Using .Fx files with Collada

Hi guys,
We are currently using dotXSI file format in XSI for our game exports, but want to change over to Collada. We use .fx files from FX composer, but it seems that XSI doesn’t export .FX as its not supported by Collada. Is this true? I’ve looked through the specification doc for 1.4.1 and can only see profiles for CG, GLES, and GLSL.

If this is the case I’m wondering what the standard work around is for game developers using .FX

update:
Work around suggested by SoftImage:

  1. Convert the FX shader information as a CustomPSet on the material using a script
  2. The exporter should be able to carry that around to the COLLADA file as an <extra> node

Any other solutions available?

Cheers,

Mal

currently the only way to support .fx is with COLLADA <extra> tags similar to the way XSI states.

I do know that 3DStudioMax exports COLLADA with .fx. If you need interoperability I suggest trying to mimic what they do as close as possible. The 3DSMax plugin is developed by FeelingSoftware so I am pretty sure what they do is very similar to what will be in the next COLLADA release. That way you can minimize how much of your code will need to be rewritten if/when you update to a newer COLLADA version.

-Andy

Thanks Andy,
Good to know what the state of play is, I’ll check out the Max plugin.