help for newb

Scripting Issues
1

hi to everybody )
i’m new to Panda, but time ago has some xp in developing on Blitz. (yea, i’m newb)

so, the things i was interested in:

  1. can i somehow export models from lightwave, avoiding 3ds max?
  2. is there any way to do animation in 3ds for panda?
  3. using py, how can i compile my code to somekind of executable file? 0.o (i’m using SPE)
2

Yes, all three things are possible.

3

The short answer is yes, however you may encounter some problems. Exporting a static model from one format - and then the animations from another may be slightly incompatable - so much as a slightly different naming style can cause an animation not to work.

I’ll start by saying yes - you can convert .LWO (Lightwave) files to Panda. In your Panda3D-1.5.4 directory there is a folder called ‘bin’ in there is a fille called ‘lwo2egg’. I’d copy and paste that into your model directory (lets say thats C:\MyModels\

Open up Command Prompt - type ‘cd C:\MyModels’ to navigate there - and then type ‘lwo2egg MyLightwaveModel.lwo MyLightwaveModel.egg’ and it will convert nicely.

If however - you are saying you want to model it in Lightwave - but then animate it in 3DS, I’d just export from Lightwave to 3DS - animate it - but then export both model and animations from there. Instructions to export from 3DS are found here http://panda3d.org/manual/index.php/Converting_from_3D_Studio_Max.

Good luck!