Import/Export for COLLADA 1.4 now available

Engines, Libraries and Tools Xith3D Forums
#1

I have upgraded the Whoola code from COLLADA 1.3 to COLLADA 1.4. You can see demos here:

Whoola Cyberspace – 3D browser
http://earth.whoola.com:8080/space/cyber/

Whoola COLLADA Converter – converts to COLLADA format
http://earth.whoola.com:8080/space/collada/

The import/export code works with Xith, an Open Source scene graph renderer for Java:
http://www.xith.org/

The Java source code is available under the terms of an Open Source license from SourceForge.net:
http://whoola.sf.net/

Javadoc for the COLLADA 1.4 Schema converted to Java using JAXB:
http://earth.whoola.com:8080/javadoc/collada/

#2

Good job ! ;D

#3

howdy
i’d like to try it … but i got confused when i tried to get a working copy of the loader

a: i found out that the loader is part of whoola’s core package
b: whoola core depends on jaxb ( 1 or 2 ? ) … where do i get this? ( googling ‘jaxb’ points me here: https://jaxb.dev.java.net/ … do i have to download this ‘JAXB 2.0 Javadoc & RI Early Access 3’ thing? )
c: whoola core’s ant files are written for windows while fixing paths for linux i found dependencies on j2EE do i have to install that too?
d: i searched for ‘collada’ on the xith forums and found several topics where croft said that the loader would be added in the xith toolkit … but afaik it wasn’t commited

e: who do i get a running build of the xith collada loader?

#4

You are probably the first to attempt to use the COLLADA Loader other than myself. I am please to find someone else who is interested in this kind of thing. I would be happy to help you make this work in return for feedback.

I have hesitated in adding the COLLADA Loader to the Xith repository because of the JAXB external library dependencies. Java 6 Beta is out and it appears to have JAXB as part of the core now. I am getting ready to try running the COLLADA Loader under Java 6 to see if I can eliminate the external library dependencies.

My other hesitation in adding the COLLADA Loader to the Xith repository is that it is written in Java 5. Xith contributions are currently restricted to Java 1.4. Are you running your application under Java 5 or 6?

#5

Hi,

Great job! While I’m not using it myself, I am following COLLADA with interest, it seems to be gaining some traction.

You may be able to add it into the toolkit soon if we go to 5.0. Dependancies in the TK are ok, so long as the stroage space needed isn’t too huge.

Cheers,

Will.

#6

OK, I created a cleaner build script for the loader. I documented it at the bottom of this javadoc webpage:
http://earth.whoola.com:8080/javadoc/core/com/whoola/core/media/xith/package-summary.html

#7

i’ll be glad to give you some feedback as soon as i have time to try it

actually i didn’t knew what collada was until i was pointed at it in my x3d thread … but as it looks it’ll save me from implementing a x3d loader myself :wink:

[edit]i use java 5 for my personal projects and compile xith myself using jdk 5.0
[edit2]the sourceforge cvs seems to be down again … i guess you won’t package your source and post it here?

#8

We have to modify xith website to provide “best practices” for game developers : “Use Collada format”, and so on.

Croft, I’ll test collada as soon as I’ll be in the “import graphics into the game” phase, and I’ll give you some feedback also.

#9

sourceforge cvs is still broken ( or am i missing something? ) you won’t mind packaging your source?

btw: starting Whoola Cyberspace fails to start on “Gentoo Linux” with “2.6.15-gentoo-r1” kernel and java 1.5.0_06 giving this error:

[quote]JAR-ressources in JNLP-File aren’t signed with the same certificate (free translated from german)
[/quote]
and this exception:

[quote]JNLPException[category: Startdateifehler : Exception: null : LaunchDesc:


Whoola Cyberspace
Whoola, Inc.

Whoola Cyberspace
Whoola Cyberspace
Whoola Cyberspace
Whoola Cyberspace

























sceneUrl=examples/shuttle/scene.dae

]
at com.sun.javaws.LaunchDownload.checkSignedResourcesHelper(LaunchDownload.java:1023)
at com.sun.javaws.LaunchDownload.checkSignedResources(LaunchDownload.java:925)
at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.continueLaunch(Launcher.java:814)
at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.handleApplicationDesc(Launcher.java:515)
at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.handleLaunchFile(Launcher.java:218)
at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.run(Launcher.java:165)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:595)
[/quote]

#10

Croft, would you be willing to post some sort of quick tutorial on getting the Collada loader set up and a model loaded into a Xith application? I have been looking into different formats to use for models in my game, and I am really interested in trying out the Collada format. I was going to try to use the build script to create the jar files but the CVS access seems to be down (as I believe others have pointed out). Is there another place I can get the jar files for the loader, and if so which ones do I need? Any help would be appreciated, thanks! I will definitely give some feedback if I can get it working.

#11

The “Browse CVS Repository” function is still down. Don’t know why. On one of my other SourceForge.net projects it is working just fine. If it is still down in a couple of days, I will e-mail the admins.

I would guess that you could still checkout a module from the CVS library even if you cannot browse it. Try grabbing module “core” and looking in the “bld” subdirectory for the new Ant build file, “collada.xml”.
https://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=114095

#12

[/quote]
I had to resign my certificate yesterday because it expired. I uploaded a new version. I’m guessing there are some old cached JAR files and new ones mixed. Please try clearing your Java Web Start cache and letting me know if that fixes it.

#13

OK, I will try to do that Thursday or Friday. Please remind me if I forget. It should be just like use any other loader that derives from LoaderBase. You probably want to actually use XithLoader which uses XithColladaLoader under the covers:
http://earth.whoola.com:8080/javadoc/core/com/whoola/core/media/xith/XithLoader.html
http://earth.whoola.com:8080/javadoc/core/src-html/com/whoola/core/media/xith/XithLoader.html

I am hoping that the CVS checkout function works even though the CVS browse does not. Please let me know.

I will work on uploading a JAR snapshot now.

#14

Thanks a lot, I will do that. Assuming I am doing everything correctly, I keep timing out even if I attempt to do a CVS checkout…

#15

I put out a file release with the compiled JAR files. I have not had time to test them yet:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=114095&package_id=154144

#16

Disregard my message below for now, I found that these class files are part of the Xith toolkit that I didn’t have…

Thanks, I downloaded these jar files and am working on getting things going. Now, however, I’m running into problems with missing class files at runtime (for example, DefaultLoader and BehaviorFactory). Are these a part of something else or should those be in the jar files you released?

#17

I believe I have it working, I was able to load your space shuttle into my game as a test. Does the loader import any animation info from the Collada file, or is this not supported yet?

#18

Yes, I think Animation is supported, at least I saw it working on JWS demo.

Croft, this should be included in the toolkit. I see you’re building new jars…

#19

i can comfirm that cvs checkout doesn’t work and hasn’t worked when i tried the last days
and the browser webstart application works again :slight_smile:

thanks for the release … test starting now …
[edit] after some tweaking ( i wasn’t using the latest cvs version of xith3d ) i got it working and have sucessfully displayed a testscene … but my dcc (blender) is unable to output collada 1.4.0 … is there a way to enable backward compability to 1.3.1 ?
[edit2]i think that it’s somewhat annoying that the loader restricts the extension to be .dae ( on the other hand this is a flaw in xmlbuddy ( eclipse plugin ) as it opens .xml files only )

#20

Maybe we can contribute to COLLADA blender exporter, so it can export to COLLADA 1.4 ?
More seriously yes it would be good if we could import 1.3.1