I’m currently making a 3D Flash game using Away3D. For 3D modeling and animation, I use Metasequoia with additional plugin called Keynote. They’re really great tools although at the beginning I had problem with the workflow.
My workflow was like:
- Create 3D model and animation using Metaseq and Keynote
- Save manually every animation frame as MQO file
- I create my own tool using Adobe AIR. This tool loads all MQO files and combine them into a XML file
- Away3D (Flash) loads MQO and XML file and convert them into vertex animation
The process #2 and #3 were very time consuming. So I decided to learn Blender. I was hoping I could export the animation into MD2 file directly from Blender file (shorter workflow).
It wasn’t the right decision for me. Learning Blender was so hard and frustating. Strangely, it’s not my first time learning Blender. I already did this several times and always forget everything once my project was done. This time, I tried the new Blender 2.5 beta, which they say, have better and intuitive UI.
There were a lot of hair pulling moments, problems with the UI, always fail to setup rigging for animation, confusing documentation, and there was no working MD2 exporter.
I know Blender is a good tool, in fact that there’s a lot of games and movies done using Blender, but this tool is just not for me.
So I switched back to Metaseq and dare myself to create Metaseq plugin. Yes, you can create your own Metaseq plugin. You can download Metaseq Plugin SDK for free and use Visual C++ to create the DLL files.
The instruction was in Japanese and still using Visual Studio 2002 or 2008. Luckily, I managed to make it work using Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition on my Windows 7. Here’s what I did (can’t remember precisely.. sorry):
- Install Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition C++
- Install the latest Windows SDK, Windows SDK 7 & .Net Framework 4, version 7.1
- Install the latest WTL library. I use the latest one, WTL81_9127. Extract them manually.
- Download the latest Metaseq SDK ( mqsdk249c.zip) and extract the file.
- Import MQSDK workspace file as VS2010 Solution file
- Add WTL location to C++ include directory
- Try to compile one of the project.
- Copy the dll from release folder to metaseq plugin folder and test it
In the end, I managed make a simple plugin 🙂 It reads Keynote animation data and export them into my custom XML data. I had fun and realized that it’s been 2 years since the last time I am using C++.
Note: Only the non-shareware version of Metasequoia can use plugin. The shareware one does not. But it’s quite affordable, only $45. I could imagine if you use Blender, you could spend that much money for books and tutorial DVDs.
Note #2: You can download the source code of my exporter plugin here: http://abiyasa.com/lab/away3d/mqoplugins/mqoPlugins.zip (around 54K). I use Keynote API (included if you download Keynote plugin) and use the example (ExportXS) as the basic for my plugins. Feel free to ask me if things are not clear 😉
hello kakak..
mau tanya nih soal bkin animasi 3d.. baru belajar2 nih buat bkin skripsi game walau masi amatir T_T.. ak bkin 3d model pake metasequoia, trus mau bkin animasinya.. udah coba mikoto tapi masih belum ngerti cara rekam animasinya @_@
saya mau tanya beberapa hal:
1.ini plugin metasequoia keynote yang kakak blg itu buat supaya bisa bikin animasi langsung di metaseq?
2.apa lebih mudah dari mikoto? soal nya cari2 tutorial ny gak nemu2 @_@
3.adakah software 3d animation lain yg bisa pake .mqo?
ak baru belajar modelling 3d..tp skrg stuck di animation nya.. mohon bantuannya yah kakak.. thx be4
thx be4
hai noa,
thx udah ngebaca blog 😉
Plugin keynote bukan buatan gw, bisa di download di http://mqdl.jpn.org/
Konsep bone-nya dan animasinya hampir sama dengan Mikoto cuman lebih enak aja bisa ngedit animasi langsung dari metaseq. Trus juga lebih baru daripada Mikoto. Kayaknya Mikoto juga udah stop developmentnya sejak 5 tahun terakhir.
Kelemahannya ya cukup tricky nyari tutorialnya. Mesti coba2 sendiri. Gw jg belum ngulik bgt semua fungsinya. Kl mo 3D editor lain, bisa dicobain Blender.
– Keynote tips:
http://btahp.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!D933A4FD91D32041!697.entry
– Mikoto tutorial & tips:
http://mattaku.sa-ra-sa.com/
– Keynote tutorial links:
http://rat-hex.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2008/10/keynote-2bcf.html
http://rat-hex.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2008/10/keynote-d584.html
More keynote tips
http://swordofmoonlight.com/bbs/index.php/topic,492.0.html
Thanks Mark!
Didn’t know that there’s translation for Keynote plugin.
You’re welcome. Would it be possible for me to try your animation plugin? The current version of the fbx export only reads the mqo but not the mqx information..
Hi Mark,
You can download the source code here: http://abiyasa.com/lab/away3d/mqoplugins/mqoPlugins.zip (around 54K).
I use Keynote API (included if you download Keynote plugin) and use the example ExportXS as the basic for my exporter plugin. Feel free to ask me if things are not clear 😉
Thanks I’ll take a look.
http://metasequoia.wikia.com/wiki/Metasequoia_Wiki
cara rigging model di metasequoia gimana sih caranya ????
Bisa dicoba link swordofmoonlight (comment di atas). Lumayan tutorialnya, mengcover cara bikin bone, anchor, & animation.
Kalo ga, bisa di Google ‘Mikoto metaseq tutorial’. Prinsipnya Keynote hampir sama dengan Mikoto.
kak pakai Visual c++ juga ya kak !
aku sudah ada Metasequoia
tapi aku gak tau cara nya
gimana ya kak?
apa ada Tutorialnya
Have you tried the new metasequoia 3? There appear to be some issues with the UV mapping. Create cube, rotate 45 deg – atlas – ?. I cannot post on the BBS but I think he should be aware.
Nope, I haven’t tried it.
Isn’t it beta version? AFAIK, Metaseq 3 hasn’t been released yet
Yes its changed from alpha to beta but is now on the download page. I took this as an invitation.
How to export many frames from keynote?
Please tell me
Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do this 🙁
Two options:
1. You have to select 1 frame in keynote, freeze it, and save the model as a different MQO file. Repeat for the next frame.
2. Create a plugin using keynote SDK which can read the vertices data on each frame. This is what I did for my latest project a year ago.
Kak, kok Keynote ga bisa ke baca di metaseqoia saya, mohon pencerahannya, asal mau di install error terus +A+