Shaper Version 0.94

#1 DUDE!!! I just imported the orc from the torque demo!! I'm sold! I am buying this when you finish it. I am a loyal customer already!!

By the way... I've only been using it for less than 5 minutes... but it is awesome!!

#2 Hm, I'm looking for a modeler-tool myself right now...i will give it a try :)

#3 looks cool... but what's the advantage to e.g. Milkshape3D?

#4 I have been using this program because it is one of the only things I've used that will actually load in .DTS and .DSQ files, for easy touch-up editing. This has made life a lot easier when trying to do things like rotate nodes that Milkshape always messes up, or examining the geometry in Kork;) Thanks so much for updating it, definitely buying when it is released.

#5 The second Download link points to the 0.93 version, use the Download link at the top of the page for 0.94.

I haven't tried it yet but it looks cool :)

#6 We tested this a few weeks ago. Clean and solid. Good range of features for game dev.
Thanks for adding the texture rotation!!

#7 Cool Alex. Glad to see you're still working on this.

#8 Nice. Really nice. At work don't have a chance to test out but it doesn't use Milkshape approach to modeling does it?

#9 Thanks for the kind words all.

@Stefan

Off the top of my head here are some but not all of the areas version 1.0 of Shaper will be better than MilkShape:

- More tightly integrated with the Torque engine.
- Support for multiple wieghts per vertex
- Ability to edit model in the Perspective window
- A track view for working with animation data

@Nazareth

Thanks for letting me know about that error Nazareth. Will be fixed tonight.

@Stacey

The goal is for Shaper to be better than MilkShape. If you are an existing MilkShape user then I would be very interested to hear your feedback.

#10 Um... it already kicks Milkshape 3d's ass all the way around the world and back again. I love Milkshape 3d... not as a modeling tool, but for everything else, but it's not even a competition here. Milkshape 3d modeling was good enough for what it was made for, but it's like having to build a house by yourself... you can do it... eventually... but forget about working at a decent speed.

#11 Wow, this totally makes Milkshape its b#$%$!

I've always hated milkshape and blender. I already really like this program because it feels a lot like 3DS Max - which is what I know and love. If you can take this product all the way to where it seems like it's going, I think you will have something very special.

*throws goat

#12 I remember first trying out Shaper last year, and it sure has come a long way. It wouldn't even run because of a .dll problem, but now it sure does a lot that Milkshape doesn't do. If it keeps improving at the same rate it has been, it will become the low price modeler of choice for Torque and other game engines as well.

One small thing though, when I import a background image, it still comes in upside down. And I can't wait till vertex weighing is added, that is one thing that MS doesn't have, but any decent modeling application should have. Keep up the excellent work.

#13 I own a license for Milkshape. I only use it to convert between mesh formats and that's about it. I could never get anywhere modelling or animation wise with MS3D. To me it always seemed tedious. I'll probably go with Silo or Zbrush if I get more into 3D modelling.

But honestly I don't model often and I'm sure many people will feel right at home in this app. Maybe some tutorials that show it's strengths over Milkshape will help. Something tells me this and PaceMaker may become a nice combination :) I also like the use of Lua scripting... my language of choice! So I'll definitely keep an eye on this.

#14 I've been looking at Shaper again, and I am noticing that perhaps BlendType animations are not being correctly imported or something is up with the .DSQ files and this .DTS shape? The sequence 'name' is sequence01 and the import process seems to cull the Nodes not in the sequence??

For example: I Imported the player.dts shape from SDK/starter.fps/ and then imported the head.dsq and then headside.dsq. Both sequences list as sequence01 and they rotate the dts shape sideways along the Y axis and it 'appears' as though any Node/bone 'under' the Bip01 Clavicles is missing??? even though in the TrackView they appear in the Hierarchy, [i]but don't have any green keyframes set, while the 'missing' nodes do?!? Almost all 'blends' seem to be doing this...

Also, when I 'select' a sequence in the Parameter Tab Panel, it doesn't put that sequence/animation active in the Scrubber bar. I have to make it active by selection in the bar iteself, not sure if that's intended.

Keep up the good work, it's getting much better. I also notice that if I export the shape to Ms3d .txt file format, when opened in ms3d, the Scene is rotated in the Milkshape Y axis[verticle], causing any further exporting from Ms3d to dts with a 180 degree transform on the shape?? Meaning I wouldn't be able to create sequences in Shaper and then transfer them to Ms3d correctly. Any way to get the the export to align with Ms3d's coordinate system??


I also notice the GUI has a very Milkshapey look to it, including the extremely small viewport for the Node/Bone listing...the panel extends all the way to the bottom bars, yet the working portion is limited to viewing only about 10 bones for 'selection'.

And I can't for the life of me figure out how to move Bones inside an existing sequence. I was trying to edit an existing .dsq and can't find how to move Bip01 Pelvis vertically. I can only find controls for "Primitives". Am I suppose to select the Bone in the Track View? the Side Panel tree?? It's unclear to me how to proceed. And the program terminated quickly when I tried to Rotate it with the Panel??


Rex