right click the links above to download
Installation steps 1,2 and 3 can be skipped if Lightwave was installed with the Expand Python Runtime set to Yes. They can also be skipped for Lightwave 2015 installations. I think it expands the runtime without asking.
Installation:
-
Find the python27.zip file in the bin
folder of the Lightwave installation - C:\Program Files\NewTek\LightWave11.0\bin
-
Open the zip file and copy "pyexpat.pyd"
out of python27.zip and into the bin
folder
- Restart Lightwave
-
Copy the "fix_collada.py" file into the plugins
folder or some subfolder like C:\Program Files\NewTek\LightWave11.0\support\plugins\scripts\Python.
-
Use the Utilities/Add Plugins button to add the
python file as a button
-
The plugin/script will appear as "Python Fix Collada"
in the Additional dropdown list
Alternate for steps 1 and 2 from a
Newtek forums post
:
Since Python 2.7.2 cannot load shared libraries from a
Zip file, you must extract the Python library files found in
"bin/python27.zip" to a folder called "bin/Lib". Once
extracted, delete or rename "python27.zip", run LightWave,
and Python should be able to locate and use all the shared
libraries bundled within the "Lib/" folder (including
"bin/Lib/pyexpat.pyd").
Usage:
- Export a Collada file from Lightwave
- Run this script and select the file
-
Choose a save as file/location for the new file -
can be the same as the source file
- Choose your options and press OK
Options:
-
Remove <extra> nodes - the LW
collada file is full of extra mostly useless
information, this removes it from the file
-
Remove extra rotation nodes - LW
adds several rotation nodes with zero rotation values,
this removes those nodes
-
Remove extra translation nodes - LW
adds several translation nodes with zero values, this
removes those nodes
-
Add Camera FOV animation - the
camera zoom animation is converted to degrees and added
to the collada file
-
Add Light properties animation -
light color and spot angle animations are added to the
collada file
-
Fix mesh and materials - removes a
dummy material from the file, exports phong instead of
lambert, prevents crashes in Blender, assigns textures
for color, specular, transparency and bump in a standard
way(note there is no standard bump so FCOLLADA profile
is used)
-
Convert image paths to relative -
converts image paths from absolute to relative style for
easier sharing of assets
-
Apply mesh pivot to the vertices -
adds the rotate pivot to the translation and
subtracts the uncorrected inverse pivot from the mesh
vertices. The result is that the meshes are
converted to use the origin plus vertex translation
instead of the pivot. The corrected inverse pivot is the
negative of the inverse pivot as written by Lightwave.
you tube here
Notes
- It cleans the file by
removing all the extra tags and the translation and rotation
tags that don't add any useful information.
- The default LW 11 scene containing a light and a camera exports as
a 36Kb file. It drops to 3Kb after cleaning.
- Modeler will not export parenting
relationships. So if you setup a heirarchy in Modeler
be sure to export the Collada file from Layout.
- when importing to blender be sure to check the "Import Units" option
September 29, 2015 (version 1.5):
- fix for LW 2015
- quick fix so may not be bullet proof
January 19, 2014 (version 1.4):
- fixed a bug in the previous inverse pivot fix
- new option to apply the pivot to the mesh vertices
- version number included in the title bar
December 6, 2013:
- added transparency tag to the export
- fixed color export - was rgb changed to rgba
September 8, 2013:
-
Make animation export more compatible with Blender
import. Blender can see the translation, rotation
and scale animations.
-
inverse pivot fixed
June 23, 2013:
- new Modeler version
- fix for materials export
-
multiple surface channels with shared uv do not
crash Blender when imported
- relative image paths