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jPCT-AE Mesh Serializer

The aim of this project is to provide a tool what is capable of serializing model (3ds, md2, ...) files for usage in android game and multimedia projects powered by the jPCT-AE 3D engine. (http://www.jpct.net/jpct-ae/)

This tool is developed as an Eclipse plugin and provides zero-click tooling for serializing meshes.

What it is and what it's not

This tool scans a configurable folder of your project for model files in various formats (3ds, md2, asc, jaw, obj). When the tool discovers new files or files get updated, the tool will serialize those files and put the resulting .ser files in a configurable output folder.

At this point the tool does not handle textures at all.

Installing

An update site is available at http://meshserializer.sourceforge.net . Add this URL to your Eclipse installation and install the only available feature "jPCT-AE Mesh Serializer". This tool requires at least Eclipse Galileo and has been tested with Galileo, Helios and Indigo.

Usage

After installation, each Java Project will have a new property page for configuring the serializer. Right-click your java project and select Properties -> Mesh Serializer.

• Enable Serializer: This will enable the serializer for the project.
• Source folder: Specify a folder in your project which contains your model files here.
• Target folder: This folder will be used for storing the generated .ser files. In android projects this will most likely be "res/raw".

Whenever eclipse detects a change in the source folder, this tool will now automatically serialize any model files and put the results in the target folder.

Remember to press F5 on your project when you changed your model files outside of eclipse or enable "Refresh automatically" in the eclipse preferences. (Preferences -> General -> Workspace)

When something goes wrong, it's either a bug or a problem with your model file. If your model file can't be read by the jPCT model loader, a problem marker is created for that file. Also check out the console view, cause all output during loading and serialization is written to the "Mesh serializer" console.

Future plans

• Add texture handling