Models Submission question

[06hypersonic60]

Hey. I wanted to know some things before I submite my ripped one piece models.
I have the icons and stuff ready, but the models are not in obj or dae.
When I export to Obj, I don't know why they lose the textures and I don't have a dae exporter ( dunno if max can export in dae but I have trouble opening it )
So All I can get working are Ugh ( fragmotion ) and FBX and probably SMD.
Can I submit them??

One more thing, the textures are Tga, and there are lots of them so It would be a waste of time to just convert them all unless I find a good and FREE converter.
So am I able to use these tga files or should I find a way to convert them??

[Previous]

One more thing, the textures are Tga, and there are lots of them so It would be a waste of time to just convert them all unless I find a good and FREE converter.
So am I able to use these tga files or should I find a way to convert them??

I'd recomment irfanview, it should be able to batch-convert your files.

[puggsoy]

Well I don't know about models, so I could be painfully wrong here, but as far as I can tell textures don't have to stay with your models, since there's a separate resource for textures (The Textures Resource). So you can just export to OBJ, and submit the textures separately.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong here.

As for the TGA images, it's a fairly well known format so it shouldn't be difficult to convert it. Personally I just use GIMP for single files, but any image editing software should be able to do it. As Previous suggested, irfanview is a good choice for multiple files.

[Previous]

Nono, Puggsoy, models on Models Resource should come with their textures.

As far as I know, 06hypersonic60, for .OBJ files you need an .MTL file which will contain texture information (.OBJ does not include them). I'm not familiar with any 3D software so I can't help with details, but the exporting feature of your software may probably have some options somewhere or can export .MTL separately? Either way, no .MTL, no textures on your .OPJ

[06hypersonic60]

Well, I'm using fragmotion. I exported to Obj so many times ( Actually when I was ripping I used obj to import it properly in 3Ds Max ) and I didn't have any problem. But Now, I don't know why, the models are no more mapped and do not have the right materials ( only one I guess ) but the .mtl file is still there.

puggsoy : I also use gimp to edit tga files or make them, but as you said, " for single files " so I'll try IrfanView.

But I still want to know if FBX / SMD ( if fragmotion exports them correctly ) / UGH ( not sure if u anyone here uses it ) are okay.

[Roxas358]

You can easily convert the TGA's to PNG with SageThumbs.
http://sagethumbs.en.softonic.com/

You just select all of the textures.
Right click on one of the selected textures.
Search for SageThumbs in the list and Choose the option to Convert to PNG.
Now you have all of the textures in PNG format.
Now delete the TGA textures and you're done.

[06hypersonic60]

Textures are fine now. IrfanView works great.
Now, I should know if I'm able to Submit FBX / SMD / UGH files

[puggsoy]

From the submission guidelines:

Although .DAE and .obj are the recommended formats, you can also submit in a few others as well despite the notice saying "ONLY SUBMIT .OBJ AND .DAE FORMATS PLEASE!".

.SMD - Valve .SMD format is accepted as a substitute for .DAE format. This is because it supports rigged models well and since its supported by a number of programs if not by default then through free plugins.
.3DS - 3D Studio format. Is accepted as a substitute for .obj format, but should be a variant that supports texture assignments.

So you can submit SMDs. However I would guess that the other formats probably won't be accepted.

[Garamonde]

Yes you may submit .SMD. It's actually encouraged because it gives the end user more options.
As long as you have at least a .OBJ with a working .MTL file or .DAE then you're good. Just make sure the textures that belong to each model are in the same directory, and make sure to edit the texture paths of the .DAE if you use that format (check my .BRRES guide in Model Discussion to find out how to do that).
And no, .TGA textures are not acceptable so it's good you were able to convert them.

[06hypersonic60]

okay. I converted the tga to png. Now I'll just try to use smd / obj ( i hope it works this time ) and I'll see if I can export to dae too.

[TGE]

You could try using 3ds max instead because of the great exporters and compatibility.
For the converting of the textures you could also consider using Format Factory.

[R3DAM]

Actually, Blender 2.49b has the most exporters built in a program I have seen.
As for the textures being gone, that happens to me a lot. What I do is export to obj, import to Blender, and reasign the materials. Don't worry, even without the mtl the UV's are still inside the obj. And then export again as an obj and save it in a folder. Also, another important bit of advice, in Fragmotion, in the textures section, usually the texture directory is C:/Users/dsdf/desktop/z.png or something like that. This can cause issues in exporting. This is another way of how you can fix it:
1.Put all your files and textures into one folder. No folders within folders, and no folder for the textures. All files placed in one folder.
2.Open the file in Fragmotion.
3.In the textures section change the directory to this: texturename.png (No C:/, no user, no desktop, just the texture name and format.)
4. Do this to all textures and export to the same exact folder everything was in.
5.Now export it to obj and materials should work again.
The second method I gave uses a trick in directories to get the textures wherever the 3d model and texture are in the same folder.
Also, another thing: If the Uv maps seem to be all messed up, look at the textures. I've seen TGA's get flipped a lot when saving and exporting. Just flip the texture in paint and try to assign the materials now.
Tell me if this helped