MD2 Entities

This week I’ve been working on revamping the old OBJ and MD2 importers to support the new Entity system. I originally wrote these loaders back in 2010 and, although the parser/loader code worked without any changes, I decided to revamp the external interfaces to make it easier to select the correct loader depending on the file type.

The image above shows how easy it is now to bring a Quake II MD2 model into the editor. We start by importing the files into the asset library. Then drag and drop the MD2 file from the library into the 3D world and -voila- a new Entity is created.

Using the properties panel, we can adjust the Entity’s transformation and set the texture file for the material. This process is definitely much simpler than than what it used to be, back when we had to load the model through code and then feed its vertex arrays into the GL.

The plan for next week is to wrap up MD2 support by implementing better control for the format’s animations, and then we will be off to new better things!

Stay tuned for more!