Roadmap

First of all, I think Collada is a great idea, it should have happened 5-6 years ago.

Is a roadmap for further development available?

Are the MaxScript export/import scripts supposed to be the official releases or are C++ plugins planned?

Roar

First of all, I think Collada is a great idea, it should have happened 5-6 years ago.

Better late than never !

Is a roadmap for further development available?

Yes, we presented it in the TechTalk at SigGraph.
I’ll post the presentation slides on this forum next week.
We are planning in a minor release before the end of the year(1.1) , and will have a major release at GDC’05.
We will do maintenance releases when required (1.0.1 …).
On top of our priority list are:

  • Conformance test, to be able to increase the quality of import/export
  • Animations. COLLADA 1.0 specification only covers static data and advanced rendering.

And of course the main reason we decided to open up the specification at SigGraph and create this forum is to be able to enable everyone to give feedback as early as possible. We’ll be listening.

Are the MaxScript export/import scripts supposed to be the official releases or are C++ plugins planned?

That is really a question for Discreet, so I’ll let them answer.
I understand the main reason for Discreet to use maxscript is that it was much easier to make the exporter/importer evolve while we where designing 1.0. Also, it provides COLLADA import into GMAX.

The organisation I work for is keen to adopt Collada. We have a number of concerns:

  1. What is the timescale for releasing the animation data spec?
  2. When will a 3DSMax Collada importer/exporter with the same functionality as the current Maya one be available?

We plan on having this done before the end of the year.

  1. When will a 3DSMax Collada importer/exporter with the same functionality as the current Maya one be available?

That is a question for Discreet to answer.