Feeling Software COLLADA Tools

© Copyright Khronos Group, 2006 - Page 1

Christian LafortePresident, Feeling Software

[email protected]

Feeling Software COLLADA ToolsFeeling Software COLLADA Tools


Feeling SoftwareFeeling Software• Feeling Software is a consulting and contract development firm specialized in 3D graphics and game tools.

• Founded in March 2005 by veterans of the DCC and game industry.

• Clients include Sony Computer Entertainment, Epic Games, AGEIA, Autodesk, Khronos, Scaleform and many others.


OverviewOverviewFeeling Software offers free COLLADA solutions:• FCollada: API for COLLADA I/O and manipulation• ColladaMaya: COLLADA plug-in for Maya• ColladaMax: COLLADA plug-in for 3ds max• Nima: AGEIA PhysX plug-in for Maya (supports COLLADA Physics)

• Feeling Viewer: COLLADA 1.4.1 reference viewer and commercial engine


SupportSupport• Over 40 game and film studios, and thousands of artists and developers, use our COLLADA tools daily.

• Free downloads and forums: www.feelingsoftware.com• Public support: www.feelingsoftware.com/bugzilla• Commercial COLLADA consulting: [email protected]


About FColladaAbout FCollada• Feeling Software’s COLLADA library, shared across ColladaMaya, ColladaMax, Unreal Engine 3, Feeling Viewer, etc.

• Can import and export COLLADA 1.4

• Can modify scene-graph in place

• Backward compatibility (e.g. import 1.3)

• Preservation of <extra> data


FCollada FeaturesFCollada Features• Pretty much everything in COLLADA 1.4.1• COLLADA Core: geometry, animation curves, skinning, morphing…

• COLLADA Physics• COLLADA FX, including support for multiple profiles• File referencing


FCollada ExampleFCollada ExampleFCDocument* daeDoc = FCollada::NewTopDocument(); // XRef support is native, but you can use a flag to disable it.

FUStatus status = daeDoc->LoadFromFile("content.dae"); // Status has warnings and error messages, so you want to check that.

// Retrieve the image with the 'mossyRock' id.FCDImage* mossyRockImage = daeDoc->FindImage("mossyRock");

// process image: you have access to the id/name/filename/size info/...

// Write out the COLLADA document.daeDoc->WriteToFile("content_adapted.dae");


File ReferencingFile Referencing• Automatic- Transparently load all referenced documents on request- Doesn’t load documents unless necessary- Useful for most conditioners and importers

• Explicit- File references are exposed to and controlled by

application- Used by more sophisticated translators, e.g. ColladaMaya

and ColladaMax


Saving File ReferencesSaving File References• Several options, e.g.:- Save only top-most modified document: useful for layout /

level editor functionality.- Save all modified documents- Unknown <extra>s can generally be preserved


FCollada releasesFCollada releases• New FCollada versions released every few weeks:- Source code- Doxygen documentation- Samples


ColladaMayaColladaMaya• COLLADA Plug-in for Maya

• Supports Maya versions 6.01 to 7.01

• Open-source- If you want, customize to your needs


ColladaMaya featuresColladaMaya features• Supports most of COLLADA 1.4.1- Core features- Physics- FX (Cg profile)


ColladaMaya core featuresColladaMaya core features• Geometry: polygon mesh with multiple texcoords, tangents/binormals, vertex blind data

• Common shaders, file textures, lights, cameras• Animation curves (keyframed and sampled) including pre- and post- tangents

• Combination of skinning, morphing and vertex animation• File referencing• Preserve user data: <extra> and dynamic attributes• Demo


ColladaMaya physics featuresColladaMaya physics features• Export of COLLADA Physics• From native Maya dynamics:- Rigid bodies- Rigid constraints (transformed into 6-DOF)- Up to one gravity force field

• From Nima:- Rigid bodies (including analytical shapes)- Rigid constraints (6-DOF)- Rigid solver parameters

• Demo


ColladaMaya FX featuresColladaMaya FX features• Import/Export, visualization and editing of COLLADA FX (Cg profile)

• Multi-pass

• Orthogonal with other COLLADA features, e.g. animation of FX parameters

• Legacy support for CgFX

• Interoperability with FX Composer 2

• Demo


ColladaMaxColladaMax• COLLADA plug-in for 3ds Max

• Supports version 7.0 and above


ColladaMax FeaturesColladaMax Features• Pretty complete support for COLLADA Core, similar to ColladaMaya’s.

• COLLADA Physics and FX are not yet supported


ColladaMax ScreenshotsColladaMax Screenshots

Skinned fairy model courtesy of Daz-3D, Skinned fairy model courtesy of Daz-3D, imported from DazStudio by Greg Corson (SCEA)imported from DazStudio by Greg Corson (SCEA)


ColladaMax ScreenshotsColladaMax Screenshots

NURBS curves imported from MayaNURBS curves imported from Maya


ColladaMax DemosColladaMax Demos• Lunar lander


Interoperability between DCCsInteroperability between DCCs• Improving gradually, e.g. NURBS curve in Max Maya• Things to watch for:- Transform stack: may differ a lot from one DCC to

another… hard problem to solve- Animation curve tangents: underspecified in current

COLLADA spec, will rectify in next version- Common materials: multi-texturing, bump maps, and

procedural textures could be standardized further


NimaNima• Integration of AGEIA’s PhysX engine inside Maya

• Why?- As of Maya 7, the native rigid dynamics aren’t fast enough

and miss important features- In contrast, PhysX is a full-featured physics engine

designed for performance- Fun project


AGEIA PhysXAGEIA PhysX

• A full-featured physics engine for games- Rigid bodies, constraints, cloth/soft bodies, fluids

• Designed for real-time performance on multi-core architectures:- AGEIA’s unique Physics Processor Unit- Playstation 3 and XBOX 360-Multi-core PCs


Nima featuresNima features• Supports COLLADA Physics and more:- Rigid bodies and constraints (incl. motors)- Analytical, convex and non-convex shapes- Convex tools and Rag Doll tools- Cloth, force fields, debug visualization

• Works well with most other Maya features including plug-ins

• Can export through ColladaMaya


Nima DemonstrationsNima Demonstrations• Analytical shapes

• Car crash

• Tornado

• Orc washing machine and torture chamber


Feeling ViewerFeeling Viewer• COLLADA 1.4.1 reference viewer

• Free for non-commercial use

• Underlying engine has been integrated in commercial applications, e.g.:- 3D screensavers- Video transitions- Visualization and customization of complex 3D models


Feeling Viewer DemonstrationsFeeling Viewer Demonstrations• COLLADA FX samples from FXC2

• Moon Lander scene

• Orc washing machine


FutureFuture• Evolution will depend on interest from paying customers.• Ideas:- Transparent support for binary or SQL-based COLLADA

storage- Asynchronous change notifications- Better support for non-Windows platforms- Easier user extensibility- Shading networks and fullscreen effects- Anim features: inverse kinematics, constraints- Physics features: cloth, fluids, particles, fields

• We welcome feedback!


ThanksThanks• Our sponsors for COLLADA projects: Sony Computer Entertainment,

AGEIA, Epic Games, Autodesk, Khronos, and others…

• Everyone who contributed code or sent feedback

• The Feeling Software COLLADA team: Guillaume Laforte, Antoine Azar, Alfred Leung, Etienne Whittom, Zhang Jian

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Feeling Software COLLADA Tools

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