trancerobot thats interesting. I hate how I start things then move on to other things so often. Hopefully I will work on that game again soon.
I made another tutorial video for ShaderFusion. This ones is about doing rim lighting on objects using fresnel. Something I have wanted to do for a long time is give ShaderFusion to polycounters for free, so if anyone wants it you can PM me.
you say you need a 4 dimensional vector for this but afaik that's not really necessary. a 3 dimensional vector does the same since you multiply it with a 3 dimensional vector. I'm not sure but I'd even go so far that a 2 Dimensional Vector should work as well if you then hand over the value of the third value to a new three dimensional vector. Need to get my math sorted out though, didn't do this in a long time.
Don't have any screenshots yet, but I'm working on developing a rudimentary 2D-focused game engine using OpenTK. I'm trying to build it using a structure similar to Flixel, only in C# and targeting Mono.
we finally got around implementing an updater (think windows update) for our scripts, plugins and tools. It runs in the tray, is 0-install - just run it, it pops up notifications when software needs to be updated and can install everything automatically (e.g. maya scripts, 3ds max scripts). The updater can also update itself.
There's also interfaces to use this tool from inside an app to ensure important scripts (e.g. exporters) are up to date before launching them.
On top it gives a basic interface to browse scripts by name or tags. We hope that this will help artists to discover and try out new scripts to improve their work flows, in addition to using up to date and approved tools.
The whole system is based on P4, so we can store multiple versions of a tool, together with a short description of what the tool does. We can also manually set which version we consider "current". The whole system is also paired with a SQL database, so in theory we can also support different projects, log which tools are installed by which user, etc.
Oh yeah, apparently the file is still pending moderation, you can get it here.
It seems the video is locked as well, if you're too lazy to go back 2 pages just [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrqYYU69LH8[/url]check it here[/url].
we finally got around implementing an updater (think windows update) for our scripts, plugins and tools. It runs in the tray, is 0-install - just run it, it pops up notifications when software needs to be updated and can install everything automatically (e.g. maya scripts, 3ds max scripts). The updater can also update itself.
There's also interfaces to use this tool from inside an app to ensure important scripts (e.g. exporters) are up to date before launching them.
On top it gives a basic interface to browse scripts by name or tags. We hope that this will help artists to discover and try out new scripts to improve their work flows, in addition to using up to date and approved tools.
The whole system is based on P4, so we can store multiple versions of a tool, together with a short description of what the tool does. We can also manually set which version we consider "current". The whole system is also paired with a SQL database, so in theory we can also support different projects, log which tools are installed by which user, etc.
Woah that sound cool Kwramm. Been working on my HLSL shader. Got blinn working with normal maps spec etc. Need to add in multiple light support and currently looking into if I can script somehow a better menu for the HLSL plugin.
Figured out booleans in HLSL. Also got half lambert in there Way easier than I expected. Probably gonna have to re code spec and diffuse as separate functions. Model provided by a classmate of mine, Tim Pogson. Next up is gonna try to have TF2 rendering in there (hopefully) and parallax occlusion.
Tech talk thread seems lonely. Anywho worked/finished my post process anaglyph shader. Older image and got the stuff on the right fixed thanks to an old grad from college (dont know if he's on polycount) and was a simple clamping of depth map. Anywho less talk
This is always the most interesting thread, imho. I wish I had 1337 techartist skills. How long does it take to be so awesome?
Im probably no expert to comment on this. But pretty much at the start of the summer, I knew jack shit about shaders. Tonnes of people on polycount/tech artists forum pushed me in the right direction. Looking back is weird haha, but basically its not how long it takes but rather how much effort you take into going out there and finding the information. Especially true with shaders, half the time when Im trying to do something is looking around for sample code/attempts people have done. As long as you go about it in the mindset of understanding how it works, you'll learn. Especially true with code. Last summer, I knew jack shit about MEL and fast forward to now and Im gonna release my FBX batch exporter that has helped a tonne in UDK exporting. So just keep striving and learning Thats what tech art is all about.
Well, nothing to post right now, as I've been crunching at work, but in my "spare time" I've been working on a C# Shader gen program. It's not per se a "flow graph" method but rather a larger scale program that's helping me (nay forcing me ) to plan OOP ideas better (Encapsulation, Inheritance, and Polymorphism).
At work, I mainly work in Maxscript, HLSL, with C#/.NET from time to time, but often it's more or less to get something done as fast as possible.
At home, however, I can plan out better designs, iterate on ideas, improve, etc.
Hopefully I'll have something to post in a few months, if not sooner.
Also, I have a rather large-scale procedural art script idea I have written out for Maxscript, but "large-scale" and Maxscript don't always go hand in hand (struct as class woes).
Ahoy,
I've added some stuff to the mxs-editor, inspired by the bigger IDEs out there. What I got so far is a working outliner in realtime, and a simple explorer. Then i smacked them into a dotnet form.
Looks awesome. I cannot get into 3ds even after massive modeling scripts additions. Most likely because of the modifier stack that is annoyingly long and need constant input when working, but that looks clean, simple and perfectly usable. I think with that kind of ui I could actually get into it !
The autodesk design approach seems to be to create tools that fix symptoms, rather than fixing the source of the symptom. It's very complex and I understand scary for new users.
I think another problem with this is that each time they add an ease of use feature they tread on the toes of their established user base. I dont know who their Internal testers are but they sure as hell aren't doing a good job. Also you have to question why they chose to use C#, the 'Just in time' compiling is maddening.(Why cant that be permanently cached)
The new scene explorer is a total pain to wait for, Atleast Bobo persuaded them not to remove the old one.
The viewcube caused me major issues with network renderering. It used to cause render slaves to crash if they were rendering from a camera. It also caused the max perspective viewport to jump about randomly.
The Ribbon in its initial incarnation was horrendously slow and leaked memory like a sieve. I could never use it for more than an hour without needing to restart max. as it stands now it still slows max down way to much to be a serious consideration for me. The Horizontal orientation also raises some questions. 99% of folks use wide screen monitors and are restricted on vertical real estate.
The Caddies did nothing new except look prettier than the old dialog boxes.. at the cost of making you wait a few seconds to see a dialog box, and chasing them around the screen was a nightmare.
I dont think they've released a single well recieved UI update since they added Scintilla. This said XBR seems to be pushing things in the right direction.
Looks awesome. I cannot get into 3ds even after massive modeling scripts additions. Most likely because of the modifier stack that is annoyingly long and need constant input when working, but that looks clean, simple and perfectly usable. I think with that kind of ui I could actually get into it !
Thats suprising to hear, Max is like a badly organised version of Silo. It has all the same modelling ops and they work in much the same way. Just avoid the stack when you start. All the modelling Ops you need are in editable poly, or can be accessed from the ribbon.
Yeah, except.. like I said BUTTONS EVERYWHERE §. That's something very annoying in max (I don't want to start yet another 3d app war please), for example, If I want turbos smooth on top of the stack and work on editable poly, I've to activate the end result button in the stack (or in the horrible ribon).
I know that can be scripted, but that simple thing is horrible:
When I want to add symmetry to the mix, I must first select my editable poly in the stack then add the modifier. No if I want to go back to modeling, I must RESELECT my editable poly.
That's what I mean when I say the stack needs constant input. You can't have modifiers activated and working while still in editable poly modifier (without scripting which I've done but still hate max for this), this happen all the time whne you're working with multiple mesh on project.
I heard that the autodesk team is working on a new improved "mod stack ui". I hope it's not another ribon mistake.
And that's why I would welcome a simpler Max, call it even a dumbed down version if you like I don't care
[EDIT] Did I mention the flickering command panel and delay when switching between components mode, which alone makes me want to leave the app ?:poly127:
Ahoy,
I've added some stuff to the mxs-editor, inspired by the bigger IDEs out there. What I got so far is a working outliner in realtime, and a simple explorer. Then i smacked them into a dotnet form.
awesome stuff!
does it autocomplete the command you are typing? does it suggest what could be the next part of a line one is writing?
yeah,that looks awsome havardsc.
xxxmor: if he's extending the existing editor autocomplete is already in there. Christoph sent me a link the other day, I believe it was this
been wrapping my head around some vector math and C++ recently with the result of writing a small program which convertes cube maps <-> spherical maps. ...so good bye HDR shop!
we finally got around implementing an updater (think windows update) for our scripts, plugins and tools. It runs in the tray, is 0-install - just run it, it pops up notifications when software needs to be updated and can install everything automatically (e.g. maya scripts, 3ds max scripts). The updater can also update itself.
just like to say, i've been wishing for this sort of functionality for years! I know its for inhouse tools, but it'd be fantastic if maya/max/zbrush all had better update abilities - something like google market (update all!) or windows update for all scripts (and even preferences) would be amazing
actually I'm surprised that there's no commercial product a la "windows" update available to keep all kinds of software up to date. Because the tool my team and I have been developing isn't that 3D specific....
But I guess with real apps with installers IT can somehow push them to be auto installed over night...
Anyway, it's a lot of work It sounded easier at first than it actually is. What really adds a lot of overhead to the implementation is just dealing with all the different windows, maya and max flavors and the combination of all of them.
actually I'm surprised that there's no commercial product a la "windows" update available to keep all kinds of software up to date. Because the tool my team and I have been developing isn't that 3D specific....
But I guess with real apps with installers IT can somehow push them to be auto installed over night...
Anyway, it's a lot of work It sounded easier at first than it actually is. What really adds a lot of overhead to the implementation is just dealing with all the different windows, maya and max flavors and the combination of all of them.
Thanks for trying to help but I think you should read my earlier post we want to keep our own software base updated (including our own scripts and plugins), from our own local software depot - not from the internet; together with the possibility to push mandatory software updates and have auto installation. Ideally we also want to gather some usage statistics as to who installed which program and which version is being used.
I think if there were a commercial product it would be called a "software deployment" system. Unfortunately I didn't find anything that's even remotely fool proof and artist friendly and customizable.
I'm surprised at some of the Max opinions. As a novice 3D modeller, I found Max the easiest software to learn modelling in, especially compared to Blender
I'm surprised at some of the Max opinions. As a novice 3D modeller, I found Max the easiest software to learn modelling in, especially compared to Blender
You should have tried silo, then you would look at max differently (even though the two don't play in the same team regarding functionalities)
Made a "1 click" clipboard uploader. You just copy an image to your clipboard or hit printscreen then load the program select the area you want and click "Upload", then you are taken to the uploaded image in a web browser.
that's sweet, keen. I'm the laziest person on earth when it comes to uploading+linking shit so that's especially pimp to me. It's even uploading to your own webspace?
some of you might have seen this one already, for for those who haven't, here's a script i've been working on for a couple of weeks, as a final examination assignment for school. it's goal is to generate animated grass with as much control as possible for the user.
a description of the so far implemented functionality can be found, together with the script itself, here:
been improving estrela's auto completion. using more and more lua / Luajit2's ffi api to call native C dlls
Also added some type resolve based on "clean c headers" as used for LuaJIT's ffi
next up is detecting structs and functions within a shader file. I use www.luxinia.de/index.php/Estrela/Estrela a lot at work, so it gets more and more features. also trying to throw together a new "leaner/looser" rendering framework "luxinia2"
I´ve been working on a ModelViewer/Editor of some sort for Ogre3D for a while now, this is what i got so far:
Current Features:
- Only supports Ogre .mesh files and predefined materials.
- Changing light colors and their positions(only orbit around predefined points for now)
- Standard viewport navigation(Pan,Zoom, Move)
- loading and playing animations on different speeds
- program can be linked to mesh files, to open them with double-click
- Colored Wireframe View
Planned Features:
- Automatic reload of changed Textures for better feedback while texturing
- Free positioning of Lights
- basic obj to mesh support
- Material generation
- List or Treeview for Mesh and Submeshes
- .dds support for thumbnail view and full picture view
- FPS and current triangle count
Let me know what you guys think and maybe give some feedback about the general UI.
I´m trying to get it as Artist friendly as possible.
Edit:
The 2 white boxes are placeholders for Treeviews and this model is just for testing
2nd iteration of a GUI sketch for a internal drag and drop do cool stuff tool. Me and some other game coders here at work want to write a few commands that we need every day at work such as sort, create or modify sprites, sprite sheets, PSD files, xml and or other level or tool files.
Replies
Which is still cool. After all, nobody noticed this in Sonic 3.
I made another tutorial video for ShaderFusion. This ones is about doing rim lighting on objects using fresnel. Something I have wanted to do for a long time is give ShaderFusion to polycounters for free, so if anyone wants it you can PM me.
[ame]
you say you need a 4 dimensional vector for this but afaik that's not really necessary. a 3 dimensional vector does the same since you multiply it with a 3 dimensional vector. I'm not sure but I'd even go so far that a 2 Dimensional Vector should work as well if you then hand over the value of the third value to a new three dimensional vector. Need to get my math sorted out though, didn't do this in a long time.
There's also interfaces to use this tool from inside an app to ensure important scripts (e.g. exporters) are up to date before launching them.
On top it gives a basic interface to browse scripts by name or tags. We hope that this will help artists to discover and try out new scripts to improve their work flows, in addition to using up to date and approved tools.
The whole system is based on P4, so we can store multiple versions of a tool, together with a short description of what the tool does. We can also manually set which version we consider "current". The whole system is also paired with a SQL database, so in theory we can also support different projects, log which tools are installed by which user, etc.
Yay, cheers Chai.
Woah that sound cool Kwramm. Been working on my HLSL shader. Got blinn working with normal maps spec etc. Need to add in multiple light support and currently looking into if I can script somehow a better menu for the HLSL plugin.
[ame]
Been learning MaxScript, in order to generate and edit road networks in 3DS Max, export them out to XML and load them in my city simulator.
FOR THE LOVE OF THE ALMIGHTY TRIS PLEASE SHARE THIS §
Seriously this makes max looks like a normal child without chickenpox...
haha. I could never do the cross eye method
Im probably no expert to comment on this. But pretty much at the start of the summer, I knew jack shit about shaders. Tonnes of people on polycount/tech artists forum pushed me in the right direction. Looking back is weird haha, but basically its not how long it takes but rather how much effort you take into going out there and finding the information. Especially true with shaders, half the time when Im trying to do something is looking around for sample code/attempts people have done. As long as you go about it in the mindset of understanding how it works, you'll learn. Especially true with code. Last summer, I knew jack shit about MEL and fast forward to now and Im gonna release my FBX batch exporter that has helped a tonne in UDK exporting. So just keep striving and learning
At work, I mainly work in Maxscript, HLSL, with C#/.NET from time to time, but often it's more or less to get something done as fast as possible.
At home, however, I can plan out better designs, iterate on ideas, improve, etc.
Hopefully I'll have something to post in a few months, if not sooner.
Also, I have a rather large-scale procedural art script idea I have written out for Maxscript, but "large-scale" and Maxscript don't always go hand in hand (struct as class woes).
I've added some stuff to the mxs-editor, inspired by the bigger IDEs out there. What I got so far is a working outliner in realtime, and a simple explorer. Then i smacked them into a dotnet form.
I think another problem with this is that each time they add an ease of use feature they tread on the toes of their established user base. I dont know who their Internal testers are but they sure as hell aren't doing a good job. Also you have to question why they chose to use C#, the 'Just in time' compiling is maddening.(Why cant that be permanently cached)
The new scene explorer is a total pain to wait for, Atleast Bobo persuaded them not to remove the old one.
The viewcube caused me major issues with network renderering. It used to cause render slaves to crash if they were rendering from a camera. It also caused the max perspective viewport to jump about randomly.
The Ribbon in its initial incarnation was horrendously slow and leaked memory like a sieve. I could never use it for more than an hour without needing to restart max. as it stands now it still slows max down way to much to be a serious consideration for me. The Horizontal orientation also raises some questions. 99% of folks use wide screen monitors and are restricted on vertical real estate.
The Caddies did nothing new except look prettier than the old dialog boxes.. at the cost of making you wait a few seconds to see a dialog box, and chasing them around the screen was a nightmare.
I dont think they've released a single well recieved UI update since they added Scintilla. This said XBR seems to be pushing things in the right direction.
Thats suprising to hear, Max is like a badly organised version of Silo. It has all the same modelling ops and they work in much the same way. Just avoid the stack when you start. All the modelling Ops you need are in editable poly, or can be accessed from the ribbon.
I know that can be scripted, but that simple thing is horrible:
When I want to add symmetry to the mix, I must first select my editable poly in the stack then add the modifier. No if I want to go back to modeling, I must RESELECT my editable poly.
That's what I mean when I say the stack needs constant input. You can't have modifiers activated and working while still in editable poly modifier (without scripting which I've done but still hate max for this), this happen all the time whne you're working with multiple mesh on project.
I heard that the autodesk team is working on a new improved "mod stack ui". I hope it's not another ribon mistake.
And that's why I would welcome a simpler Max, call it even a dumbed down version if you like I don't care
[EDIT] Did I mention the flickering command panel and delay when switching between components mode, which alone makes me want to leave the app ?:poly127:
awesome stuff!
does it autocomplete the command you are typing? does it suggest what could be the next part of a line one is writing?
this here, that explorer and thegrak's psd to rollout script are a dreamteam!
now if i could only script better >.<
Damn! Autocomplete just got 1 zillion times more usefull
Thanks for posting that.
Its worth adding 'then' and 'do' to the list. makes it much less annoying
havardsc:
that looks really really usefull.
also could a mod pm me. I've got something to ask them about the forum :thumbup:
says so on the bottom of the forum listing
http://jtnimoy.net/workviewer.php?q=178
just like to say, i've been wishing for this sort of functionality for years! I know its for inhouse tools, but it'd be fantastic if maya/max/zbrush all had better update abilities - something like google market (update all!) or windows update for all scripts (and even preferences) would be amazing
ahhhh, maybe one day...!
But I guess with real apps with installers IT can somehow push them to be auto installed over night...
Anyway, it's a lot of work
This program shows updates of many softwares.
I think if there were a commercial product it would be called a "software deployment" system. Unfortunately I didn't find anything that's even remotely fool proof and artist friendly and customizable.
[ame]
[ame]
Made in one week !
I'm glad to have finished the global work of this features and movement (still need little polish of course).
You should have tried silo, then you would look at max differently (even though the two don't play in the same team regarding functionalities)
It has none, there is a c++ sdk for silo 1.4 but silo 2 never got it.
And heres another example just for fun!
a description of the so far implemented functionality can be found, together with the script itself, here:
http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/animated-grass-generator-script
enjoy
Also added some type resolve based on "clean c headers" as used for LuaJIT's ffi
next up is detecting structs and functions within a shader file. I use www.luxinia.de/index.php/Estrela/Estrela a lot at work, so it gets more and more features. also trying to throw together a new "leaner/looser" rendering framework "luxinia2"
Here's my first automated 'high tech hole" script. Maxscript is kinda fun actually
Current Features:
- Only supports Ogre .mesh files and predefined materials.
- Changing light colors and their positions(only orbit around predefined points for now)
- Standard viewport navigation(Pan,Zoom, Move)
- loading and playing animations on different speeds
- program can be linked to mesh files, to open them with double-click
- Colored Wireframe View
Planned Features:
- Automatic reload of changed Textures for better feedback while texturing
- Free positioning of Lights
- basic obj to mesh support
- Material generation
- List or Treeview for Mesh and Submeshes
- .dds support for thumbnail view and full picture view
- FPS and current triangle count
Let me know what you guys think and maybe give some feedback about the general UI.
I´m trying to get it as Artist friendly as possible.
Edit:
The 2 white boxes are placeholders for Treeviews and this model is just for testing