m15 module

Petr, I am finally getting back into programming and had a question. I am going to work on a new model viewer written in c++ using wxwidgets. I want to of course want to load m15 files.

I had some questions.
1. Since you already have routines to load and optimize m15 files, can I just call those functions from a dll that you make in powerbasic and that I can call in c++?

2. If #1 is not possible, can you give me some guidance on what I might put into a c++ class for handling m15 files?

I will put up a rough download later tonight that just draws a wireframe cube, but to give you an idea of what I am doing and a first glimpse at the very early stages of a new model viewer/level editor.

I had a thought while coding tonight... since it might be possible that thinStudio 3D Level Editor Viewer (thinStudio3DLEV) might be added onto by others. I thought maybe we should agree on which language and IDE to use.

thinStudio3DLEV will be an opengl panel in a window that has regular windows GUI items around it.

Possible choices:
Delphi 6 (costs not too much these days if you can find it)
TurboDelphi Free Edition (this is free) (this needs .net, so hence Delphi 6 as I know Mike, Petr and I have it)
FreePascal Lazarus Edition (this is free)
wxDevC++ (what I started with tonight) (this is free)

As you can see I am looking for something that can compile and supports a nice graphical form designer.
I am open to other application suggestions, these just came to my mind.

I am interested in starting the program and developing it to a point to pass it on to another developer after I add these features.

Selecting and setting up skybox/skydome if needed.
If no skybox/skydome then providing different backgrounds frameworks.
Loading of m15 objects.
Placing lights, cameras and trigger objects (triggers would be implemented by probably Mike since he developed the cool event manager)
Full control of placement, rotation, scale and possible path animation of all objects in a level.
Selecting control systems, keyboard, gamepad or joystick
All of the things in the level editor viewer would have access to GUI based property controls.
All info for the level would be saved out to a file to be loaded by the game developer.

When I am done, any user could probably develop a real time 3D movie type of scene that would playback like a walk through or fly through.
Maybe even one item could be setup as the control object for the input device on playback. All of this info would be saved out to a file.

Hand off for possible features to be added to by other programmers:
Triggers (Event Handling)
Special Effects Handling
Artificial Intelligence for units

I guess it makes sense to select an application we would all like to use and have.

Maybe we can add applications to a poll and see which is most popular and that we all have.

Just had another thought too, that is to use Blender for the viewer editor and perhaps all of use work in python and write
an export level script that can be read by a program written in thinBasic that could react to the dynamic effects, like animation.

Open and looking forward to any feedback.

Hi Kent,

what a big project. I now have to finish some work, but during late afternoon/night I will reply here.
To answer just something :) - it is possible to interface C++ with PB/DLL, but not with thinBASIC module DLL of course.
The documentation for file format is here, but I could write a DLL for you if you want.

The final scene in thinBASIC could be handled by TBGL/Entities ( as they support maintaining for arbitrary number of lights, while just 8 can be on ) and definitely with TBEM module. Maybe if there would be tiny code editor, where we could add code snippets for each object? ( like in Delphi for controls )


Thanks, more later,
Petr

I was thinking more this editor would just create the text file as in an ini file or xml.
It would just make loading and placing things into a scene and sort of work in real time in a 3d environment to set properties with visual feedback.

Then thinBasic would be used to create the application (game, demo, fly through) but all of the level (scene) info would be loaded from the text file created by the editor.

There are actually at least 2 parts, so as not to get confusing... 1.) the editor (developed by us in a compiled language or python if we go the blender route).

The second part is not in our hands, but 2.) the programmer wanting to use the files created by the editor. They would use thinBasic for this.

So for us is to determine which language or way to go for part 1.


It might be nice to have a dll as it is something you could probably do quickly in powerbasic since the code is already there. This way any user could use m15 files in whatever language that can access dlls. As you know I wrote a loader in Delphi, but it didn't optimize or figure out the normals, stuff I know you already figured out.
So no sense reinventing the wheel when you have it. So when you have time a dll would be nice.

I haven't seen Mike on here lately, maybe he is on vacation... I guess we should wait to hear from him also and anyone else interested in working on this.

Hi Kent,

yes, you are right with separation to 2 projects.
I am looking forward to work on 2), the 1) is tricky :)

Language for 1) ... up to you :) Lazarus is not bad at all, but superlong compile times ( at least on my PC ) are a bit frustrating. I guess I would take the role of "support coding", like the DLL and/or thinBASIC loading of scene.

You know me, for 1) from compilers I would choose PowerBASIC :D but I guess the dialog design part would be too frustrating comparing to Delphi.

I cannot speak much of C++, as my knowledge of it is as big as the one about Spring habits of Inuits :)

So its up to you, I think you like Delphi quite a lot ( and know a lot about it ) and if Mike will develop FantomGL somewhere in future ( as he likes Pascal too ), we could port it to that. After reliable interpreter ( thinBASIC :) ) we would have also compiler where we know whats going on.

I am sorry to not see Mike here for longer time, hope he is ok.


Petr

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Psch

I am sorry to not see Mike here for longer time, hope he is ok.

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Every now and then he is present here. Maybe busy with other stuff.

Petr I dreamed about the project while sleeping... we could do it all in thinBasic. In order to do it, we need to have an opengl screen along with a panel to place controls on to.

The other thing is to have an opengl screen with 2 viewports. 1 viewport 3d and the other 2d for controls.

This way having these kind of options will make many different types of application development possible in thinBasic.

So the question is how best to go about doing this. I definitly need your thoughts on this one.

Oops, was just reading through tbgl help, see there are viewport commands :)

I will try to develop something this route as the program will all be in thinBasic then and easily modified by all users to meet their needs.

glut might be your friend, "glutCreateSubWindow"
http://www-etud.iro.umontreal.ca/~cl...SubWindow.html

or this one
http://www.codeguru.com/cpp/g-m/open...cle.php/c5583/

Hi,

I think the viewports could do the job.

Thanks for the help Holomind, the second link looks good.
Regarding the GLUT - it is interesting library ( I learned big part of OpenGL when using it ), but the callback based engine is not very natural for me.
I am using it in my school project and it is not very happy work.

The window as a control is on the wishlist with high priority, but to be fair it won't be ready sooner than this summer. The same applies for the bone system, so not sure if we should hurry now. Maybe better to wait once those features will be implemented?

I would love to see this project progress soon, but as it is will be quite a opus magnus, better to go in little, sure steps.


Thanks,
Petr