Blender exporter sucks

[centerionware]

So i wrote yet another new one. It is at about 700 lines, supports meshes, lights, and very limited armature based animations.

Mostly it is worse than the existing exporter, but the benefits are:

1. faster
2. exported models dont need to be rotated 90 the around y
   2a) scenes look the same in blender and threejs immediately
3. only includes actions the armature has bones on that are affected by the ani
   3a) complex rigs anims work better through the existing exporter (IK for instance)
4. smaller - single file - code that can be distributed in blender files and not a seperate addon
5. 10 lines of code to upload the scene to a server along with the local file
6. easier to understand and customise

Drawbacks:

1. only one method of animations supported - no morph targets
2. IK in rigs doesnt translate
3. written by one guy in 1.5 weeks and he isn't the best programmer ever
4. assumes the entire scene is exported always
5. feels like 1990s c code

Anybody interested in making it better?
Anybody interested in me making it public?

Right now I'm trying to get it exporting the materials as opengl shaders, dunno how it will work when done, if at all, but thought itd be better because we could use any material type from blender and not just the builtin ones or hard to use custom shaders.

[mrdoob]

Reminds me when current blender exporter got introduced: #5514 😀

[mrdoob]

Just like @repsac did... Maybe you can create a github repo for it so people can take a look?

[centerionware]

I took my time and made sure things where fully working for my use cases with the exporter before I uploaded it, and now I have.

https://github.com/centerionware/io_tresjs

I also kind of wanted to clarify, when I say io_three sucks, I mean, parts of it suck. Mostly it's fantastic and a damned good program, but there are a few things I just couldn't get over that I documented in the readme_first for this exporter.
What's the best way to advertise this so people can try it, modify it, whatever?

[mrdoob]

I also kind of wanted to clarify, when I say io_three sucks, I mean, parts of it suck.

😊

What's the best way to advertise this so people can try it, modify it, whatever?

I would start by doing a table comparing what your exporter supports in comparison to the current one.

[titansoftime]

IK in rigs doesnt translate

This has never worked as far as I am aware. I think my animator over in Europe may have literally killed himself because of this. Each animation took forever and was at best "meh". After about 200 animations he disappeared. Payed him well too.

[manthrax]

@centerionware @mrdoob @titansoftime
I see where you're going with your exporter. It's a bit easier for me to read than the io_threejs, but I haven't actually tested it yet. I saw some of the ambiguity around the quaternion xyzw vs wxyz in animations/rotations... Did you resolve that?

It also looks like you're sending everybodys exported .json to your server. What's that for? edit: Just re-read your description.. i see it's by design.

[manthrax]

And for the record, I don't think the existing exporter sucks.. it's just had to grow with a moving target, both in terms of three.js and blender. Both projects introduce api changes often, so maintaining an exporter is no easy job.
It also handles multiple types of animation, including morph targets, and has/had code for animation resampling and a bunch of other stuff.

That said, if your exporter is working well, and seems to be producing more conformant three.json, then I dig it!

[manthrax]

@titansoftime I am adding support to a fork of the exporter for auto Baking NLA Actions. This should enable some of the more complex IK rigs to export working animations. Just a heads up.

[centerionware]

I know you were just involved in getting married @manthrax , and congrats again! I also know your job probably has you moved on to other issues.
Any updates to report? if there was a pull request I missed it.

[Mugen87]

The JSON Blender exporter has been removed with R93 (#14117).

Also see: https://threejs.org/docs/#manual/introduction/Loading-3D-models