did you finish your editor? It would be interesting to see. Someone mentioned that Blender has a .md5 exporter, but they didn't check it out. I did, and it seems to be working correctly (though I haven't tried any really complex animations with it yet.) I also don't have Doom 3, so can't say how well the models work in that. Cep21, did you get my PM? If you just didn't reply that is O.K., I just wanted to know if you got it or not.
I was wondering if anyone had some .md5 files I could look at, the one I have is pretty simplistic and I want a complex one to work with. If someone has a Blender file that is reasonably complex (with bones, animation, and some textures) then I could use that to make a .md5 file. I would also like a "genuine" .md5 file, if someone has one, because the blender export script generates a .md5 file that is slightly different than the official format. So, please let me know if you can help. Thanks!
the very latest blender exporter has been done for same oficial format than the release one. Check at doom3world.org forums. there you have some sample models, and a viewer.
Sorry, that was me! I always forget to log in!
Grad, if you are really going to make an importer of md5 format for jME so that artists can make md5 acharacters with their bones, weights and animations for use in jME games, I will dig for some free time to rig a texture FPS model I have, in Blender, that is, set the weights and all, and do an animation or two, and pass it to you.
If you do the md5 importer, I will give the animated model for be distributed freely and freely used with jme. Anyway, that model as an OBJ was already free. The texture is not 100x100 detailed, but main work is done.
If der_ton md5 exporter is exporting every bone in everyframe, and not only what changes since last frame, then it is storing more than it should and usingsurely more memory. I don’t know if is something to be worried about, though.
I have another way now to export and md5: using Gmax. There’s an exporter not done by Der_ton, for gmax. BTW, it can have some legal issues in the long run, as you have to do certain strange use -but recently been told of a trick that is not actually using an external app to overcome the listener limit, just a use of the mous inside the software, dunno how it could be considered an exploit, so…
BTW, I could…heck, if I don’t make an state of the art thing with each, a pair of quick rigs, one with Gmax, one with Blender latest 2.34, and export them as md5, with two very different exporters from those different authors…maybe that will give u a better range to make the loader for jme.
Indeed, if I make it also in blender, we will have already another sample for the x importer for jme, if it comes, as I have also a modified and improved version from another coder, rather than the distribution included x export.
I mean, work once, will have samples for two formats.
But I go away this weekend, and I am somewhat busy, I’ll have to dig for free moments, ok?
Hi everyone, just wanted to say I am still here and I am still trying to get work done on the exporter. I have been extremely busy in real life, though, so not much is getting done. I do have a bunch of real md5 models now so that is an improvement! But if someone else wants to do the exporter, please don’t hesitate; I will keep working on it if no one else is but it’s not my particular project. After trying to develop a feature on my own, I will never complain if I want a feature and no one wants to do it!