3DC 6.0 Wish List

Work on 6.0 has now begun. The priority will be modelling improvements as indicated by the 6.0 poll.

Thanks to everyone who made suggestions for 6.0!

Richard

Richard,
As for the new renderer, is it possible to have both a new renderer, and Pov rendering, or would this be an either/or situation?

Tools like unwrapping, uvmap, and uvremap would probably be just as easy to use for andquot;in placeandquot; editing, but it seems that the Lathe and Extrude tools would be a bit more difficult to use. I believe the latter two are best as is.

My wishes would be for;

1) An On/Off type option for auto-banking used with aircraft animations.

2) Animation paths, or path names that are visible in the object library.

3) An option for auto-linking(proper term?) of an object to a predesigned path.

Les

Hello All,

6.0 is currently in the andquot;researchandquot; phase. I have a few ideas about what I would like. I am considering the following:

1) New renderer

Not everyone agrees with me on this since POVRay produces excellent results and rendering is just a single click on the andquot;POVRayandquot; button.

2) Improved andquot;in placeandquot; editing

I would like more of the tools to be andquot;in placeandquot; rather than opening a new window. The negative of this is that andquot;customandquot; tools such as the Lathe tool tend to be easier to use for beginners than andquot;in placeandquot; tools.

Nothing is decided yet.

Note that 6.0 is a very long way off. Don’t expect it until the Fall/Winter at earliest. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be updates to 5.5. No doubt there will be new features between now and the release of 6.0. The enhancements to 5.5 will be restricted to scripts/plug-ins/operations.

So, what would you like in 6.0? I can’t promise that I will include any andquot;wishesandquot;, but I will consider all of them.

Richard

I think this would go under the new renderer, but i think that cartoon shading would be really sweet! Hmmm… Nothing else really comes to mind now. Ill tell you if i think of anything else.

Simon

Alex,

You know my opinion on Skeletal and Unwrapping. Also, it sounds like you didn’t read the updated Unwrapping tutorial.

As for import/export, I have no plans to change this much. If people want 3D Exploration, they should buy 3D Exploration. It is a good product.

There will be no changes to the GDI resources issue because there is little that I can do, and it is not really necessary. I suspect by the end of the year most people who are likely to buy 3DC will have upgraded to XP, where this isn’t an issue.

Also, you can’t have #1 without a new rendering engine.

But, thanks for your other suggestions,

Richard

Richard <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

You might guess what I would like…

GROUP ALL OBJECTS in workspace (rather than one at a time)and then change the coordinates XYZ of ALL the Objects…

Move ALL OBJECTS to upside down

Move ALL OBJECTS to stand up and lie down

Move ALL OBJECTS to lie on side

Move ALL OBJECTS to face forwards or backwards

This would be usefull for Importing different file formats Objects and then Moving them to the correct XYZ positions for Exporting to different Games…

Also I like the idea of freehand modelling… <!– s;) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!– s;) –>

1st point…zeroXYZ click mouse ! then for 2nd point use 4 arrow keys left/right/back/forward and 2 keys up/down click andnbsp;mouse for next point…(the single arrow clicks could be set in units of 0.1 to 10)

You would be able to see the object appear in the workspace !

…its ok I think this would require a completly new 3D Modeller

Here is something I would like to see. Sometimes when I open up a model that I have downloaded or a model that I get from one of my games and open it up in 3DC, the model is so huge that I have to keep moving back and back and back until the model will fit into the entire view in 3DC. I would suggest that whenever you open up a model that the view will automatically adjust to fit the entire model in the screen. This would be nice, or is there already a way to do this and I just don’t know?

Support for TrainZ? Why stop at MSTS?

<!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>
I know this is probablly too hard but…

I would love to be able to ‘control’ what i create

sort of like a game..

but im just dreaming lol.

I think that would be too impossible probablly!

other than that i cant think of anything new (at least right now)

maybe something will come to me lol

later…

<!– s;) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!– s;) –> andnbsp;hi, i thought of something i would LOVE to see in 3dc…

animated textures!!

this is probablly very diificult but would be extremely coool!!

i want to simulate water moving thats how it came to me!!

bye..

Richard <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

Dropdowns for Topbar…

Edit andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp;View

select All andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; Zoom 1:1

Group (All) andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp; Zoom + 2
Triangulate (All) andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp;Zoom + 10

Flip Vertical 180 andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp;Zoom -2
Flip Vertical andnbsp; 90 andnbsp; andnbsp; andnbsp;Zoom -10

Flip Horizontal 180
Flip Horizontal andnbsp; 90

He he he andnbsp;… Just for me !

For the MSTS export, more distance models are needed so that we can match the M$ supplied models. I think they use 5. It could be fairly simple to control, any objects in the top level of the heirachy (main) would appear in all models, objects in the next level down would appear in all but the farthest, and so on, then anything in the fifth level, or lower, would only appear in the closest distance model.

Also, it would be nice to be able to view the different distance models as a check that they look OK, or if objects need to be moved up or down a level.

Hi all,

Thanks for all of the suggestions. It appears that most of the suggestions can already be done with 3DC. Alex had quite a few suggestions that were new. Also, Cartoon rendering is something I think would be cool.

A couple of points:

Ian: 3DC’ technique for creating optmized distance levels (I think it create 5 or 6) is quite sophisticated and given the right model produces what I would consider to be an andquot;optimalandquot; progression with the final distance level being just those objects in the andquot;mainandquot; group. But I definitely can see your point.

As for flipping/lighting/mirroring/animated textures etc. These can all be done in 3DC right now. Probably the first step is to ask andquot;How do I do this in 3DC?andquot;. And when you are sure that it can’t be done add it to this list.

Richard

Hi again, just one more lol :

more advanced lighting system where you can make it even darker or brighter-(for individual lights)

thanks.

Richard <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

The Properties/Group Orientatation Tool is Excellent <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

If I GROUP ALL the objects to one another and use
The Right Click Grouped Objects and Properties/Group Orientatation Tool, I can Rotate to the required 90 or 180 Degrees…this is Excellent <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

But, I’m not sure if I understand the flip tool, it will not flip GROUPED OBJECTS, like above…only merged or single objects !

This would be Good:

The Flip tool (or Rotate 180 Degrees for SINGLE or MERGED OBJECTS)

EXTRA :
The Rotate tool (90 and 180 Degrees for ALL GROUPED OBJECTS) would be good <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

So, for quick modelling…A GROUP ALL TOOL and a Rotation Tool which could do the same as the Orientation Tool to Rotate ALL the GROUPED OBJECTS quickly either 90 or 180 Degrees XYZ !

This is only to explain my thinking before and only a thought…