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ARE: [Virtools] More on Scripting (Was Competition)

A little contribution from a long-time Virtools addict (and actually a
Virtools employee):

about object-oriented scripting, re-drag and dropping, link edition-->these
were real weaknesses of 1.0.1, and I can remember the time-wasting and
frustration of it. We attempted to fix this in Dev2. David has already
mentioned the pathfinding for links and other things, so I'd just like to
briefly expose my way of handling large projects, with media replacement and
script updatingmesh replacement: in Dev 2 you can dynamically assemble the
content on the fly. That means, you can load 'NMO' files at runtime, delete
them, copy them, etc. you can also load a behavior graph at run time, attach
it to an existing entity, and run it. With these features, once you get used
to it, you can think your projects as empty shells that load everything at
runtime. Think of it as a build of a code project: it's all split in tiny
files, separating the media from the scripts, and it's all combinedat
runtime. The benefits is double: you get an up-to-date everytime you clic
'play' (for instance an NMO containing the environment might have been
updated by another team member), and you get an nice way to implement
teamwork. And, nice side-effect, you'll get a 'fragmented' projects that can
be smartly streamed over the web (but I'm disclosing the 'behavioral server'
here, so I'll stop).

Anyway, think about it. I've spent the last two years researching better
ways to use the software, especially on 'real life' productions, and as of
today, I have to say that this is the best solution I've come up with.

Francois

-----Message d'origine-----
De : owner-virtools-user-group@lists.theswapmeet.com
[mailto:owner-virtools-user-group@lists.theswapmeet.com]De la part de
David Callele
Envoyé : mardi 12 juin 2001 05:01
À : cyberart; Virtools List
Objet : Re: [Virtools] More on Scripting (Was Competition)


I've added a few comments below.  I'm not certain what has been released yet
by Virtools so some of my comments may be a little more vague than you might
desire...

David Callele

----- Original Message -----
From: "cyberart" <cyberart@frontiernet.net>
To: "Virtools List" <virtools-user-group@lists.theswapmeet.com>
Sent: Monday, June 11, 2001 7:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Virtools] More on Scripting (Was Competition)


> > "Callele, David" wrote:
> > I'm having fun with this discussion - is anybody else?
>
> Well, you're one of the "knowledgeable users",
> so I'm always interested in what you have to say about Virtools.

Cool, I have finally graduated to "knowledgeable user" :-)  Thank you for
the compliment.

> Still, a scripting language would be helpful.
> The code which generates the network is a sufficient description of the
network.
> Otherwise, it seems you have to print screen dumps, and add comments to
them.

I agree that the code is a sufficient description of the network but how the
network is parsed is very interesting.  From my perspective, the Behavior
Engine tries to be as close to a perfect Object Oriented model as possible -
therefore, in the absence of other directives (such as direct control over
priority), all objects operate asynchronously and independently.  Think of
objects sending messages to each other on different computers and that is
somewhat akin to the way scripts are processed.  Therefore, a scripting
engine would have to include not only the traditional mechanisms but
Priority settings as well.  It can be done (I've been toying with the idea
of an XML DTD for the scripting engine) but it would not be trivial in my
opinion.  But then, languages were never my strongest suit!

> Maya has a Script Window; when you perform some action thru the GUI,
> you can look at the Script Window to see the corresponding code.
> While this doesn't actually write the code for you,
> it goes a long way in getting you there.
>
> You can test bits of code in an Input Window,
> and type code directly on a command line.
>
> > I was part of the Beta Test group and I did help write and edit the new
User Guide so my opinion is probably biased.
>
> I'd be interested in seeing how the new User Guide looks.
> With N*M* 1.01, it seemed that the way you were expected to learn the
program
> was to reverse engineer the demos.
> While there is something to be said for that,
> I would have been happier to have seen more techniques explained and
developed.

Well, the new User Guide (UG) is a significant step forward.  We
concentrated on context information (such as a large Glossary and "how
things work") more than on specific techniques.  There are also quite a
number of tutorials CMOs and accompanying AVIs to illustrate the techniques.

That said, with a product like Dev, Virtools could continue making tutorials
for many, many years ;-)

> Its been a while since I have been working with N*M*.
> Our principal modeling/animation program here is Maya,
> and I couldn't find a method of getting Maya character animations into
N*M*.
> I have heard that this is supposed have been improved;
> any "beta" knowledge on that?
> ---
> Robert

Well, I have worked with Maya then exported to Virtools.  I can't go into
detail but the process works quite well once you understand what Virtools
(or other realtime 3D engines) need: A polygon (usually triangles) mesh with
UV coordinates attached to every vertex.  For every part of the object that
you want to have a different texture on you must have a different material.
Procedural materials/textures can not be directly supported BUT they can be
used to generate a texture for application on the material.

So, Virtools has one or more meshes per 3D Entity, each mesh can have one or
more materials, and each material can have a single texture.

If you remember these requirements, then your modelling and exporting should
go smoothly.

Hope this helps,

David Callele

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