This following MD3 EXPORT info is now maintained in a separate topic located here
Try this for exporting. I've had a look at the available info and this is about as close as I can get to a reasonable description based on what I know about exporting to MD3 - it needs to be cross-referenced and checked. (Try tracking down stuff by Paul Jacques or Paul Steed, they should have some valid info on this).
Prepping mesh for MD3The mesh needs to be composed of three sections each of which needs to be a 'closed' mesh (open surfaces should be 'sealed'?). Name the sections in Object Mode as follows (note that the prefix, "h_", is a subsection reference so anything that should be associated with the "head" section of the mesh should be prefixed with "h_", the torso, "u_" etc..);
- head - named "h_head" (upper_head)?
- torso - named "u_torso" (upper_torso)?
- legs - named "l_legs" (lower_legs)
The "
Point of Origin" (the pink dot) for each section needs to be on Blenders "0,0,0" grid so position the cursor there, then reposition the origin to the cursor (make sure to do this before doing ANY animations if the model is rigged).
Prepping armatureWhen rigging a character, in order for the legs to "run" at the same time as "firing" a weapon, the
rig is split into two separate armature objects, and "
upper" and "
lower" sections. This enables the characters lower half to do something different to the upper half. These are not exported (the rigs that is, as animation is vertex baked). However it does mean that any animation also needs to be 'split' in similar fashion, so a "run" cycle may only have a 'legs' animation, whereas a "death" animation would have both an 'legs' and 'torso' animation sequence. (Note: the origin point of the armature/s will need to be the same "0,0,0" axis centre otherwise you'll get problems - although you can do the above to a rig it's best to centre the cursor beforehand and then build the rig around that anchor point).
Prepping Materials for MD3Materials will need to be duplicated depending on their assignment - if a character model uses the same texture applied to the entire model, when the mesh is broken into sub-sections, there should be three (or more) separate materials named as follows (this will likely need to be the texture name ID rather than the bitmap image "Source:" or filename);
- "l_legs" (material for 'lower' mesh section)
- "u_torso" (material for upper torse section)
- "h_head" (material for head section)
Materials need to be referenced from the 'root', i.e. "models/players/character" so it's best to work from within that directory (where "models/" would be a root folder on a hard-drive "D:\models\")
MD3 models use "skin" files (*.skn?) which are simple *.txt docs renamed *.skn. They contain text references to textures (are these actually "shader" references?) similat to;
- "h_head,models/players/character/head.tga"
'Tags'"Tags" are Blender "
Empty" objects and positioned at centre-points where other objects are to be connected to a mesh - they are position markers in other words; "
tag_weapon" for instance is where weapon models 'connect' to the mesh when held by the player. Name the Empty in Object Mode, position and parent to an appropriate bone (depending on what's being 'tagged' you want the object to move with an animation);
- "tag_weapon" would be parented to a bone called 'hand' - weapons models attach to this
- "tag_torso" would be parented (and positioned) relative to the 'hip' - allows different 'top' sections to be attached to the 'lower' section of the model
- "tag_head" would be parented and positioned relative to the neck - allows different heads to connect the mesh
- (note: doesn't appear to be a need for "tag_legs")