It is ten years passed since ZModeler3 have been released to the market. Today I post the news my customers will dislike for sure, but this is the only option to keep the project running and evaluating. It is about a year since I have moved from Russia to Slovakia and now I have to finally adjust the financial setup of the project. (read full story...)
Since I've been making this all on a laptop device, I can't make a video guide, so a brief forum guide topic will be added later.
It took a really long even though the main decode work was done years ago - you've seen animations in OpenIV already. Another major step was done in CodeWalker that is able to decode YCD files to XML. To my surprise I haven't found a "YCD from XML" recreation feature there, as this would make the task much easier (an XML import/export). (read full story...)
ZModeler3 has moved to the new server. Its uptime and response time should be the same or even better, so in general your should not notice any difference.
To summarize recent updates and bug fixes, I have re-uploaded the latest version of ZModeler. It is still version 3.2.1, but contains the latest versions of all components. As an addition, the package includes Autodesk FBX filter for import and export. This filter could be a good alternative to bring models to or from 3D packages of your choice, as it can retain Skeleton, rigging information, multiple UV channels, multiple color channels, normals and tangents. Yet you might still need to play around with objects scale or axis system before and after importing models, but it's still a much better choice than commonly used Wavefront OBJ model format. (read full story...)
ZModeler3 core have been upgraded. This is technical runtime (C++ core libraries) upgrade without any new features. However, the 64-bit version got significant changes affecting stability under Windows 10 OS. Several critical issues have been fixed, so you might expect 64-bit version of ZModeler to be more reliable now. Additionally, this update includes the most recent updates related to .z3d files. If you have noticed your .z3d files become slow on open or merge, it is recommended to resave them in current version. Your .z3d files are backward compatible, you can open them in older version of ZModeler.
ZModeler3 got an update featuring cloth-simulated meshes export for GTA5. The simulated cloth will response to host object movement and in-game wind.
Cloth geometry can use any shader and have to be named as .cloth in hierarchy. High-detailed geometry model (e.g. buffalo2_hi.yft with highest LOD) can be exported with no cloth, as game reads cloth mesh from main model file with default LODs (buffalo2.yft with L1, L2, L3)
ZModeler3 core have been upgraded to support 64-bit builds, starting from version 3.2.0 two versions will be available (32-bit and 64-bit) for download. Versions are cross-compatible in features and saved files, however you will be unable to open .z3d files created in any of these and further versions in any old version of ZModeler. It is recommended to keep backup of your .z3d files saved in current version of ZModeler if you wish to revert to older version for some reason. New 32-bit and 64-bit are not guaranteed to run and activate smoothly, so having an old version backup is worth for the first days of release.
When you use an autoupdate in your current version, you will get a 32-bit upgrade to 3.2.0 by default. If you wish to switch to 64-bit version, you should download it from the website front page. Make sure to switch a button above download link to 64-bit before pressing "Download" button. Profile and settings are compatible with old versions, so you can use your profile XML in new downloads to restore all your ZModeler settings after upgrade. (read full story...)