OZ - Ascii Custom Scene Import

[GeorgeS]

WC - Is it possible to include the following feature into the next OZ version

- Ability to import ascii/text files that contain worldly object placement definitions.

i.e.

start
- Object.3ds //filename of object
- xxx,yyy,zzz //position
- Rotation angle // yaw_angle around center for placement
- xx,yy,zz //Object scale x,y,z ; 1=default
end

So, in effect, this would enable me to import a scene of object placements from into OZ very rapidly.

Thanks
George

[Windcatcher]

I don't see how it would be a problem. I might change the syntax just a little bit so I could make use of the existing parser, but I think that something like that would be a snap.

[GeorgeS]

That's most excellent news

I have a home brewed DX7 world editor I made last year and it's extremely fast for 3D. It outputs the ascii object list and if it works with OZ, I will modify it to have a better user interface and then upload it for everyone to try.

It'll be interesting to see what sort of zones we can make with more tools that work together!

George

[Windcatcher]

I'll get working on it this weekend. I just finished reskinning all of the icons on the main window and added menu options to switch either the menu or toolbar icons to 16x16, 24x24, 32x32, or 64x64 (yes, I made them all -- I'm finally getting some use out of that version of CorelDraw I bought six or seven years ago). The look of OpenZone should be a lot more pleasing...

[Windcatcher]

Okay, here is the syntax of importing .3DS objects via an ASCII file:

Mesh
  Name    meshname
  Loc     x,y,z
  Heading rx,ry,rz
  Size    sx,sy,sz
  3DSFileName fully-qualified path and file name
End

It's basically just an extension of OpenZone's .SCN file format where it recognizes a new token: 3DSFILENAME. Here is an example that I used to test it (meshimport.scn):

LongName 3DS Max Import Test
ShortName importtest
ZoneType Outdoor
Mesh
  Name    Mesh1
  Loc     0, 0, 0
  Heading 0, 0, 0
  Size    1, 1, 1
  3DSFileName D:\Borland\Delphi6\Projects\OpenZone\3ds\knot.3ds
End
Mesh
  Name    Mesh2
  Loc     2000, 0, 0
  Heading 0, 0, 0
  Size    1, 1, 1
  3DSFileName D:\Borland\Delphi6\Projects\OpenZone\3ds\knot.3ds
End
Mesh
  Name    Mesh3
  Loc     4000, 0, 0
  Heading 0, 0, 0
  Size    1, 1, 1
  3DSFileName D:\Borland\Delphi6\Projects\OpenZone\3ds\knot.3ds
End
Mesh
  Name    Mesh4
  Loc     6000, 0, 0
  Heading 0, 0, 0
  Size    5, 5, 5
  3DSFileName D:\Borland\Delphi6\Projects\OpenZone\3ds\knot.3ds
End

.SCN files are case IN-sensitive. The NAME, LOC, HEADING, and SIZE tokens have to come first in the MESH object. You would import the objects to an existing zone by clicking Edit...Insert scene... rather than opening the scene as you normally would ("Insert Scene..." opens an .SCN file and adds its contents to your zone).

The HEADING token rotates an object around the X, Y, or Z axes, where X points north-south, Y points east-west, and Z points up-down. It always rotates around Z first, then around X and Y. To yaw an object 5 degrees about the Z axis, for example, you would specify it as HEADING 0,0,5 (all angle units are in degrees, not radians).

The import code is smart in that it caches any meshes you import in this manner, so importing the same object hundreds of times should be fairly efficient. Unless there are any more requests, I'll package it and put out a release this week.

[GeorgeS]

That's excellent. I will look forward to that release.

In the meantime, I've made about 40 static zone objects such as trees,cut trees,ruins,buildings,altars, etc.. (sample previews coming)

These will fit themes for desert and swamp based zones for now. I anticipate to make about 500 objects in all.

With the pending OZ release I will attempt to create a zone with these objects to see any difficulty in exporting to 3DS using .PNG or .BMP textures.

So far, transparent textures for trees do not import into OZ well. I cannot figure out the method to create transparent textures i.e black is see-through.
I tried .PNG with alpha channel's and that did not work either, nor did an attempt with OZ's toolbar converter. stumped!

My 3Dworld editor works very well with .X and .3DS, so what I'll do is show some screenshots of it in action. Whether the objects (in my editor)will 'spawn' in the same locations as in OZ is unclear, but that will be something I will feverishly work on.

Regarding the humanoid models and non-humanoid models, I will attempt to make a simple elipsoid human model and add bones as you mentioned. Once we agree on bone placement and assorted issues, I will start the real deal of making monster mesh's.

George