*** Please note that version 6.7 was renamed 6.6.5.0 as noted below

Hello All,

There has been a slight change of plans regarding the release schedule for 3D Canvas.

I have started work on version 6.7 of 3D Canvas. This version of 3D Canvas will be released relatively quickly as there is a very clear need for a new version. Version 7.0 is still a ways off and there needs to be some features released before 3D Canvas 7.0 is made available.

Version 6.7 will contain features to improve 3D Canvas' Cross Section Modelling capabilities including easier use of backdrops for modelling. It will also contain some additional features for those modelling trains for simulators.

Richard

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

Hello,

3DC 7.0 alpha version could not be installed along 3DC 6.6.

Will it be possible to have versions 6.5, 6.7 et 7.0 on the same computer?
It would be great not to have to uninstall 6.7 when beta versions of 7.0 will arrive.

Will we be able to use current Nvidia drivers with this one?

DOM107,

I'm hoping that it will be possible to have versions 6.5, 6.7 and 7.0 installed at the same time. I can't guarantee it though, but I'll try.

ssallen,

Yes, the new version will work with the current Nvidia drivers.

Richard

quote:

Originally posted by Amabilis Support:
DOM107,

I'm hoping that it will be possible to have versions 6.5, 6.7 and 7.0 installed at the same time. I can't guarantee it though, but I'll try.

Richard

Excellent ; it will ease / speed up 7.0 feedbacks.

Assuming that revising 3D Canvas to allow for additional train simulator exports requires reworking the Train Simulator export wizard, I have two suggestions.

I would like to see some additional options in the Train Simulator Wizard. These are options that I already can fiddle with by hand-editing the .s file output, or by using Decapod's "Shape File Manager" to modify .S files.

Some of my first models were for trees, or clumps of trees and vegetation. For MSTS to properly shade these models, they needed to have "cruciform" instead of "normal" shading. It would be helpful if alternative texture modes" can be controlled by the wizard.

Secondly, in the train simulator some textures display with moire patterns or "twinkling" as the view moves closer to textured objects. One way to reduce this effect is to change the mip mapping characteristics for a texture. I have done this by hand-editing the texture specifications from for example:

texture ( 0 0 -3 ff000000 )

to

texture ( 0 0 -1 ff000000 )

Again, if this could be controlled by the wizard it would be another time saver.

I don't know anything about actual programing for versions DirectX, or the output file format for other train simulators, but maybe these would be useful for 3D Canvas 7.* and other train simulator exporting tools?

Thanks for considering these two requests.

Hi All,

A quick update. I've been busy re-writing various areas of 3D Canvas. It's going well. I'm really happy to be saying goodbye to code written 8 years ago when I was first learning 3D.

If you are a Visual Basic programmer and want a puzzle try deciphering the SetTime and ComputeP1234 functions of the DirectX 8.1 SDK's AnimKeys Visual Basic sample code. I had the most fun trying to figure it out. ;-)

Richard

Hi All,

Today I reached a milestone with 3D Canvas. I'm quite excited about it.

For the first time I compiled 3D Canvas with no references to the old Microsoft Direct3D Retained Mode. :-)

To be entirely honest, I still have a DLL that uses some of the Retained Mode functions. These are mostly DirectX import functions that are not yet in DirectX 9. I hear that they may be in DirectX 10, so hopefully this last little bit of Retained Mode will be gone when DirectX 10 is released.

I chose Direct3D Retained Mode back in 1998 when I didn't know any better. Also, I blame a certain well known game programmer (who shall remain nameless) a little bit since he said that Direct3D Retained Mode would probably be used 10x as much as Direct3D Immediate Mode. Of course he meant for more simple 3D programs. I just didn't know any better. I was pretty clueless about 3D then.

For ages Microsoft promised a replacement for Retained Mode. I kept using Retained Mode assuming that there would be an easy upgrade to the replacement. The replacment for RM was to be included in Farenheit, the now defunct Microsoft-SGI collaboration. It was to be called XSG. I patiently waited for XSG, and then one day all references to XSG disappeared from the Microsoft website.

As a result of the disappearance of XSG I had to find a way to convert 3D Canvas from Retained Mode to Immediate Mode on my own. By this time 3D Canvas was quite large. The only realistic way to convert to Immediate Mode was to write my own replacement for Retained Mode.

So, for the last few years I have been working on my replacement. Today I finished it.

So yes, I am happy. :-) And yes, I am going out to celebrate!

Richard

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

Congratulations

I started DX programming at about the same time - I looked at RM and IM and decided RM would be a dead end, it was trying to make it too easy which would make it less flexible in the future.
- I'm glad I didn't read anything else
However, I was stopped by the removal of support for voodoo cards in DX7 VB

Any rough guesstimates for a 6.7 beta testing date?

I'm going to spend the next 2 to 3 weeks re-writing a few more things. Hopefully there will be something stable with perhaps one new feature.

I'll release something then. I'm not sure it will be worthy of "beta" status. :-) But there will be something.

Richard