OSDM VOBJ and OBJ Vector Objects Tool V3.2Beta Release

Although my last post was also about a VOBJ/OBJ tool release of mine, I decided to post another, because I made a significant amount of changes and additions to it to warrant giving it this kind of exposure and attention hehe.

I suggest reading the previous post ???OSDM .VOBJ and .OBJ Tool V3.0Beta Released???, if you are interested in the general subject of ???Oldskool Demomaker??? by Testaware, 3D Vector graphics and Geometry math etc.

You can download Version 3.2B of my tool at?????? http://www.roysac.com/files/Roy-VOBJTOOL32B.zip

Also check out the included release intro RoySAC.com.exe hehe. You can find additional tools, resources and my own OSDM productions at the OSDM section of web site. There you will also be able to find always the latest version of my VOBJ/OBJ Vector Object Tool for Oldskool Demomaker.

So what???s new since my release of Version 3.0B? Here is the list of changes and additions, including comments and notes to the individual item.

Version 3.1B

General

Main Tool

Tools Section

Vector Object Generator

Version 3.2

Tools Section

None of those three converters handle colors or transparency, since those features are already absent in the original file format.

The GVO to VOBJ converter is the first Binary file to VOBJ converter that I have written. VBScript isn???t particularly made for handling of binary data, but it worked.

The GVO files are a simple binary mesh format, but unfortunately without settings for color or transparency. However, they had many nice meshes with their free 3D Engine release package that I decided that it is worth to write a converter for it. What also helped was the fact that he GVO file format was well documented by Inertia also.

I don???t know, if there are more meshes out there or even how they were/are created, but decided to include the converter in my tool anyway. I used many of the objects that I converted from there in my OSDM demo production ???Oh Xee A Moron???, which was well received. Here is a video snapshot of it.

Backup URL to Video on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA5K-jkDfCA&fmt=18).

Backup Link to Video on YouTube.com

This is not the binary .3DS or .MAX format! There is the option in Autodesk 3D Studio to export 3DS mesh data to Text/ASCII with the file extension .ASC.

I have not found a documentation for this file format and could not figure out yet, how (if they are exported) color and transparency information are stored in this format.

I use right now as a workaround the “Ambient light color” setting for the default color of an object, if this information is available. It???s not perfect, but better than nothing.

If you know how “diffuse” colors of surfaces or materials and transparency values are stored in the .ASC file format or have an example file where those information are included, please contact me and send me the file and I will implement it into my tool.

The Converter Module was practically rewritten and restructured. I moved in general a bunch of stuff around.?????? The original code was all classic sub routines and functions in a big VBS file. I am migrating it piece by piece to be “class” based. This causes some loss in performance, but it helps to keep the code better organized.

You might be surprised, by the entire tool with all its components is over 20,000 lines of code and the programming environment support for VBScript is very poor, although I already use a special editor specifically designed for VBScript programming.

Well, I am working in parallel on a port to VB.NET. The programming in MS Visual Studio makes things easier.

I am just still making the transition from classic VB6, VBScript, ASP 3.0 to the .NET platform.

Main Tool

Vector Object Generator

Command Line CLI

Enjoy!

Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC

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Categories: OSDM PROGRAMMING TOOL Tools VOBJ
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Published on: August 2, 2010

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