Hello!
Just a quick message about the inability of the FBX format to run inside 64 bits applications (the FBX sdk is still 32 bits).
So like me if you are using Cinema 4D v11 with Unity, keep it in 32 bit mode or you won’t be able to use the fbx import/export capabilities.
The 32 bits mode is not a problem with real-time 3D projects as they never count more than thousands of polygons. But when you also work on larger projects it’s better to use the amount of ram allowed by the 64 bits version.
It seems that the FBX format (like others autodesk apps and technologies) is dead.
I really hope that the guys at Unity are working on a collada exchange plug-in which seems to be a much better alternative.
Sure its not Cinema thats just incapable to handle it correctly?
The file format of FBX is specified as 4Bit int and float, perhaps Cinema just uses the OS Bit size for those variable types and borks it due to the 8bit int etc which would clearly be an error in cinema, not fbx
I think you are completely mixing up how datas are stored in a file and how a processor runs a software.
in which way?
To my knowledge, the base types expand from 32bit to 64bit if you go over to a 64bit OS, so for something that is explicitely assuming 32bit data, you have to code that yourself.
So if Cinema just relies on the regular C code to read the data, then it can not end with correct data, as it will read 2 ints when only 1 is present etc.
To fix that you have to read the 64bit stuff and split it up internally (bit shift and binary against hex FFFFFFFF ) to get the correct data back
Thats what I meant.
There is no reason why pure binary data otherwise should not work on 64bit, as pure binary is pure binary and will remain like that. The only thing that can mess it up is broken binary code, that does not follow the constraints and design of the binary format.
Maxon tech support just sent me the confirmation, that the Mac FBX SDK is 32 bits only and then can be run only when cinema 4D is lunched in 32 bit mode.
Well I don’t know if Mac allows 32bit and 64bit mix
On Windows you can use 32bit DLLs from a 64bit application without the world ending, think this holds as well for Linux
So either Mac would not allow that (don’t know, not enough experience with mac programming yet) or they just don’t want to mix.
Yes, maybe the fact that only the cocoa part is 64 bits is the reason for all that mess…
Possible yes.
Did not realize that FBX is not available on source level (then it wouldn’t be a problem), because its a widely used format so I expected it to be documented and usable for all.
In any case I naturally agree that fullscale support for an open standard would be more than desireable for exactly this type of reason.
The FBX sdk is available in both 32bit and 64bit versions. Its probably just Cinema4d is only using the 32 bit one. You might want to try the FBX converter utility to convert your assets to .fbx.
It is available for both windows and osx (Autodesk | 3D Design, Engineering & Construction Software)
AFAIK there are no inherent limitations in FBX to limit it to 32bits. Although since it is not open and no published spec or source is available how it really works internally is subject to some speculation.
Collada support would be nice but it is a horribly complicated beast to properly support everything. But I’m still hopeful that Collada will become a more widely adopted format.