Land Gravity, Fog, Recalc Animation, & Lots More For 2.153

[thyme]

The above image was taken Sataurday in Seamless chat, The seamless chat server has not been modified since 2.148 but Asheanor has got the seamless server running from Alain's dedicated OVH server in France and so far I have not experienced loosing my connection once fingers crossed this is not just luck

Sorry I am a bit late announcing this version but I was up much of the night getting it ready for Saturday's chat and had no time left to write the announcement until after a rest. Just as well I took a rest because documenting this many features has proven to be a few days work. While testing some of the new features I found some minor bugs that has now been fixed for 2.153 and so to save time I am announcing 2.152s features here for 2.153

Open source 2.153 is available for download from:

http://seamless3d.com/download

doBuild() script Function

The doBuild function allows seamless script to control when a build node performs a build operation.
The script that generates the railway sleeper and the script that duplicates and places all the leaves on the trees for the new Techuelife Island is an example of the doBuild function being utilized by a seamless script algorithm. Although I have had scripts build geometry on the fly before, the doBuild function and Seamless3d's procedural modeling environment greatly simplifies the script and because the geometry ends up in white Parts instead of VRML/X3D Shape nodes, the geometry does not have to be deleted by hand after saving the file to reduce the file size (white parts automatically delete any geometry they contain when files are saved).

Recalculating an Animation to Match a Default Pose

When importing an animation into an avatar, a common problem encountered will be that the default pose for the animation will not match the default pose for the avatar.
Seamless3d now addresses this issue by allowing us to modify an animation's default pose.
For help on how to do this see the new tutorial: Recalculating an Animation to Match a Default Pose


Export to BVH

Not only can you import from, you can now export to BVH files by right clicking on an Anim node in the scene tree and selecting export to bvh. This allows animations to be exported from seamless to a range of popular 3D platforms such as Second Life.

Create Lathes from pivotPoints

The simple lathe type avatars made from lathes that you get when importing from BVH files can now be created directly from any avatar that uses pivotPoints by right clicking on the Seamless node and selecting: create lathes from pivotPoints. Such a simple simple lathe generated avatar has significant advantages for storing animations because it adds so very little to your file size.

Disable Dimension Tug for NurbsPatch

I have added 3 check box fields to the NurbsPatch, xTug, yTug & zTug. The user can prevent themselves from tugging in any dimension by un-ticking the appropriate box..

Land Gravity

I have built into seamless the same sort of land gravity the robots use for Techuelife Island so that any avatar in a world that uses this type of gravity can move over the hills.
I must point out that this is not a general type gravity for all objects (which I will add later), but it is much more efficient because the CPU does not have to test 1000s of triangles to locate which triangle the avatar is positioned over. To specify this type of gravity for your world you must specify the nurbs patch that is being used for generating the land. This is simply done by giving the nurbs patch a name beginning with "land". For this type of gravity to work the nurbs patch must be exactly square with the number of staves equaling the number of rows and must be centered exactly at the middle point. It can not be translated or rotated but you can compile transform the patch's scale field so long as your X and Z are equal. Because all the land vertex points must be exactly square and evenly spaced, to create land for this method you want to un-tick the NurbsPatch's xTug and zTug fields so that you can only drag up and down. Do not worry if this sounds complicated, it is not really at all once you understand and there is no need to understand this if you begin with an example already set up for you. I will soon set up a flat NurbsPatch so that anyone (even with no previous skills in using seamless) can make some land with hills (with gravity enabled) by simply tugging the control points.

Avatar View

When you move your avatar in seamless chat the viewpoint will now automatically follow your avatar much like it did in blaxxun. You are still currently free to drag the world view by right dragging which makes it possible to see the face of your avatar or view the world from any angle positioned around your avatar.

backfaceRender Field

I have added a backfaceRender render field to the TextureEffect and ColorEffect nodes. When this field is checked, all triangles that use the Effect node will have triangles visible both sides.
backfaceRender is the equivalent of a VRML/X3D object field.
I have noticed that for textured triangles all seems as one would expect but for colored triangles the inside triangles are black but because I get the same results from Contact when color per vertex is used this is probably a DirectX or video card specific issue.

Display Multiple Textures and Material Settings for a Single Seamless Node

You could many years ago plug in multiple Effect nodes into a single Seamless node (which allows for more than one texture file per avatar) but this was only useful for exporting where as now you see the effects inside seamless. It is more efficient to use only one texture file per Seamless node but there are times when it is useful to be able to have more than one texture. for example if you want to import a textured accessory to your avatar. Remember that a single Effect nodes affects the part it is plugged into and all it's descendent parts. If you want to use the same Effect for other parts that share the same Seamless node that are not in the same branch (in the skeleton), reference (USE) the Effect node where needed but do NOT reference an Effect node outside the Seamless node because Effect nodes contain data that is indexed specifically for the Seamless node.

Import HAnim Avatars that Use IndexedFaceSets and HAnimSegment Nodes

With HAnim it is possible to have multiple IndexedFaceSets for your skin, also it is possible to have extra IndexedFaceSets contained in HAnimSegment nodes, Seamless can now import these IndexedFaceSets eaither way. When importing an HAnim avatar you will not see the extra IndexedFaceSets until after HAnimHumanoid is converted. The HAnim avatar must either use textures for every IndexedFaceSet or color per vertex for every IndexedFaceSet but can NOT be a mixture of both textures and colored vertices. When importing HAnim avatars that use multiple texture files the texture maps will be in tact but you will need to manually specify the extra texture files. This can be done by plugging in extra TextureEffect nodes for the appropriate parts. I have tested importing multiple IndexFaceSet Hanim avatars that have been exported from Seamless3d and from Vivaty Studio that was supplied from nontiti but because none of these examples contained IndexedFaceSet nodes that were transformed by Transform nodes, if you want to import an avatar with such a scenario and get strange effects, please let me know.

VRML97 Fog and Fog2 Nodes now Functioning in Seamless

Fog and Contact's extension the Fog2 nodes could be set before inside seamless but until now they did not function inside seamless.

Miscellaneous

The Viewpoint node's fieldOfView field now functions.

I finally remembered to invert the caret when Seamless3d's windows are inverted (Settings->invertWindowColor).


Bug Fixes

A bug that would prevent a VRML background node from being exported correctly has been fixed. Thanks to Alain for finding it.

A bug that would cause a crash when importing a VRML Shape node directly into a Part if the shape node was a child of a grouping node has been fixed.
This bug-fix was kindly posted by a C++ programmer from his iPhone stating exactly what the problem was and what line to fix. It felt very good to receive this message and was a realization that Seamless3d is benefiting from being part of the open source community

[fabricator]

Import HAnim Avatars that Use IndexedFaceSets and HAnimSegment Nodes

With HAnim it is possible to have multiple IndexedFaceSets for your skin, also it is possible to have extra IndexedFaceSets contained in HAnimSegment nodes, Seamless can now import these IndexedFaceSets eaither way. When importing an HAnim avatar you will not see the extra IndexedFaceSets until after HAnimHumanoid is converted. The HAnim avatar must either use textures for every IndexedFaceSet or color per vertex for every IndexedFaceSet but can NOT be a mixture of both textures and colored vertices. When importing HAnim avatars that use multiple texture files the texture maps will be in tact but you will need to manually specify the extra texture files. This can be done by plugging in extra TextureEffect nodes for the appropriate parts. I have tested importing multiple IndexFaceSet Hanim avatars that have been exported from Seamless3d and from Vivaty Studio that was supplied from nontiti but because none of these examples contained IndexedFaceSet nodes that were transformed by Transform nodes, if you want to import an avatar with such a scenario and get strange effects, please let me know.

The Recalc Animation part works great, unlike my own attempts to fix this problem which still haven't worked right.

I converted the HAnimHumanoid node into a Seamless node, beyond that I couldn't get the 2nd and 3rd textures to display. The TextureEffect node in the part node just makes the geometry go 100% transparent as soon as I added the node. Adding the texture url did nothing.
I have avatars with multiple textures, some of which are combined into one Part node as part of this import process, no idea how to fix that inside seamless3d.

Also accidentally selected an skin shape node when converting to a Seamless node make the program crash.

Overall the H-Anim import is better, the reapply textures part is a pain though, as is the no mixed material only/textured shape nodes. Still I can make complete animations in it now, which is good.

[Alain]

as fabricator told me about Recalc ;
and
as legloups told me , yesterday, after my last mail to him ,

"C'est vrai que ce serait sympa de faire un p'tit truc sur le H-Anim " ,

"it would be nice to have some stuuf about H-Anim ",


I took a look at that , because I played recently with BVH but not with H-Anim .

I found some on Web and used one here ,

mixing it with seamless , vrmlpad , Lucy , feet I found , and Spazz for one shape , etc .



http://dumenieu.free.fr/louizeforum/sea ... seled2.wrl


BTw I was able to open that in seamless , and to output ,

but the "convert to seamless" crashes .

But I made so many things I dont know exactly witch ones , LOL , I guess I was wrong .

Anyways I feel that bot funny LOL .

I made a second just to hear friends telling me

" awwwww ! O My God ! alain , please stop that !! "

)

http://dumenieu.free.fr/louizeforum/sea ... 2woman.wrl

[thyme]

Thanks for the feedback fab

I converted the HAnimHumanoid node into a Seamless node, beyond that I couldn't get the 2nd and 3rd textures to display. The TextureEffect node in the part node just makes the geometry go 100% transparent as soon as I added the node. Adding the texture url did nothing.

If you send me an example file where this happens I will see what I can do to make seamless import it.

I have avatars with multiple textures, some of which are combined into one Part node as part of this import process, no idea how to fix that inside seamless3d.

This will happen when more than one IndexedFaceSet is used for the HAnimJoint nodes (the skin).

Although seamless can export multiple textures for the skin I guessed most would want to export at least the skin using a single texture but perhaps not.

In this case you will need to transfer the ownership of the vertices you want textured by a different texture into a new part added (typically as a child of the part they are being transferred from).

Doing this would have been much easier had I completed my poly model demo that made use of a new feature that let you select multiple vertices at a time. I got close to completing it late last year but ever since this project has been put on hold for lack of time

Using existing features, if the vertex count is not high it should be reasonably quick to transfer the vertices one at a time.
To do this copy the destination part (to copy the part's ownership) and then paste the ownership into the vertex by selecting the vertex (hold down control so you do not drag the vertex by mistake) and press the short cut keys Control o

You can repeat the pasting process any number of times without needing to copy the ownership each time.

Also accidentally selected an skin shape node when converting to a Seamless node make the program crash.

Although Seamless protects the user from making many simple mistakes there are also many simple mistakes seamless will let happen. Seamless will be made friendlier in the future but for now many of these helpful features are in the low priority basket. They may be simple to implement but there are so many of them.

is a pain though, as is the no mixed material only/textured shape nodes

Sorry about this, I considered making it so a mixture of textured and colored parts could function for some time and also adding a MonoColorEffect node for single colors but I think this will be a lot of work to implement right now and have reasoned there are too many other tasks itching to be done that have been put on hold for too many years. One can get by with 100% textured avatars (and most do this) for the time being. Because seamless will export all the parts that use an Effect node to their own IndexedFaceSet, the textured components can be removed from an IndexFaceSet using a text editor after the avatar is exported.
There is an equivalent field in an Effect Node for each field in a VRML/X3D Material node so you should only need to delete stuff after exporting.

Perhaps a bit off subject: I recently had an interesting realization, it should be very easy to convert color per vertex to textures when using nurbs to generate models by taking a screen shot of the colored polymap.

[thyme]

" awwwww ! O My God ! alain , please stop that !! "

LOL Alain your experiments that involve using seamless are always welcome and is what this forum is for

Although I can not say Zoe's cosmetic surgery performed by yourself has improved her figure, it is a most interesting experiment and is very amusing to see heheh

the "convert to seamless" crashes

I deleted the protos and I tried converting your hanim model to a Seamless node, it did not crash for me but seems because your HAnim model does not contain a skin, seamless refuses to convert it. This does not mean there is anything illegal or wrong in your model though.

If you register seamless nodes for VrmlPad using the latest file from here:

http://www.seamless3d.com/tut/smls_vrmlpad/index.html

You can edit HAnim nodes using VRML Pad without adding protos error free.

Although you learn things using a text editor I must point out that importing individual VRML/X3D Shape nodes for a HAnim avatar should be easier most of the time by using Seamless directly (right click on blue part and import shape from file).

'it would be nice to have some stuuf about H-Anim"

There is very little information on HAnim outside the specification. Most of the original designers no longer seem to actively discuss HAnim on the web3d mailing lists or forums, This leaves very little accountability for why the HAnim standard is designed the way it is. If you search the net for HAnim most search results relevant to the HAnim standard will be for the out dated HAnim 1.1 specification and since this standard did not support skinning, there seems little point to it since VRML97 could do this type of animation using native Transform and Shape nodes. My only interest in HAnim lies in the HAnim 200x standard.

The HAnim standard seems very sketchy and it contains a number of errors in it, Considering HAnim is an ISO standard it does not seem it is hard to get something approved as ISO if you have the money, I think it is sad how ISO is used by big organizations to block better standards from getting established designed by individuals like myself who don't don't have the funds for a hype machine. I remember when I first heard about the net it was said it did not matter how big you were it only mattered how good you are but so long as the masses believe the propaganda that if something is ISO approved it leads to the holy grail, the new freedom found from the net will be lost to big organizations that seem more concerned with self preservation than our needs.

[thyme]

I made it so seamless can import your hanim avatar alain
It proved to be challenging because you had translation and scaling going on inside your HanimSegment nodes but seamless will be that more robust now
While doing this some bugs have appeared, not in the hanim import itself but in the compile transform scale command
I have been stumped on this for hours now but my compile scale rotation works fine so I have all I need to fix it
I plan to upload 2.154 after I have fixed this and a few other minor bugs that have appeared.
So fingers crossed no more big bugs get noticed lol

[Alain]

Viva 2.154 and all will follow )

[thyme]

You make developing seamless a pleasure Alain

a pain though, as is the no mixed material only/textured shape nodes

I considered making it so a mixture of textured and colored parts could function for some time and also adding a MonoColorEffect node for single colors but I think this will be a lot of work to implement right now and have reasoned there are too many other tasks itching to be done that have been put on hold for too many years.

I have had a change of heart, I been thinking I will next turn my attention to making a Seamless node be able to have a combination of TextureEffect and ColorEffect effect nodes because I can see it should actually simplify the code that processes the effect nodes by removing some of the old legacy code and because adding transparency functionality to effect nodes is one of my highest priorities, it makes sense to get the effect foundations cleaned up before adding any more complexity in this area. Also I am hoping adding a MonoColorEffect node will be easy after doing this. Before I begin this next adventure I will compile and upload 2.154 as it is impossible to predict what cans of worms may get opened

[thyme]

Was thinking I was ready to upload, all robot demos passed their tests but I have found a bug too big to ignore so wont upload until I fix it.
This bug seems to make parts not transform correctly during animation when an Effect node is plugged into a part.
Affected parts seem to be located at 0 0 0 and just don't animate.
Because it is possible that when not in wireframe mode an affected part could easily be hidden by the torso, I am hoping this is the same bug fab is referring to here:

The TextureEffect node in the part node just makes the geometry go 100% transparent as soon as I added the node

[fabricator]

Not sure what you fixed, but I can add a second TextureEffect node and have it work now.

basically I have a H-Anim avatar with this structure:
Shape {} # skintexture.jpg
Shape {} # eyeball.jpg
Shape {} # cloth.jpg

Only the first texture gets applied, and I can't see any obvious way to re-apply the remaining two textures and keep the mapping intact.

[thyme]

I am currently working on a feature to convert a nurbs colored polymap to a texture and working towards a textured version of Lucy. I will try importing her back with some HAnimSegment nodes added, hopefully this will lead me to the problem.