Honestly, I don't know all the KRS details yet. So, I can't really advice you. I think that 3D Canvas now has everything needed to support it.

I'm 99.9% certain that KRS will be released. I'd be shocked if it wasn't. Paul's wink referred to something else, I'm sure.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Amabilis Support,

I just reached a milestone. I got a very simple material plug-in working.

The plug-in is just a sample. It is called "Rotate Color Components". All it does it rotate the red/green/blue components of a color (red = blue, green = blue, blue = red). Not useful at all, but it is a good, simple, sample for those writing material plug-ins.

In the following, the two spheres have the same material, just a different plug-in. Notice that the material palette shows the color on the left, but the material palette preview shows the color on the right.



I realized that plug-ins can be really handy for changing settings that 3D Canvas doesn't set, or perhaps doesn't set as you would like them.

3D Canvas sets everything up for a render before calling the plug-in so a plug-in could just change one state and render all the normal states as setup by 3D Canvas.

For example, you could have a plug-in that just sets the D3DRS_ALPHAREF render state. In fact, that will be my first real plug-in.

I'm a bit ahead of schedule. I wasn't expecting this much to be done before the first beta.

I'm hoping to release Beta 1 tonight. That is assuming I don't have any problems with the installation. I don't forsee that to be a problem.

Another possible use for plug-ins is to change the parameters for one of the texture stages. For example, you could have a plug-in that lets user change parameters for the specular mapping or environment mapping.

quote:

Originally posted by Amabilis Support:
I'm 99.9% certain that KRS will be released. I'd be shocked if it wasn't. Paul's wink referred something else I'm sure.

... some stimulating good news for the future (and mysterious).

I've finished plug-in materials.

I wrote my first material plug-in. It allows you to adjust the alpha test method for textures. Basically, it defines the cut-off for what alpha value is translucent and what is transparent.

An example of various settings:

I forgot to mention that all material plug-in settings are animatable. It was quite interesting to see the Adjust Alpha Test plug-in animated.

It's funny how fast some things are to program and slow others are. For example, I essentially wrote material plug-ins this morning. But, getting prepared to implement them took a couple of weeks.

Another new Material Plug-in.

The Set Specular Color allows you to directly set the color of specular highlights.

The sphere on the left has the default specular color, the one on the right uses the new plug-in with a specular color of red.

I'm having a good day. I just finished object locking.

That just leaves cloning unfinished.

I think cloning will be the final feature for 7.0. Version 7.1 will likely follow within a couple of months.

I'm going to get to work on cloning now. Hopefully it will be quick and I can get a fully functioning beta out either today or tomorrow.

Object cloning is turning out to be quite easy. I wrote the hard part a while back when I added the data storage/entry.

I've still got quite a bit of work to do, but here's a preview of cloning:



Notice that one of the spheres is selected. If you modify the object, the changes are immediately seen in the copies.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul Gausden:

quote:

I would like to make my models "KRS ready" as I won't use any other train simulator.

Don't be so sure about that

I might have found why you said this :
http://www.microsoft.com/games/trainsimulator/

That's the one - I've been biting my tongue for over a year now.

Hint - Take a look around at the people who knew about this and who they are associated with.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul Gausden:
Hint - Take a look around at the people who knew about this and who they are associated with.

... I'm not sure what you mean... In fact, I'm sure I don't see what you mean...