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What am I doing wrong?? (avi to ogg video playback)

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:03:58 GMT

BUnzaga
I exported a dx studio document as .avi, and it plays as an .avi just fine. I then downloaded 'SUPER' which is supposed to convert the avi to .ogg

It seems like it does the conversion, but when I put it into DX Studio and add it as a media track, it only plays for about 1 second before it stops.

Any ideas?

Chris S [DX Studio Support Team]
Make sure you lower the resolution and bitrate. We use ffmpeg2theora here with -x 512 -y 288 and the audio bitrate 32kbps, video bitrate 300kbsp which seems to work well.

Motion capture for the masses

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:40:59 GMT

Funkas
Interesting tool. Rlease announced.
Just let you know guys. Shoot3D is scheduled to hit the market by the end of 2008 as a stand-alone product.

Link for Details: Shot3D

Jeremy
Interesting to say the least, it's actually bloody brilliant, if it's half as good as they say it is.

Carl
If that work as described then that is truly amazing. You don't even after to wear tight fitting lycra!

BUnzaga
Wow that is awesome! Cool music too. :p

Michael Cook
Definitely interested Funkas. Reminds me of Movimento from Autodesk -

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=11868979

They did a demo at our work just the other day. You don't need motion tracker dots, but it makes a better track. It also supports full facial capture.

StereoMike
Wow, if shoot3d works as shown, it will make life much more easier. I think I just grab a notebook and two cams instead of animating a worker in a storehouse.

mike

DX Studio Competition Entry - Kistui Onna's Life Puzzle

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:04:58 GMT

Janet Merai
For this contest, the current one as of now, me, Skeet and a tiny bit of help from ucm is going into the game we call Kitsui Onna's Life Puzzle (Kitsui Onna means Determined Female in Japanese)

The story is about a female math lover attending High School and stumbles upon a group of die-hard puzzle solving maniacs who do nothing but math and puzzles.
It takes a steep turn one day as Kitsui Onna walks back home only to find a person dead and laying in a pool of blood when police show up and she is questioned, the police find her intelligence useful to the force and have her become a unique detective to solve crimes.

After all the numerous crimes Kitsui solves, the ultimate challenge can be either her career or leave you puzzled.

No in-game screenshots yet, but here is concept art and Beta 3D models:

Art by Janet Merai

Model by Janet Merai, beta Render in 3D Studio Max 2009 with a Hair test.
(Final hair will make use of planes and opacity)
(Not Final)

This is my competition entry as an artist, skeet is the programmer.
He has done a few demo's to concept the game-play with my ideas and she is the core bringing this game to life, along with ucm who helps every now and then when skeet is confused or doesn't know how to program a certain thing.

If skeet has a decision other-wise, he has entered too.

BUnzaga
Looks great so far! I like how you did that hair, I'm having a hard time with hair styles myself.

Janet Merai
Thank you BUnzaga :)

Hair is actually quite easy to me in Max as I have played with hair for months ever since becoming serious about my transgenderism :P

If you want, I can help do hair-styles for you provided you have a model I can worth with :)
Be warned though, I used the Hair and Fur system in Max, that's a no-no in games XD

Funkas
Nice pics Janet! :)
Is the first painted with computer, or other medium?

Janet Merai
The 2D image was painted in Sai (Japanese image software) with my Wacom Tablet, so yes it is digital :)

Funkas
Great!
BTW: I found awesome hair simulation in works of Ron Fedkiw. It's not realtime (rendered animation), but it's worth a look. An eye candy, these four hair videos!
http://physbam.stanford.edu/~fedkiw/

Skeet
lol, and by the way, BUnzaga i hope micheal cook doesnt enter median core into the comp :)

BUnzaga
Yea me too LOL, it is starting to look awesome.

idris celik
have you sample model? (as Dxstudio)

Subgroup rotations...

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:57:50 GMT

BUnzaga
I am trying to rotate a subgroups x, and there isn't a way to only modify one axis at a time. I can set a rotation, such as (x,y,z) but I can't set something like rot.rotateAxis(new Vector(x,y,z),angle) or I can't set a spacific rotation, like rot.x=n

Also I noticed that even when I try to rotate the subobject on it's own local axis, it still rotates along the partent objects point of origin.

Let me know if there is any way to do this stuff.

BUnzaga
I think the problem is that these two do the same thing.

objects.testBox_1.subgroups.Frame_Box02.offsetRot=new Rotation(0,rotOffset,0);
objects.testBox_1.subgroups.Frame_Box02.rot=new Rotation(0,rotOffset,0);

In this example, the top and bottom set are using the offsetRot and rot commands. The middle is what I want it to do.

I want to be able to rotate the sub object on it's local axs, but I can't because DX Studio forces the parent axis as the local axis on all sub groups.
subgroupRotation.dxstudio

StereoMike
This doesn't work? I hope they fix it soon, alot of setup work for mechanical stuff depends on correct parenting.

Jacob Haigh
was this ever solved?

Chris S [DX Studio Support Team]
offsetPos/offsetRot differ from pos/rot as they apply to the local mesh being drawn, and are not transforms passed down to their children.

pivotPos/pivotRot were added on the subgroup to help - I'll update the demo to show how these are used and post it here.

Jacob Haigh
great

StereoMike
nice :)

Mark Tompson
a method I use is to always go via a dummy, so link your subgroup Frame_Box2 to a dummy that has it's origin the same as the subgroups ( i.e the axis you want it to rotate around ) then link that dummy to the main parrent box.

Mark Tompson
heres a max file and the new box in your doc..subgroupRot2.dxstudio Subgroup_Linking.zip

BUnzaga
Ahh, good idea Mark!

Localization Issues

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:37:36 GMT

Miguel Lobo
Hi there people,
I am still having problems with localization issues like I have reported before.
I am running windows XP in portuguese and it seems there is an error there when creating files in temp file folder.
Cheers,
Miguel Lobo

Miguel Lobo
Still no word on this one??
Thanks

Chris S [DX Studio Support Team]
We'll look into this now for the 3.12 release.

Miguel Lobo
thank you!
peace

Chris S [DX Studio Support Team]
Hi Miguel, well - we've installed Portugese Vista to test this out, and it was loading/saving/etc OK. We tried creating a non-ansi folder, and that seems OK too.

Can you give us some explicit steps to recreate (and a doc if that's relevant), and we'll try some more tests. It might be XP specific, but that seems unlikely as the unicode should be the same. Could it be related to your environment variables?

Miguel Lobo
Hi there Chris,

I have uploaded an screenshot of the error message I get.
Thanks,
Miguel

Miguel Lobo
Help pleeeese!!

Chris S [DX Studio Support Team]
It must be portugese xp only, as portugese vista seems OK. Can you possibly send through the steps you get right before this - is it opening a new scene in the editor? Many thanks.

Miguel Lobo
1. Launch DX Studio
2. Create new scene
3. ERROR!

thanks

Chris S [DX Studio Support Team]
Thanks Miguel - OK we've another attempted fix coming up in todays 3.0.14 build.

Miguel Lobo
Thanks you guys rock,
I will give u feedback

Continuous Collision Detection Please!

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:40:31 GMT

Carl
I know I've requested this before but i kind of desperately need it now. My current project isn't working properly because even at a slowish speed the physics objects are going threw other objects instead of colliding with them. If you could possibly expose the CCD feature of PhysX i would be very happy. :) However if there are any other solutions I'll be happy to hear them.

Chris S [DX Studio Support Team]
As an interim it might be worth trying scaling things up slightly as some of the constants are in fixed units. We'll also work on exposing some more tweakables ASAP.

Skeet
and putting box physics on them doesnt work either ??

Screen Width and Height

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:54:31 GMT

Rahul
Hello.
Is there a way by which I can get the screen width and screen height from the api? i need the new screen width and height if the window is resized. Thanks

Mark Tompson
system.window.width
system.window.height

bounding box misplaced

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:34:52 GMT

Jacob Haigh
does anybody have an idea about how to deal with a misplaced bounding box (about 3 vertical units off of the character, and two times too wide)

the red box (character physics) is in the right spot, but the white box (object.showbounds=true) is completely off, and that seems to be the one used for collision detection, i could just use onPhysicsContact but i think that requires more CPU

Mark Tompson
What modeling app and exporter are you using?

BUnzaga
Yea, I just spent a couple hours figuring this out last night in 3ds Max.

It's about where your pivot location is on your mesh BEFORE you apply a physique/skin modifire to it.

The best technique is to get your mesh in T pose, then reset everything (scale/rot/etc). Then make sure you position it as though it was standing on ground, and then make sure your pivot point is at world position (0,0,0).

Next you can add your bones and what not, and you shouldn't have this crazy box issue.

Trust me it took me a long time to figure out why this was going on.

.

BUnzaga
I noticed this especially if I try to move the model after I have already skinned it...
.
.

With the skin modifire applied, it looks normal, but if you look at how it looks before the modifire, you can see that you get the same results as the misplaced bounding box.

Mark Tompson
Also (before you add skin or physique and you have sorted out your pivot as BUnzaga says, its a good idea to reset the XForm (under tools) this may flip the normals, if so just put a Normal modifier back on.
This (as well as other things) secures the changes you have made to the pivot point position which sometimes dosen't export correctly.

Jacob Haigh
so i would have to re-physique the model after moving the pivot? or could i potentially just move the pivot point, hide the skeleton, and move my Y offset in DX studio to hide my shame...
odd result.. not favorable

Mark Tompson
yes, I'd say in most cases theres not much you can do after physique,.. (that I know of)

Mark Tompson
I have to add, be careful using reset XForm sometimes it will not undo, save your work before using it.
I always, reset my pivot to 0,0,0, weld vertices, check and double check then apply reset XForm, only then do I start on any animation etc.

Jacob Haigh
well my character is fully animated so im going to have to pass on the problem to the consumer with an onPhysicsContact(), woe is me.

Mark Tompson
You can save (and load) skin and physique, this may be worth a go, good luck!

Jacob Haigh
christmas is saved!
well not really but it is a good shortcut if you havent animated already

BUnzaga
Hey Mark, I have used the reset XForm before, I had some inverted normals which I weren't sure why they were inverted on export, but it ended up NOT being the XForm, it was just a checkmark in my exporter, but what does resetting the XForm do? I gather it has something to do with inverting normals, and perhaps I should just goole it to find out, but do you know off the top of your head?

Mark Tompson
it sorts out alot of odd transforms that have been 'left behind' from your modeling like booleans and attaching different objects that may have had different axis or rotations, it zeros them all and puts everything to world coordinates. make a teapot, rotate it, see it's local axis is off, now reset xform, local axis is aligned to world. hope that helps a bit!!

Jacob Haigh
success!
for anyone who doesnt mind spending all night copy pasting animations from one object to another.. using mark's copy-pasting physique on a pivot reposition'd model i can take one animation to another as long as when i copy paste the anim in DXStudio i dont include BIP01 and CharacterObject01 (or whatever top heirarchy references)

Mark Tompson
always good fun!!!

Half-life for $0.98

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:39:43 GMT

Jeremy
Special offer:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/70/

Finishes today though...

Is this technically an advertisment?

How do I restart (initialize, reload) a scene?

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:03:32 GMT

Sean J. Miller
I have a 3D scene that serves as a main menu to other scenes.

Users can return to the main menu after manipulating a scene.

How can I script it so that if they revisit a scene from the main menu, the scene restarts versus just picking up where it left off?

My understanding is that system.restart would restart the entire document, not just the particular scene. So, off hand, this does not look like the solution.

Thanks,
Sean

BUnzaga
I usually use my own 'function initScene()' function which I use to set inital states for the scene...

function onInit()
{
initScene();
}

function initScene()
{
//perform the 'reset' here.
}

Now you can call initScene() any time you want to reset the scene.

Funkas
You can stop / start your scene using:

scene.update = false;
scene.update = true;

If you want restart the scene from setup do call to onInit() manually. The whole setup must be there of course.

Nikolai
There is a method:

system.sceneReload(levelId)

It works perfectly for me, I call this method from
document script to start a scene from the beginning.

Sean J. Miller
I tried the system.sceneReload function. It has the undesired effect of halting all program activity - even with other scenes in the foreground. I have fairly complex geometries and load time is long, so a user would think the program crashed.

So, it looks like I'll be going with a custom init function to reset the scene. In the short term, I'll use onBackgroundLoad thread while showing a progress bar incrementing. This will at least avoid mistaking the system as being locked up as with sceneReload.

Thanks for all your comments here and in other posts. I've learned so much in little time through the archive.

-Sean

Sean J. Miller
Since I had a lot of objects to reposition upon resetting my scene, I decided to write a script that will output current properties of all objects in the scene and write the corresponding myInit script for me.

The way it works is, you fit this script into your scene onUpdate script. You then run you program and hit the 'i' key. A file is generated of script that you can paste into your own myInit() function which can then be called whenever you wish to reset the scene.

I tested it and compared the values against the editor Edit Pos/Rot/Scale rightclick option and it looked good. This code does not take into account of any objects removed or not loaded into the scene at the time it is executed, but may serve as a good start for folks having the same issue of wishing to reset their scene.

var allow=false;

function onUpdate()
{
//Generates a text file that contains script to use for resetting
//initial properties for objects in the scene. The file will be in the same directory as the dxscene.
//Use: press i immediately after the scene loads and the file will be written.
//Then edit the original file's script as appropriate to call
//the generated code.
if (keys.i) {

if (allow==false){
var ii=0;//used to increment through the array of strings to write to the file.
var outbuf=new Array();
var objs=scene.objectGetArray(); // get an Array of all the objects in the world for this scene.

for(var i=0;i {
//process each objects key properties to reinit.
outbuf[ii++]="//";
outbuf[ii++]="//" +objs[i].id;
outbuf[ii++]=("scene.objects."+objs[i].id+".rot=new Rotation ("+Math.round(objs[i].rot.eulerX)+ ", "+ Math.round(objs[i].rot.eulerY) +", "+ Math.round(objs[i].rot.eulerZ) +");"); // Prints out all the object ids along with their type.
outbuf[ii++]=("scene.objects."+objs[i].id+".opacity="+objs[i].opacity+";");
outbuf[ii++]=("scene.objects."+objs[i].id+".visible="+objs[i].visible+";");
outbuf[ii++]=("scene.objects."+objs[i].id+".pos=new Vector("+objs[i].pos.x+", "+objs[i].pos.y+", "+objs[i].pos.z+");")
}
allow=true;

// write directory file list out to text file
// read files in from text file
var file=system.file.openWrite(system.folders.document + "myInit.txt");
file.writeStringArray(outbuf);
file.close();
print(objs.length + " objects in the scene written to "+ system.folders.document + "myInit.txt.");
}
}
}

BUnzaga
Another feature you might want to look at for something like this is saving the scenes xml file. I haven't tried it yet, but I plan to in the near future. I guess its like a 'save game' type feature. Start the document, save the xml, have the user run around in your game, then reload the xml to get back to the initial state.

If you want to save the changes, then when the user exits, or hits a 'save game' key, such as the I you had, you could replace the old xml file with a current stae xml file.

It's the same idea, but it uses a built in feature. When I get to this point in my document I'll post anything I find out if you want.

Sean J. Miller
Please post if you iron out the XML solution. I think a lot of folks would appreciated it.

Also, I used my code above on a more complex scene that had 50+ objects twisted about. I found that it did well for position, visibility, and opacity, but it did not generate the correct script for rotation.

Presently, the code above would generate a similar line of code for resetting rotation of an object as follows:

scene.objects.my_object_1.rot = new Rotation(0,10,0);

Where, in this example, it determined the 0,10,0 by looking at the .rot.eulerX,Y, and Z of the object.

However, I found that when I pasted the result into the myInit routine and called it during program execution after twisting objects around, some objects did not go to the exact original rotation. I probably am misunderstanding how to set a rotation. So, I'll have to do some more troubleshooting. Sorry for posting a bug!

See ya',
Sean

Michael Cook
Maybe this thread could be of some use:
http://www.dxstudio.com/forumtopic.aspx?topicid=3b5db506-19dd-41bd-85f4-c253be501e0d

Sean J. Miller
Okay, I tried that thread.

I did this in the document script:

var default_scene;
function resetAll() {
scenes.ltt.xmlString=default_scene;
}

I did this in the scene script's onInit:

function onInit()
{
system.script.default_scene=scene.xmlString;
}

and in my scene script I did this:

function onKeyChange(e)
{
if (keys.R) system.script.resetAll();

}

It resulted in the player just freezing as described in the thread above. (I have Windows XP, 32 bit).

The Context Senstive popup of the DXstudio script editor states that xmlString would scratch my itch. However, it just froze the dxplayer.

Unfortunately, I get an error when I try to access the zip file referenced in the thread, so I can not tell what the magic dust is to make .xlmString work as in that thread.

As always, I appreciate the time you have given for feedback. You are all top drawer.

-Sean

BUnzaga
I think its because you are calling the script from within the scene you are trying to access.

Try putting everything on the system level.

This works...
xmlThing.dxstudio.

var default_scene;
function resetAll()
{
scenes.scene_1.xmlString=default_scene;
}

function onInit()
{
default_scene=scenes.scene_1.xmlString;
}

function onKeyChange(e)
{
if (e.keyId=="r" && e.keyDown) system.script.resetAll();
}

Given a known Vector heading, how to compute a vector heading that is facing 180 degrees in the oppossite direction?

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:00:12 GMT

Pravin Baliga
Need a bit of help.

RotationMath.headingDegrees(objects.Gun_Barrel.rot) in my game script is for some reason pointing in backward direction from the perspective of the barrel of my gun. How do I convert this vector to a direction that is looking 180 degrees in the oppossite direction (so that it looks forward from the perspective of my gun barrel)?

I need this for target hit calculation. At the moment, due to this issue, my gun is shooting a ray and hitting what ever is behind the gun including the shooter..LOL... :-)

BUnzaga
The easiest would be to just add RotationMath.headingDegrees(objects.Gun_Barrel.rot)+180 :]

Other than that, you could try changing the local forward vector, rexport the gun only rotate it around 180 degrees, change your ray to shoot the other direction, or some other tricky math thing.

Carl
You could also try RotationMath.inverseRot(rotation)

Pravin Baliga
Brett:

Thanks a lot!! That worked. I was struggling with RotationMath.inverseRot(rotation) to try to achieve the same.

BTW.. a silly question...how do I award a star ?

Carl
Click the users profile and choose I recommend this user to others

Pravin Baliga
Thanks Carl

3dsmax200932bit exporter crashes on importing a dxstudio file

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:16:34 GMT

Seminus
I've found a bug in the 3dsmax 2009 exporter: everytime I try to import a dxmesh back into 3dsmax2009 it complines that he cant find a header.xml in my documents folder and the 3dsmax crashes.

Carl
I just got this bug as well.

BUnzaga
You need to create this inside the editor...

.

Not sure why this doesn't just create a default header on export, but this is what worked for me.

Seminus
thanks bunzaga, I will try this.

Carl
So the header is just the objects properties?

BUnzaga
I think it has something to do with the icon picture. There isn't one unless you generate it, so when you export it without an icon, the xml has a shit fit.

I make new tutorial with Windows

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:14:22 GMT

idris celik
here is new adress:

http://www.dxstudio.com/wiki.aspx?n=Using Windows Forms with DxStudio in DLL Files.

Carl
WOW!, always wondered how to do that. Will this work for C# or VB.net code as well? I'm not that fluent with C++.

BUnzaga
You already have a star from me Idris! There are a lot of people who ask about this, so great job.

Meridian Core

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:08:30 GMT

Michael Cook
Well I figured I would share what im currently working on at the moment. Its a game called Meridian Core. Its going to be a MMORPG like Phantasy Star Online / Universe. Right now I have it working with the XBox 360 controller, although I will add keyboard / mouse input later. Oh and I also figured out a work around for having your 3rd person camera use collision but not be jumpy, so it doesnt penetrate your scene geometry. I have to leave right now, but Ill post an example tomorrow. Heres a screen shot so far:

Thanks to BUnzaga and everyone else who have helped me get this far. :D

BUnzaga
Hey I want to see how you did that with the camera. :P

I also noticed that the lights have some issues with the code from James. They sort of dim for some reason if you are using it inside a mesh with reversed normals, like in a cave.

Carl
Looking good so far. Would also like to see the results of how you did the camera.

Michael Cook
Hey guys thanks for the replies. Anyways this is how I am handling the camera collisions:

Im using James method of ray casting, except in my test im using 2 cameras.
1 - A 3rd person camera to follow the player
2 - A duplicate camera used for collision tests

The world is viewed from the first camera. Both cameras have the exact same settings. I am casting a ray from the player to the second camera. If an object is in the way, it moves the first camera closer using the follow distance. The problem I was having is that if you test the distance away from 1 camera and try to move that camera, if you have Catchup Period set, the camera jumps forwards and backwards because it never settles. But using a fixed point ensures that the camera eventually comes to rest.

I think ideally instead of using 2 cameras, it would be better to just use math and set a measured distance, like player.pos.z - 30 or whatever, but this works for now. Here is a test document:
camera-collision-example.dxstudio

Oh by the way, it uses xbox controller for movement, so if you dont have a game controller, (sorry) but at least you can look at the code. Hope this helps.

Michael Cook
P.S. - If you do have a controller, holding down the right bumper and moving the Right Joystick rotates the camera around the character. Pressing the Left Bumper resets the camera. Left Joystick is movement and Right joystick is turning by default.

BUnzaga
I am getting that studder problem when I move the guy. It goes fine, but then sticks for a second, then moves fine. Also when I rotate, it rotates around WAY too fast, like a single tap rotates him around 180 degrees. This might be because of how fast my system is, so I am rotating very quickly.

I found a neat way to handle jumping, if your interested. Its mainly an equation..

yVelocity = Math.sqrt(-2*gravity*jumpHeight)

Let me take a quick look at your script. :)

BUnzaga
Ok so I figured out why the jumping around was happening. You had it to use max fps, which in my case was around 1500fps. My monitor only refreshes at 60fps, so it would actually be updating him 25 times per each monitor refresh.

I changed it to use my monitor refresh, cleared out the extra things like pictures and effects that weren't being used, and also converted it all to the switch statement I used for the xbox controller and here it is:

camExample.dxstudio

Michael Cook
wow! 1500 frames per sec? Jeez my machine is a dog then. And you were getting stuttering? Hmmm i wonder why mine is fine? :-\ If it is the max fps then that would explain it. So setting the max fps fixed it for you?

BUnzaga
Yep it worked great once I set to sync with monitor.

Michael Cook
Awesome well thats good news! ;-) I am glad it worked.

Carl
Slightly off-topic but i was watching a behind the scenes episode of heroes and a guy named Michael Cook was some artwork. Was that you? ^_^

BUnzaga
Hey Michael do you have a group of people working with you on this, or doing it all solo? If you are interested in collaborating on various ideas or methods to accomplish things, I would like to share ideas.

Things like AI, pathfinding, inventory, items, character skills, abilities, stats, etc.

I have a couple 'game programmng' books I have been reading, which are a little misleading in my opinion. For 1/2 the book it is just about making an actual engine, which I don't care to learn. The other 1/4 is describing what a role play game is, and suttle sometimes witty humor. The remaining 1/4 is actually useful information.

Anyway, maybe we could create some threads in the collaboration board about specific aspects of a rpg and then post some examples or ideas on how we can do them.

Michael Cook
Sorry guys, just got back from vacation in Vegas. Yay! lol ;D

@ Carl -
Haha, if you were watching something on the BBC then that was most likely me. ;-) We had them in the studio a while ago interviewing us. I know they were talking to me about the CG glass and Claire's dad's eye healing.

@ BUnzaga -
Im working alone at the moment. Its been slightly slow going, because of work (we are gearing up for season 3 of heroes) so I have only a few hours on the weekend to contribute to my project. Although I am going to have more time now which is good.
As for collaborating, I am totally down.

I think the best way to contact me is either thru my email - Atrusdni@aol.com
or if anyone has AIM its the same screen name - atrusdni

Im on AIM everyday at work. ;)

Michael Cook
Slight update:

Working more on fleshing the level out. Added some plants and whatnot. Need to finish the textures for the ground and rock faces. I have also been optimizing the trees. I noticed that DXStudio slows down a lot when there is a lot of overlapping geometry with alpha maps. Well, at least on my machine it does. I don't have the most powerful computer but I think if I can get it to run well on my machine then it should run good on most peoples.

BUnzaga
I am not sure if you have seen them yet, but there have been a lot of very nice tree models added to the library by XTremeEd.

I went through and downloaded them all last night. :p

Another thing to try is maybe some DXLOD for the far away stuff.

Carl
Looking great so far. I also get that problem with alpha maps taking down the frames per second.

Another great source of tree's is tree[d]. You can easily generate and customize tree's. Great program.

BUnzaga
The new instanced geometry system should also help with the floral/landscape issues I would think.

How big is that file?

Seminus
looks really good so far Michael. :)
As far as I know 8bit alpha plains are always relative expensive to render also because it generates alot of overdraw too.

@carl thanks for the link to tree[d] that's a really a handy tool. :)

BUnzaga
Ok so am I the only dumb one who can't figure out where the 'download' link is for that tree[d] program? It says it is a blender plug in, or can be used as a stand alone app. I have been all over the site, but can't seem to find anything to let me download it.

Is it part of the other Alpha release gile[s] ?

Funkas
Follow Carl's link, then direct under the pics showing trees you will find it. It is grey and not underlined. Indeed, not easy to find.

BUnzaga
Oh my gosh. I must have missed the whole 'Download it here: ' text. :p

BUnzaga
Hey Michael I found out how to do the camera follow without having to use separate cameras and stuff...

function cameraCollision()
{
// Shoot a ray from player to proxy camera
var rayStart = new Vector(objects.rook1.posWorld.x, objects.rook1.posWorld.y+10, objects.rook1.posWorld.z);
var rayEnd = VectorMath.orbitPosHeading(rayStart, RotationMath.headingDegrees(objects.rook1.rot), 0, 20);//objects.playerCam.posWorld;

// Calculate the direction of the ray and the distance
var raydir = VectorMath.subtract(rayEnd, rayStart);
var range = VectorMath.distance(rayStart, rayEnd);

// Check if the ray hit something
var ObjHit = scene.getObjectFromRay(rayStart, raydir, range);

// If it did, then continue
if (ObjHit && (scene.lastHitInfo.distance <= 1))
{
// Position the camera based on the lastHitInfo world position point and range
scene.objects.playerCam.camera.followDistance = scene.lastHitInfo.distance * range;
}
else
{
// If there are no camera collisions, reset camera distance to the camera distance variable
scene.objects.playerCam.camera.followDistance = 20;
}
}

This uses your same idea, but instead of having to update two cameras, etc, it just uses the VectorMath.orbitPosHeading(pos, rot, elevation, distance) to get the 'virtual' position of your second camera.

If the ray hits an object to that 'virtual' position, it goes to the face. If it doesn't, it returns to the normal spot.

It works out just as good as your two camera way, but without the overhead of multiple calculations and code.

Michael Cook
Ah ha! Sweet! I knew that this would be the way to go, my ghetto rigged test worked but i knew there had to be a better way! Great job Brett!

Michael Cook
Slight update:

Still haven't had too much time to work on this thing because of crazy deadlines at work. (About 1 more week until its due) As soon as thats done im gonna jump back on this thing as much as I can.

Seminus
Starting to look really cool. :)

Skeet
have you animated you player yet

Michael Cook
@skeet - yes, although I havent hooked the animations up in this example. Im mostly just concentrating on levels at the moment.

Michael Cook
A slight update:

I figured out a good way to get multiple uv's out of Maya, so this is my first test of baked lightmaps. This served as a good test, I now know better ways to accomplish what im after, so the next few tests should look better. Take care guys.

Richard Sneyd
It seems you have a good understanding of posative and negative space. The geometry of the level is nicely proportioned and well space out. The baked light maps are looking pretty good too.

Michael Cook
Thanks for the reply Richard. :D Cheers!

Carl
Looking good. Have you animated the main character yet?

Michael Cook
@ Carl -
Kind of, he has a few animations, but I'm putting that off until I get the level pretty much done. Then I'll focus on characters. The plan is to have it so you can customize your character, from body type to clothes / hair / etc. I have a few ideas on how to do the body, but I will have to test those out some more to see if it will work. Take care.

BUnzaga
Last month I dedicated a couple weeks to figuring out how to swapp out body parts and materials on meshes in order to make a system such as this.

Assuming you have no unexplained issues with DX Studio such as bounding boxes, skinned vertices not sticking to bones properly or pivot location issues, it is a pretty straight forward process.

The main important thing is to make sure your seams (where your boots begin and your pants end, etc) all have the exact same weight assignments. Otherwise you will get a split in your mesh where one bone isn't weighted properly.

In code it is fairly simple, you just set a subgroup to visible or hidden. I think DX Studio said that they would make it so if a subgroup was set to invisible, it wouldn't even be considered as part of the renderring engine, so there should be no overhead, even if you have several meshes.

I was hoping I would have more of a break between semesters, but I start fall on Wednesday. :/ It feels like I just finished my finals from summer. Anyway, I might be able to put together a nice wiki on how to do this sort of thing from 3d Studio max. Most of the work you have to do is in your modelling program.

Michael Cook
That would be awesome Brett! Awww, im getting less and less busy at work and now you are going to be getting more and more busy. Lol, oh well. Hey hows your game coming along by the way?

BUnzaga
What game? :(

Just kiddig, but seriously though, I have been trying to wrap my head aroud the complexities of the mechanics and systems involved in role play games and I think it might be one of those things you need someone to hold your hand on and show you how it is supposed to work.

I was working on:

Stats (health, stamina, power)
Skills (slash, crush, thrust, one handed, two handed, block, parry, dodge, etc)
Equipment
Combat Styles
etc.

I can now see why it takes entire teams to do something like this.

How do you tell which weapon the user is holding, which combat styles they have, which animation to play, which sound to play, etc.

Then throw in base health vs augmented health vs current health, base skill vs augmented skill, etc. What code belongs to what class? Should a character script handle equipping an item, or should the item handle it? When I add a bonus to a skill line or stat, does the associated skill or stat handle the code for the change, or should the item or spell code handle modifying the stats/skill ? What about when a spell wears off? Animations still can't have script added to them inside the editor, so now I am stuck with creating my own functions for sound delays or script delays. After all when you attack something with your sword, from the time the attack animation starts to the time the animation is finished, you have to play a miss sound, or play a hit sound, or play a blocked hit sound and make the thing you are attacking play a block sound, or a parry sound if they are parrying. What if your defender is using a 2h weapon, how do you tell the defender what animation to play?

It is quite overwhelming.

Then I decide to give that stuff a break and work on my user interface and user controls, just to find out DX Studio doesn't have a built in system to handle double clicking things, the onMouseDown / onMouseUp is somehow screwed up, and every step I take to try to code a work around gets hit with another road block.

I think I may just make some real simple hack and slash game, like those ghetto flash games where you log on and just mess around and then log off. Nothing complex for now.

BUnzaga
Hey Michael, one thing that would be helpful is if I could use your man mesh. I wouldn't use it as it is, but I would extrude it, add polys, remove polys, etc to make it look like different armor pieces.

Would this be ok with you?

Michael Cook
Yeah no problem. Ill email it to you tonight when i get home. I plan on changing the base male model anyways, its a little too high poly for what i want to do. There is a lot of polys in there that probably shouldn't be, at least for a MMORPG, but for any other situation it should be fine.

BUnzaga
Thanks man, I appreciate it.

Maybe it isn't much, but here is the stats.js file I came up with and the test program I made to test all of the functions.
StatTest.dxstudio
/**
intId is an integer which represents this Stat
as an example 0 could equal health, 1 could equal stamina, etc

stringId is the string displayed name for this stats. As an example
"Hit Points" "Power" "Psionic", etc

base is the starting point this stat should be at character creation.
*/

function Stat(intId, stringId, base)
{
//You can not refer to 'this' object inside inner functions
//so I use 'outer' to refer to this.object
var outer = this;

/**
base is the raw stat before anything is applied
such as spell effects, item enhancements, etc
*/
//returns the base stat
this.getBase = function()
{ return base;}
//sets the bast stat using increaseBase() and decreaseBase()
this.setBase = function(amount)
{ if(base == amount)
{ return;}
else if(base > amount)
{ this.decreaseBase(base-amount);
return;}
else
{ this.increaseBase(amount - base);
return;}
}
//increases the base stat
this.increaseBase = function(amount)
{ if(amount <= 0)
{ return;}
else
{ base += amount;
return;}}
//decreases the base stat
this.decreaseBase = function(amount)
{ if(amount <=0)
{ return;}
else if(base - amount < 1)
{ base = 1;
return;}
else
{ base -= amount;
return;}}

/**
the max stat is the total amount this stat can have
if at full capacity, this includes equipment, items
spells, etc. The absolute max
*/
//initialize max to equal base at character creation
var max = base;
//returns the max amount for this stat
this.getMax = function()
{ return max;}
//sets the max amount for this stat by calling decreaseMax() and increaseMax()
this.setMax = function(amount)
{ if(max == amount)
{ return;}
else if(max > amount)
{
this.decreaseMax(max - amount);
return;}
else
{ this.increaseMax(amount - max);
return;}
}
//increases the max this stat can hold
this.increaseMax = function(amount)
{ if(amount <= 0)
{ return;}
else
{ max += amount;
return;}}
//decreases the max this stat can hold
this.decreaseMax = function(amount)
{ if(amount <= 0)
{ return;}
else if(max - amount < 1)
{ max = 1;
current = 1;
return;}
else
{ max -= amount;
if(current > max)
{ current = max;}
return;}}

/**
current is the current running total for this stat
such as if you have 100 out of 150 hit points
*/
//sets current to equal max at character creation
var current = max;
//returns the current stat amount
this.getCurrent = function()
{ return current;}
//sets the current stat amount using decreaseCurrent() and increaseCurrent()
this.setCurrent = function(amount)
{ if(current == amount)
{ return;}
else if(current > amount)
{ this.decreaseCurrent(current-amount);
return;}
else
{ this.increaseCurrent(amount - current);
return;}
}
//increases the current stat (such as if you drink a health potion)
this.increaseCurrent = function(amount)
{ if(amount <= 0)
{ return;}
else if(current + amount > max)
{ current = max;
return;}
else
{ current += amount;
return;}}
//decreases the current stat (such as if you got hit by a weapon)
this.decreaseCurrent = function(amount)
{ if(amount <= 0)
{ return;}
else if(current - amount < 0)
{ current = 0;
return;}
else
{ current -= amount;
return;}}

/**
misc most of my items have these for troubleshooting and text
related situations
*/
//retuns the integer ID of this stat [0,1,2 etc]
this.getIntId = function()
{ return intId;}
//returns the string ID of this stats ["Hit Points"]
this.getStringId = function()
{ return stringId;}
//returns this objects 'print();' toString
this.toString = function()
{ //[STAT][int][string][int][int][int]
return "[STAT][" + intId + "][\"" + stringId + "\"][" + current + "][" + max +"][" + base +"]";}
}

To use this, you would add it to your document or scenes resources, and then type:

//@"Stats.js"

Now if you have a npc or player character and say you want him to have hit points, you would type:

var playerHits = new Stat(0, "Hit Points", 100);

So now if the player gets hit, you can just type:

playerHits.decreaseCurrent(25); //remove 25 from the current hit points.

So now lets say you want him to have a perminant increase of 100 hit points, you would call:

playerHits.increaseMax(100); //ADDS 100 to whatever the max hits are now.
//OR
playerHits.setMax(200); //it will automatically figure out if it should lower or raise to equal 200.

Lets say the user put on some equipment that gave a +50 hit points bonus. You would call:

playerHits.increaseMax(50);

When they take off the item, you call:

playerHits.decreaseMax(50);

Note that this will not effect the base stat, or the current stat, so lets say you cast a spell on the user and you want it to increase the hit points by 50 AND add those new hit points to the current, you would call:

playerHits.increaseMax(50);
playerHits.increaseCurrent(50);

So it doesn't do everything for you, but I tried to make it as effecient as possable, and make it so you can use it for any game you want.

BUnzaga
Sorry in my example above where you want to add a perminant increase, you would do

increaseBase(100);
or
setBase(200);

Not max...

Michael Cook
Wow! Thats a ton of code! hehe. Good job Brett, Ill have to pick this apart and try to wrap my brain around it, lol. I sent you the mesh by the way. Take care!

BUnzaga
Cool I am trying to get my sleeping habits 'back in order' which I have been saying for the last couple months. :/ I'll take a look at it now.

BUnzaga
Here is a quick example of what you would do...

Separate your mesh into different armor pieces like this:
.

The green is a separate mesh than the light blue, but they look like they are connected.

Without touching the seams where the green and blue connect, you can modify, add, change, remove, etc polys to make different parts, as long as that seam that connects to two doesn't get modified.

.

Now If I wanted to I could swapp out the pants from the first picture and put them with the boots in the second picture, or put the boots from the first picture with the pants in the second picture.
.

In the wiki I'll go into more detail about the animations and what not.

BUnzaga
Ok so here is a demo of what I have so far.

The hardest part in all of this is the physique/skin. For each boots, tunic, pants, etc you have to skin/physique the vertices.

multiMesh.dxstudio.
.

BUnzaga
.
Ok here is the plate armor with no smoothing groups and not skinned yet.

Once I get this skinned I can work on the wiki.

Michael Cook
awesome! I'll have to check this out tonight when I get home. Im digging the armor on the guy in yellow, looks sweet!

Michael Cook
An update. Just working on finishing up the textures, then its off to finishing the characters.

BUnzaga
Wow that is looking SCHWEEET! I really lke how you got those textures to work.

BUnzaga
Good luck with the in game system by the way LOL. I just spent most of the night getting the basics down in mine. The good news is, the hard part is done, I have a working concept.

The user can create, save, and delete characters. So far all they can do is change the skin color of a character. This information is saved to a txt file and can be loaded in future sessions. If the user selects a character, it then loads that character in to the 3d scene, where the user can control the character.

Thats all so far LOL!

Of course my stuff looks nothing like yours does, I really like your level and artwork.

Michael Cook
lol, thanks for the kind words Brett. Yeah, I think for the competition I'm going to have to modify the concept a bit, (because there's just no way I will be able to get a working version by then), so I think ill make it a time trial level. See how fast you can clear it and get a rank (A-D, or whatever).

Yeah I'm definitively dreading the game system part, although I think I have an ok plan for it. So we'll see how difficult it is to set up. (I'm more then likely underestimating it lol, so we'll see).

Once the competition's over, I'd be interested to see how you set your stuff up. Take care!

BUnzaga
I will probably be doing video tutorials on most of the things I incorporated, so definatly keep an eye out. I came accross an especially significant trick, which I posted in a couple different spots on the forums...

var dataStream = javascriptObject.toSource();
//send dataStream over the network, save to file, or just use to create a new instance of the object

This is handy for when you want to save your character sheet. Instead of iterating and parsing everything in and out as one format or another, you just create the dataStream and then eval(dataStream) to re-assemble it.

The only downside is that it doesn't seem to be working with non-user defined objects such as 'Vector', 'Color', etc. So instead of:

chrFile.skinColor = new Color('ffffff')

I had to use

chrFile.skinColor = "ffffff"

I know arrays work, and objects which contain other objects work. Perhaps I'll have to do a test to see what does and what doesn't, or if there is a trick to getting them to work.

Sorry to ramble.

BUnzaga
Hey check your email. :p

Michael Cook
Wow thats pretty awesome. Checking email now . . .

BUnzaga
Cool, I forgot to mention, on the creation screen, you use the bottom arrows to change skin color. Thats all I have so far LOL.

Vector and Color bug, maybe more...

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:03:00 GMT

BUnzaga
I noticed that when I try to take a Vector object toSource(), it just returns an empty object, same thing with Color objects...

Consider:
dataStreamIssues.dxstudio.

function TestObject1(v, c, a)
{
this.vector3d = v;
this.color = c;
this.array = a;
}

var test1 = new TestObject1(new Vector(13, 31, 37), new Color('ffffff'), ["1", 2, new Vector(1, 3, 7)]);
var test2 = new TestObject1(new Vector3d(41, 43, 47), new ColorObj('ffffff'), ["1", 2, new Vector3d(1, 3, 7)]);

function Vector3d(x, y, z)
{
this.x = x;
this.y = y;
this.z = z;
this.toString = function()
{return "["+this.x+", "+this.y+", "+this.z+"]";}
}

function ColorObj(r, g, b, a)
{
this.r;
this.g;
this.b;
this.a;

if(g == null && b == null && a == null)
{
this.r = parseInt(r.substring(0,2),16);
this.g = parseInt(r.substring(2,4),16);
this.b = parseInt(r.substring(4,6),16);
this.a = 1;
}
else if(r != null && g != null && b != null && a == null)
{
this.r = r;
this.g = g;
this.b = b;
this.a = 1;
}
else
{
this.r = r;
this.g = g;
this.b = b;
this.a = a;
}
this.toString = function()
{return "["+this.r+", "+this.g+", "+this.b+", "+this.a+"]";}
}
print("========obj1========");
print("Color: "+test1.color);
print("Vector: "+test1.vector3d.x);
print("Array: "+test1.array);
print("=====obj1=====");
var dataStream = test1.toSource();
print("dataStream: "+dataStream);
print("===========");
var test3 = eval(dataStream);
print("Color: "+test3.color);
print("Vector: "+test3.vector3d.x);
print("Array: "+test3.array);
print("=====obj2======");
print("Color: "+test2.color);
print("Vector: "+test2.vector3d.x);
print("Array: "+test2.array);
dataStream = test2.toSource();
print("======obj2=====");
print("dataStream: "+dataStream);
print("===========");
var test4 = eval(dataStream);
print("Color: "+test4.color);
print("Vector: "+test4.vector3d.x);
print("Array: "+test4.array);

Is there a way we can get the primitive Vector and Color objects to convert properly to a Javascript object? Such that we get x, y, z, and the r, g, b, a values instead of just empty objects when using .toSource() ???

Dynamic load scenes without game interruption

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:39:58 GMT

PR0xy
Like Lineage2 or WorldOfWarCaft
is posible without hard scripting?

BUnzaga
Without hard scripting, probably not. You could try using LODs and effect cubes, but I don't think this would do what you wanted.

In World of Warcraft, think of each 'map' as zones. Like when you leave the undead city, or the blood elf city, you go through a door, which doesn't let you see what is going on, on the other side:
.

So when your on one side of the door, you are showing the stuff on that side, when you are transitioning through the door, the stuff on the other side is being loaded.

This is just my guess though, I don't know the real technical way they do it.

So without hard script, it will be hard to acomplish, but DX Studio has said that they are coming out with some scene management features which should help with things like this.

PR0xy
Good idea. But it take another problems with server. Can i use another server software or that impossible?

(sorry for my english)

BUnzaga
The way I would do it, is I would use a different 'server' for each 3d scene. In DX Studio these would be considered 'documents'.

So on my server machine, I have area1.document, area2.document, area3.document. Now when a client enters the area1, they send a message to area1.document to add their character to area1. In turn, the server document broadcasts a command to everyone else in area1 to add the user to their local machines area1.

Now when the user moves to area2, they send a message to area2.document that they are leaving area1 and entering area2. So now the server document updates everyone in those areas to add/remove the user.

So the server is the one that has physics enabled, and dictates movement and combat, etc. It then just broadcasts these values to only those other users who are in that area.

This is just how I have been thinking it should work in my mind, if anyone else knows a better system, please let us know!

Sergio F [DX Studio Support Team]
The way World of Warcraft does it is by spliting the zones into smaller areas and pre-loading them around the player sort of like this

When you are actually about to change zone the zone is completely loaded the preloading not needed is flushed and the other relevant areas start pre-loading.

A way to accomplish this in DX Studio is using Modules(these modules work the same way as individual scenes) to save "chunks" of your world, so as the player goes along the modules are pre-loaded onto your document and displayed when needed much like the above diagram.

PR0xy

Is possible if some scenes dynamical unload. But if scenes not unloaded application memory will be very big (big worlds)

Before buy DX Studio i wont know more about this engine

Russian(for normal translate):
Это будет возможно только если при переходе игрока на другую сцену будут выгружены из памяти ненужные сцены. Иначе может не хватить памяти к примеру для больших миров

Sergio F [DX Studio Support Team]
Yes you can dinamically unload your modules and remove them from the document.

PR0xy
Good. Now question about server software. DX Server have one problem - platform win32. Can i use my server software for projects?

Movement character

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:19:18 GMT

Ian
I would like to request help because the video tutorials DON'T REWIND!!! i have to watch them 100 times before i can get it right and even that doesn't help. so i cant figure out what line of command i need to input to get the character to move using the WSAD format. i thought i got it right but then i watched the video ( again) no help because i don't have the keyboard disable thing option. i need a step by step Walkthrough please I'm not very good at this thanks for your time!

Sergio F [DX Studio Support Team]
Hey Ian you can find the information page on the character control here. It should tell you how to set it up in script.

I create new wiki lesson.

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:43:18 GMT

idris celik
Now you can use C++ dll's in DxStudio. Step by Step and with picture.

http://www.dxstudio.com/wiki.aspx?n=Creating and Using C++ DLL's

But not working Why?

idris celik
Opss sorry here is the adress:
http://www.dxstudio.com/wiki.aspx?id=073bf347-9286-4c16-87c4-7e30827b88d6

Chris S [DX Studio Support Team]
Very nice - thanks Idris! :-)

idris celik
But I can't see if I click from Wiki index. Why not working my lesson from wiki index.

Chris S [DX Studio Support Team]
Aha - yes the title had the plus symbol in it which the Wiki index didn't like. Have flagged to fix but renamed in the meantime and should now work OK.

Carl
Cool, thanks for that.

JimmDaBimm
creat tutorial, thanks !

applyImpulse. what's the unit of the relative position?

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:58:26 GMT

uomoartificiale
physics.applyImpulse(impluseVector, posVector)

I'm actually using this command quite sucessfully, but there's somenthing that's confusing me.

Vector impluseVector is clearly the direction vector.
Vector posVector is the local spot to which the force is applied. Ok, but...
...what's the unit of the posVector? is it the absolute measure in scene unit or is it calculated taking as a unit the object size?
because, I feel that the right answer is the second one...

I try to explain myself in a practical way:
if I need to apply an impulse to a sphere along the Z axis the forceVector would be new Vector(0,0,1);
Now imagine that I want this impulse to be applied on the middle-right of this object. Which is the correct value of the posVector?
new Vector(0.5,0,0)?
or new Vector(object.size.x*0.5,0,0)?

Regards

uomoartificiale
sorry to bump on this. Any developper could help to clarify?

Chris S [DX Studio Support Team]
The posVector is in world units and applies relative to the world position, ignoring rotation. When the 3D mesh is sent to the physics, the scale is 'baked' in to give the world unit size needed and is not referenced again by the impulse function. So for your example posVector should be (0.5,0,0). Please let me know if you're getting odd results.

uomoartificiale
thanks Chris, you've been helpful.
My doubts came from the fact that increasing the position vector over the point I was suppousing the mesh "limits", I was not getting odd results. So I thougth to be still "inside" the mesh...
quite strange to explain, I know. ;-)
Thanks alot

I just lost about 5 hours of hard work...

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:30:51 GMT

BUnzaga
I've been scripting a way to save and load player charachter meshes over the last several hours, and since there is no option to set a controls default script, I decided to stop copying and pasting my script every time I make a change, and make a .js file.

Well next thing I know, I try to run my document and nothing is acting properly. So I open it up into the editor, and my scene script is just BLANK.

Thank GOD all of my buttons and controls and everything else I have been working on for the last two weeks are still intact, and I have been making backups of my project, every day, but for the last 5+ hours I have been working on allowing the user to customize a character, save it to a file, load it from the file when they click the character slot, and then load it into a 3d world. ALL GONE.

I already checked my windows temporary files, hoping to salvage anything, and nothing is in there.

Chris S [DX Studio Support Team]
While we look for what might've happened, in 3.0.13 is now an option to auto-save in the Tools -> Preferences -> General. This will save an autosave_[filename] copy at the frequency you specify just in case.

BUnzaga
Sweet, I wish I had seen that before LOL. Its ok though, I found a better way to do what I wanted to do, so I guess it all worked out in the end. :p