How do I get my 3ds Max models into an iPhone 3D game?

Question

I've written a couple apps that are currently published in the app store. However, I'd like to start writing games that use OpenGL ES. I know how to model objects in 3D Studio Max but what I don't know is how to get my models into an OpenGL ES application on the iPhone/iPad and then manipulate those objects to create gameplay.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to get started on this?

Just to clarify...I don't mind writing code; I'm not looking for a point and click solution.

I would imagine that I'd need to export my models into some sort of format. What is that format and how do I incorporate it into a game on the iPhone/iPad?

Answer 1

I've used this before with some luck. However, I would say there are no easy answers to this in my experience. They all required some coding/wiring up for me.

Answer 2

While more involved than you're looking for, Stephen Jayna has a great writeup on how he exported textured models from LightWave in COLLADA format for use in OpenGL ES on the iPhone.

Bill Dudney had put a little effort into making a Wave Front OBJ loader for the iPhone a while back, but I think that Jeff LaMarche's project to do the same might be the farthest along.

Answer 3

This is a nightmare process. My past approach to this was probably not the best. I worked on PC using 3DS Max to create an exporter using MaxScript. I dumped what I needed to a text file - in a format that I just invented for my own needs as an intermediate.

I then switched to Mac and wrote a command line tool that used NSFoundation to read this text file and convert it to a binary format that was optimized for my opengl renderer. This is okay for basic and static meshes. But I had hell exporting animated figures that used keyframed skelaton animations (the maths for that stuff is intense).

This did work, but I really think that I took the hardest approach.