ModelConverterX and x64

Just after the release of the new ModelConverterX version, fellow MVP Lefteris reported the first bug to me. That in itself was not so weird, as there have been many bugs reported during the previous testing phases. But the bug that was reported was a bit unusual. It seemed the tool did not run on 64 bit Vista. I guess that was a combination that had not been tried before during the alpha testing. After some testing we were fortunately able to locate the problem and I have produced a fix for it now. The new version, that also works on 64 bit systems, is available from the tread at the forum.

This bug is the first time that I had problems with any of my tools on a 64 bit system. But I guess that was more lucky than whisdom, as I did not really consider what might go wrong on such a system. I guess from now on I will keep that in the back of my mind when working on the different tools. And if 64 bit systems get more common it might be time to have one installed for testing.

New release

This morning I put all the last details together with the next ModelConverterX release. Yesterday I had already finished updating the manual on the Wiki, And now I have packed up the next release and made it available. Check out the announcement on the forum for all details. It’s always a good feeling to have fisnihed another version and hopefully the users will find the improvements useful. Now it is time to think again about new features. I have put myself some new challenges, like finding a way to generate levels of detail or trying to optimize an object for drawcalls. Let’s see how far I can come with these in the future…

User interface and manuals

It’s already some days ago that I wrote that the next version of ModelConverterX is almost ready. One reason for the delay is that I got a cold this week and that reduced the amount of time I would like to spend behind the screen a bit.

But another reason is that I, and I guess more developers, tend to forget how much time is needed to write or update the user manual. That process or also the process of creating a graphical user interface that is user friendly (and idiot proof) seems to take up more time when programming a tool like ModelConverterX than writing the actual logic of the tool. For example adding the functionallity of attached objects was not that hard, but making the dialog to edit such objects in a user friendly way took me more time.

Of course I am saying that the user interface and the manual should get less attention to save some time, as without those two things it will be a lot more difficult for people to use the tool. And what is the purpose of making a tool when nobody can use it?

I hope I can find the time this weekend though to finish that next release…

Attached object editor

I have just finished the last feature still on my todo list for the next ModelConverterX release. That does not mean the wishlist is empty now, but for the version 0.5 release I have put everything in I wanted. This last feature I just added is the ability to edit attached objects, for example an effect or light. You can now change their position after you have imported an object. And it also allows you to create new attached objects, so that you can add smoke to a chimney quite easily.

To be able to specify the parameters of an attached effect easily I have also made an editor that helps you in specifying them. For example by making sure they are in the correct range. I hope this will be useful as well. Now all I have to do is update the manual and than the release should be there. Hopefully I can get that all done today.

ModelConverterX nearing next release

Last week the progress on the next ModelConverterX was a bit slow, but this weekend I have been able to solve a lot of the issues still on the todo list. For example I have checked whether all readers and writes report progress and events correctly. And also the user input is validate better and useful messages are returned if something is wrong with it. So you can say all these solved issues are related to making the tool easier to use for the end user.

At the moment there are only two things left on my todo list, before I will release the next version. One is to allow manipulation of attached objects. For example the ability to move an attached effect or to add a new one. The other item is update the manual, especially since I changed the user interface a lot this is important now. I will have to finish the manual before I release this version to prevent confusion. So hopefully I can fix those things somewhere next week and then I will make the new release available soon.

ESP in MSDN Magazine

There is an article about ESP in the current MSDN Magazine. It gives a short overview of the platform and the ways you can extend it. Those that now FSX already might not learn so much new from it, but if you don’t know ESP or FSX yet it seems like a good introduction.

Viewer functionality

As mentioned in my earlier post I would show a bit more of the progress on the reading and display of animations. I have now added control for the animation to the ModelConverterX form. In the animation below you can see the animation from the default baggage loader object.

[View:http://msmvps.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.PostAttachments/00.01.64.56.52/BagLoader.swf:450:365]

As you can see there are still some bugs left in the animation code, as the wheels seem to shrink now and then. But I am sure I can figure out where that bug is and solve it. Another issue with animations is that in FSX not all of them are driven by a timer, as ModelConverterX does now. For example this baggage loader animation is a animation that is directed to the height of the aircraft baggage door. But in ModelConverterX it will show the whole range, driven by the timer.

So what you see if not exactly what you get in FSX, but still it gives a good way to show what kind of animations are in an object and how they animate. So I guess I have added a new functionality to ModelConverterX now, besides being able to convert between object formats, it can now also be used as an object viewer to preview some object before putting them in FSX.

Animation progress

Yesterday I made some progress again in reading and understanding the animation code. I can now succesfully read the scenegraph information as well. This information determines how the different transformations and animations relate to each other (child and peer relations). This makes sure they are added together in the correct way, to get the desired result.

If I now read in most of the default objects they look quite good. For example the default Elephant looks like one now, while before it more looked like a lump of polygons when I read in that model. The skin and bone animations are not supported yet in ModelConverterX though, so the animation still looks a bit funny. Also it seems there are still some minor bugs in the rotations I have to check. But overall I am quite happy with the progress. I will try to post some more pictures this evening.

First animation test

I am quite happy that I (sort of) got animations to work in ModelConverterX now. It is just a very simple test animation I made and there are some bugs in it left. But this is quite a big step. I never got this far in MDL Tweaker before. See a small video capture below.

[View:http://msmvps.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Components.PostAttachments/00.01.64.52.71/modelconverterx_5F00_anim.swf:412:334]