FBX4V

Author:	microdee
Date:	09 Jun, 2017
Category:	pack
Credits:	Special thanks to: Eno Henze @ nsynk; Beta testers: Boris Vitazek, Roy Datom, Antokhio, Sebl, Sune Petersen, Marko Ritter, Andres Alvarez, Constantine Nissidis, Gegenlicht, Johannes Lemke, Eno Henze, Zsolt Korai

Description

FBX4V

is an advanced FBX importer using the official Autodesk FBX SDK 2018. It might be a better choice instead of the Assimp importer if you want to use a feature specific to FBX like:

Embedded media
Blendshapes
Triangulating NURBS, or higher order faces than triangles
Using multiple UV layers
Handling node transformation hierarchy properly
Instantly use rigged meshes (skeletal animation) coming right from the main SkeletalMesh node
Having a more shader oriented pipeline

Installation:

If you haven't already, Get vpm

Install via vpm

Read the EULA and on the bottom you'll find a toggle button for assets. Open girlpower.v4p for more information ;)

Known issues:

Consult girlpower.v4p for known issues

License:

It had a non-commercial but then the whole thing broke and doesn't work. FBX4V will be merged into mp.dx soon which means it'll be under MIT license from that moment.

Enjoy! microdee & Uberact

Changelog:

17.08.15

Updated to mp.dx changes
Removed the annoyware to ease my conscience
Added coordinate system conversion which might fix some skinning issues or might not
Added modules to ease feeding the skeleton to SkeletalMesh
Removed the never working Mesh module to lessen confusion

17.06

Fixed vpm install script not dealing with uninitialized Pack.InstallDataFromJS
(mp.dx/PBRIBL) Worked around nasty bug with Renderer MRT not initializing correctly inside PBRIBL in and after vvvv beta 35.5

Comments

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Please create a new topic in the vvvv beta forum to discuss this contribution.

Yo md! Thanks for this release :)

Seems there's something wrong during installation : all packs install successfully (mp.dx, mp.essentials, mp.fxh) but FBX4V isn't there. Prompt says :

Installing FBX4V

Data :

VVVV Architecture seems to be x64
Removing vpm temp folder
All good in theory.
Enjoy!

Also, VPM tells me that Message is already installed, but it doesn't seem to see I also already have dx11, and downloads it anyway.

Any clue? Thanks!

very nice indeed. but a standalone download without packs dependencies would be awesome. i'm very willing to introduce this into our workflow and buy licences but please make it a compact, dependency free contribution.

and you might add this to the STORE ? /store

cheers

yeah , FBX4V is not there via VPM

but you can get it here https://f001.backblazeb2.com/file/uberact/FBX4V/FBX4V-17.06.zip

@sebescudie: If you update vpm to the latest version does it still won't install? https://github.com/vvvvpm/vpm/releases/latest @u7angel: FBX4V depends on couple of nodes inside mp.dx and mp.essentials to generate the geometry and in mp.dx there's already a rendering pipeline which can use the ID semantics coming from SkeletalMesh. Without the new skeleton nodes in mp.essentials you wouldn't be able to drive rigged meshes, and without its generic Expand node you wouldn't be able to read many data coming from FBXFile or the raw Mesh (FBX) node. The plugin itself can exists without them but it would be a uselessly barebone thing for the average vvvv patcher. If I wouldn't have dependencies I would have to rewrite so many things postponing release and consuming my time while in fact nothing improved. So vpm takes care of installing them for you so you don't have to get braincancer. Also please remove that link as I don't want people to download it standalone while dependencies not being there correctly and asking me about why it doesn't work.

i have updated vpm and it doesnt install.

when i manually install the missing fbx4v pack and put in the assets, most of the girlpower patches don't work. just some blurred background, kinda chaotic and massive patches to find the error. and yes, i hit the reload pin.

@sebescudie, @u7angel: vpm not installing FBX4V was caused by a logical error in the installation script, you don't have to update vpm. My bad, try it now!

@u7angel: I was using an alpha version of vvvv during development. Probably a version prior beta 35.5 because I didn't have any issues with the 3 girls showing up. Something went horribly wrong in that version apparently as Renderer (DX11 MRT) stopped initializing correctly since beta 35.5 and latest alpha. There is something dodgy with enums in general anyways nowadays. ANYHOW I introduced an ugly quick fix which hard-resets Renderer MRT with CreateNode into PBRIBL. Try it now. Overwrite mp.dx and mp.essentials in vpm

@microdee : ty, installs fine now !

hello @microdee you said

Something went horribly wrong in that version apparently as Renderer (DX11 MRT) stopped initializing correctly since beta 35.5 and latest alpha. There is something dodgy with enums in general anyways nowadays.

can you be more specific? is there any patch that shows the problem? would be suuuuper helpful as we just have a release candidate out that should help us all to get rid of any of these buggers...

@tonfilm: never managed to isolate the bug or come up with precise reproduction steps I can try it now. More specific symptom maybe in inspector all unconnected enums flash red at opening inspector, but that's it, it's a nasty one. I can try to reproduce it in an isolated patch maybe

Nice! (vpm disconnected on first attempt, slow net connection)

Wow, this is so next level microdee! ...and I've got it all working on the first attempt also thanks see you at NODE17

just had a look again, got it working after an hour of vpm downloading ;)

i wonder if it's possible to revise the node concerning performance hit. loading a scene and supplying a mesh is a simple task but kinda hefty on the cpu.

and i'd prefer simple girlpower demos, showcasing not how nice/slow something can be rendered but a concise example of the fbx plugin / features.

that assets toogle !! Thank you very much tha node comes at the right time for my diplomverteidigung

@u7angel: good find! I know about performance, when I find time and motivation I will convert the whole module to a plugin. The high cycle count comes from the fact that it has quite some nodes inside which increases graph preparing time even when 80% of those nodes are not evaluating just on the frame when static data is ready. That Mesh node though is not working, and that's a honest mistake by me not removing it. Hotfix is coming. Nobody noticed that in Beta though including me forgeting about it. Only SkeletalMesh module exposes the complete and animated geometry. Even when dealing with static meshes just turn off processing. A subjective comment on your phrasing: loading and supplying a geometry for the widest variety of possible systems is not a simple task. especially when it have to be supplied from FBX SDK where you have to deal with 5 separate matrices to get an inverse binding transform just for a single example out of many. if that would have been the case FBX4V would have been released in 2016 autumn and it wouldn't be closed source :P Girlpower patch wise: that's exactly what's happening actually. Showing off and explaining specific features/use cases with meaningful data. girlpower.v4p for character animation, oldman.v4p for blendshape manipulation, city.v4p for animated rigid transforms and large scenes (camera movement), sponza.v4p for materials, which also contains a major mispatching so it will be provided in that hotfix. All of them indicating clearly which part is necessary for FBX4V and which is for showing off. I'm actually thinking about how to break it down better while maintaining functionality.

@microdee, concerning the phrasing. i wasn't refereing to the inside of the nodes. i'm talking from the users perspective. 90% of my cases is just loading meshes without materials / skeleton. so i would expect as few nodes as possible and a low cpu hit. and talking about the girlpower patches, do you really need all that stuff inside to show the tech? its kinda noisy. but i guess we both follow different concepts. i like things to be as compact as possible, small releases without module/pack noise, tidy patches showcasing only the essence. it comes down to specialized vs. multipurpose

anyway, keep up your good work.

when I was running xcountry and long distance in my youth, I learned about the importance of doing the last click, but also about the effect of bystanders cheering along it, so let me just join in with chris, while you just try to maintain pace for the last kilometer: go, david, go! you just go, man! not far any more, the worst shit's already behind you. just fkin finish and you're golden!

@velcrome: youre good at cheering!

let me join! @microdee: great work, so much needed and really cool, finish it!

@u7angel: jump over your shadow :) and show a little bit more appreciation for this good work(even if youre a nordic cool guy i guess)

@hrovac, i care a lot for such marvelous work. that's why i give feedback in the hope to see a flawless product at some point. something i'd really love to use and happily buy licenses. not sure if that is a nordic point of view ;)

thanks people I really appreciate it, feedback like what Chris is giving is very useful, my long comment was just to clear up the situation and "calibrate" expectations

Hey realy amazing, awesome that face demo. Has a lot of potencial. Cant check the files now. But are there alzo exporters???

there is no exporting unfortunately. exporting geometry from vvvv done perfectly via obj. I can't see use cases for anything more complex. In the future though I'm planning material data editing including assigning shaders to materials and assigning textures to properties and maybe editing names, but it's a long term plan.

Anybody made this works without headpain? First.. need to made vpm work,,, second need to install many packs i dont need.. third...you finally open the patch..and doesnt works.. four ...you get a comercial popup,,that advise to dont use in any commercial project.. i think is not nothing nice at all contribution cos it makes it depends of the logic of the creator. contributions should open doors to the other to contribute,,, not to work like others do. actually shouldnt be so difficult to import an fbx model ,,, it isnt in any "commercial software" please tell me how this is working.. jejje cos really doesnt has to do nothing with vvvv philoshpy.. Or not?

@AKa-visuals

Read the EULA and look at installation options

or if you don't need any of the features listed above, use vanilla Assimp

Hey, I`d like to test It and if I am happy to buy a license, however there are red nodes and not a single working scene in there. Can we please have a working scene with assets so one can see what is happening and how it is happening?

Cheers!

currently there's an update coming out. I had a breaking change in mp.essentials and rest is following. I also need to fix couple of things for VPM first and then I make it appear here too. After that's done use the VPM link. DO NOT use the direct download someone linked above. There's a reason why it is published via VPM and not with a simple download.

Hey what's the status for this contribution?

Does the helper process still consume a full core and is it possible to use previously baked data now, so there isn't the heavy import always happening?

Would give it another try then.

Cheers

Eno

Nah that code haven't been touched for a while. I know it would pretty much require some love by now. unfortunately the flow of priorities for me didn't go in this direction. I have plans for smarter data management with it, for example to avoid that running thread, convert and process the entire FBX data into a friendlier intermediate format at first import such as PLY + metadata or glTF and work with that afterwards. I'm sorry but I don't have an ETA on that. I still haven't arrived to fix at least the buggy mesh module.

Hi David,

since vpm doesnt let me download the fbx4v-pack, i decided to manually download it from github. now i cant check your girlpower files becuase the assets are missing. where do i get them from?

thank you, alex.

FBX4V is not on github, what did you download?

https://github.com/vvvvpm/vpdb/tree/master/microdee/FBX4V

click on vpack ,see link to .zip

https://f001.backblazeb2.com/file/uberact/FBX4V/FBX4V-17.09.04.zip

okay, maybe its a bit unfair to ask this questions, but vpm doesnt work for me so i tried to help myself and downloaded direct from the source.

are the assets available?

thank you

aaah that github, vpdb. yeah you're free to download it that way you will just need to manually download 4 other packs to make this work (mp.essentials, mp.fxh, mp.dx, dx11-vvvv) the assets are also mentioned in that vpack https://f001.backblazeb2.com/file/uberact/FBX4V/FBX4V-assets.zip

now about the git cloning error messages, holy shit I can't even comprehend why cloning those public repos getting into authentication errors on your computer. Can you try it on another pc?

Hi sry for late response, i can only work on this in my spare free time on weekend...

i dled the assets, thank you for the link.

now i have some red nodes from the messages-pack, i dled the message pack also. but all of them nodes are red? is there anything wrong with the message pack? thank you, and btw. i cant check it on another pc, at work its impossible and here i have only one :(

EDIT: sry, i found out that i need velcromes message pack, not yours, uff uff getting this fbx4v-thingy to run is a loooong process, i hope it will work now.

well well, i have another question:

as you can see at the attached pic, i have some missing folder, i dunno what the missing nodes are doing? but, since i still dont have the patch running i asking step by step..

do you know where the folder is located or how i can replace the red shader-node.

thank you for the patience.

if i ever got this running (and its good) i promise i write a sall tutorial of how to get it running :)

That shader node is not missing, it just tells you it's not happy about something. I currently don't have too much time to look into FBX4V now which I know is in terrible shape but there are more important problems I need to take care of. For simpler management I'm planning to merge it into mp.dx in the coming weeks, so it'll be open source soon.

If you don't need blendshapes or embedded media, you can fall back to assimp, there are couple of nodes in mp.dx which also brings you the possibility to have spreaded skeletons the same way you had in FBX4V

blendshapes are what im interested in, hm, anyway, thank you for your response