Archangel35757

Beta version has been uploaded to Utilities Section. Please, someone give it a try.

Would you like to have a ROF for complex cloud car fly-bys???

Update: The binary write method is now fixed and exporting the notes properly (as best as I can tell)-- but no JA ROFs actually used notes; so we'll have to see how the game engine likes them). Technically, everything is done and the exporter plugin is now ready for beta testing... it outputs a binary .ROF file (used by engine via an Icarus Script) and optionally an ASCII .txt file (for human consumption only). The only remaining aesthetic item I have left to do is create a custom progress bar... to provide info on export process. So far I've only compiled a version that is compatible with Max 6, 7, or 8. I don't want to spend time compiling other versions until I know everything is working properly in-game. Any mappers and scripters ready to help test it? Interested parties can find downloads for 3ds Max 5, 6, 7, or 8 30-day Trials at modacity.net at this link: http://files.modacity.net/software/3dsmax/

The binary file write method is finished... but I'm not sure the notes are getting written out properly. I need to verify the notes are being written properly using a binary/hex editor. Should have this sorted out tomorrow... then we can beta test with GtkRadiant and game engine. Stay tuned...

Just wondering...

Update: Euler angles now fixed. Now all that remains is to write the binary output method and we'll be ready to beta test in the game engine. QUESTION: Should I remove the "_origin" from the filename???

Update: I solved my crash bug on my own... now I just need to find the proper Quat to Euler conversion.

Update: Things are progressing slowly... I've got a bug somewhere in my "CollectNotes" method that is crashing 3ds Max when I do a "File > Reset" after exporting. The exporter does export the scene however... I've requested the help of an experienced 3ds Max plug-in developer to help me track down my bug. In the meantime I wrote the ASCII text file write function and generated the following output: When you export your scene... you save the file as your map name... as shown above. The exporter parses the filename generated by 3ds Max (which includes the path...) and generates a unique file name for each scene origin object following the format: mapName_objectName_origin.txt ( and .ROF). Below is the output for a test animation of "Box01" having 10 notes. I still need to write the binary file method and test things out thoroughly... C:\TEMP\ROFF\mapName_Box01_origin.txtVersion: ROFF 2#Frames: 61FrameRate: 20 fps#Notes: 10 1:(0.000000,0.000000,1.595922) 0.083730 0.109728 0.052481 (0 2) 2:(0.000000,0.000000,5.927709) 0.328448 0.428063 0.205155 (-1 0) 3:(0.000000,0.000000,12.311398) 0.725850 0.937639 0.450884 (-1 0) 4:(0.000000,0.000000,20.063017) 1.269073 1.619910 0.782571 (-1 0) 5:(0.000000,0.000000,28.498604) 1.952199 2.455464 1.193189 (-1 0) 6:(0.000000,0.000000,36.934193) 2.769789 3.424317 1.675796 (-1 0) 7:(0.000000,0.000000,44.685810) 3.716466 4.506192 2.223539 (-1 0) 8:(0.000000,0.000000,51.069500) 4.786533 5.680781 2.829622 (-1 0) 9:(0.000000,0.000000,55.401287) 5.973642 6.928005 3.487271 (-1 0)10:(0.000000,0.000000,56.997208) 7.270510 8.228267 4.189673 (2 2)11:(1.403554,2.746897,56.997208) 8.668680 9.562691 4.929905 (-1 0)12:(5.317449,10.202761,56.997208) 10.158334 10.913348 5.700877 (-1 0)13:(11.296528,21.190348,56.997208) 11.728156 12.263464 6.495268 (-1 0)14:(18.895639,34.532417,56.997208) 13.365262 13.597601 7.305506 (-1 0)15:(27.669630,49.051727,56.997208) 15.055175 14.901794 8.123753 (-1 0)16:(37.173344,63.571037,56.997208) 16.781874 16.163662 8.941940 (-1 0)17:(46.961628,76.913101,56.997208) 18.527889 17.372427 9.751831 (-1 0)18:(56.589333,87.900688,56.997208) 20.274467 18.518953 10.545122 (-1 0)19:(65.611298,95.356552,56.997208) 22.001791 19.595652 11.313553 (-1 0)20:(73.582375,98.103447,56.997208) 23.689184 20.596359 12.049044 (4 1)21:(80.877083,98.103447,56.512402) 25.315393 21.516188 12.743824 (-1 0)22:(88.166908,98.103447,55.092754) 26.858854 22.351297 13.390542 (-1 0)23:(95.452194,98.103447,52.790424) 28.297903 23.098656 13.982331 (-1 0)24:(102.733238,98.103447,49.657574) 29.611021 23.755760 14.512857 (-1 0)25:(110.010384,98.103447,45.746353) 30.776976 24.320370 14.976281 (-1 0)26:(117.283936,98.103447,41.108925) 31.774986 24.790205 15.367174 (-1 0)27:(124.554230,98.103447,35.797447) 32.584755 25.162668 15.680385 (-1 0)28:(131.821579,98.103447,29.864077) 33.186539 25.434551 15.910827 (-1 0)29:(139.086304,98.103447,23.360971) 33.561165 25.601742 16.053280 (-1 0)30:(146.348740,98.103447,16.340290) 33.690067 25.658907 16.102114 (5 1)31:(153.609192,98.103447,8.854192) 33.054409 23.639927 15.836958 (-1 0)32:(160.867996,98.103447,0.954832) 31.419922 18.148043 15.253332 (-1 0)33:(168.125458,98.103447,-7.305630) 29.183134 10.032459 14.707353 (-1 0)34:(175.381912,98.103447,-15.875036) 26.606319 0.159816 14.477570 (-1 0)35:(182.637680,98.103447,-24.701229) 23.799784 -10.583641 14.733691 (-1 0)36:(189.893082,98.103447,-33.732048) 20.787304 -21.300461 15.564920 (-1 0)37:(197.148438,98.103447,-42.915340) 17.606306 -31.094751 16.974669 (-1 0)38:(204.404068,98.103447,-52.198944) 14.456336 -39.091282 18.790323 (-1 0)39:(211.660294,98.103447,-61.530704) 11.887320 -44.460537 20.503891 (-1 0)40:(218.917450,98.103447,-70.858467) 10.820423 -46.422642 21.264214 (6 1)41:(226.823303,95.673225,-82.637314) 10.907402 -46.070793 20.999666 (-1 0)42:(235.736572,89.053558,-98.518288) 11.132770 -45.062237 20.262760 (-1 0)43:(245.223938,79.250961,-117.243164) 11.421252 -43.466728 19.156708 (-1 0)44:(254.852142,67.271935,-137.553680) 11.686475 -41.355213 17.792065 (-1 0)45:(264.187866,54.122986,-158.191605) 11.849180 -38.801922 16.269966 (-1 0)46:(272.797791,40.810623,-177.898697) 11.848075 -35.885052 14.672717 (-1 0)47:(280.248688,28.341358,-195.416718) 11.643830 -32.686157 13.061146 (-1 0)48:(286.107208,17.721695,-209.487396) 11.218525 -29.288797 11.476645 (-1 0)49:(289.940063,9.958145,-218.852524) 10.572837 -25.776768 9.945478 (-1 0)50:(291.313965,6.057198,-222.253845) 9.722751 -22.232319 8.483614 (7 1)51:(283.157166,4.563955,-216.030731) 8.696651 -18.734589 7.101078 (-1 0)52:(261.017303,3.335570,-199.139435) 7.533064 -15.358306 5.805439 (-1 0)53:(228.390121,2.346680,-174.246994) 6.278984 -12.172934 4.604373 (-1 0)54:(188.771408,1.571925,-144.020462) 4.988487 -9.242225 3.507367 (-1 0)55:(145.656952,0.985943,-111.126900) 3.721400 -6.624307 2.526675 (-1 0)56:(102.542488,0.563374,-78.233330) 2.541725 -4.372353 1.677689 (-1 0)57:(62.923801,0.278856,-48.006817) 1.515695 -2.535821 0.978802 (-1 0)58:(30.296646,0.107028,-23.114395) 0.709325 -1.162295 0.450918 (-1 0)59:(8.156790,0.022530,-6.223107) 0.185416 -0.299875 0.116743 (-1 0)60:(0.000000,-0.000000,0.000000) 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 (8 2)Note 0: effecteffects/explosion1.efx 0+0+0 0-0-1Note 1: soundsound ( CHAN_BODY, "sound/efx/explosion1start.mp3")Note 2: effect effects/explosion2.efx 0+0+0 0-0-1Note 3: soundsound ( CHAN_BODY, "sound/efx/explosion1loop.mp3")Note 4: effecteffects/explosion3.efx 0+0+0 0-0-1Note 5: effecteffects/explosion4.efx 0+0+0 0-0-1Note 6: effecteffects/explosion5.efx 0+0+0 0-0-1Note 7: effecteffects/explosion6.efx 0+0+0 0-0-1Note 8: effecteffects/explosion7.efx 0+0+0 0-0-1Note 9: soundsound ( CHAN_BODY, "sound/efx/explosion1end.mp3")I hope to have things ready to beta test inside the game engine within a few days.

But if the animation was not designed to loop (last frame blending back to first frame) then it will probably have a noticeable glitch as it loops.

@@DT85 -- My apologies. I'll start my own thread when I get back to him.

@@DT85 - Nice work. Guess everyone has their version of Maul... here's mine. Been in my pile of WIP's waiting to be finished. And here is the Cyber Maul version: After all this plugin development is done I hope to finish all my WIPs. Keep up the good work.

I plan to keep the tail bones in my character rig.

Why remove the tailbones??? Why not just use them in your cloak or for backside tunic or tabbards??? Seems like they would be handy when a character is riding a vehicle or sitting down...

nothing much really... a simple, flat, large terrain... to allow for a fighter fly-by (doesn't matter which kind)... Also make a multiple rocket launcher or surface-to-air missile launcher brush model... we'll use the ROFF's for the fighter's animated flightpath, as well as to animate launcher system tracking the aircraft and then have a missile launching out of its casing and intercepting the fighter. Maybe, use the Camera ROFF too for a "bullet-cam" view... I believe the Camera NoteTracks are appended automatically to an existing ROFF file by the game code... based on the camera parameters you script in Icarus... best I can tell. So it'd be good to verify that hypothesis. Or if you have something else you'd like to do I'm open to suggestions.

Update: Making good progress with the ROFF exporter... I've gotten all the class methods finished-- except for the two methods to write the binary and ASCII output files. I hope to have them complete in a couple of days... then we should be ready to beta test. We need to start working on a test map-- I want to create the ROFF's with Max5 as a reference proof case.

Barabels have a tail, no?

Bothan?

Not sure... MD3 is a binary file format-- maybe one of the more-experienced programmers can help you... I guess it would be too simple that somewhere you are inserting a space in quotes " " in the function that writes the file path/name???

Update: Making progress... I have the code for the export dialog finished, as well as some class methods for the exporter. Still working on the heart of the code for the export process. I hope to have an Alpha version soon for testing.

While working on the ROFF exporter I may have stumbled upon why the progress dialog hangs... ...there is a feature/property of the dialog that can be set TRUE/FALSE in the visual studio resource editor to prevent OS from sending an idle message ( WM_ENTERIDLE) to the dialog window when it is active. The progress dialog has this "no idle message" set to FALSE... and I'm thinking it should be TRUE. I'll Do a quick recompile as soon as I can and send to @@DT85 and @@Psyk0Sith to verify.

@@Lancer and @@mrwonko -- a hypothetical question: When you are creating a complex script using multiple ROF files, either in a cinematic cutscene or background events going on in a map, where the brush objects that depend on ROFs may animate at different times-- would it be better if all ROFs in that level have the same starting/end animation frames where they would all start playing at same time (with some objects staying still until you reach their true anim start) ...OR would it be best if each object's ROF started animating immediately and the Icarus script controls the global start time in the map?

Below is an updated dialog adding the option to export a specific animation range. The "Segment Range" section will be disabled unless the user checks the "Export Segment" box. For those folks that have experience with ROFs, can you think of any more export options?

@@Lancer @@DT85 -- What about having an export option for a custom animation range start/end??? For when you might only want to export a portion of a much larger animation??? Only thing the user will need to ensure entity is not moving until his custom start frame...

Not a whole lot of options... but can anyone think of anything that I may have missed? ...it will always export a binary .ROF file (for each object)-- and will automatically handle export of selected objects or all scene objects that have the origin shader applied: