Convex hulls error meaning?

#1 Greetings!

The code that generates that error has to do with the collision details. Specifically, the check is:

AssertFatal(vertRemaps.size() < 256 && faces.size() < 256 && edges.size() < 256,
            "Error, ran over the shapebase assumptions about convex hulls.");

I'm certainly not an expert with the collision code, but my best guess is that there is a hard limit to the number of unique vertices (shared ones are OK), faces (polygons) and polygon edges.

Is it possible that one of your collision detail meshes has more than 255 unique vertices, faces, or edges?

- LightWave Dave

#2 If you're building a level as a dts, keep in mind that the convex hulls used for collision should be, well, convex. :)

That means no holes, no concave bits (like the inner curve of the letter 'C' - you need something that looks like a backwards 'D' in that case.) I doubt you could set up a level as you describe with one convex hull, unless the players never go inside.

#3 If the (interior) angle between any two of your polys is < 180 degrees, it is concave. If you consider each plane that defines your shape (each polygon's plane equation), none of these planes can bisect the shape. If this is how you are planning to do you levels, it is very important to understand what is concave/convex.

CSG styled editing is good at this...

#4 Greetings Teri!

I wanted to get back to you on your question above:

Quote:1) is there a way in lightwave to quickly determine unique faces/edges/vertices

Unfortunately no, there currently isn't a way to quickly determine this in LightWave. The ststistics tools in LW will only show you this information based on how the object is built in LW and not as it will be exported to a DTS file.

The problem is that additional vertices and edges may be generated during the export process to account for discontinuous uv mappings. However, it would be possible for me to add a tool to my exporter plug-in that could provide you this information. But, as I see you're on a Mac and the person compiling my exporter for the Mac appears to be MIA, I currently don't have a method to get such an addition to you. :o(

Come to think of it, as you are working with collision meshes that won't have any texture mapping, the LW statistics tools (the 'w' key in Modeler) should work fine with your triangles. But... I don't believe there is a standard tool to count unique edges in LW 7.5 (only vertices and polygons). Perhaps you could check out Flay.com for such a tool.

As for your latest question:

Quote:Anyone know of a .dif exporter for Lightwave (mac) yet?

I'm not aware of anyone working on such a beast. I understand that there is a .map exporter for LightWave somewhere (check google) but I have no idea how complete it is or if it would run on the Mac. Also be aware that there are different styles of .map files, so this exporter may not generate a .map file that is compatible with the TGE. Once you have a valid .map, you could run the TGE map2dif tool.

The problem with a .dif or .map exporter for a mainstream 3D tool (not limited to LightWave, but also Max, Maya, etc.) is that the whole process behind generating these types of files is a hard fit for these programs, workflow and tool wise. That's why we have Quark and Hammer. I do, however, fully understand the desire for such an exporter to exist...

- LightWave Dave

#5 Greetings!

I'll send your programmer a note shortly. It'll be great to bring the Mac version up to date.

- LightWave Dave

#6 I am currently modeling a car and I have the same problem but I dont understand. What am I supposed to do to solve the problem ? Is it that I have to check all inner angles to see if any of them is higher than 256 ? (i found the 256 number in the source code...)

I'm using Maya 7 btw.