CS 551 / CS 651: Computer Animation

Fall 2003

Professor Brogan

 

Assignment 1: Rigid Body Simulation

 

Due: 5:00 Monday, Sept 29^th

 

Loading 3ds Models

(thanks to Ricky Uy and Kristen Neal for finding and verifying materials on this web page)

 

The "official" documentation on the .3ds file format is bundled with a 3ds file format toolkit available for free on the
Discreet website (http:/sparks.discreet.com/downloads). The actual name of the document within the bundled zip file is "3dsftk4.doc." You can download the toolkit here.

There is a loader on gametutorials.com that looks simple and perfect for learning. It also includes the reverse-engineered documentation on the 3ds file format, which is MUCH easier to read and understand than the official documentation offered by Discreet. You can find the zip file through this link, and it's the fifth tutorial from the bottom of the page. This tutorial has been tested on VS.Net 2003 and note you need to change iostream.h to <iostream>.

Another loader exists as part of the  morrowland apron tutorials (you'll have to click through some splash screens to find it.  It will be listed under the "openGL" "tutorials." 

There is more extensive and complicated file loader that has more functionality at planet-source-code.com. This tutorial has been tested on VS.Net 2003 and note you need to change iostream.h to <iostream>.