[Nel] File formats+other stuff

[Cyril Corvazier]

Hi, and welcome on the NeL list.

> I've gathered that there is support for .3ds for objects
> and .bmp for textures.  Is this correct?

> In what format is the landscape data tiles?

> What glues .3ds object files to the landscape
> data?

NeL library supports only .tga file format and .dds (direct draw surface)
for texture compression (DXTC1, 3 and 5).

The NeL's way to load 3d data is the following:
NeL only reads NeL binary files (like .shape, .bank or .zone). No support
for .3ds files will be provided by Nevrax.
The reason is .3ds is an old file format, and many new features simply don't
exist in it. (vertex weigting, multiple UV by
vertex, patches, vertex color ).
It's easy to build and save NeL data. You only have to write a data
converter or an export plugin for your
3d editor linked with NeL. A paper about 'how to deal with NeL data' will
come soon in the NeL documentation.

At Nevrax, we use a set of crude plugins for 3dsmax builded with NeL, but we
can't distribute them for the moment.

> Is there any animation support?

Support for animation is planed for sure. Those features will be implemented
in NeL:

 * Hierarchical animations.
 * Skinning (with T&L support).
 * Morphing (blend shape).
 * IK solver (position constraints only).
 * Animation layers (merge of weighted animations with IK constraints).

> Do you have an example of a config file for the
> client?

I let my co-workers respond to this question.

Thanks for your interest in the NeL project.
---
Cyril Corvazier
Lead 3d programmer
Nevrax France