I noticed while reading the hash board that MH3d can export in what is calls .mot files for game engines...can anyone elaborate on this. I have no idea what this means, but may be a cool genre to look into right?
Those files contain transformations for the ava files that hash can output. You can use the ava files in combination with the mot files for animation in your own game engine. Like say you wanted putty babe to walk around. You should be able export the ava and the mot for that animation sequence. Then you can use that for your own game engine.
I guess the best way to put it is those files allow you to animate stuff with Hash. Then export that data so you can use the models and motion in a game engine.
--AJ
When I first heard about "Avatar" I thought to myself, that, maybe this could be the basis for building highly detailed realtime games. Especially since Hash models have such a smaller file size.
Jeff or Ken, how did Avatar work? Where has it gone to?
AVA files can be exported from v5. Documentation on the file format for them is in a zip file called realtime.zip in the MISC folder of our FTP site.
Jeff, Hash, Inc.
I am in the process of researching something you guys might be able to help me with, or at least point me in the right direction. Exporting the model from AM while retaining its spline information. Has anyone had any luck with such an endevor?
What can read the Avatar file format?
Has anyone seen a converter from Avatar to, oh say... OBJ?
Or where can I find posted source for the Avatar file format?
My dream/pet project is to find a way, if possible to take a spline model (with or without hooks, preferably with) and import it into other programs. Right now I am interseted in seeing if a bridge can be made between Hash and Cinema4D.
Hash has the most powerful modeler I have seen, and Cinema4D has by far the fastest renderer I have seen.. Man, Hash and Maxon need to go out to lunch or something... Cinema4D has a very Maya feel to it. If there was a way to move models between the two packages we could have another solution to rendering.
Any thoughts?
You may be interested in what Glenn Wilton and his brother are doing with Hash AVA & MOT files. Check out this page for a neat ava viewer for video cards that have the 3dfx voodoo/voodoo rush chipset:
I tested it out on my machine, I think they are getting a handle on the AVA file format.
Jeff C.
Can splines be used for realtime renderings in games?
Every time I talk to a game programmer (about 5 different individuals so far) I try to explain how cool it would be to use Hash for real time games.
-THINK about it: with a magnitude of about 160 you can make a truly round cilender with only FOUR PATCHES. With four polygons you can only get a BOX.
You would think that it would make a real time programmer / modeler drool. It's like saying "you can have a whole bunch more polygons to model with per character without taking a time hit, AND you never have any edge facets!
Some game company is gonna use it and wake everybody up.
Glen Crowell