Hi, I use XSI too, and find that the OBJ format to work very well for me. Just make sure to export Quads and N-gons from MOI, then when you import in XSI you need to tick the "Import Normals as User Normals" option.

Michael, what Collada adds that OBJ doesn't support is scene hierarchy so we can keep the relational information of parent-child relationships. Granted this may only be a necessary thing once you implement such a thing with a scene manager.

Also, Collada is gaining support and is an 'open' standard and not owned by any one entity unlike extortionist-Autodesk. I can't say I'd expect FBX to be too open now that they are tailoring it for Maya & Max interoperability.

Hi jclark - I would like to add in COLLADA. But at the moment I have just finished a substantial effort at adding both FBX and SketchUp SKP exports.

Unfortunately each format tends to require quite a lot of work and testing to add, I just can't spend all my time only working on adding additional export formats and nothing else...

But it is definitely on the list and will get in there at some point though.

- Michael

A collada export would be really nice if it isn't in the new 2.0 already. Besides a ton of 3d modelers, collada works with Blue Mars and Second Life... which would be a lot of fun going directly from moi to one of these programs.

Hi southpaw - so far it's been really unusual that a program would support only Collada and not OBJ format. OBJ format tends to be the most commonly supported format among all polygon mesh handling programs.

Do you know if Blue Mars or Second Life have any plans to support OBJ format since it is the most commonly used format?

- Michael

Blue Mars only does collada imports. Both still and animation file imports must be collada based.

Second Life supports obj imports.

I don't believe Blue Mars has any plans to support obj format in the future. Blue Mars developer lists these eight 3rd party tools:
1. Maya
2. 3ds Max
3. Blender
4. Shade
5. SketchUp
6. Lightwave
7. Collada
8. AC3D
All of these programs have collada exports.(Collada.. funny, right?). On a side note, Shade doesn't seem to trust SketchUp or Blue Mars since it has individual exports for both.
The Blue Mars developer guidebook also gives directions for collada in Maya and 3ds Max and mentions nothing else.

MoI -> Blue Mars would be a lot of fun, though.

Hi southpaw,

> Second Life supports obj imports.

So that should work with MoI's existing OBJ exporter then. Some OBJ importers do not deal with n-gon (more than 4 sided) polygons very well - if that's the case set the option for "Output: Quads & Triangles" when you export from MoI.

Using Collada should not make any difference there since if MoI did have a collada exporter, it would just be exporting the same data that's already there in the OBJ file, just in a different file format.


> I don't believe Blue Mars has any plans to support obj format in the future.

Any idea why? The list of programs that support OBJ is far longer than what you've listed there for Collada support. They would greatly increase compatibility if they supported OBJ as well like Second Life.

I would like to add Collada in the future, but it's not a high priority since OBJ is so much more widely used - Blue Mars seems to be kind of an exception.

- Michael

Meshlab will export your obj to dae files..

Autodesk also has a converter:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=6837478

And Blender will do it too.

All free.

Didn't know MeshLab did it. Did know blender did it. I believe Wings also does it. Thank you for letting me know about meshlab.

I am vaguely aware that a format is a lot of work and there is functionality that is more important at the moment. I was just letting people know that there are still people interested in this format so please leave it on the backburner and please don't drop it by accident behind the stove.

And of course... since there was talk of a 3 beta, I was hoping for a collada export on a 3 that's finished. Hoping mind you... not expecting... just hoping...

Hi southpaw, well it is on the radar, but so is SVG, DXF (for 2D curves and lines) and improved PDF support, and also making improvements to existing format support for exporting style assignments to more formats than just OBJ and LWO as is currently the case. So that's already a fair amount of file format work kind of queued up for working on for v3, so it's hard to know if collada will make the cut for v3. But priorities can change based on user requests so it's great that you requested it - if it would help out more apps and more people then it would tend to gain in priority and the only way I find out about such things is by requests like this one.

Right now my current feel though is that for file format work some focus on some 2D formats and on adding style support to existing formats (like SKP, FBX, and 3DS) seems like it would be higher priority for now just since those seem to be requested more often so far.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

SVG and Collada. What a sweet spot. I can completely see SVG as a priority. One of the ridiculous things about shade that I like is the host of formats that work with adobe's production suite(.ai,.psd,.swf,.mov,etc..) SVG... illustrator/inkscape/w3c... just beautiful.

Better existing format support (DXF, OBJ, LWO)... It's definitely logical. I know Manga Studio 4 Ex supports .lwo and .lws(lightwave scene files), though I've yet to have a reason to use that support.

Well... I'll still hope for collada. With one collada file, I can use it in modo5, houdini11, 3ds max2012, maya2012, shade12, sketchup8, blue mars, second life, torque3d(game engine), etc... Maybe 3, maybe 4...

I admit you've been friendly on these forums; I really appreciate it. Thank you.