Any way to export a Lightwave scene with all object/textures?

[Ral-Clan]

Hi,

I seem to remember reading about how to do this but can't remember?

Lets say you have a complicated scene set up in Lightwave (Amiga version), but need to save it and bring it to a different computer.  If you just ZIP up the directory containing all the files and textures you have a problem when you load the scene on the different computer:

When you load that scene, Lightwave will complain it can't find the objects/textures/etc. because the drive hierarchy has changed and Lightwave can no longer find the particular drive name it needs, etc.  You can manually re-point Lightwave to all the files it needs, but in a complicated scene, this can lead to dozens or hundreds of manual re-pointings.

I thought there was a way to somehow "export" and entire Lightwave project so that this could be avoided. I can't remember if this method "gathers" up all the needed files from different directories/sub-directories into one package and makes all the appropriate changes in the scene's file so it then knows where to look for these.

Does anyone remember how to do this?

Thanks.

[Ral-Clan]

@ Rednova

Thanks for the suggestion.  It's a slow method, but it might work.

@ Gulliver

Thanks, but that's not what I'm trying to do.  I already know about Interchange (but didn't know about MagicLink).  I'm not trying to load Lightwave stuff into a different 3d program, I'm just trying to make whole Lightwave scenes "portable" so you can copy them all to a USB stick, CD-R, or a directory on a different Amiga drive, and then load them back into Lightwave so that it still knows where all the objects / textures / scenefiles are in the sub-directories within that usb stick / directory / CD-R.

As it is when you load an object or a scen into Lightwave it looks for the dependent files (i.e. textures) starting at the root directory of the computer ON WHICH THAT OBJECT OR SCENE WAS MADE .
For example, when Lightwave loads a scene, it might go hunting for all the a spaceship object in:

DH1:Storage/Media/3D/Lightwave_Projects/LW_Objects/Spaceship_01.lwo

and within that object file it might instruct the Amiga it's hull-plating texture bitmap is in:

DH1:Storage/Media/3D/Lightwave_Projects/LW_textrues/Metal_plating_texture.iff

So, if I were to copy all the files relating to complex Lightwave scene to a different computer (or even a different drive) and try to load it, Lightwave would start looking in DH1:Storage/Media/.....etc. If it doesn't find the directory structure EXACTLY the same (starting from the root directory), it will complain it can't find the files and ask you to manually choose them. This takes a hell of a long time if you have a scene with a dozen objects and up to 100 textures.

I know an ALIAS might work in the case where a drive was swapped, but not for more complex directory tree changes (i.e. a different machine) or if you already have a hard drive installed in the "guest computer" with a the same name as a drive specified in the scene or object file.

There must be a way of having Lightwave look in the subdirectories below the main scene file ONLY (non-recursive?)....so you could put everything pertaining to a scene in the same directory and make that folder "portable". Or maybe there's a function within Lightwave to re-save the whole scene, all contents, objects, textures, etc. to a new directory with such a structure, again to make it portable. In the "old days" when Lightwave was a real studio production tool for professionals, I'm sure that people had to move scenes (or even objects) between different computers all the time (i.e. to a clients computer or a different computer at a different FX studio).

I'm have a strong recollection I've seen a tip on how to do it somewhere, but can't remember now.

[Ral-Clan]

Been a long time, but are they not just text files? Search and replace?

That might work, too.  I'm surprised there isn't a more elegant way from within Lightwave though, as it seems this is something people would have had to do quite a lot.