Prerelease Completion / Progress post.

[Arli]

Another update on the SFxE (Simple FX Editor).

Its now version 1.0, ie a complete RC.
Already 1.0? Yes already, as the name describes it, its a very simple editor so it wasnt so hard getting up to v1.0.

The initial version always has to be 0.1 as you plan on add more stuff, which i did.
But now that i added all that i planned i belive its already v1.0 material.

Whats diffrent is:

* Drag-Drop support, Drag-Drop your shader to the window and it will auto-open, same goes with drag-drop on the EXE. Ie, it parses the commandline argument passed to it.
* If you get an error in compile it wil autohighlight the line the error occurs on, very nice for fast debugging, its posible you had just a type, right ?
* Statusbar functionality added, shows what file you have open and editing now.
* Added icons.
* Updated the highlight schemology for HLSL, more keywords added!

If you want to assign your .fx, .hlsl files with this app just do the usual Windows-Open-With dialog and choose SFxE.

It will work great!

UPDATE:
Sylv thought it might be nice to post a sshot of SFxE to get ppls attention.

So here goes:


Enjoy!

[SylvainTV]

Here again, a little slower progress but still good

Physics : new newton release, a little more stable again and optimized (for convex hull collisions especially).

Materials :  uses now the Ambient in PS1.1 and PS2.0 for bumpmapping, be careful with that if you used bumpmapping for mesh or actor, the ambient was by default 0,0,0 always, now it takes the value.
CreateLightMaterial now put 0,0,0 for emissive, and just fill ambient, spec and diffuse. Will look better we feel.

Various small bug fixes and additions, like in atmosphere, blending mode, TVM depth buffer etc...

Lightmapper : still in progress. It's more advanced than the first version wrote before so it will take alittle more time to write.

Tools : Now Modelview.exe will be compatible with the latest dlls, download modelview and add the mtv dll in the same folder.
 
sFXe editor was updated and is more stable now


Have fun :p and please retest bumpmapping to be sure it works correctly . Thanks !

[SylvainTV]

Let's go for a small update today :


Physics :
 - New Newton release with some fixes.
 - Added Continuous collision (SetBodyContinuousCollision, use only if necessary). Allows  
small bodies with high velocity to have correct collisions.
 - Added SetBodyCoriolisForces, enable this only if you want realistic gyroscopic forces

(hmm not always then :p)
 - Fixed DestroyVehicle/DestroyBody crash

Shaders :
  - People with only PS1.1 (GF4 Ti for example) tend to have problems with shaders & fog... so added a workaround that works for the Linear/Exp/Exp2 mode but you must set vertex Fog however (the fog computation is done in shader then). It works for mesh, minimesh and actor shaders, thats enough atm.
  - Disabled fog in Water internal shader, it caused weird behaviors on the same GF4TI :p
  - Changed a little the skinning algo, if you get any problems with Actor animations, you
didn't get before, PLEASE report it.
  - Fixed the material power semantic for custom shaders.
  - Changed ambient for bumpmapping shaders again. Please make sure you don't have ambient to a high number else you will get weird bump lighting.

New Lightmapping :
  - progressing very slowly, but progressing.

Misc :
  - fixed some crashs again.

Plugins :
  - Arli fixed most of the plugins problem, including wrong UV coords, inverted normals, and problems with Physique.
  - Most models should export correctly with Physique now. However be sure you don't export any Patch, the exporter and the engine don't support them, you might just need to convert them to a normal mesh and copy physique data before exporting.
  - Skin support still under development, it could still be a little buggy.


Thanks everybody
Please test things ! I notice that the testing rate decreased... thats not a good thing !

[Arli]

Uploaded new dlls now (15/11 - 05:01 AM GMT+1).

Now im off to Italy, Rome for 2 weeks..so cya all when i get back!

[darqSHADOW]

Uploaded new DLL's tonite.  I did not update the Static LIB dist tonite, however, but I will with the next update this weekend.

DS

[darqSHADOW]

All of the beta files have been updated on the site, now.  There is also a new converter available that adds convertsion between MDL -> TVA.  I will let Sylvain post an update as to what has changed.

DS

[darqSHADOW]

New DLL's uploaded, to fix the GetTex bug.

DS

[SylvainTV]

Hehe new dlls again, to fix the other GetTex bugs

Along this no real new things.

I'm still working on the lightmapper and i started also AI (path finding). Path finding will have two modes : grid A*, and node A* (this one is the 6.2 one).

Some bugs were fixed a little everywhere.

- Now the TextureStorage in TexFactory will be used in SaveTVM to save Texture finename.
- TextureFont_GetTextSize is mostly fixed.
- put repetition delay to 0 by default in Input engine
- changed shaders to accept vertex fog for bumpmapping in tvmesh/actor (was a problem on  GF4ti mostly)
- added Silent profiler (if you want to return the results at the engine unload without displaying on the screen) . new boolean in EnableProfiler
- Filename of texture wasn't stored in the textureinfo when you loaded a normal or dudv map.
- worked on a way to export texture coordinates from Max (to have lightmaps directly in the TVM loaded by the engine)
- new converter release that can export MDL to TVA
- more things

Have fun

[SylvainTV]

Hello everyone!

We are happy to release again a new version

Big things & Small things all together :


Newton/Physics Engine :
  -> New Newton release, with better suspensions for cars. You might have to tweak the values a little more since the ones you used before will make it jump a little. However the suspensions are more strong now and accept more values and the vehicle doesn't "explode" anymore
  -> Added SetBodyMass, can be useful.
  -> Reenabled Debug info rendering. Was disabled by default before. Sorry about that. It could be instable with vehicles though.


Path finding A* feature TVAI :
  -> TVAI almost completed.
  -> Now uses A* system instead of Djisktra algorithm => faster and use less memory.
  -> Uses a binary heap for efficiency.
  -> Now TWO modes of Path finding : grid based and node based.
  -> Node based is like the one of TV6.x, you must add nodes, create the graph and then search.
  -> New feature for this version : you can enable/disable nodes after having created the graph, allowing for more dynamic choices.
  -> There are now Weights per nodes too, the weights represents of course the "difficulty" of passing by the node. The less the weight is, the easier it is to pass through.
  -> You can still use world collision in CreateGraph in order to quickly establish the links between nodes.
  -> Grid based A* is the more widespread path finding algorithm available, very easy to use. You initialize the grid with the Width & Height. Then you can set the weights of each cell. A value of -1 means "unwalkable" and it can go from 0 (easy) to 255 (hard).
  -> Results for both are returned into a TVPath class. Good interface to allow directly to attach this found path to an actor. But for more flexibility you can just retrieve the path node positions
 

Plugin Update for MAX5,6,7
  -> Much more STABLE now !
  -> Modifiers crash after one or several exports fixed!
  -> Works well with all Physique-modifier models if you don't use Patchs. If you do, transform them into normal triangles.
  -> Biggest change : Ability to export the lightmaps generated by the modeler via the RenderToTexture feature.
       * Use the RenderToTexture feature and put the new texcoord mapping into Map #2. And put the lightmap texture in another slot than Diffuse one (like Emissive or AMbient map for example it doesn't really matter)
       * Use the TVM exporter to export your objects in a TVM, don't forget to check the "Export Lightmaps" check box too.
       * Load it directly in your program or in ModelView and everything is rendered automatically as it should.
  -> Easy to make your map and render your lighting in MAX then export everything into TVM. And later into TVO for map rendering.
  -> Warning : you should attach objects that share the same materials into one object so that only One lightmap is generated for it. Remember : the less textures/lightmaps/mateirals/groups you have, the faster it will render.
  -> Be amazed and try this new feature, we are waiting for your screenshots heh


Own Lightmap Generation
   -> Packing system improved : now computes automatically the best layout for the chunks on the lightmap. Not so fast as before but faster than

the lightmap generation anyway.
   -> Correctly generate with shadows and Phong shading (no more flat shading yet)
   -> Generic system that will work with terrain/TVO and mesh.
   -> You can try it on ONE mesh right now with the Mesh.GenerateLightmap, it will be expanded later for several meshes. Remember it's still in experimentation phase. But it should crash less than before.
   -> Compatible with Modulate2X and AddSigned, to be able to handle values more than 1.0 (sort of fake specular lighting but looks good enough)
   -> Some minor problems like missing triangles or accuracy problems, they will get of course fixed soon.

Misc.
   -> Added LookAtPoint for Mesh & Actor (with Y rotation lock or not)
   -> Added GetBasisVector for Mesh & Actor, to know the direction, up, and side vectors.
   -> Added ForceUpdate in InputEngine in order to update the input things outside of a TV.Clear or TV.RenderToScreen call
   -> Fixed SetRepetitionDelay that could never be disabled.
   -> Fixed a stability issue with TVM/TVA texture filenames.
   -> Now Mesh.SetTextureLayer kinda works, but the enum isn't here yet. It will get added soon : 0 modulate, 1 add, 2 addsigned, 3 modulate2x
   -> Added GetActiveCount for lights.


There.. it's all
Have fun with this !

Please test most of this, if you can !

[Arli]

PlugIns package updated!

Maya 6 plugins are updated, so for the people that use Maya 6 and have had problems exporting animated meshs please get this update!

[darqSHADOW]

The Particle Editor has been uploaded to the beta page now.  The debug items are not completed yet (the items that tell you why a particle system is not rendering), but many of them work right now.  If you have problems, please let me know, as I will be updating this editor through-out the beta.  Thanks!

DS

[SylvainTV]

There you go, another release !


* Physics Engine
-> No new Newton release this time.
-> New Explode function. Simple function to make explosion on body based on distance and radius.
-> SetBodyMass added.

* Actor manager
-> changed shaders so that bumpmapping + vertex fog works correctly.
-> no more weird invisible actors normally.

* Mesh Manager
-> SetGeometry/SetGeometryEx works now!
-> Allows to setup quickly your geometry in a mesh if you have ready data.
-> Allows to load from external file format.
-> Allows to create easily dynamically meshes without using AddVertex.
-> You can use indexed data or not indexed (just pass 0 to numTriangles if you don't have indexed data)
-> Allows for multi materials with the FaceGroupId features. One material ID per face!


* InputEngine
-> Added SetMousePosition
-> Added GetControllers (that returns a TVGameControllers class)
-> Added IsMouseButtonPressed (up to 8 buttons now then!)
-> Added GetControllerByProduct and GetControllerByInstance

* Lightmap generator
-> Fixed several things, Octree collision works now well for generation
-> Automatic packing & scaler algorithm improved.
-> Some details about the progression are put in the Debug output (not debug file though)

* Terrain
-> Fixed some memory pointer problem with LoadTerrainData (thanks Newborn for that!)


* Maya plugins :
-> Improved, and flipping UV fixed.
-> If you don't get good texturing, try to check "flip V", it should fix your problem.
-> Rotation problem with negated quaternion w fixed.

* Misc.
-> Some memory leaks fixed.
-> Several other things I've forgot

Have fun with that!

And Merry Christmas!

[SylvainTV]

Happy new year, there go a new release:

-> Physics engine : New Newton Release !
* Choice of the solver. Now there is the possibility to choose between 3 solvers : exact, adaptive and linear. The exact solver is the one that was used before and it's still the one by default. The adaptive one cuts the number of solving passes (square root of the usual number) and adds passes until error is small enough. It's a good compromise for quality/speed.  And linear is only O(n) , and starts from 2 passes to n passes, so it's witohut a doubt the best one not have an exponential speed decrease with big piles. You can specify TV_SOLVER_EXACT, ADAPTIVE or LINEAR in TVPhysics.SetSolverModel(solver), but you can also use a number > 2 to increase the number of linear passes. That probably be an argument later on.
* Same thing for SetFrictionModel where you can specify TV_FRICTION_EXACT or TV_FRICTION_LINEAR
* Explosion has been "improved" with collision but some changes will still be needed.

-> Actor manager :
* TVA loading fixed : less problems with models with non-animated bones.
* TVA/X bounding box/sphere fixed : no more problem with huge radius/center now.

-> Stencil shadows :
* Changed the order of some instructions, let us know if you get any problem with the new stuff.

-> Landscape
* added SetCullMode in order to allow double sided terrains.

-> TVA/TVM/TVP loading/saving
* added an internal StringTable system in order to store texture name / filename of any size. This way no more wasted memory or path length limitation.
* old models are still compatibles.

-> TVActor/TVMesh PS1.1 and PS2.0 bump shader
* added the use of the specular color. Now normally the specular color of the material will be used and not be ignored like before. This has been required to make special effect. Wasn't really tested so let me know if it works correctly or not.

-> New landscape
* some code has been started, but it's quite difficult to start things very quickly. There will be first a sort of technical research before adding to the engine.

-> Misc. things
* some mem leaks removed.
* updated code to DirectX9 SDK Dec 2004.
* maybe more minor things.

Have fun with all that !

[SylvainTV]

Yes a little new update today to fix several big problems :

-> Watermark wasn't visible after a run of the program. Sorry about that
-> Landscape was back culled by default instead of front culled... but i'm sure you changed that by yourself !
-> TVM loading had a huge memory leak, and it loaded actaully each time the file in memory without freeing the memory
-> Stream library memory freed too
-> Water bug that was introduced yesterday was fixeD.
-> yesterday, forgot to mention a bug fix about viewports : now when you create a viewport, it creates an associated camerea directly, this way it acts like 6.2 and you can do Setposition or whatever on the new camera and not use CameraFactory class


-> btw warning ! Now filter in LoadTexture means "stretching". so by default now it's True (old behaviour). however the non stretching can be useful with non 2^n texture for GUI or whatever.

Thanks

[Arli]

DLLS are now uploaded, they were supposed to go up yesterday but just when i was getting the release ready to get uploaded my internet connection died.

But now its there.

[Arli]

converter.rar is now updated aswell to match new DLLs.

[SylvainTV]

Finally a new release

Little spread thingys


Converter  3DS->TVM:
  - Fixed some minor things for mode 1, it wouldn't make a correct mesh in all case.
  - Now you can choose to change the Axis mode for this 3DS convert too ( see the help on converter.exe)
  - It's same as "ConvertAxis" in the old 6.2 load3DSMesh function.
  - Save also mesh groups/materials name too.

Max Plugin :
  - "Export patch" renamed to "Export Lightmap" for 3DSMAX6 one
  - The crashing bug is being fixed but it's not done yet. Soon though !

TVA Exporter :
  - Fixed Animation number if there is no animation
  - Added every vertex which are not attached to any bone to bone 0 (root)

Physics Engine :
  - Added SetJointStiffness : can be cool to tweak the stability.

Particle :
  - If you use custom shader, the engine will now put the texture in the DIFFUSE or TEXTURE0 semantic.

Shaders :
  - Fixed the volume procedural texture when ResourceType was "3D"

MeshManager :
  - Fixed a mem leak / crashing bug that would make the unloading crash once a while.

Collision Manager :
  - You can know get the texture UV of your picked mesh when you do mousepick.

Water effect :
  - Fixed the effect so that it doesn't suffer from floating point accuracy with time.
  - Now the small "offset" is set automatically and correctly. Be sure to retest your water!

Landscape :
  - Readded ULTRA setting.

Atmosphere :
  - Added some Get function to get current state of things.


ATL/Wrapper
  - Fixed some things with out/in arguments that was causing unexpected crashs with SetGeometry for example, in the same time, other things have been improved/fixed .

Actor/Mesh
  - Added SetQuaternion, some people requested it :p


and various other things !

[SylvainTV]

New release with Some little changes :

- Actor shadows now working for duplicate
- Shadows should be working even if the mesh/actor isn't in view.
- MorphTarget compiler: changed a little the accuracy.
- added some Get_ in atmosphere
- fixed SkyBox_GetTexture

enough for today


-> soon :
- line/point for mesh
- tvdeviceinfo fix
- etc..

[SylvainTV]

There you go a little update :

- Some memory leaks fixed.
- You can now initialize twice the physics engine with the .NET dll.
- Added  ClearKeyBuffer in InputEngine to remove the buffered keys events without returning them (useful when the form does not have the focus).
- Added some other Quaternion functions in all classes.
- Fixed Specular/Emissive semantic in shader.
- Fixed a weird mesh crashs that would happen randomly
- Fixed load TVM from memory
- Fixed "initialize" message when terrain is started
- Added missing Atmosphere functions.

-> added some debug message for Pixel/Vertex shader version for Tecnobacon especially.

[SylvainTV]

Sorry for the delay anyway, not much unfortunately today  :

New release !

- ResetMesh was handling weirdly the transformations afterwards. Fixed!
- TVA morph targets were bad in some cases. Should be fixed now ( and faster hopefully)
- Some other fixes ( can't remember all of them )


Some other should follow shortly !