Editions, Pricing & Royalties
Q. How much does each version cost?
A. License prices are located http://www.dxstudio.com/buy.aspx here. (All prices are shown excluding VAT which you will only have to pay if you live in the EU).
The features comparison between the different versions can be found at http://www.dxstudio.com/features_comparison.aspx.
Q. But how much does each license cost exactly in my own currency?
A. You can see the current price for DX Studio by selecting the small drop down window
http://www.dxstudio.com/buy.aspx on this page. Please note prices in US Dollars and Euros are estimated. This is based on the current exchange rate.
Q. Are there any advertising/spyware programs in the Freeware Edition?
A. No. It's a genuinely free edition for non-commercial use.
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Graphic-Editors/DX-Studio.shtml
Q. Do I have to pay royalties on products I wish to sell that use DX Studio?
A. No
License Upgrades and Support
Q. How much will it cost me to upgrade my current license?
A. You can upgrade to the next higher license by just paying the difference in price from your current version to the new version. For example if its $50.00 more for the next higher license thats all you pay.
Q. Are point versions of DX Studio free to customers? And are there discounts to future versions?
A. Yes - if you buy DX Studio you get 1 year of free minor and major version updates included. If you want to continue with updates after a year, you can add another year of support.
Learning JavaScript
Q. Can you reccomend any good books, webpages or other external resources for learning JavaScript?
A. Nearly all of the coding tricks and techniques that apply to Flash coding work in a similar way with DX Studio functions so you could take a look at some of the Flash (Macromedia / Adobe) games programming books. There are also a couple good web sites that talk about specific commands in JavaScript, such as http://www.javascriptkit.com/jsref/. If you are after a simple book, 'JavaScript: A Beginners Guide' by John Pollock scores well on Amazon.
Beta Downloads
Q. I can't find where to download the latest beta
A. To get the latest beta your website account needs to be flagged as a beta tester. To do this you will need to send an email to support@worldweaver.com and we will set your account so you receive beta newsletters (which contain the links you need) and have access to the beta forum.
Modelling
Q. Is DX Studio a modelling package?
A. No, but you can model simple shapes in DX Studio from scratch (such as cubes, cones and spheres). For more complicated objects you are best to use a dedicated modelling package and export the files into X or COLLADA (DAE) format for use by DX Studio. DX Studio also comes with a number of plugins for some of the most popular modelling packages (you can find these in the download section of the website).
Q. Where can I get free models?
A. The DX Studio Library section contains an ever increasing range of models that you can use for your projects (just check if any usage conditions have been added by the person who uploaded the model).
The library also contains lots of other material that you may find useful, such as materials, environments and sounds. Please feel free to contribute your own work to the library (this can be done in the editor by right mouse clicking on the item and selecting 'export' then 'upload to online library'.
There are also lots of free models available on the web. Doing a search on Turbosquid including the keyword 'free' is a good starting point. Try to get models in 'X' or 'dxmesh' format ideally, but failing that the old '3DS' format works well. If the model is in MAX format, you will need to load it into 3DS Max and use an export tool.
Interface Options
Q. Can DX Studio create interfaces that can have an options menu for full screen, res size, video options, quality of 3d objects, anti aliasing, all in the program which I create? Also can I make scrolling text menus?
A. Yes, the best way to do this is to add to the right click context menu from the Document Properties. It can execute any script command to toggle variables or call functions to do the action. Scrolling text menus can be done by using a 2d layer, shrunk to a window size at the top level. Then just adjust the text object's y pos in onUpdate.
Q. Do you need a plugin for Web3D content?
A. Yes, The plugin works for Firefox, Internet Explorer and the Google Chrome browser.
Quality settings
Q. I'm getting black screen no matter what I do - what's wrong?
A. You may have installed DirectX 9, but the card underneath may only really support DirectX 8 features. You need a true DirectX 9 card to use DX Studio. You can double check this by going to Start -> Run -> then type dxdiag in the box and press return. If you look at the DDI Version reported it must be at least 9.
Q. Does turning off the quality setting turn off pixel/vertex shaders?
A. It will still allow post-processing effects, but will draw objects with the faster fixed-function render engine (per-vertex lighting).
Q. I noticed that when I preview a scene it defaults the "quality" setting to "on". Is there a way to shut it off by default? Also, if it is off, does it turn off pixel/vertex shaders?
A. Yes, you need to add the following script into the document's onInit function:
function onInit()
{
system.qualityMode=false; // force quality mode off
}
You can also remove the context menu option in the Document Properties if required. More information on the interface can be found under Properties Document Options.
Tutorials
Q. Do you have any video tutorials for DX Studio? Currently I'm having troubles trying to learn the software with the tutorials that come with it and its harder because I've never scripted before.
A. Yes - we've added a Video Tutorials section and will be adding more content to this regularly.
If you are after some basic tutorials you might also want to take a look at our Beginners Tutorials section
Q. Are there any step by step tutorials covering novice to advanced interactive projects?
A. Yes - please take a look at our Circus Tutorial. We will also be releasing a new batch or whole project tutorials soon to replace older ones.
Security
Q. Is there an option to not cache files in the temporary folder?
A. The only thing you should find in the temp cache is light maps and face directories (for picking). We now stream the document straight from RAM without caching to disk, which is much more secure. Try doing a cache clear from Tools -> Preferences -> General to Delete Temporary Files, and you shouldn't see any mesh/bitmap info appear again.
System Requirements & Engine Info
Q. What's the minimum graphic card requirement for using DX Studio?
A. If it's built to support DirectX 9.0 then it should be ok.
Q. What's the maximum number of polygons you recommend for models?
A. There is no hard and fast rule for this. It depends on the hardware that both you and any users are running. Basically the more powerful the pc, the more polygons you will be able to process.
Q What are the main applications of DXStudio?
A. DXStudio has many different aims from Casual Gaming to Serious Medical Applications, a complete list with application that have been been developed can be found in the Applications Summary.
Q. Does DX Studio work on Macs?
A. Sorry, not at the moment.
Q. How´s the performance of DX Studio regarding complex levels, with lots of 3D objects (props, vegetation details, trees, houses, NPCs), collision meshes etc? Is it capable of handling mid-sized and big worlds, like for example a GTA´s city, Battlefield 1942 scenery or an MMO world? How´s the frame rate regarding poly count limits etc? Some (but not all) of my game ideas include medium sized and big sized worlds.
A. At the moment it's up to the user to stream in and out meshes or scenes depending on how much they want to throw at the card at once. But good news is you can stream these in the background so you never get a 'loading' screen. Fewer world objects with higher poly counts per object are the fastest for rendering.
Q. Does DX Studio use any kind of optimization algorithm for the levels, like BSP trees, Octrees or whatever? Does it have any tool for creating portals (or turning a 3DS mesh into a portal or occluder)?
A. DX Studio throws most data straight at the card, which is now becoming faster than BSP given it's quicker for graphics hardware to blit it than it is to test for inclusion. It does also support LOD which helps slim down high poly models as they get further away.
Q. Does it support Nvidia´s FX Composer .fx files? How´s the pipeline for developing shaders to use inside of DX Studio? Do you have any kind of shader library?
A. Yes - the fx files are exactly what's inside the dxeffect files. Try renaming a .dxeffect from your my documents\dx studio documents\library\plugins folder to a .zip (or just opening as a zip if you use winrar), and you can see the .fx file, resources and header file that describes it. It also supports .fxh headers. You can put your own into the zip and it will pick it up in the editor/player. We'll be adding a tool to do this without having to manually edit zips in the near future.
Q. Does DX Studio include a built-in physics engine?
A. Yes - it's got two to choose from. One based on the Bullet library and one on the PhysX library.
Import / Export
Q. I use xxx modelling package for creating 3D content, so... What is the best way to get my models into DX Studio?
A. Please see the Importing and Exporting section of the wiki. If your modelling package is not included in the list then please drop a line to support or post a feature request on the forum to get it added.
Q. Do you have a list of all the formats that DX Studio can import directly?
A. DXMESH, FBX, COLLADA (DAE), X, 3DS, DXF
Compatible media file formats include WAV, BMP, PNG, JPEG, GIF, TGA, TIFF, DDS, MPEG, AVI, MP3, OGG, FLV and OGV
Q. Which kind of media can DX Studio output?
A. You can build single EXEs for CDROM or download, or publish to HTML for web. You can also embed the player in a C#,VB.Net,VB6 or other COM development environment, or drop it in to an OLE applications such as MS Powerpoint. You can also build AVI/GIFs for production use or also handy for preview videos, or build a Vista 3D gadget for the sidebar.
Demos
Q. Do you have an example of a realtime app that uses DX Studio?
A. DX Studio is used by DT Media Ltd. to generate an entire naval simulator (with hundreds of ships, dynamic GPS based terrain, firing missiles, helicopters, ocean, etc). There screenshots are of realtime 3d and training are straight out of DX Studio...
http://dtmedia.co.uk/insight.htm
You can also find details of applications built in DX Studio in the applications summary.