Project Stormwind is a new undertaking I've started. The concept is simple: Bring complete World of Warcraft models into Lightwave 3D for the purposes of generating Original Machinima Movies.

What you see right now is what I can do using current software available to the public. However, the current process has many flaws.

Collision objects have to be manually removed from virtually every surface. Textures have to be manually re-applied. (Thankfully the UV info is intact, so I just have to associate an image to that surface.) Doodads (associated M2 model files) not included. Imported Doodads have to be manually placed, and have to be imported using a VERY different method. I'm lucky in that I get a list of textures used, but 1) I have to figure out which surfaces it goes to, 2) I have to convert it to a TGA file, 3) Textures used in Doodads are also listed in this texture list.

So, because I don't have that kind of time (plus the fact that Stormwind City, without Doodads, has 308 model parts that ALL have to be manually edited like this) I've started my most ambitious programming project to date; I'm going to building a WoW Importer plugin for Lightwave. Having never really programmed in C++ before (But I've programmed in PHP and Javascript, both of which are similar) will make it challenging, but I've also never made a Lightwave plugin before. So this will be an adventure!

I'm probably going to continue to work on this version, but I'm hoping the next post I make will be with a version imported using my WoWImport.p, thusly named "Project Stormwind".

End result will import Dungeons, Landscapes, Cities, Character Models (complete with skeletons and animation), Textures, and hopefully more!

Oh, the character in the scene is one of my real characters, Faana, imported using WoW Model Viewer, then Milkshape, then fixing it in Lightwave. No skeleton or animation can be made with that model using this method. I'm going to have to add bones to her manually. (Or wait until I finish programming WoWImporter.p)

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Original Models and Textures Copyrighted to Blizzard.
Surfacing and Lighting by Me.