JOE_format.md

This format is based on the md2 format but with a few enhanced features. It can be written to using a python export script for the Blender 3D modeling package.

Technical specification

"JOE" is a binary file format in which multi-byte values are expressed with the little-endian byte order. This section details version 3 of the file format.

Data Type Map

The following table explicitly defines the various data types used in a JOE file.

Identifier	Detailed Description
int	32-bit signed integer
short	16-bit signed integer
short3	Three consecutive shorts forming an array
float	32-bit floating-point value. Unsure of the exact format... probably whatever is implemented by x86 machines.
float3	Three consecutive floats forming an array.

File Header

This block of information initiates every file.

data type	block offset	name	description
int	0	magic	844121161(0x32504449): number used to identify the file as a JOE file. Currently unchecked by vdrift.
int	4	version	report the file version that this file conforms to. This specification details version 3 of the format.
int	8	num_faces	every frame is expected to contain the same number of faces (polygons) this value specifies how many. This is currently limited to 32000.
int	12	num_frames	Presumably, this details the number of frames used in an animation. Currently constrained to "1"

Frame Format

details a single configuration of a model. "File Header.num_frames" frames follow the file header.

before each frame header, you will find "File Header.num_faces" Face blocks.

data type	block offset	name	description
int	0	num_verts	the number of vertices used in this frame
int	4	num_textcoords	the number of texture coordinates used in this frame.
int	8	num_normals	the number of vertex normals used in this frame.

after each frame header, you will find

• num_verts Vertex blocks
• num_normals Vertex blocks
• num_textcoords Texture Coordinate blocks

Face Format

Each frame as "File Header.num_faces" face records immediately following the Frame header (decribed above). A face is basically several lists of indices in to vertex, normal, and text coord arrays described in following sections.

For this version, a face is always a triangle ( i.e. a three-vertex polygon ).

data type	block offset	name	description
short3	0	vertexIndex	Indeces in to the vertex array. These two constructs together define the location of each corner of the face in 3d space.
short3	6	normalIndex	Indeces in to the normals array. These two constructs help define how light sources interact with the face at each corner. Normals also help define which side of a face is "front".
short3	12	textureIndex	Indeces in to the texture coordinate array. These two constructs together help define which portions of a texture image map to each corner of the face. Note that in the future there may be a multiple of 3 entries in this array to accomidate applying many textures to a single face. Which images are used as textures by a particular model are defined by convention and explained in Car files and formats and Track files and formats

Vertex Format

A vertex block simply contains a three-element float array. Vertex blocks may have a misleading name because they are used for both vertices and normals.

data type	block offset	name	description
float3	0	vertex	A three-element float array defining the X, Y, and Z components of a vertex at offsets 0, 4, and 8 respectively

Texture Coordinate Format

A texture coordinate is a 2-dimensional coordinate used to map prtions of a texture to a model vertex.

data type	block offset	name	description
float	0	u	a value between 0 and 1 indicating a position along the width of the texture
float	4	v	a value between 0 and 1 indicating a position along the height of the texture.

Category:Files