C#•2y ago

✅ Is there a library for processing FBX or GLTF files?

I essentially need to do 2 things:

Generate an orthographic image of a 3D model
Generate the normals for the same..

I'm trying to find a way to automate the generation of these images for a 2D game so that we only need to use blender for modelling, rather than rendering.
A couple of things i've noticed currently are, MixedReality, and GLTF loader, but i don't know if these are relevant to my needs.

What I hope to build is a simple commandline tool that loads a directory of model files and dumps the images.
The library I need would let me adjust the angle, resolution etc.

alice in the failureland•12/30/23, 5:30 PM

I don't think there's a library in C# that would do so much for you, you'll most likely need to implement those things yourself

alice in the failureland•12/30/23, 5:35 PM

If I were you, I'd definitely pick GLTF over FBX for this task, GLTF is much simpler to deal with and there are plenty of libraries for loading models in GLTF, FBX on the other hand... it's way more complex and the only reliable library is proprietary and written in C++

alice in the failureland•12/30/23, 5:36 PM

About the mentioned FbxSharpFbxSharp:

The bindings were built to support the Fbx Exporter package (com.unity.formats.fbx).

The bindings are a subset of the FBX SDK, and in particular they do not support all that you would need for a general-purpose importer.

The bindings were built to support the Fbx Exporter package (com.unity.formats.fbx).

The bindings are a subset of the FBX SDK, and in particular they do not support all that you would need for a general-purpose importer.

alice in the failureland•12/30/23, 5:37 PM

You'd most likely need to write a wrapper for the C++ code in C and then make bindings for this wrapper, I don't think it'd be worth the time in the slightest

alice in the failureland•12/30/23, 5:38 PM

Adjusting the angle, resolution, etc is very simple, it's basic linear algebra and there are plenty of libraries that will make correct view and projection matrices for you

alice in the failureland•12/30/23, 5:39 PM

For rendering just pick any graphics API and write a very simple renderer

Дядя Женя•12/30/23, 5:42 PM

much easier to make blender plugin instead of all of that. You will need to create / find rendering engine, shaders etc. All of which are already embedded in blender

Дядя Женя•12/30/23, 5:44 PM

If you need that for Unity, however, unity can also act as rendering engine, and in case you're ok with the result quality just load all of the models to unity, bump it on the scene and render to texture via script, no need in 3rd party plugins for that

ДДядя Женя much easier to make blender plugin instead of all of that. You will need to crea...

LegionOP•12/30/23, 6:30 PM

i was hoping to bypass blender for rendering because it seems rather difficult to systemise the process, on top of learning python lol. But i might have to agree once i've exhausted all other options.

LLegion i was hoping to bypass blender for rendering because it seems rather difficult t...

LegionOP•12/30/23, 6:31 PM

im using Godot :P

Aalice in the failureland You'd most likely need to write a wrapper for the C++ code in C and then make bi...

LegionOP•12/30/23, 6:33 PM

It does seem like it might not be worth it yes. I just wish I had an on hand method of going from 3D to 2D at the simple run of a script lol

LLegion i was hoping to bypass blender for rendering because it seems rather difficult t...

alice in the failureland•12/30/23, 6:35 PM

Writing plugins for blender is... a bit painful

LLegion im using Godot :P

alice in the failureland•12/30/23, 6:35 PM

Well, you could use Godot to automate this process

alice in the failureland•12/30/23, 6:35 PM

like, have a script that loads models one by one, renders them to textures and saves to a file on disk

LegionOP•12/30/23, 6:35 PM

i've been looking for ways for godot to do that

LegionOP•12/30/23, 6:36 PM

im not currently sure there is a way to render a 3d model in godot to a png

Aalice in the failureland Well, you could use Godot to automate this process

LegionOP•12/30/23, 6:57 PM

might actually work, in 2D i've captured the viewport with a transparent background, in 3D assuming im using an orthographic camera, i should be able to create a separate program to loop through a collection of models.

LegionOP•12/30/23, 6:57 PM

assuming that works, i just need a way to do the same with the normal maps

LegionOP•12/30/23, 6:57 PM

thanks :)

alice in the failureland•12/30/23, 6:58 PM

glad I was able to help :^)

The bindings were built to support the Fbx Exporter package (com.unity.formats.fbx). The bindings are a subset of the FBX SDK, and in particular they do not support all that you would need for a general-purpose importer.

✅ Is there a library for processing FBX or GLTF files?

Similar Threads

Similar Threads

Similar Threads