3889 replies to this topic

[toxie]

everything transparent that is not overlapping (on screen/2D) with other transparent elements can be grouped.

it can still work otherwise if the elements you group will be placed very close to each other (so f.e. all pegs of a slingshot or under one plastic or similar).

 

basically what happens (currently, subject to change maybe in VP10.1) is that we need to sort all transparent objects back to front and draw it this way. so if we only have giant elements (e.g. all pegs, all plastics) then the sorting can fail and the result will look wrong.

 

if elements are not featuring transparency then grouping -everything- that has the same material/image/etc is best, as we then can draw them in one go instead of multiple draws, which can help tremendously. you can take a look at the stats with 'F11'. the lower the number of state changes, the better the performance will be.

and grouping primitives together will reduce this.

(this is basically also what games do, but there an army of artists and sophisticated tools take care of that, so currently in VP you have to do this on your own for best performance)

[fuzzel]

Yep I can only second that. If I find some time I want to create a short video tutorial how to do such things in Blender. It's really simple once you know the basic steps. So don't be afraid using such things it's fun and by far less time consuming than creating everything with build-in VP elements (e.g. old VP9 screws based on walls)

[hmueck]

If I find some time I want to create a short video tutorial how to do such things in Blender.

That would be great! Last time i installed Blender, i tried to load something, rotated some demo object, had no idea what to do and uninstalled it...

[fuzzel]

For now check these beginner video tutorials to get used to the UI:

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=LLV7h-WLIx0 (part 1)

https://www.youtube....h?v=3zxMd6HbG4k (part 2)

https://www.youtube....h?v=t-grDsMg6_k (part 3)

https://www.youtube....h?v=5tG2wSNCBmE (part 4)

https://www.youtube....h?v=OKarOm3N4Lg (part 5)

https://www.youtube....h?v=QWwPoRiKQxc (part 6)

https://www.youtube....h?v=HyS8eiq14G8 (part 7)

 

I would recommend to watch at least part 1 and 2 but all parts show you how to do basic stuff. For instance part 5 shows you how to split objects and applying materials to an object and part 7 shows you how to work with UV maps (texture maps).

 

I don't want to create a full Blender tutorial on how to do things there. It should only show you the way how to import/export objects from/to VPX and the overall workflow. You should be a bit familiar with Blender.

[fuzzel]

rev1990 is up:

 

- Added solution to import the mesh's material via the mesh import dialog. When "Import mesh's material" is selected VP also tries to load the corresponding
  .mtl file and adds the first material in that file. For instance: the mesh .obj files is "bumper.obj" there should be a file "bumper.mtl" in the same
  directory. Only some basic settings of the material are imported due to the limited .mtl format.
  For Blender the used material settings are:
  Blender diffuse color -> VP base color
  Blender specular color -> VP glossy layer
  Blender specular hardness -> VP shininess value
  Blender transparency alpha value -> VP opacity amount
 
  When imported the primitive gets the imported material automatically assigned. The texture isn't imported this must be done as usual with the help of the image manager.
 

[hmueck]

I would recommend to watch at least part 1 and 2 but all parts show you how to do basic stuff.

Will do!

I installed Blender, loaded a table .obj and all i got was a huge wall with the table stuff on the back side. I couldn't zoom out to view the full table, because Blender will stop displaying it if you go too far away.
Lets see if the tutorials help.

[ICPjuggla]

I would recommend to watch at least part 1 and 2 but all parts show you how to do basic stuff.

Will do!I installed Blender, loaded a table .obj and all i got was a huge wall with the table stuff on the back side. I couldn't zoom out to view the full table, because Blender will stop displaying it if you go too far away.Lets see if the tutorials help.

I got the same thing when I tested this the other day! I'm sure it's an easy fix as it always is... Can't we have the table display correctly how FP dose it, so much easier to work with..

[kiwi]

 

 

I would recommend to watch at least part 1 and 2 but all parts show you how to do basic stuff.

Will do!I installed Blender, loaded a table .obj and all i got was a huge wall with the table stuff on the back side. I couldn't zoom out to view the full table, because Blender will stop displaying it if you go too far away.Lets see if the tutorials help.

I got the same thing when I tested this the other day! I'm sure it's an easy fix as it always is... Can't we have the table display correctly how FP dose it, so much easier to work with..

 

First, I scale all objects of 0.1, then you can displaying better.

 

Max

[fuzzel]

Ah that's the default clipping in Blender. When you imported the table press n to show the view settings on the right side of the 3D view. There are some categories like 'Transform', 'Grease Pencil' and 'View'.

Under the View category increase the clip-end value to 12000 or higher and you will see the complete table (see screenshot).

Don't scale the elements neither use the 'Clamp Size' option when importing .obj files otherwise you will loose the correct position when placing objects and want to import them with the new mesh import feature.

 

 

Attached Files

•  hugeTableFixed.JPG   50.05KB   16 downloads

[kiwi]

The right scale for re-import the mesh in VP, seem 0.01.

 
I still have problems of export (the dialogue window does not appear) and import in Blender (Error), it does not always work.
I have noticed that ramps with only two points of control are not exported.

 
Thank you so much, really it looks like a cool new feature.

 

Max

[kiwi]

Even invisible objects are not exported, but maybe this makes sense.
Thanks fuzzel for the tips.

 

Max

[hmueck]

Can't we have the table display correctly how FP dose it, so much easier to work with..

Or even better: let VP10 import FP tables! ;-)

[hmueck]

rev. 1990:
i export the OBJ Mesh for the default table-> okay
i export the OBJ Mesh for my Bone Busters table-> nothing happends. No "save file" diaglog window opens.
Time 2000-> nothing
JPs Nascar, Tag Team, Agents 777, Boomerang,Buck Rogers, Bugs Bunny, Dr.Dude,Humpty Dumpty, King Kong, Mr.&Ms.Pacman-> okay
Hercules-> nothing
Monster Bash->nothing
Road Kings->nothing

When you try to export a table and it doesn't work, then you open the default table, you also cannot export the default table anymore. You have to restart VP.

[ICPjuggla]

Can't we have the table display correctly how FP dose it, so much easier to work with..

Or even better: let VP10 import FP tables! ;-)

In a sense we can do this now much easier if you think about it... FP already has a plugin to export to blender all you would have to do is import fp table to blender and export the table in blender as an obj file to the correct scale then import that obj file into vp.. Although, I think it would be one big primitive so you would still need to do things with moving parts on there own etc..

[fuzzel]

rev. 1990:
i export the OBJ Mesh for the default table-> okay
i export the OBJ Mesh for my Bone Busters table-> nothing happends. No "save file" diaglog window opens.
Time 2000-> nothing
JPs Nascar, Tag Team, Agents 777, Boomerang,Buck Rogers, Bugs Bunny, Dr.Dude,Humpty Dumpty, King Kong, Mr.&Ms.Pacman-> okay
Hercules-> nothing
Monster Bash->nothing
Road Kings->nothing

When you try to export a table and it doesn't work, then you open the default table, you also cannot export the default table anymore. You have to restart VP.

Thanks for all the testing, will check it later.

I would recommend to watch at least part 1 and 2 but all parts show you how to do basic stuff.

Will do!I installed Blender, loaded a table .obj and all i got was a huge wall with the table stuff on the back side. I couldn't zoom out to view the full table, because Blender will stop displaying it if you go too far away.Lets see if the tutorials help.

I got the same thing when I tested this the other day! I'm sure it's an easy fix as it always is... Can't we have the table display correctly how FP dose it, so much easier to work with..

I could scale and rotate the meshes while exporting but you would loose the possibility to place meshes at the correct position on the table. It would look correct in blender but once you imported a mesh back into VP using the absolute position option the final position of the mesh would be wrong in VP.

[freneticamnesic]

 

 

Can't we have the table display correctly how FP dose it, so much easier to work with..

Or even better: let VP10 import FP tables! ;-)

In a sense we can do this now much easier if you think about it... FP already has a plugin to export to blender all you would have to do is import fp table to blender and export the table in blender as an obj file to the correct scale then import that obj file into vp.. Although, I think it would be one big primitive so you would still need to do things with moving parts on there own etc..

 

 

export all posts as one group, all ramps as one group, all rubbers as one group, all bolts as one group....it could be pretty freakin' easy actually! but there's only a handful of FP tables that are better than their VP counterpart so you have to be careful

I wish converting the code was easier, actually, there's some great originals in FP.

 

I'm excited for the new obj export and import functions. This is a great addition.

[ICPjuggla]

rev. 1990:
i export the OBJ Mesh for the default table-> okay
i export the OBJ Mesh for my Bone Busters table-> nothing happends. No "save file" diaglog window opens.
Time 2000-> nothing
JPs Nascar, Tag Team, Agents 777, Boomerang,Buck Rogers, Bugs Bunny, Dr.Dude,Humpty Dumpty, King Kong, Mr.&Ms.Pacman-> okay
Hercules-> nothing
Monster Bash->nothing
Road Kings->nothing
When you try to export a table and it doesn't work, then you open the default table, you also cannot export the default table anymore. You have to restart VP.

Thanks for all the testing, will check it later.

I would recommend to watch at least part 1 and 2 but all parts show you how to do basic stuff.

Will do!I installed Blender, loaded a table .obj and all i got was a huge wall with the table stuff on the back side. I couldn't zoom out to view the full table, because Blender will stop displaying it if you go too far away.Lets see if the tutorials help.

I got the same thing when I tested this the other day! I'm sure it's an easy fix as it always is... Can't we have the table display correctly how FP dose it, so much easier to work with..

I could scale and rotate the meshes while exporting but you would loose the possibility to place meshes at the correct position on the table. It would look correct in blender but once you imported a mesh back into VP using the absolute position option the final position of the mesh would be wrong in VP.

Okay no problem I'll check out some settings from your post above this post and give it a shot when I have some extra time.. :-)

[fuzzel]

rev1993 is up:

 

- fix export ramp mesh with only 2 control points

- fix obj mesh export dialog only shows once

- exporting obj mesh also exports the materials of the exported elements (only materials no textures)

 

Screenshot of the exported default table with materials from VPX

 

 

Attached Files

•  defaultTable.JPG   92.06KB   21 downloads

[gtxjoe]

VPX Wire trigger topics

 

Height

The wire trigger primitive is about 38 units tall (20mm or .8").  Does anyone know what they should really be?  It is very noticeable when they are oriented horizontal or in desktop mode.  

 

Scaling of triggers

The default trigger length is 92 units(50mm or 2") I alwys have to scale the triggers down to make them fit the playfield.  Anyone know what length they should be by default?

 

When I scale them, it looks like it works in World axis, so if trigger is vertical, Y scale will change the trigger length.  If the trigger is horizontal, Y scale now scales the width.  If trigger is rotated, it scales both length and width.  It would be better to have this work in object mode, where rotation of the trigger doesnt affect the scaling approach.

 

I can submit a bug report if we can decide on best height, length and width

 

 

Edited by gtxjoe, 19 May 2015 - 08:25 PM.

[Shockman]

I had to pretty much bury most of those. I haven't been able to dig them up yet. More attention does need to be made to desktop mode. not only the towering triggers, but the pop bumpers' seating.

Edited by Shockman, 19 May 2015 - 09:23 PM.