Truespace 7.6 is FREE, but not for long...
by JR Wilde · in Artist Corner · 05/26/2009 (10:31 am) · 9 replies
For those of you that haven't heard, Microsoft purchased Caligari, who also created Gamespace, awhile ago. Due to the "state of the economy" however, they're giving support for it the axe -so the site will be gone shortly. Here's a very short list of why you should get it (aside from being free):
It's an award winning, high-end 3D modeling/animation package that has been developed for more than ten years.
There are two fully developed plug-ins designed SPECIFICALLY FOR TORQUE:
DTS exporter (free)
Level Exporter ($40.00 I believe)
These plug-in are created by Dark Industries...
Direct manipulation modeling and a huge workspace allows for quick modeling
Uses V-ray for rendering which is right up there, if not superior to, Mental Ray by Mental Images (interestingly, nVidia purchased Mental Images not too long ago...).
A materials section that is insanely powerful -download it for this alone and you'll not be disappointed:
You can create your own shaders in a program called Dark Tree and use their Simbiont plug-in
to import and render them. Simbiont is included with Gamespace/Truespace. Dark Tree is rather expensive.
Materials and textures can be quickly and easily created with their scheme.
It would be crazy not to take advantage of such an incredible thing such as this.
Also of note: ALL of the video training and text-based tutorials are also free.
In essence, EVERYTHING on Caligari's site is free.
Just let that sink in for a bit.
LINK:
http://www.caligari.com/downloads.html
Get it and have fun!
J.
It's an award winning, high-end 3D modeling/animation package that has been developed for more than ten years.
There are two fully developed plug-ins designed SPECIFICALLY FOR TORQUE:
DTS exporter (free)
Level Exporter ($40.00 I believe)
These plug-in are created by Dark Industries...
Direct manipulation modeling and a huge workspace allows for quick modeling
Uses V-ray for rendering which is right up there, if not superior to, Mental Ray by Mental Images (interestingly, nVidia purchased Mental Images not too long ago...).
A materials section that is insanely powerful -download it for this alone and you'll not be disappointed:
You can create your own shaders in a program called Dark Tree and use their Simbiont plug-in
to import and render them. Simbiont is included with Gamespace/Truespace. Dark Tree is rather expensive.
Materials and textures can be quickly and easily created with their scheme.
It would be crazy not to take advantage of such an incredible thing such as this.
Also of note: ALL of the video training and text-based tutorials are also free.
In essence, EVERYTHING on Caligari's site is free.
Just let that sink in for a bit.
LINK:
http://www.caligari.com/downloads.html
Get it and have fun!
J.
About the author
see website: http://www.synchronicity3d.com email me at syncyronicity3d "at" gmail.com if you'd like.
#2
05/26/2009 (12:32 pm)
Has the Truespace dts exporter even been updated within the last 4-5 years? It also doesn't appear to be available here at GarageGames anymore either, and Dark Industries's website tries sending you here for it... If you do find the old exporter will it even work with the current Truespace? 
#3
The TrueSpace DTS exporter "should" still work, as I know they did leave support in for the old existing compiled plugins. But there was no real point in updating the exporter once the plugin SDK was removed from TrueSpace.
I Still have the files for the exporter on our webserver, I can repost a link to the download if need be.
05/26/2009 (4:44 pm)
The exporter TrueSpace DTS exporter was never updated for TrueSpace 7 because Caligari basically dropped support for their compiled plugin SDK in favor of a python based scripting interface.The TrueSpace DTS exporter "should" still work, as I know they did leave support in for the old existing compiled plugins. But there was no real point in updating the exporter once the plugin SDK was removed from TrueSpace.
I Still have the files for the exporter on our webserver, I can repost a link to the download if need be.
#4
I have T3d so to me the legacy exporters are rather a moot point -it exports COLLADA. I have not tried it yet (never enough time in a day it seems to me :) Here's a quote from the TS Manual:
"Collada exporter provides various settings to allow exporting only resources you are interested in. These settings are provided:
Animations: Animations will be exported. Start and end frames as well as desired frame rate are provided in Animation section. When exporter panel opens, start and stop frame as well as frame rate are set according to animation view.
Skeletons: Exporter exports skeletons with skinned meshes. You can enable support for bone stretching for animations. This may not be supported by other applications.
Cameras: enable export of cameras.
Lights: enable export of lights.
Geometry: export meshes and skins. For geometry you can chose resources you want to export like UV coordinate sets, normals or vertex colors. trueSpace Collada exporter allows to export geometry in 4 forms available by Collada file format:
o Export as triangles
o Export as polygons where faces with holes are triangulated (for compatibility reasons as holes are not widely supported)
o Export as polylists where faces with holes are triangulated
o Export as polygons with holes.
Appendix C File Formats| 9
Copy textures: Create directory together with exported file and copy there bitmaps used by materials.
Split hierarchies: don‟t export hierarchy; every object will be added directly to scene root.
Another way to export to Collada is to create Collada library and drag&drop objects from scene there. Dropping object to library will open exporter dialog. You can use exporter directly from script by calling RsImport.ExportCollada(„path‟,‟nodes to export‟); Exporter panel will not be opened but settings stored in this panel will be used."
@ Matt,
I'll be dinking around with both formats this weekend (I hope). If the legacy exporters work for older versions of Torque and COLLADA for T3D, what an exciting tool for the G.G community it would be.
Thanks for the prompt heads up on the potential glitches with the dts exporter. I really don't want to mislead anyone. As I've said before though, the materials section is definately worth the troubble of a quick download for those who don't have TGEA or higher and/or use simple textures but not shaders. It has a much better price tag than Photoshop.
05/26/2009 (10:15 pm)
@ Michael, has it been that long?!?!I have T3d so to me the legacy exporters are rather a moot point -it exports COLLADA. I have not tried it yet (never enough time in a day it seems to me :) Here's a quote from the TS Manual:
"Collada exporter provides various settings to allow exporting only resources you are interested in. These settings are provided:
Animations: Animations will be exported. Start and end frames as well as desired frame rate are provided in Animation section. When exporter panel opens, start and stop frame as well as frame rate are set according to animation view.
Skeletons: Exporter exports skeletons with skinned meshes. You can enable support for bone stretching for animations. This may not be supported by other applications.
Cameras: enable export of cameras.
Lights: enable export of lights.
Geometry: export meshes and skins. For geometry you can chose resources you want to export like UV coordinate sets, normals or vertex colors. trueSpace Collada exporter allows to export geometry in 4 forms available by Collada file format:
o Export as triangles
o Export as polygons where faces with holes are triangulated (for compatibility reasons as holes are not widely supported)
o Export as polylists where faces with holes are triangulated
o Export as polygons with holes.
Appendix C File Formats| 9
Copy textures: Create directory together with exported file and copy there bitmaps used by materials.
Split hierarchies: don‟t export hierarchy; every object will be added directly to scene root.
Another way to export to Collada is to create Collada library and drag&drop objects from scene there. Dropping object to library will open exporter dialog. You can use exporter directly from script by calling RsImport.ExportCollada(„path‟,‟nodes to export‟); Exporter panel will not be opened but settings stored in this panel will be used."
@ Matt,
I'll be dinking around with both formats this weekend (I hope). If the legacy exporters work for older versions of Torque and COLLADA for T3D, what an exciting tool for the G.G community it would be.
Thanks for the prompt heads up on the potential glitches with the dts exporter. I really don't want to mislead anyone. As I've said before though, the materials section is definately worth the troubble of a quick download for those who don't have TGEA or higher and/or use simple textures but not shaders. It has a much better price tag than Photoshop.
#5
If you provide any links, I'd be grateful.
05/27/2009 (3:47 am)
Matt, I'd like to try the DTS exporter. We're using Houdini currently and the documentation for your exporter seems to be much more comprehensive. If it works alright, it will save us a massive amount of trial/error time. If you provide any links, I'd be grateful.
#6
TrueSpace DTS Exporter
TrueSpace DTS Exporter Docs
Also, I took a look at the download files on the Caligari website, and it looks like there are 2 versions of TrueSpace on download page. TrueSpace version 7.61 is the newest version of TrueSpace, and this version has all of the legacy feature support removed. This means that the DTS exporter will probably not work with this version of TrueSpace.
There is however another version of TrueSpace version 7.6 on the same downloads page. It lists that version version 7.6 is "provided for legacy compatibility with previous scripts, scenes and plug-ins". The DTS exporter "should" work with this version.
So just a heads up that you should probably download both versions. And since its free you might as well download everything anyway.
It also looks like since they removed legacy support from TrueSpace 7.61 that they did also release an updated plugin SDK specifically for 7.61 on May 22. So it may be possible to write an updated exporter at some point.
Given that it looks like 7.61 has COLLADA support, if its COLLADA export is not horribly buggy Torque 3D users might have a very nice free 3d tool as an additional option.
05/27/2009 (1:55 pm)
I am not sure if this is the latest build of the exporter as I have not used it in quite some time, but here are the links to both the exporter and its docs that I was able to find on our webserver.TrueSpace DTS Exporter
TrueSpace DTS Exporter Docs
Also, I took a look at the download files on the Caligari website, and it looks like there are 2 versions of TrueSpace on download page. TrueSpace version 7.61 is the newest version of TrueSpace, and this version has all of the legacy feature support removed. This means that the DTS exporter will probably not work with this version of TrueSpace.
There is however another version of TrueSpace version 7.6 on the same downloads page. It lists that version version 7.6 is "provided for legacy compatibility with previous scripts, scenes and plug-ins". The DTS exporter "should" work with this version.
So just a heads up that you should probably download both versions. And since its free you might as well download everything anyway.
It also looks like since they removed legacy support from TrueSpace 7.61 that they did also release an updated plugin SDK specifically for 7.61 on May 22. So it may be possible to write an updated exporter at some point.
Given that it looks like 7.61 has COLLADA support, if its COLLADA export is not horribly buggy Torque 3D users might have a very nice free 3d tool as an additional option.
#7
@James - I had used Truespace years ago but never really considered it for use with Torque, I had grown very fond of Blender, but now... thanks for the notice :D
05/30/2009 (9:17 am)
@Matt - thanks for the links, I'll be trying those out this weekend.@James - I had used Truespace years ago but never really considered it for use with Torque, I had grown very fond of Blender, but now... thanks for the notice :D
#8
In both Win XP Pro and Win 7 Ultimate (RC build 7100) the exporter works a treat for the geometry for both the 7.6 and 7.61 versions. I believe however that the COLLADA models if used extensively might have a performance hit, since it isn't "native" format. I am new to this,so if this is incorrect, please let me know. The version of T3D is beta 2 and all of my tests were done at 1900x1200 with the advanced options selected. I used a clean install and generated a generic project and level (using "simple" mission option) with no fog and a very far visibility.
In game with just the "spacestation" the fps were averaging 115-138 with the building in full view; If I was viewing just terrain the number jumped to 160 (looking at the sky produced around 377 or so).
I imported a 4231 poly COLLADA model and they averaged around 90-115.
The fun part was to place 30 of them -all in one place within the camera view looking down from a high elevation so a great deal of mountains were also in view; the fps were a paltry 24-37 depending on my movements. I do believe this is a viable option if use with care.
06/04/2009 (10:11 am)
It's been a bit longer to post again than I was hoping but work is finally winding down a little (in this economy my hours are a blessing and a curse Here's what I've found so far:In both Win XP Pro and Win 7 Ultimate (RC build 7100) the exporter works a treat for the geometry for both the 7.6 and 7.61 versions. I believe however that the COLLADA models if used extensively might have a performance hit, since it isn't "native" format. I am new to this,so if this is incorrect, please let me know. The version of T3D is beta 2 and all of my tests were done at 1900x1200 with the advanced options selected. I used a clean install and generated a generic project and level (using "simple" mission option) with no fog and a very far visibility.
In game with just the "spacestation" the fps were averaging 115-138 with the building in full view; If I was viewing just terrain the number jumped to 160 (looking at the sky produced around 377 or so).
I imported a 4231 poly COLLADA model and they averaged around 90-115.
The fun part was to place 30 of them -all in one place within the camera view looking down from a high elevation so a great deal of mountains were also in view; the fps were a paltry 24-37 depending on my movements. I do believe this is a viable option if use with care.
#9
I suspect that the .dae to .dts importer included with T3D is missing some optimizations that the far-more-mature Truespace exporter includes - maybe it creates individual triangles instead of strips, or something like that.
Have you tried using ShowTool Pro to compare the .dts created by the TS exporter, and the one created by T3D's Collada importer?
06/04/2009 (10:33 am)
Whether you export "by hand" using a DTS exporter, or rely on the T3D's automatic import from Collada to DTS, the end result is going to be a native DTS format model. The question of whether Collada is "native" or not is moot; the important question is how well does the importer translate it to the DTS format that's used at run time.I suspect that the .dae to .dts importer included with T3D is missing some optimizations that the far-more-mature Truespace exporter includes - maybe it creates individual triangles instead of strips, or something like that.
Have you tried using ShowTool Pro to compare the .dts created by the TS exporter, and the one created by T3D's Collada importer?
Emre Akpolat