Which 3D Model format should I be using?

Question

Im writing a game engine and I\'m wondering what 3D model format should I use/load/export? Obj seems universal and easy but it also appears to be unreliable in that most mod

Answer 1

+1 for Collada. You may also want a custom native binary format for really fast loading (usually just a binary dump of vertex/index buffer data, plus material and skeleton data, and collision data if appropriate).

One trend in the games industry is to support loading a format like collada in the developer build of the engine, but also have a toolchain that exports an optimized version for release. The developer version can update the mesh dynamically, so as artists save changes, the file is automatically reloaded allowing them an (almost) instant WYSIWYG view of their model, but still providing a fully optimised release format.