A quick how-to about using the Collada feature in the Warehouse.
Originally the Collada stuff was implemented in the Warehouse because I use it when making models and stuff in the OpenEngine community. But it’s a great way to check how a model looks and handles without importing it into Maya. It’s a quick way to get a model into a game engines or other CAD/CAM software.
Besides the Open Engine Asset Viewer, which at the time of writing you have to compile from the source, there is a lot of great free tools out there. I think this feature is very handy for game developers that uses Maya and when you need to convert a model to other 3d file formats quickly.
How to setup the Collada Viewer option
Write the executable path in the “Collada Viewer” (CAD/CAM, Game Engine etc.) text box. Use the Hash (#) character to specify where in the parameter settings you want the collada file. Remember to throw in some quotation marks (“) around the hash if the executable expects it – like the “open” command on OS X does.
Example on GLC Player and Preview.app on OS X
# Note: OS X Lion has better collada support so Preview.app can now view Maya 2011/2012 dae files.
open -a Preview.app "#"
open -a glc_player "#"
Example on GLC Player on Windows
"C:\Program Files\GLC_Player\glc_player" #