3D Model Converter for GameMaker

Do you want to do batch operations on 3D objects for use in GameMaker (or for other purposes)? Here's a tool which does just that!

Features

• Import 3D models: D3D / GMMOD (GameMaker), OBJ, FBX, DAE, GLTF/GLB,  3DS, PLY/PLYB, or STL
• Export 3D models: the same formats as above, or a raw vertex buffer for fast loading (use buffer_load in GameMaker), or a collection of vertex buffers that can be loaded with the provided import scripts
• Bulk operations: applying transformations, mirroring texture coordinates, rotating the Up axis, and a bunch of other thing
• Vertex formats: define vertex formats to export models as - in case your game uses a format besides the normal position/normal/texture/color
• Textures maps: load in textures for models
• Mesh normals: set flat normals or smooth normals (within a tolerance)
• Collision shapes: which can be exported alongside the visible models

Notes

Using this tool is pretty simple, but you may wish to know a few things which might not be obvious.

• The main use of this tool is to do operations in bulk - as such, you can drag model or image files into the program window to have them imported automatically.
• Textures will automatically be imported alongside obj models whose materials reference them (when the program is able to find them). GameMaker models do not references to texture images, however, so if you want to use one you need to import it manually. Either go to Assets > Textures in the menu at the top of the screen to bring up the texture manager, or drag the image into the program window. You can set the textures in the "Materials" menu.
• Nobody can ever agree on what the "up" axis should be, or where the origin for texture coordinates belongs, or whether the "d" material attribute means transparency or opacity. The importer will attempt to do the best with what it has, but you may wish to course correct with the respective options.
• Exporting obj will also export the texture images alongside them.
• The primary use for this is people who want to tidy up their production pipeline for their GameMaker games, although you can use the models for whatever you want.
• Windows only. Getting this to work on Linux would be a considerable amount of work which I don't plan on doing, though signs indicate that it probably should work on Wine.

Future stuff

There are a few things I might do in the future. I don't want to make a full 3D model editor, but there are a few other operations that could be useful.

• Material types: as you can probably see, I've written in some empty space for materials besides the Diffuse texture, but they're not currently part of the shader and you can't do anything with them
• Texture UV management: this would be a more reasonable feature than a full 3D model editor, although it would still be a considerable amount of work so I'd only do it if a large number of people express interest
• Texture packing: texture packing

Documentation

can be found here.

Price

As usual, the asset is free as-is. I'll fix simple or game-breaking bugs but more involved support requires payment via either Itch or Patreon. I get the final say in what constitutes "game-breaking."

This project is only officially available through here or (sort of) the Github repository below. If you found it somewhere else, you've probably been scammed and should probably run a virus scan on your computer.

Repository

As usual, if you want the code, it's on Github. Or if you don't want to deal with Github, it's ten dollars. (The rest of the program is free, obviously.)

Credits

• Scribble is a text renderer by @jujuadams
• The penguin icon (and the duckling in the demo) is by @AleMunin
• The UI system is an early version of my Emu system, so if you think it looks good you should totally give it a look
• The assets in the demo video are from Kenney's nature set (plus a few of his other assets), Vertex Frog's weapons set, a few items off of Models Resource such as the Xenoblade chest from BotW, and that Utah teapot thing that's been around since the dawn of time

Other Relevant Projects

I've made a bunch of other things for 3D in Gamemaker that you might be interested in:

• Collisions
• Basic 3D lighting
• Toon shading
• Terrain editor
• 3D model converter
• Better D3D emulation