## Exporting DMM Objects

"DMM Asset >> Export to Cobra" creates a set of data files that make up the DMM Object.
Per-object files:

1. .vtm file for each object that describes the tetrahedral mesh and which vertices are DMM Passive
2. prepared surface mesh

Per-scene files:

1. scene file - named after the DMM scene node in Maya
2. materials file - in cobra format, only contains the materials used in the scene, not the whole materials library

More options are available by clicking on the option box next to the menu item.

The "export folder" is where the files are to be generated. A projectile (the object that the user can throw at the scene's object in Cobra) can be specified. Select the DMM Object that will be the projectile and check "Projectile is last selected" checkbox.

By default, all the scene's DMM Objects are exported. To limit that to a subset of DMM Objects, first select the objects that need to be exported and then check "Selection Only" before exporting.

To generate only the material file in Cobra's format, check "Materials only".

Important note on textures: Cobra only supports textures from a file (no procedural textures). Cobra supports up to two textures, one for the outside surface of an object, and one for inner surfaces of fractured objects. Currently cobra only supports textures in 24-bit .bmp format but will support .jpg textures soon. So you will need a .bmp version of all texture files used in the scene, and the must be in the current working directory when running cobra. Notes: For more on how to use Cobra, read Cobra User Documentation. Source code is supplied for the exporter so it can be customized for the importer of various game engines and simulators. It should be noted that at the moment Cobra renders faster on Nvidia hardware because it takes advantage of the Vertex Texture Fetch (VTF) feature to perform the geometry distortions in the Vertex Shader. ATI GPUs do not support VTF, so for these GPUs Cobra does the geometry distortions on the CPU. ATI's alternative to VTF is a feature called Render to Vertex Buffer (R2VB), but Cobra currently does not make use of it.

Next: Exporting and Importing DMM Animation