Main Options Panel for the COLLADA DAE File Exporter

This panel contains the COLLADA export options which are most often used.

Mesh Geometry Type

One of the most flexible aspects of this COLLADA exporter is its ability to output each mesh dataset as one of 4 different geometry types: triangles, polygons with no holes, polygons with optional holes and poly-lists. For downstream programs which do not fully implement all COLLADA geometric mesh primitives, try using 'triangles', as most COLLADA importers seem to at least support triangular mesh input.

1) Triangles - all mesh data will be output as triangles. The following example is a triangular mesh primitive with 2 triangles:

<triangles material="red" count="2"> <input semantic="VERTEX" source="#obj-mesh-vertices" offset="0"/> <input semantic="NORMAL" source="#obj-mesh-normals" offset="1"/> <input semantic="TEXCOORD" source="#obj-mesh-map-channel1" offset="2" set="1"/> <input semantic="TANGENT" source="#obj-mesh-tangent1" offset="3" set="1"/> <input semantic="BINORMAL" source="#obj-mesh-binormal1" offset="4" set="1"/> <p>3 1 3 3 3 4 1 4 4 4 5 1 5 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 2 0 2 2 2 </p> </triangles>

2) Polygons, <p> tags, holes not allowed. This format lists one polygon per line (between each <p> and </p> tags). The values inside the <p></p> pair lists the indices into the vertex position and optional vertex attributes such as normals, texture coordinates, tangents and binormals:

<polygons material="red" count="288"> <input semantic="VERTEX" source="#ob-mesh-vertices" offset="0"/> <input semantic="NORMAL" source="#obj-mesh-normals" offset="1"/> <input semantic="TEXCOORD" source="#obj-mesh-map-channel1" offset="2" set="1"/> <input semantic="TANGENT" source="#obj-mesh-tangent1" offset="3" set="1"/> <input semantic="BINORMAL" source="#ob-mesh-binormal1" offset="4" set="1"/> <p>133 133 11 11 0 188 188 10 11 3 183 183 23 9 5 </p> <p>188 188 10 11 3 220 220 9 11 8 211 211 22 9 12 183 183 23 9 5 </p> <p>220 220 9 11 8 240 240 8 11 17 235 235 21 9 21 211 211 22 9 12 </p> </polygons>

3) Polygons, <p> tags, holes via optional <h> tags. This is an extended version of #2 above, for which each polygon can have 1 or more associated holes with it. The following example contains 2 polygons, the first polygon of which contains 3 holes:

<polygons material="red" count="15"> <input semantic="VERTEX" source="#mesh-vertices" offset="0"/> <input semantic="NORMAL" source="#mesh-normals" offset="1"/> <input semantic="TEXCOORD" source="#mesh-map-channel1" offset="2" set="1"/> <ph><p>2 0 4 3 0 7 1 0 3 0 0 0 </p><h>63 0 144 56 0 125 57 0 109 58 0 108 59 0 107 61 0 105 60 0 122 52 0 121 53 0 113 54 0 112 55 0 111 62 0 110 64 0 146 66 0 141 68 0 137 70 0 133 72 0 128 74 0 129 76 0 131 78 0 135 80 0 139 82 0 143 </h> ;<h>33 0 59 35 0 57 34 0 102 20 0 101 21 0 71 22 0 70 23 0 69 24 0 68 25 0 67 26 0 66 27 0 65 28 0 64 29 0 63 30 0 62 31 0 61 32 0 60 </h><h>17 0 11 19 0 9 18 0 38 4 0 37 5 0 23 6 0 22 7 0 21 8 0 20 9 0 19 10 0 18 11 0 17 12 0 16 13 0 15 14 0 14 15 0 13 16 0 12 </h></ph> <p>82 0 148 80 0 150 81 0 151 83 0 149 </p> </polygons>

4) Polylist. This is the most efficient mesh format, resulting in the smallest COLLADA files. No holes are allowed (if a mesh has holes, then it will be triangulated prior to output using the polylist primitive). The following example is a polylist mesh containing 2 polygons with 3 vertices per polygon:

<polylist material="red" count="2"> <input semantic="VERTEX" source="#obj-mesh-vertices" offset="0"/> <input semantic="NORMAL" source="#obj-mesh-normals" offset="1"/> <input semantic="TEXCOORD" source="#obj-mesh-map-channel1" offset="2" set="1"/> <input semantic="TANGENT" source="#obj-mesh-tangent1" offset="3" set="1"/> <input semantic="BINORMAL" source="#obj-mesh-binormal1" offset="4" set="1"/> <vcount>3 3 </vcount> <p>3 1 3 3 3 4 1 4 4 4 5 1 5 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 2 0 2 2 2 </p> </polylist>

Output vertex normals

If this checkbox is checkmarked then vertex normals will be exported along with the mesh geometry. Vertex normals are required to provide the "smoothing" information for a mesh model. COLLADA file sizes can be made smaller by disabling vertex normals, but the exported meshes will look "faceted".

Reverse vertex normals of mesh geometry

If this checkbox is checkmarked then all vertex normals will be mirrored (inverted or reversed). You may want to try this option if the rendered COLLADA model looks unnaturally dark, or if the model appears inside out.

See also the "Reverse orientation of all polygons" option.

Output vertex (u,v) texture map coordinates

If this checkbox is checkmarked then (u,v) vertex texture coordinates will be exported along with the mesh geometry. These are needed to define the mapping of 2D texture images onto the 3D mesh geometry. Disabling this option may result in smaller COLLADA files, but at the expense of not being able to map 2D texture images onto the mesh geometry.

Output vertex colors (if available)

If this checkbox is checkmarked then all of the colors assigned to each and every vertex will be exported along with the mesh geometry. Vertex colors are rare or non-existent for CAD data, but rather they are often used in 3D game development instead of explicit materials to define the color and shading characteristics of a mesh's appearance.

Output vertex tangents (if available)

If this checkbox is checkmarked then all of the vertex U and V tangent vectors will be exported along with the mesh geometry. Vertex tangents are extremely rare in 3D file formats; for Okino software they are only generated by the built-in Okino primitive types such as spheres, cones, NURBS surfaces, etc. The U tangent vector will be output to the COLLADA mesh primitive as type 'TANGENT' while the V tangent vector will be output as type 'BINORMAL'.

Reverse orientation of all polygons

If this option is enabled (checkmarked) then the orientation of all polygons will be reversed, indirectly causing the vertex normals to also face in the opposite direction. For example, if the vertex normals of the object currently all face inward then this function will cause all of the vertex normals to face outward, and cause the orientation of each polygon to flip between clockwise and counter-clockwise.

Convex Polygons Only

Checkmark this checkbox to cause non-convex polygons to become triangulated

Quad Polygons Only

Checkmark this checkbox to cause 5 or more sided polygons to become triangulated

Maximum Texture uv sets to Output

Okino software allows for an unlimited number of vertex texture uv sets to be associated with a single mesh. This option allows the maximum number of uv sets to be clamped. In most cases this option should never have to be used.

Maximum Vertex Color Sets to Output

Okino software allows for an unlimited number of vertex color sets to be associated with a single mesh. This option allows the maximum number of vertex color sets to be clamped. In most cases this option should never have to be used.

Perform "Polygon Reduction" on mesh data

If this checkbox is enabled (check-marked) then the COLLADA exporter will apply the global polygon reduction algorithm to each mesh object just prior to them being embedded in the COLLADA file.

The algorithm allows the number of polygons in the scene to be greatly reduced. The parameters used to reduce the polygons can be modified by pressing the "Edit Polygon Reduction Global Options" button. Press the "Help" button on its corresponding dialog box to learn more about the polygon reduction system.

Reset Options for: 'Default Exporter Options' or 'Google Earth v4'

This combo box allows the COLLADA exporter to be fully reset to default start-up values (if the 'Default Exporter Options' combo box entry is selected), or to values which are best suited for exporting to Google Earth v4.