Yop

I made a test with an extra library (assimp - http://assimp.sourceforge.net/) to load new mesh formats inside wz.
It works great, lightweight and it's really easy to use with wz (twenty lines of code for the proto). Animation need more works to run but it should be possible to add.

list of supported formats is impressive : see https://github.com/assimp/assimp

Here a proto. (use the ImportEx operator)

note : if you download assimp binaries there is a bunch of all supported model files that you can test here.

CooooooooL!!! You are the best!
Problems:
1) Meshes are triangulated
2) No clusters are seen in Select for meshes with several materials (I tested *.obj)
3) Can't confirm if mesh normals are imported...

Edit: And what about UVs?
Edit1: Added a test file for clusters

1/ it's the easiest and generic way to load a mesh. it is possible to disable the triangulate option in assimp loader but it will require a more complex wz algorithm to generate meshes (some meshes can have faces with more than 4 vertices, wz support 4 vertices max per faces, so need to cut theses faces etc..., to see for an alternative...
2/ I really doesn't manage materials infos for now, just added a default cluster per mesh... to do...
3/ positions, normals, tangent and uv are imported by default if they are present in file. it also can be options when loading file from assimp, and it is also possible to post-compute normals and tangent with wz once mesh is loaded (normalise op do that too). all that should be opartors parameters options at final release...

thanks for the file i'll do some test for clusters.

1) I see. Triangles are OK for now.
2) OK
3) Great
It's a very cool improvement. Looking forward to the final version.

It's a very cool improvement.

yes, and mainly for animated models. Current animated xsi format is poorly supported by 3d tools, too restrictive and really seems compromised with the end of softimage dev.

I totally agree. RIP Softimage...

Which 3D tools did you used to create your clustered example ?

It's Blender 2.71. I made so that the 2 material selections didn't overlap.

ok thanks, I managed clusters and many importing options.

Great job, bro!
Will do some testing and get back to you tomorrow.

I merged and switched new physx and assimp support to master branch on github.
use this one now to get last updates now.

Great. Thanks!

So... I've checked animation import from blender (blender native or fbx export) and failed...
Any idea on how to make it work? Here is the test file I got from http://www.blendswap.com.
It's a simple walking man textured model with walking cycle courtesy TiZeta.

time ego I achived some animated man inside wz from xsi, but we need to have some animate parametrers like cycle, maybe IK (imported as is with animated model or from extracted bones with ability to make some other changes of animation). Maybe WALK2 operator like was in wz3, but more progressive, with gravity in physix...

animations from assimp are not yet implanted in wz. soon.