Note: Currently this has only been tested with 3ds Max. Some work may be needed to support other programs.

3ds Max

• Download and install ColladaMax, from ​Feeling Software (registration required) or from ​our site (version 3.02). Requires 3ds Max 9, 8, or 7 SP1.
• Open/create a model in Max. If it is a skeletal model, it should have our standard structure and be named Bip01.
• If there is more than one mesh in the scene, you need to indicate which one should be exported:
  • Either: select one of the meshes, then do File -> Export Selected (and remember to select the right mesh each time you export);
  • or open the Properties dialog for one of the meshes, and set the User Defined Properties to export, and then do File -> Export. The other meshes will still be exported, but ignored when loaded into the game.
• When selecting the filename to export, specify the lowercase extension .dae. The default is uppercase, which won't work.
• Place the file into the game in the same way as you would with PMD or PSA files (in the meshes and animations directories, respectively).
• Actors can point to the .dae file as a mesh or animation, and the game will load them automatically. If there are problems while loading, the game's log file (mainlog.html) should say what was going on.

XSI

• Use XSI 6.0.
• For skeletal models/animations:
  • Rename the skeleton to Biped (so the root object is called Biped_GlobalSRT), so the game knows what skeleton structure to use.
• Export with File -> Crosswalk -> Export -> Format = COLLADA 1.4.1.
• Enable Export XSI Normals. Enable Convert Geometry to Triangles if the mesh is not already triangles.

General

• The animation should be 30fps. The first and last frames of the animation should be identical. The animation should play at the speed you would expect to use in the game.
• Any object attached directly to the skeleton will be treated as a prop point. If you want to add extra objects for testing the animation, link them to the existing prop points instead of to the skeleton.
• Meshes must be made of triangles.
• There may be some issues with scaling and rotating the skeleton - please provide any relevant information you find about problems or solutions.
• Prop points should be defined by creating an object (e.g. a Dummy helper in 3ds Max) named prop-whatever, where the whatever is the name of the prop point. The file data/tools/atlas/lists.xml lists the standard prop attachment points. That object should then be attached to a bone. (You can't yet do prop points on non-skeletal models - tell me to implement #191.)