Blog for Alexander Luddy at GarageGames.com

Shaper Mac

Alexander Luddy — 2008-07-16T03:06:44+00:00

Shaper is a 3D modeling, texturing and animation package developed by Inverse Software. It includes support for the Torque engine.

Version 1.13 was recently released. It can be downloaded here.

Unfortunately I have not had much time recently to devote to core Shaper work. I did manage to complete a basic animation tutorial though and fix some bugs. The majority of the work since the last version has gone into the Mac version...

Ever since Shaper came into existence the plan has always been to eventually create a Mac version (a Linux version as well but that is a long way off). All the big technical decisions have been made with this in mind. It has been really satisfying to see these decisions pay off.

The Qt tool kit is used which, in theory, makes switching between desktops a matter of a simple recompile. This has worked out well. The only Qt related problems came up in places I had hard coded pixel lengths. In retrospect I should have avoided this as much as possible and relied on Qt more. Qt can take care of the little differences between Windows and Mac.

A script, namely Lua, based interface has been provided for writing Shaper extensions. Any script based extensions written on WIndows will "just work" on Mac. All the importers and exporters have been written in Lua. That being said Lua does have some limitations. I am adding support for native extensions the first of which will be an FBX importer and exporter.

FInally the DevIL library has been used for image loading. This is an open source library meaning I can compile it for Mac.

There are still a few bugs to work through. Expecting to have something available in the next couple of months.

Shaper

Alexander Luddy — 2007-11-26T09:09:30+00:00

Shaper is a 3D modelling, texturing and animation package developed by Inverse Software. It includes support for the Torque engine.

Shaper is presently in the beta phase of development. The latest version can be downloaded from here. More information on Shaper can be found here.

Quite a bit of work has gone into Shaper since I last posted here.

The biggest change is the upgrade from Qt 3 to Qt 4. Qt is the underlying tool kit used by Shaper. I love it. When the time comes it shall making creation of the Mac version a breeze.

Unfortunatley a lot changed between Qt 3 and Qt 4. There are still bugs associated with the port. Please let me know when you come across them.

I have also added crash reporting functionality. Stability is my number 1 priority at this time. Hopefully the crash reporting funtionality will help track down the crash bugs. I used the CrashRpt library. This library adds functionality that allows an email to be sent to me with the log attached when a crash occurs. It seems to work well. It is far from perfect though. I would be interested to hear if anyone knows of an alternative or has tried rolling their own.

Shaper 1.05

Alexander Luddy — 2007-06-23T02:33:06+00:00

Shaper is a 3D modelling, texturing and animation package developed by Inverse Software. It includes support for the Torque engine.

The latest version can be downloaded from here.

More information on Shaper can be found here.

Quite a bit has been added and fixed since I last posted here. I am very interested to hear feedback from potential users. What features do you feel are missing? What bugs did you encounter?

I recently added a tool for automatically attaching a skeleton to a mesh. It uses a very simply distance based algorithm. Basically: vertex A is close to bones B and C so it will be influenced by them. And so on. I would be interested to hear if anyone has heard of any other simple algorithms in this area.

Discussion

Shaper makes extensive use of the Lua scripting language. The user interface is configured using Lua. Various tools, Face Sub-division for example, are written in Lua as Shaper extensions. All import and export extensions are written in Lua.

I use Luabind as the glue code between C++ and Lua. Luabind is great. My only other experience with script glue code was Unreal. In that case special headers had to be exported from native code which was less than ideal. It made building more complex than it needed to be.

So far there have been no major issues. Lua and Luabind do what they need to do.

Recently I wanted to add a progress indicator for export and import. Export and import are potentially very time consuming tasks so it is important that the user interface show the user that progress is being made and that Shaper has not imply hung. Long story short: I now wish I had isolated the script code in its own thread.

At this point all script processing occurs in the main thread. That is to say I create one instance of the Lua engine in the main thread and call into it when necessary. So to import I have the Lua engine run the requested Lua import script. This blocks the main thread until import is finished. I tried creating a thread to be used only for importing and exporting tasks however that did not work out. I concluded I would need to move all Lua processing over to a secondary thread. This will be a major change. Instead I have made all importers and exporters call back into native code periodically to update progress. This gives the native code a chance to update the user interface.

If from day one I had put all Lua processing in its own thread I could solve this problem without relying on importers and exporters to notify the native code of their progress. I could also add protection for runaway script code.

Lesson learned.

Shaper 1.03

Alexander Luddy — 2007-01-01T02:47:25+00:00

I recently released version 1.03 of the 3D modelling, texturing and animation package I have been developing entitled Shaper. It is available here.

More information on Shaper can be found here.

I am always very interested to hear any feedback anyone has.

Here is what has changed since the last version.

New Features
- Torque detail levels are supported
- user is given option to import to a new scene or the existing scene

Bugs
- fixed occasional numerical inaccuracy when exporting DirectX files
- fixed Torque files exported from Tool Panel not having file extension applied
- fixed Torque animation import not working
- various other fixes

Feature Changes
- hidden groups are indicated on the groups list
- lighter weight widgets are used instead of table widgets
- engine pack API is vastly improved
- various other optimizations

The big change is the addition of Torque LOD support.

When I started doing this change it quickly became clear that I was going to have to bite the bullet and rewrite the Shaper Engine Pack API. There was no concept of a "property" which is effectively what Torque LOD is to Shaper. This meant that adding Torque LOD would be extremely fiddly. Setting and updating the LOD value would have to be done manually by the engine pack. Saving and loading the LOD value would also have to be done manually.

Fast forward one month.

Now the Shaper Engine Pack API knows all about properties. Adding Torque LOD involves simply telling Shaper about the additional LOD property on all meshes. Shaper does all the fiddly stuff.

This change meant a lot of existing code could be culled which was very nice.

I have been contemplating adding a "View in Game" tool to the Torque Engine Pack. This tool would export the existing model to Torque and then automatically start Torque to show the scene in game. This would make it very easy to see how changes within Shaper are reflected on the game - "1 Click Export". I would be interested to hear if people think this would be useful.

Thanks

Shaper 1.01

Alexander Luddy — 2006-11-01T07:39:35+00:00

I recently released version 1.01 of Shaper. It is available here.

It is still Beta. As said in my last post, I at least want to get Direct X export working fully before leaving Beta.

For those not familiar with Shaper.

What is Shaper?

Shaper is a 3D modelling, texturing and animation package developed by Inverse Software. It includes support for the Torque engine.

The latest version can be downloaded from here.

More information on Shaper can be found here.

What has changed since the last version?

New Features
- added ability to clear a material map
- added ability to select bone from the tool panel

Bugs
- fixed crash when cancelling texture selection
- fixed unwrap tool relying on user to select appropriate material
- fixed unwrap tool crash when faces being unwrapped are part of multiple groups
- fixed animation bar not updating when animation length was changed
- fixed MilkShape 3D export rotation problem
- fixed potential crash when regrouping faces that have been unwrapped
- fixed user not being informed if exporting no meshes to a DTS file
- fixed blank entries being added to recent file list
- fixed Torque import not importing all detail meshes

Feature Changes
- width of lines in message boxes is now limited for easier reading
- transform gizmo head changes dependent on particular transform type
- most dialogs resize correctly and are consistent with each other
- tool panel is a tool box widget instead of a tab widget

Unfortunately I did not manage to get Torque LOD support complete. It will be in the next version.

One thing I am particularly interested in is feedback on the Tool Panel changes. It used to be a Tab widget.

But is now a Tool Box widget.

It is good in that now as soon as Shaper starts it is clear there is a specific Torque panel. No need to scroll the tabs to reach it. That said a Tab widget is probably more familiar to most users than a Tool Box widget. Any feedback is appreciated.

I have also taken a page from the Constructor book and made the transform gizmo head change dependent on transform type (translate, scale, rotate). Rotate is a cylinder and Scale is a box. I shall be making Rotate a sphere in the future to make the difference clearer.

Also Inverse Software now has a logo.

Shaper 1.00

Alexander Luddy — 2006-09-28T10:07:10+00:00

I recently released version 1.00 of Shaper. It is available here.

I still consider this Beta. It is weird to have version 1.00 that is still Beta but I am not the only one to do this kind of thing (various Google products for example). I at least want to get Direct X import and export working fully before leaving Beta.

For those not familiar with Shaper.

What is Shaper?

Shaper is a 3D modelling, texturing and animation package developed by Inverse Software. It includes support for the Torque engine.

Shaper is presently in the beta phase of development. The latest version can be downloaded from here.

More information on Shaper can be found here.

What has changed since the last version?

New Features
- added smoothing group functionality

Bugs
- fixed show edges not working with flat shaded render types
- reduced graphical glitches caused by the grid Z fighting with primitives
- fixed track view not correctly displaying animations over 500 frames in length
- fixed primitive creation tool controls being disabled when activated after cancelling during primitive creation
- fixed crash when deleting a root bone
- improved robustness of Direct X file format importing (not completely working yet)
- fixed MilkShape 3D ASCI exporter not correctly exporting multiple root bones
- fixed MilkShape 3D ASCI importer not gracefully handling missing texture map files
- fixed MilkShape 3D ASCI exporter occasionally not assigning correct material to mesh
- other minor fixes

Feature Changes
- improved look of frames in track view
- significantly optimised file import and file loading
- enter key tool name and key fields use a fixed size font
- other minor optimisations

Note the addition of smoothing group functionality and the ability to view edges over the top of faces.

Discussion

In the last blog post I announced that Shaper was available for purchase. Hours after that the first Shaper sale occurred. This was a big milestone and it was very satisfying to finally reach. There is no time to rest though.

Here is a couple of things planned for version 1.01

- Have individual view windows be resizable.
- Support for Torque LOD.

Recently a decision I made is starting to come back to bite me. The Shaper plug-in system requires plug-ins to be written in Lua. The main driver for this initially was that it would mean that a plug-in written on Mac could be used in the PC and Linux versions as well (Linux and Mac versions will be coming in the future). If the plug-in was to be written in C++ then it could not be ported to other platforms without a recompile. This was fine initially. The MilkShape 3D importer and exporter are written in this way and are quite maintainable. Then I got to the X importer and exporter. This is far more complex and I really wish I was writing it in C++ instead of Lua. I am more familiar with C++ and it is easier to improve performance. At this point I am struggling along in Lua however I think I will change things for the next complex importer and exporter.

The solution will probably be to simply add a new secondary plug-in system that allows for plug-ins as C++ in the form of DLLs. These plug-ins will not be portable but that is probably the lesser of two evils.

Shaper 0.99 Released (Available for Purchase)

Alexander Luddy — 2006-08-18T09:39:28+00:00

I recently released the 0.99 version of Shaper. It is available here.

Also I have finally organised the payment system so Shaper is available for purchase. The price at this point is a special early adopter price of 25 USD. The price will increase in the future.

Unfortunately organisation of the payment system has sucked up a lot of time in addition to other commitments. I have had not as much time as I would have liked to devote to Shaper. On the plus side I am planning to take a week off from everything in a couple of weeks. During that week I plan to crunch hard on Shaper. I am very much looking forward to it. Here are a few things on my list.

- Organise professionally made icons.
- Finalise support for the .X file format.
- Have individual view windows be resizable.
- Add smoothing group support.

For those interested I am using Software Passport for key encryption and Share It for actual payment processing and key delivery. So far I have no complaints. Software Passport does not integrate off the shelf with Share It meaning an actual key generator needs to be made. This task is pretty painless as the Software Passport API is sensible and well documented.

For those not familiar with Shaper.

What is Shaper?

Shaper is a 3D modelling, texturing and animation package developed by Inverse Software. It includes support for the Torque engine.

Shaper is presently in the beta phase of development. The latest version can be downloaded from here.

More information on Shaper can be found here.

What has changed since the last blog post?

0.98 - 9.99

New Features

- added reset view tool
- added frame selection tool
- added frame all tool
- added functionality to support registration

Feature Changes

- render type menu options are dynamically disabled and enabled dependent on validity

0.97 - 0.98

Bugs

- fixed region calculation code (affects unwrap and extrude tools)
- fixed crash when exporting a mesh without a material to MilkShape 3D ASCI
- fixed rare incorrect bone rotation when exporting to MilkShape 3D ASCI
- fixed cancelling save dialog causing a garbage file to be saved
- fixed view focus being triggered after export
- fixed crash on bone deletion
- fixed keyboard shortcuts such as undo and redo not working on texture coordinate editor

New Features

- user is given option to save when exiting or reseting with unsaved changes

Feature Changes

- title bar shows if file needs to be saved

Shaper Version 0.97

Alexander Luddy — 2006-06-20T09:52:25+00:00

Shaper is a 3D modelling, texturing and animation package developed by Inverse Software. It includes support for the Torque engine.

Shaper is presently in the beta phase of development. The latest version can be downloaded from here.

More information on Shaper can be found here.

The big change for this release is the addition of support for Torque material properties.

Beyond that I did not get chance to do all that much due to family emergencies and expiring domain names. Expect a bigger improvement for version 0.98.

Bugs
- fixed camera not orbiting correctly after panning
- updated web site references to point to new site

New Features
- Torque Engine Pack supports material properties

Feature Changes
- Torque import tools accessible from import menu
- Torque export tools accessible from export menu
- memory usage optimisations

Shaper Domain

Alexander Luddy — 2006-06-13T10:52:20+00:00

When it rains it pours.

About a week and a half ago I was shocked to discover that the Shaper page was gone. Shaper is the tool I am developing. It turns out my registrar had an out of date e-mail so I received no reminders. When the domain expired it appears as though some other entity automatically grabbed it to profit it from my mistake.

The day after this discovery a personal issue arose forcing me to jump on a plane to Canberra (I live in Brisbane - Canberra is a 2 hour flight south) and spend a week there. This delayed the resolution of the domain issue *sigh*

Anyway the Shaper page can now be found here:

inversesoftware.com.au/Shaper/

The .com.au space seem to be far more regulated than the .com space.

In regards to getting my original domain back I would appreciate any advice. Lodging an official complaint appears to be a very expensive process. Making an offer on the domain seems like the wrong thing to do. I do not want to encourage this kind of thing.

The next version of Shaper will be out very soon.

Shaper Version 0.96

Alexander Luddy — 2006-05-16T08:36:33+00:00

The latest version of Shaper is now available.

inversesoftware.com/Shaper

Shaper is a 3D modelling, texturing and animation package developed by Inverse Software. It includes support for the Torque engine.

The big new feature for this version is partial support for importing the DirectX file format. At this point it only handles text files and does not import animation. Support will improve in version 0.97.

Also very soon Shaper shall finally go on sale at the early adopter price of $25. The price will go up once version 1.0 arrives.

Here is what has changed since the last version.

Bugs
- panning rate remains constant regardless of camera position
- fixed cylinder creation tool behaviour varying slightly with camera position
- fixed box creation tool behaviour varying slightly with camera position

New Features
- added support for importing the DirectX file format (binary and animation support not yet implemented)
- possible to remove a group from the Torque export group list

Feature Changes
- track view shows current animation name
- near and far plane move dependent on camera distance facilitating the editing of small scale scenes