Hello everybody,
I’d like to learn, and familiarize myself with, XML as it pertains to 3ds Max usage (i.e., the .XML Animtion File (.XAF) format used with the max commands for load/save animations; as well as the Character Assembly’s .XML format (for which I found the XMLio.doc file in the stdscripts folder)– which seems to use a different scheme than the .XAF format (at least when comparing the different outputs in a text editor).
So can any of you .XML wizards recommend the best book(s) or resources for learning XML for a complete newb that would have the most impact for using XML with 3ds Max?
Thanks in advance…
Are you looking for general XML resources or ones specifically about the file formats you mentioned?
The XML standard is in essence quite simple, and there’s little to learn to get you started. It’s basically no more than “you have a hierarchy of nodes with a name, a value and attributes with values”. How this standard is used to store data entirely depends on the implementation, not on XML. So as you say, an XAF file might look very different in structure than a character studio file, even though they are both XML.
Just general references that will cover all the details of working with XML files– my goal is to modify some older plugins to read in the XML formats/data created by 3ds Max. Thanks…
These might help. Have a look at the two XML tutorials for writing and reading.
Thanks Paul, I definitely will… Your website tutorials and scripts are always helpful!