3dcanvas 4.2 pro – about frames hierarchy

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

Glad you got the problem solved wit 4.22, Alex

Hi Alex:

1) if think that would be a good idea too. In the meantime, make yourself some special help objects with the shapes you want and add them to an Object Library. I made a special object library for this sort of objects, like for pivots etc: I have a pivot object which only shows the 3 axes XYZ, they are 1 cm thick and 1 m long. Use them once by draging them to the scene and manipulating them as you need, for example for frame manipulation, and delete them from the scene when you don’t need them any more.

2) you can already do many things using the hierarchy tree, as you discovered yourself.

3) like point 1 and 2, use self made placeholders <!– s:) –><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!– s:) –>

The advantage of having DirectX in ascii is that you can edit the file, and you can simply remove any placeholder objects in there. If you need the Microsoft converter convX.exe to convert from text to binary, downlod this file from my place:
[img:2ck1kme3]http&#58;//www&#46;imatowns&#46;com/xelagot/links&#46;html[/img:2ck1kme3]
<!– m –><a class="postlink" href="http://www.imatowns.com/xelagot/links.html">http://www.imatowns.com/xelagot/links.html</a>&lt;!– m –>

I see. There is no andquot;bodyandquot; for the object like one would normally expect.

A work-around is to add a dummy object in the root frame and paint it 100% translucent. They you can right-click on the hierarchy to export it. All you need is a single 100% translucent face in the root.

I agree it would be nice to export the hierarchy by right-clicking on the root-frame. And your other suggestions make perfect sense also.

Alex,

I don’t agree with you on this one, I think it was perfectly usable as it was-demonstrated by the dozens of people doing this exact thing. The question asked when exporting about exporting the andquot;root frame animationandquot; is the key to why it works.

However, it turns out that adding the ability to right-click on a frame in the hierarchy and have it export was a really simple task (basically just enabling it) so 3DC 4.22 will include that.

Richard

Hi Alex,

an empty top frame is used by some hierarchical architectures, but not by all. You can simply use the top frame/object of your object hierarchy for that, that’s what I usually do. As I said before, it would be nice if frames were also adjustable graphically, but even now you can adjust them. Right click on the frame in the frame hierarchy, and you get the Properties menu item. In fact, the Proprerties of Objects which you can get by right clicking on them (or on their placeholders in the Hierarchy tree) contain the same frame information (and a lot more).

Alex (XelaG)

Yes. I can see why it would be helpful for you. Unfortunately this is a much bigger job so it won’t be in 4.22. And since there is now a work-around (a temporary object in the root frame) it becomes a lower priority. Sorry Alex.

Richard

Okie Dokie. Good to hear that everything is OK.

Richard

Alex,

I have my grid shifted to X=-5, Z=-5 permanently. andnbsp;This is not absolutely necessary, but it helps. What you must make sure is that the top frame of the hierarchy is centered on the origin (at least, as far as X and Z are concerned) before andnbsp;animating or exporting.

Richard,

In 4.21 when I click ‘file | new’ or start 3DC, the view is centered on x=5, z=5 and looking towards the positive z axis (as in front view, but in perspective mode). andnbsp;If I then select ‘Look at scene’ the position is corrected. andnbsp;This is since this build. My grid is shifted as explained above.

Alex (XelaG)

Alex,

First off, I appreciate that you went through this much effort to try to determine what the problem is.

I looked at this in detail and what I found was that 3D Exploration requires that each entity have a unique name. As best as I can tell the only requirement in DirectX is that frames be uniquely identified so that animation information can be associated with it. This is what 3DC Pro does. But since this is obviously causing you grief and 3D Exploration is a popular conversion utility I have produced a new version that does import into 3D Exploration. You can get it from the usual place ([img:3237d3fv]http&#58;//www&#46;amabilis&#46;com/downloads&#46;htm)[/img:3237d3fv]
<!– m –><a class="postlink" href="http://www.amabilis.com/downloads.htm">http://www.amabilis.com/downloads.htm</a>&lt;!– m –>)
.

I wouldn’t suggest copying the frame setup of Truespace with 3DC. 3DC uses the DirectX file format as its internal storage mechanism. You could say that 3DC is DESIGNED to export to DirectX. In fact, 3DC uses the Microsoft written DirectX routines for all of its animation. So if Truespace and 3DC disagree on a DirectX export it is very likely Truespace that is wrong since they are translating their internal format to DirectX, while 3DC is just exporting its internal information directly without translation.

As for the shifting issue with DarkBasic, you can change the origin of the grid using Tools-]Options.

I hope this helps,

Richard

Alex,

It is likely that you are setup to look through the Animation Camera rather than the Layout Camera.

Richard