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Exporting from Gmax to 3ds Max with FFG

hairyspin

hairyspin

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There is a new tool for exporting from Gmax to 3ds Max. FFG is a MaxScript-based tool and utility process which exports a scene from Gmax in a form readable by 3ds Max. Mesh, Gmax materials, UV mappings, smoothing, pivots, object names and hierarchy are exported, as are Gmax primitives (cube, cylinder etc). The output from the process has been tested in 3ds Max 2008 and 2011, and a Max 2012 user has reported a successful export.

The FFG process is a collaboration between Tom Faulds and Manfred Jahn based on the BFF script by Borislav 'Bobo' Petrov and we want to thank Bobo for his permission to modify the script.

The main limitation is the entire process has to exist in a 2GB memory space, so we don't expect a 350K poly model will export in a single pass: a 37K poly model did export successfully but the process took around 25 minutes in total, while 10-15K poly selections went quite quickly.

In addition, users should be aware that FSX materials do NOT export successfully and animations are unreliable. The script has animation export turned off by default, the user can experiment at your own risk.

The download includes :-

FFG 0_1_4.ms ....................... the MacroScript for Gmax
GMaxSLGRAB.exe .................. the 'Grabber'
FFG_pp.bat and FFG_pp.exe ... the post-processor batch file and executable
ICONX.exe ........................... Icon language runtime

readmeFFG.pdf ..................... user instructions

FFG is available at FSDeveloper.com in the Downloads section.

************************************************************************************
Please regard this as BETA software and let us know of any issues you may encounter.
THE AUTHORS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE THAT YOU MIGHT INCUR AS A RESULT OF USING
THESE FILES. YOU ASSUME THE RISK OF USE.
************************************************************************************


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Installing FFG 0.1.4

Please refer to readmeFFG.pdf in the zip file and especially the method for setting the target directory. Once set up it's a simple drag & drop to process the output ready for 3ds Max.

Users who already have GMaxSLGRAB.exe for Gmax please note the zip contains a version modified to save in .txt format by default.
 
A little history

Many years ago Autodesk/Discreet released 3ds Max version 5 to howls of anguish from 3ds Max version 4.2 users and others who found they couldn't read files saved in version 5. Saving in a previous version format was not an option, so Borislav 'Bobo' Petrov wrote a MaxScript to export model data from any version of 3ds Max in a form readable by other versions. This script was named BFF, short for Back From Five.

Users found BFF v0.3.6 would export from 3ds Max versions 6, 7 and 8 but version 9 introduced some new wrinkles which broke the script. Raúl Ortega Palacios rewrote the affected portions in BFF 0.4.3 (2007) to be compatible with Max 9, it continues to work as recently as Max 2012 and is the preferred method for exporting from 3ds Max to Gmax. Nowadays it's called Bobo's File Format. (file transfer between versions of 3ds Max from v5 to present day can now be done with Autodesk's FBX format, but there's still no Gmax plugin)

Gmax just doesn't export except through gamepack-specific exporters: Autodesk made it that way. Various methods have been tried to export from Gmax to 3ds Max over the years. One script-based method writes data to the Gmax Listener window in LightWave-compatible format and uses GMaxSLGRAB.exe to save this to file. I wondered if the same method applied to BFF might work and in collaboration with Manfred Jahn (who wrote the FFG_pp utility) we came up with FFG.

The name FFG is a nod to Bobo's original script: it means Forward From Gmax. Hope you find it useful!
 
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