Prerelease Completion / Progress post.

[darqSHADOW]

New Particle Editor release, as promised!

- Added more error msgs, as I discussed earlier.
- Added an option that determines if the particle system will auto-update or not.
- Added menu option, context menu option (right-click), and F5 to reset particle system manualy.
- Fixed the attractor treeview bug (Thx Anti-Grem)
- Some other stuff that I don't remember (as Sylvain always says...)  

DS

[Arli]

New:

* DLLS
* Converter
* PlugIns

Hot fresh stuff, get it now.

Prepare for another plugins update in a day or two with 3dsmax exporting crash on submaterials, and skin modifier a bit more tweaked.

In this plugin pack there are new milkshape plugins and also 3dsmax6 plugins have been fixed not to use same ID so no collision when loading up 3dsmax6 anymore.

[Arli]

New DLLS and PlugIns up!

Its 2:40 AM so im too tired to write everything that was fixed, but note this; bugs were fixed in:

* Camera
* Mesh
* Actor
* Physics

So please re-test with new dll if you had problems etc.

Also new plugin pack. Fixed Milkshape TVA exporter. Max plugins have had a overhaul, should work export ALL correct biped and skin characters now (finally nailed that skin modifier bug). Also if you experienced crashes with exporting some geometry in max, that should be fixed now (thanks James).

Gnight.

[SylvainTV]

To complete what Arli said :

New features/ Bugs Fixed :
 -> CPU transformation for Actors. So now actors will be able to work even on non T&L card...
-> This brings another huge advantage :  Actor.SetShader.  You can know use SetShader on an actor, however you must use this CPU mode,  so don't forget Actor.SetActorMode(TV_ACTORMODE_CPU) before loading. It hasn't been tested with too many shaders though.
-> New Newton Release, no new features but maybe bug fixes
-> bLocal boolean added to physics.GetAngularVelocity / GetLinearVelocity..
-> Camera.AttachTo/SetParent added. Not really tested tho. SetParentEx to come later.
-> Fixed TVA saving code, it wouldn't export chunk size correctly.
-> Fixed Import/ExportAnimation, should work in all cases now.
-> Fixed TVA memory leak
-> Minor bug fixes.
-> Fixed non-consistancy of VSync

And yea don't forget to get new dlls/plugins etc because lots changed in them !

[SylvainTV]

Yet another engine release, after all this time.


- Mesh : Point primitives added (use Mesh.SetPrimitiveType POINT,  Mesh.SetPointParameters)
- It's a special render path, so don't expect every feature of meshes to work with points (like shaders or stuff like that)
- Several TVA flaws fixed, some crashs at end etc...
- Fixed animation looping not restarting after Play or Stop animation.
- Added a SetInternalShaderModel to tell the engine to limit its choice for internal shaders (btw there is no 3.0 shader yet but maybe in the future ...)
- Fixed camera attaching, in some cases you can get jittering and weird rotations, working on that.
- CPU mode "should" work now, if it doesn't please send us the model that crashes or does something weird.
- TVPackage framework added, functions are there, but not linked to the code yet.
- Some things have been improved & other small bugs fixed.
- Worked on TVLandscape new texture splatting feature, will appear in the engine soony.

- TVA Exporter for Milkshape again changed. The convert axis is maybe still not working correctly, but the Flip model is (left handed/ right handed)

[SylvainTV]

Here you go, a quite big update with first versions of new features today, especially for the landscape.


-> Actor :
  * Fixed a bug for ImportAnimations/ExportAnimations when it loaded more than one animation.
  * Added RenameAnimation (useful when you Import/Export animations)
  * Added a vS2.0 path for all the TVA/Actor shaders. It can do 53 bones at once, so it will remove some useless DrawPrimitives, however it works only on recent cards... However the vS1.1 path still works.
  * the Vertex shader version is chosen with the SetinternalShaderModel parameter of the engine. So you can still use the VS1.1 version if you like. However you can't change the version after the actor has been loaded.
  * added a "SetMaxUpdateFrequency", allows to update your actors less often, can be used for LOD actually. You can for example update the very far actors at 15fps.
  * added a boolean to "render". you can now render the actor without updating it.
  * Minor other bugs fixed.

-> Landscape :
  * The landscape will be improved in the next week with new features and optimizations.
  * For today, there are 2 new things : texture splatting and dynamic chunked LOD.
  * Both features work per chunk, the chunk being the "unit" of a TVLandscape. A chunk is 256x256 non scaled.

  * Texture splatting : allows to setup texture layers on the terrain, however it's not a static method like the TexGen, it's a dynamic method that is more accurate nonetheless. At the moment, only the non-shader version is implemented so it works on all cards with multitexturing capabilities (GF2+). The layers (splats) are composed of a base texture ( a texture that will be tiled on the terrain just like with SetTexture) and an alpha map. The alpha map actually describes where the associated texture is present on the terrain. On the alphamap : white = this texture is present 100%, black this texture isn't present here. Why is texture splatting interesting ? Simply because you can use low-detail alphamaps and high-detail base textures, it's limiting this way the memory used for textures.
  * How to use it ? Create your terrain normally with a texture (expanded or not). Then register the base texturse you will use for splatting with AddSplattingTexture. Then you can expand your alphamap & base texture on the terrain (on a chunk, several chunks or the entire terrain) using ExpandSplattingTexture. Then it's done, the terrain will be rendered with the splatting. Also don't forget SetSplattingEnable ()
  * One hint : the alpha map must be in a special format (the data must be in the alpha channel) so use the new TexFactory.Loadalphamap to convert a standard gray scale image to an alpha map.
  * Another thing : you can change the projection of the texturing for the splat. By default the texture projection is on the XZ plane, but you can use any plane for one splat, for example to simulate cliffes. Use SetSplattingTextureProperties for this, you must put the normal of the projection plane in this function.
  * You can of course change the rotation/tiling of your base texture.
  * The vertex lighting works fine with splatting, nothing to change.

  * First version of the chunked LOD
  * Well the fastest Lod for the CPU, every chunk has predefined LODs that are loaded on demand on the card.
  * Not tweakable at the moment, it's only a first test to see if you get any crashs/problems with it.
  * Enable it with TVLandscape.EnableLOD True, 0
  * there is no MaXLOD limit yet so if you go very far you will have 4 triangles per chunk only

  * setHeightArray to set quickly an array of altitudes for the terrain (replace a lot of ChangeAltitude).


-> Texture manager
  * Added CreateAlphaTexture and LoadAlphaTexture to manipulate Alphamaps
  * you can also use Setpixel and Getpixel to change pixels of alphamaps.
  * Fixed some bug in CreateTexture (it would crash in some case)


-> Particle :
  * added GetEmittorPosition

[SylvainTV]

No new dll today, but just some bugs that have been found.

- expand splatting doesn't work on NVidia cards because they don't support the A8 format, so i will use A8L8 or A8R8G8B8.
- you can't use an expanded texture for the base layer (ExpandTexture), however you can do SetTexture, then ExpandSplattingTexture
- you might experience some crashs in VB or Delphi at ending, some memory leaks.
- VS2.0 path for actor seems to not support lighting very well.


This fixes will be in the release of the weekend.

[SylvainTV]

OK Release today!

Here are the fixes :

Landscape :
   - Splatting works now on all cards, LoadAlphatexture should fallback on correct things.
   - ExpandTexture works now with splatting (but no detail texture yet)
   - Some new LOD parameters (not the final ones though)
   - Fixed some clamping problems at borders
   - Improved land rendering of 10% (better vertex caching)
   - Optimizations with shaders will come a little later.
   - Crashs and memory leaks totally removed.

Actor :
  - now VS2.0 lighting works.

Globals :
   - added some small helper methods
   - fixed GetMinimeshByID/GetMiniMesh

TextureFactory :
  - fallback to good formats for alpha textures.
  - setpixel fixed for such formats.

Particles :
  - TVP Saving/Loading was buggy, now seems fixed and corrected.


So nothing really new today, however the code is getting more stable, which is always good !

Thanks

[SylvainTV]

A new build today!

So mostly bug fixes and memory leaks removal

Landscape :
  - Fixed memory leak, the chunks memory wasn't freed (!)
  - Fixed problem with Multi landscape, you couldn't destroy a land and recreate one
  - Fixed LOD problem when the lod distance was too small
  - Added StartDistance to EnableLOD to control better the LOD
  - Added SetSplattingMode to decide between multipass mode and shader (PS2.0 though) mode for texture splatting. you will maybe not see a big difference. The limiting factor here is the fillrate in both cases
  - The PS20 shader for splatting render 4 splats in a pass.
  - Fixed some ExpandSplattingTexture bug (hard to find)
  - Changed name of ChangePointAltitude to SetHeight (easier to remember)
  - Added ComputeNormals
  - Added SetShader, now you can put your OWN shader on the landscape. Of course you must handle everything yourself, the engine just provides the good geometry/lod, etc.. But that can be really useful for people.
  - Working on the continous LOD that will allow to have no popping
  - Fixed SetHeightArray, there had some problems at chunk borders as usual...

Atmosphere :
  - Added Skybox and Skysphere SetVerticalOffset, allow to change the altitude of the box or the sphere for some effects.
  - Fixed default settings of atmosphere rain, it should make some rain now by default.

Shadow :
  - now Mesh.SetShadowCast False/True  doesn't crash anymore (i hope)
  - fixed some memory leak here too.

Path :
  - Fixed some Path bug especially with MoveNode

Actor :
  - Removed big memory leak of Face Adjacency.

Viewports/RenderSUrface :
  - Fixed wrong ratio when using Viewport or RenderSurface cameras.
  - Added SetNewCamera to TVRenderSurface, allowing to set your own camera instead of the autogenerated one.


Misc:
  - Memory leaks removed a little everywhere.
  - Little other bugs fixed

Have fun

[SylvainTV]

Hello, quite a big update today actually. Tons of bugs fixed and small new features added.

* Landscape
- Added GetLandWidth, GetLandHeight and GetPrecision, so that you can get back easily the information about the chunks in the terrain
- Added SetHeightArrayEx that uses a stream data source for some language not supporting arrays with Byref
- Added the first version of FixSeams for the terrain. This functions allows to fix the seams (hence the name !) between two landscapes that are touching. One landscape must have one side that is exactly touching (on X or Z axis) the other landscape. The functions actually works with different precisions/width/height, so its pretty universal and should fix the normals too (they are just copied, not averaged though). It really makes MultiLandscapes easy!
- Fixed some optimize splatting issues.
- Fixed some LODs issues, now it should compute the LOD correctly for scaled terrain, and you shouldn't see any "cracks" anymore between chunks.

* Actor
- Fixed some weird problems with CPU mode & morph target rendering, that happened when you had several actors on screen at the same time.
- More shaders should be usable with Actor CPU mode now.
- Added InvertNormals. Useful for Maya models that are reversed for some reasons. We will probably add an option in the Maya TVA exporters though.
- Added GetEntityIndex.
- Fixed one bug with custom bones (SetBoneRotation/scaling etc..) , now their matrices are correctly multiplied by the parent matrix.

* Minimeshs
- Added a path for VS2.0 for minimeshs. So it can handle 48 minimeshs in a draw call instead of 16 for VS.1.1, quite an improvement.

* RenderSurface
- Added Scene.CreateRenderSurfaceEx to have more controls on what rendersurface you create (2D rendersurface only atm). You can choose the format and even have a non 2^n rendersurface.
Why a non 2^n surface would be good ? For example for most effects you want actually to draw the scene twice (glow, depth of field etc..) but before you could only render on 2^n rendersurface, and of course when you copied on the main buffer, it was either shrinked or stretched which resulted in a performance & quality loss. Now you with this, you can just put width & height = 0 and put the bUseMainBufferSize = true, then it will create a rendersurface with the same dimensions as the main buffer. Warning : using non 2^n texture has some disadvantages, you can't use filters for it and you can't tile them on an object for example. Note : in the available formats you can see HDR_FLOAT16 and HDR_FLOAT32, they actually are floating point surface formats that can be used with Pixel Shader 2.0 to render in HDR or to use the surfaces as temporary " vector arrays" on the GPU.
- The special "mainbuffer size mode" implies that the rendersurfaces are resized when the main buffer is resized (viewport resize)

* Physics
- some new functions here, especially for actors.
- AddActor, AddActorEx, CreateActorBody is just like the AddMesh... functions, so you can just use a bounding volume. But it will be linked to the actor.
- AddActorBone that allows to link a bone of one actor to a body. Of course you can see the obvious, it can be used to make ragdolls, when you call this function, the body and the actor bone must "match", then then engine will remember the offset transformation between both So now the hardest is to setup your body correctly with joints etc... Would be nice if someone built a ragdoll editor or something
- Fixed a nasty bug that would happen if you used several colliders in a same body.
- Added AddEllipsoid and AddEllipsoidEx, it's more or less just like sphere but you can change the "radius" of each axis. Might be good for ragdolls.
- Added AddConvexHullFromPoints, this function creates the convex hull from a array of points you give and not from an existing mesh.

* Mesh
- SetGeometry collisions should now work.
- Added Create3dText, allows to create real text volume from a specified font & text ( same as 6.2 one )
- Added SetOverlay : using this, rendering of the mesh will be done without depth testing (good to make one mesh on top of everything)
- Normally alphablending should work with PS2.0 path of bumpmapping now ( not so sure, didn't test it back )
- Fixed some functions so that they support 32bits mesh better and faster (for GenerateNormalMap normally)
- Added AddFloorGrid and AddWallGrid. They are extensions to the well known AddFloor and AddWall, It's useful when you have a wave shader or if you want a better per vertex lighting .

* NormalMap generator
- Fixed a nasty bug in the Octree, some artifacts were at the borders of the octree.


* Misc.
- Various mem leaks removed.

* Text
- Now allows text size > 150, but warning : the texture used for texturefont becomes HUGE.

* Math
- Reordered the Atan2 so that it's consistant with other libraries.

* C++ classes
- Added more operators overloading and functions for cTV_2DVECTOR,cTV_3DVECTOR,cTV_4DVECTOR

* Converter
- Added OBJ -> TVM converter, its usually used for high poly meshes of NormalMap generations

[darqSHADOW]

Updated the ParticleEditor, finally.  

A method name had been changed in the core, which caused the old version to not work properly.

DS

[SylvainTV]

After one month of silence, this is a new update

Quite a lot of things have been added actually.


General :

-> updated to DirectX SDK June 2005. The D3DX library is now not in a static lib format anymore so we have to compile with a d3dx dll. This means you will have an extra dll to worry about Normally you should get it with the DirectX SDK June 2005, but we will provide it here at the moment until we find a solution.

If you have already installed the DirectX SDK June 2005, no need to download more DLL.

You can install either the SDK :
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=69BF704D-CD35-40C4-91A5-AA0E27C8F410&displaylang=en

or simply upgrade DirectX 9.0c
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3AD9F0D1-8D81-40C8-9815-924DCD4CD2C5&displaylang=en

to have the correct dll.

However it's also available on the beta page.



-> changed wrapper generation for .NET arrays. Now it uses real .NET arrays and not "pFirstElementFloat" anymore. Much more intuitive.

-> Particle Editor updated ! More on this in darqSHADOW's post.


Engine :

Landscape :
  -> added Progressive LOD. This means that actually the engine will "morph" between one level and another. This is done in a new vertex shader. However it has some drawbacks : it's a little slower than just simple LOD, need more RAM and video memory. But well it's working and remove 99% of the popping. The lighting in this vertex shader can be max. a directional light and 4 point lights (just diffuse, no specular at the moment). This "should" work fine with Splatting and Shader splatting, but i'm not 100% sure
  -> To use progressive lod you just have to enable LOD normally and then call SetProgressiveLod(true). However, as the progressive LOD uses some linear algorithm, you must make sure that your Lod switch distance is greater than twice the chunk size in unit (like  512 for a landscape without scaling )
  -> Fixed  FixSeams function (that wouldn't work with custom land position). It is still not compatible with LOD though. It might work correctly with progressive lod because of the linear nature of the algorithm though.
  -> Fixed some things in splatting.

Mesh :
  -> added GenerateUV function. this function will create a new set of texture coordinates for the mesh. It actually finds the best parametrization to cover the entire mesh without too much stretch and without too many chunks. This function is useful to get a 1:1 texture mapping that can be used for Per pixel PRT, lightmapping, or drawing on mesh. You can specify the layer in which the function will add the new texcoords. 0 is the usual layer used more or less everywhere, and 1 is a layer used for lightmapping for example.
  -> added ComputePerPixelPRT : this function is in experimental stage, it's somewhat working for several models but it has several annoying bugs still (wrong texture used etc...). you can test it though. However you should generate an unique UV parametrization before calling computeperpixelprt. To enable Per pixel PRT lighting, you must still set the per vertex lighting mode (weird i know !)
  -> Added EnableFrustumCulling, allowing to choose the frustum culling mode (box or sphere) and to disable the automatic culling ( you should not !)
  -> Fixed Culling when calling SetMatrix with a scaling component.



Particle system :
  -> Fixed the spelling error "emittor" -> "emitter", be careful, every method with the word "emittor" changed
  -> Added UpdateEx, that allows to update the particle system with the specified time elapsed.
  -> Added Pregenerate, that allows to pregenerate particles of one emittor
  -> Fixed Box surface generation.

Physics :
  -> Added FreezeBody function. When you're sure you don't need the object to interact with others => can free some cpu cycle
  -> 1.35 version of Newton should be released soon. So expect some bugs fixes in next release
  -> Fixed slider/hinge motorized joint, there was a sort of mix up
  -> Added some "Unfreezebody" calls when the motorized joints are used.
 

Actor :
  -> Added Actor.SetColor. Remember to use it with RGBA / RGBA256 or a hex number.
  -> fixed one or two bugs.
  -> some animation/morphing bugs will be fixed for next release.
  -> Fixed some culling problem when using Scene.RenderAll()
  -> Fixed some GetBoundingSphere/GetBoundingBox, it should work in all conditions now. in Local space it won't be moving, and in world space it should move with the skinning.
  -> Added support for alphablending (SetBlendingMode/SetAlphaTest etc..)

MiniMesh :
  -> Fixed GetPosition/GetScale

Shader :
  -> Added Shader.Destroy that was missing ( remember that the destory method make also the object invalid, you must recreate one)


Camera :
  -> Added SimpleFollowingActor/Matrix to do be same as chaseCamera
  -> Added a check for CustomProjection with TVCamera when the device is reset/lost. Now it doesn't put back the standard projection anymore

AI system :
  -> Added Save/Load. It actually saves everything you created in the AI class (node/graph etc..)
  -> Added SetNodePosition/GetNodePosition


Package :
  -> Package should be working now, except some memory leak. More on this in darqShadow's next post.

[darqSHADOW]

TVPackage:

This is the first run at this, just to get the framework in peoples hands.  The fast encryption is working, however there is no compression as of yet.  (I cannot find a compression library that is fast AND can compress images -- since images are already compressed.)

Every file can be encrypted with a different password, if you like.  Simply make sure to call the SetArchivePassword prior to adding the file, and extracting/getting it from the package.

CRC32 testing is not enabled in this version, so the SetCheckCRC32 method does not do anything as of yet.

When adding files to packages, you need to give it the filename, and a package filename.  The package filename is what you will use to extract the file.  By doing this, you can create a directory-like structure inside of your packages.

Most of the methods ask for a package ID, but the Get/Extract methods can search all open packages for a given file, but this is slightly slower.  The table of contents is loaded when a package is opened, so there are speedy lookups, however.

Use ExtractFile to extract a file to disk, and GetFile to extract to a memory stream.  You can, for example, do this to load direct from package into TV3D.

TVTextureFactory.LoadTexture( TVPackage.GetFile("filename") )

NOTE: There is a known memory leak here.  I will be adding a "CleanUp" method later on, to resolve this.

ParticleEditor:

Many new changes in the core of this one.  I rewrote the entire internal structure that allows you to make changes without resetting the property grid.  I am sure I have introduced new bugs here, so if you find anything, please send me a copy of the TVPJ that crashes it so I can reproduce the problem on my end to fix it.  

Keyframes for emitters and particles are now working, as can be tested with the included TVPJ files.  There are many effects that can be achieved with this, just let your imagination run wild here.  Again, any bugs, please send me a way to reproduce, or what you did and I will take care of it.

UPDATE: I forgot to tell you, minimeshes are not back in yet.  I had a problem during conversion so they don't quite work.  I will re-release this weekend with the fixes.

PackageCreator:

This is in the works, and will be coming out shortly, now that TVPackage is in everyones hands.  Drag-and-drop support, and Winzip style so it should be easy to use for most people.  More info in the short when this is ready...

DS

[darqSHADOW]

ParticleEditor was updated earlier today, and I forgot to post about it.  

This version should have all known bugs fixed, although keyframes will still be buggy until we can get another DLL release out.

Minimesh particles still are not working properly, but I'm attempting to knock that out tonite, along with some more TVPackage fixes.  Another update in a day or so.

Known (What I remember) Fixes:

- Delete Emitter should no longer cause a crash
- Right-click on the tree should no longer cause a crash
- Attractors are working once again, I've included a sample (see image)  You'll need to rotate the view to see it, since the particles are coming directly at the camera.

http://www.truevision3d.com/ds/pe/pe-attract.jpg

DS

[SylvainTV]

Hello, quick update for several bug fixes

Landscape :
  -> Regenerate normals fixed (after a SetHeight/SetHeightArray for example)
  -> Improved speed of FlushHeightChanges (just a little)
  -> Fixed the culling issue with non uniform scaling. I will have to change the culling algo a little though, it's really bad with big scales

Package :
  -> Fixed memory leaks
  -> Use of a new special Stream handling for package.
  -> More fixes/functions to come.

Particles
  -> Fixed wrapper/Core emitter/particle keys
  -> Added SetEmitterDirectionCubeMask. This allows to make a "mask" for an emitter that allows to send the particles in some directions only. Note that the function requires a cube map. On this cube map : white means a possible direction, black totally impossible. And you can use values between black and white of course (different probabilities).
  -> Don't use too big cube maps, else it will be quite slow.
  -> Fixed Box volume/Box surface/Sphere volume/Sphere surface emitter.

Actor
  -> Fixed GetBonePosition/SetBonePosition, it should use the bLocal argument now.
  -> Fixed Animations Ranges with GetKeyFrame and SetKeyFrame

Scene
  -> Changed the IFormat of CreateRenderSurface to the enum.

Mesh
  -> Added GetTextureModMatrix (only use it once you rendered the mesh once though)

TextureFactory
  -> Fixed a problem with DeleteAllTextures, the textures wouldn't get removed from the texture factory collection.

Globals
  -> Added Vector4 and TVPlane "pseudo-constructor" for .NET and COM dlls

[SylvainTV]

There you go a release

Most important things for this release is with exporters :
  -> Maya 6.5 exporter added.
  -> Maya inverted normal / flipped Z fixed. Now no more problems with black bumpmapping or lighting.
  -> export Selected  fixed for Maya.
  -> Animation length/frames fixed for both Maya and Max, now there is no "frame multiplier" anymore. The frames you get in the engine will be exactly the same as the ones you have in Max or Maya. that could help a lot in modelview or to define animation ranges.
  -> Some stability issues fixed  
  -> Export all keyframes by default. If you want a file a little smaller, export only the needed frames


Else what's up in the engine ?

-> Actor :
 * fixed a GetAnimationLength issue, so now it will return the good length and also SetAnimationLoop will work better.
 * fixed Update with duplicated models. Now they will animate correctly and use the good bones and not use the bones of the last animated model.
 * fixed boundingbox/boundingsphere for duplicated models.
 * Now can return boneid when you do hitboxes collision for actor (or mousepick)
 * GetCollisionBone added in TVCollisionResult class.
 * Fixed corruption problem when Loading/saving TVA (herisson problem :p)



-> Shadows
 * Shadow on render surface wasn't working ok when the rendersurface was bigger than the viewport.


-> Particle system :
 * Now the particle system uses the smoothed time too.
 * UpdateEx fixed
 * Pregenerate fixed

-> General
 * Added c++ constructors for cTV_PLANE
 * Fixed the SwitchFullscreen so that it creates a new window if you specify no optional handle.
 * Added types for custom vertices. (TV_BUMP_VERTEX, TV_COLORED_VERTEX)
 * Fixed a weird problem with SetAutoResize that affected also input in fullscreen

-> Input engine
 * Added EnableWindowsKey for .. enabling/disabling the windows key obviously..


-> TextureFactory
 * Fixed the Ref count for landscape. They might be still some places where ref isn't updated though.
 * Now CreateTexture uses the alpha boolean and it chooses 16 or 32bits mode according to the SetTextureMode arguments
 * LockTexture/UnlockTexture/getDC/ReleaseDC is more forgiving and give more debug info when a problem happens.
 * Fixed RealWidth/RealHeight in texture info.


-> Effects
 * Fixed Fade/flash when using line rendermode.

-> Mesh
 * Fixed TVM Load/Save for group names and texture names.
 * added SetAttachMode to change the attachment mode: remove scale and only position.
 * Added Line primitive for mesh. It's quite limited though, you can use only LINELIST primitive. Just call SetPrimitiveType LINELIST and add your lines with AddVertex. Usuually you will want color with this, so use SetMeshFormat(TV_MESHFORMAT_DIFFUSE) so that you can use per vertex color for the lines with AddVertex.
 * SetGeometry speed improved (when the mesh format is the same)

-> MiniMesh
 * Added alpha sorting for minimeshs (only in the minimesh collection)
 * Use SetAlphaSort to enable it, it's not enabled by default because it's still a little slower.

-> Water effect
 * Added more parameters to tweak the water effect with colors and animation.
 * added SetWaterReflectionColor, that allows to change the "perfect" mirror thing.
 * added SetWaterReflectionBumpAnimation allows directional animation too now.
 * Water can be now 2x better with these function

-> Normalmap generation.
 * We noticed that sometimes when the triangles of the high poly mesh were too small, there were some problems with accuracy. So now there is a "scaleHint" in the GenerateNormalMap function in order to "scale" the model internally before doing the calculation. The engine can't find a good value automatically so it's like a tweaking value to search

 
-> Physics
 * Still no new newton release
 * Added UnfreezeBody function.

Have fun

[SylvainTV]

Here you go, another release

It will be hard to remember every thing that changed but well let's try :


- Physics engine :
  -> New physics engine release from Newton ! Faster collision, and continuous collision is working now !
  -> added capsule collision (good for ragdolls)  AddCapsule/AddCapsuleEx functions
  -> added more support for Ragdoll system (see BeDI's very good video)
  -> fixed a bug with AddActorBone, now it renders with the good offset. And SetBodyMatrix works also with this offset.
  -> added SyncBodiesWithBones, useful helper function for ragdolls, allows to setup your bodies (attached to the actor via AddActorBone) like the current animation frame. Usually good to call when you're about to start your ragdoll effect.
  -> added SetJointCollision,  enable/disable the collision between the two bodies linked by the joint.
  -> Fixed DestroyBody that wasn't releasing actor bone.
  -> some other small fixes.


- Actor :
  -> fixed SaveTVA/LoadTVA for materials. The materials were not saved / loaded. Be careful though you might have to reexport the models.
  -> added SetGroupName/GetGroupName/GetGroupByName
  -> added debug message for LoadTVA when texture file is not found.
  -> fixed some more "herisson" problems (bad actor skinning) that would happen after a SaveTVA


- Milkshape3D exporter
  -> fixed bad skinning/animation problem
  -> fixed bad GUI for the checkboxes
  -> added Flip X command to transform to Left Handed coordinates

- TextureFactory
  -> SetPixelArray added. Ability to set pixels directly in a rect of the texture
  -> SetPixelAlpha added. changes the alpha part of the texture only
  -> SetPixelAlphaArray added . changes the alpha part of one rect of the texture (good for updating splatting layers)
  -> SetCycleKeyframe added. To reset/change the current keyframe of a cycle.

- Scene
  -> Added CreateAI/CreateLandscape/CreatePath for future use. It will be the way to create these classes, because the current way is a little messy internally.


- Shader
  -> Added SetEffectParamVector2, SetEffectParamVector3, SetEffectParamVector4 and SetEffectParamColor, for your confort


- .NET Wrapper
  -> Fixed all the array things even for basic types like float, long, etc.. tell us if you get a problem with that.


- AI :
  -> Fixed some things and GetNodeID/GetNode are changed to correct behavior now.

- Terrain :
  -> Fixed some normal problems with progressing LOD (in the lighting shader too)
  -> added ReplaceSplattingTexture
  -> added Enable
  -> added SetCollisionEnable, now a way to disable the collision for a land when using scene.advcollision !

- CollisionResult
  -> added GetCollisionGroup

- Camera
  -> Added getWorldPosition that allows to return the world position of the camera (knowing all attachments) and not the local position like GetPosition does

- Misc.
  -> More things have been tested and fixed. some new features are getting ready but are not available yet


There are also package system changes/additions/fixes, darqSHADOW will talk about them when he will come online


Have fun with that !

[darqSHADOW]

Updates to TVPackage...

- Fixed a number of internal memory leaks.  Use Cleanup() to release allocated memory per opened package (Using PackageID -1 will call the method on all open packages).
- Fixed a bug with encryption that would cause invalid data at the end of some files.
- Added GetFileCount.  Returns the number of files in a package.  (Using PackageID -1 will return the total number of files in all open packages.)
- Added GetFileName, GetFileSize, and GetFileProtected to view file data inside of a package.  They return the filename, file size in bytes, and file protection info.

I have tested everything using a test harness, including all types of Add, Get, and Extract calls on multiple file types and sizes.  All seems well for me, but if you find problems, or notice a memory leak, please let me know, and I will look into it!

Next on the list is the ability to mark a file as deleted, and then a compact method to clean up deleted files.  This will make it easier to delete many files from inside of a package without killing a machine.  

I am also finishing up the PackageBuilder application, which will allow you to build packages much easier.  I should have a release of this very soon.

DS

[darqSHADOW]

New ParticleEditor Release

This version fixes quite a bit of bugs, including the following:

- Values were taken back to Integer value, even if you entered 0.01, etc.  They now take the proper values
- Looping now works, so you can have systems that only run through once.  F5 (Reset) will restart the system
- Minimesh particle systems now work.  There is a sample file included (mm_test.TVPJ)
- Delete now only deletes if you have the window in focus, and are not using the property grid (so you can use delete to reset values finally)
- If the window does not have focus, the app stops rendering now, freeing up CPU time for alt-tab's

If you have any problems, let me know!

DS

[SylvainTV]

Here you go, your monthly release ( yes monthly is bad :p)

3 big things in this release :
  -> Actor animation blending, to mix several animations at same time
  -> Stencil Shadows improved
  -> Real motion blur on the scene (only on PS2.0 card sorry )




Actor :

  - AnimationBlending added.
  - Blended animations are like "layers" on top of the current animation, you can have up to 4 extra layers.

Here is the list of the functions, they look like the current animation system, but it's for a layer :

   SetBlendedAnimationID  - same as SetAnimationID  for a layer
   SetBlendedAnimationByName - same as SetBlendedAnimationByName for a layer
   PlayBlendedAnimation(float fAnimationSpeed, int iBlendedAnimationID = 0);  
   PauseBlendedAnimation(int iBlendedAnimationID = 0);
   StopBlendedAnimation(int iBlendedAnimationID = 0);
   SetBlendedAnimationWeight(float fWeight, int iBlendedAnimationID = 0 );
   SetBlendedAnimationLoop(bool bLooping, int iBlendedAnimationID = 0);

  - EnableMotionBlur added. To use motion blur on an animated actor, be sure to use the VS1.1 shader model (set it before loading) and the SHADER actor mode, else it will just not work
  - Several fixes for TVA groups/materials loading.


Stencil shadows :
  - The shadow algorithm has been improved. It can be up to 5% faster on the CPU, but usually it's fillrate limited, so it doesn't change the speed too much.
  - The new algorithm now can use open meshes ! That means that 95% of the meshes/actors will be usable directly by the engine without welding/change/hole fixing. However it has a small speed cost when the engine must fix the problem itself.
 

Real motion blur :
  - This is the most important thing of this release and will allow cinematic-quality rendering in some cases. This motion blur algorithm actually computes the screen velocity of every pixel of the screen between one frame and the next one, then a pixel shader uses this velocity info to blur the scene (rendered on a RS)
  - This technique takes 2 internal rendersurfaces in R16G16F mode (floating point for velocity) and one external rendersurface (standard format a8r8g8b8) in which you must render the scene (instead of standard TV.Clear/renderTosCreen)
  - This technique works only on a DX9 level card ( ps2.0 and floating point support needed)
  - The effect can compute the velocity of : Meshes / Actors (shader mode with VS1.1 shader model only) / Skybox and Skysphere only. The other TV objects will come afterwards when the motion blur is working 100%.
  - How to use it ?
      -> Create a rendersurface of the size of the screen : use CreateRenderSurfaceEx with mainbuffer = true and scale = 1.
      -> Initialize the motion blur in TVGraphicEffects with this rendersurface. Make sure the current camera is the camera of your scene.
      -> in game loop :   render your scene on the RS normally, then outside of RS.StartRender/Rs.EndRender, call TVGraphicEffect.StartRenderMotionBlur , render your scene again (it will render the velocity on the internal RS), then EndRenderMotionBlur.
      -> then in TV.CleaR/renderToScreen, you just have to do : TvGraphicEffects.DrawMotionBlur, then all usual 2D etc..
  - You can mix that with glow and all, it should be trivial (just change order of renderings/RS etc..)
  - Have fun with that :p
  - It runs only on PS2.0 cards
  - Did I say it would run only on PS2.0 cards?
  - ...

Custom texture font
  - You can now create your own custom font texture and use it in the TV3D TextureFont interface.
  - For that, use this function :
     int TextureFont_CreateCustom(char* sFontName, int iTextureID, int iNumChars, cTV_TEXTUREFONT_CHAR* pCharArray);
  - pCharArray is an array of description for each character on your texture.
  - Then use the standard TextureFont_DrawText etc...

Screen2DImmediate :
  - added  Action_RecordDelete(int iRecordIndex) for obvious reasons.

Physics Manager
  - updated to the latest version of Newton, with several collision fixes and a working continious collision.
  - Added GetBodyMass
  - Ragdoll system updated : now the animation needs to be STOPPED so that the physics engine uses the bones.
  - Ragdoll bug fixed : now the bones are unlocked when you destroy a body that is attached to a bone.


Math library :
  - Added TVMatrixDecompose that allows to decompose a matrix in a rotation quaterion, translation vector and scale vector.
  - Be careful with the results, you "might" have to negate the .w component when you get weird results

Particle Systems:
  - Fixed some memory leaks
  - Fixed some crashes that would happen in weird conditions
  - Fixed a timing issue when using EnableSmoothing function
  - Added SetRandomDirectionFactor
  - Added some Get**** functions.

MiniMeshs :
  - Fixed memory leak (minimesh was not removed from the collection)

Profiler :
  - Fixed a timing issue. I still have no clue for the negative numbers on some computers though.


RenderSurface :
  - CreateStaticFromRenderSurface has now a Name parameter
  - CreateStaticFromRenderSurface now uses the alpha channel if you call it on a alpharendersurface.

TextureFactory :
  - Added :    SetTextureSharing , allows to stop/start the texture sharing during loading ( same filename => same texture id)


Converter for OBJ :
 - Now handles polygons up to 128 vertices. Should be enough for most uses.

Well :p that's a quite big release finally, have fun with this release