X file format

MSDN Has the .X File Reference. http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/?url=/library/en-us/directx9_c/dx9_graphics_reference_d3dx_x_file.asp

As far as changes with XNA Game Studio Express, we are just simply consuming the format right now, not adding anything to it.

Thanks!

MichaelKlucher-MSFT at 2007-8-31 >

think trying to use Houdini's native format is going to be

pleasant. Knowing how Houdini scene files are set up and

how the software works, it sounds like it'd be easier to either use

X as an intermediate or come up with some other intermediate

format for the content pipeline. The idea of parsing through all the

extraneous garbage that exists in a hip file to find and create

relevant data is not very appealing to me.

I can't wait to see this content pipeline, it sounds like it's going to be great.

AOEA at 2007-8-31 >

formats you'd find in film like rib, and as far as motion data is

concerned, you pass data using ascii .clip (very similar to Maya) files

or you use some standalone tools that ship with the software to convert

mocap data into clips. They have a geometry format that is really easy

to read, and extremely flexible, but it's geometry, shader assignments,

and attributes only, no animation frame data or bones or anything like

that. An animated mesh is stored in a file sequence in this .geo

format. Side FX just recently included a Collada importer, but no

exporter as of yet. The software has some geat tools in it for creating

game content, unfortuantely no one uses it to make games, so Side FX

hasn't done any work in trying to support formats that are common in

games.

It's really easy to get data out though, so I guess I'll just play

around with Houdini's geo files until the content pipeline shows up and

then decide where to go from there.

AOEA at 2007-8-31 >