[Freddy]

Today has mostly been filled with frustration. I am beginning to loath 3D engines, I can't get even the simplest things to work in the most promising one. Wish it wasn't so difficult and was better explained

[Art]

Sorry to hear. Perhaps a bit of elaboration might open the doors of opportunity for others to see and assist in your plight.

Translation: What gives and does anyone have an idea to help?

[Freddy]

It's me hitting a steep learning curve more than anything, but also the lack of support on a lot of them. Of course most of the ones I am looking at are opensource/free but a common theme is quiet forums, slim documentation and lack of tutorials.

The one I think is most promising is DXStudio and what I am trying to do is use morph targets to change a model's shape. DXStudio is supposed to be able to do this but I cannot get it to work.

What's eye opening too is that it couldn't load a cube that I made in Blender so I could start simply. Eventually I found a way (by using a 3DS exporter) but to me it does not bode well, maybe I missed some setting. And of course their forum is slow so I have not got any help yet.

I just need to grit my teeth and try writing my own morph target system, if nothing else it will at least give me a better understanding.

[Carl2]

 So now I know what Freddy is up to,  since Freddy is years ahead of me I realize I can't help.  I'd recommend documenting as much as possible and pasting your results in the forum, You may generate some interest and be able to some input from other people.  It's taken me years to get some of my ideas working.
Wishing you the best of luck with it.
Carl2

[Freddy]

Thanks Carl. Over the past few days I have just been thinking it through and reading a few articles. There's not much information about that I could find. I had a little revelation on how I could change the models shape though and then I found a page that confirmed I was on the right track.

So now I think I have a way of changing the model shape in my head, I just need to sit down and code it now. I'll have to do that in C#, which is newish to me, so I have to learn a new language to some extent too.

Documenting it is a good idea, maybe I can write a simple guide, assuming what I have planned works !

Thanks for the encouragement

[Freddy]

Well, plodding on today. I got some of it working. Now I can load a model and display it onscreen in a viewer, kind of like Haptek. I'm working on applying textures now and then I will go on to morphs. Some of it is really...hmmm....like getting blood from a stone. Other parts work like a charm. I'm picking up how C# works. It's a little like PHP combined with VB.NET.

Onwards and sideways 

[Data]

Today I have just posted my 1000th post 

[Freddy]

Grats ! 

[Art]

Alright Data! WhooHoo! Yehaw! Yipee! and assorted stuff. Feel better now? Good!!

[Data]

Thank you Freddy and Art 

And it only took me 5 years 

[Art]

5 years? It's not the years Data...

It's the CONTENT!! 

[Carl2]

Almost Christmas and I meet 3 people I've known for ages,  Freddy seems to be making progress, Data has posted 1000 posts, and Art who's pretty active here and at Zabaware.  In case I don't run across you guys again before Xmas I hope you all enjoy the Holiday season.
Carl2

[Freddy]

Thanks Carl, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too 

Nice to see you pop in.

[Art]

Thank you Carl!! Always a pleasure! Though we may never meet in person, it's nice to have a few good "digital" friends!!

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

[Data]

Happy Christmas to you too Carl and while I'm here too anyone else that reads this.

Wont be long now, until the chocolate fest starts, or is that just me