3889 replies to this topic

[ICPjuggla]

Is it me or is there something crazy going on when importing a new primitive in VPX?

I create a new wire guid in blender export like normal. Go to my table import like normal everything seems to be fine but the little + isn't on my primitive it's off the table all the way to the top right. Also, when I click my new primitive VPX runs slow as heck trying to move my primitive around.

Once painstaking placed I start the table and every time the ball comes near the primitive the table now stutters when it didn't before. I tryed turning off collidable for it and everything, table still stutters in that area. It's really weird. I've done 3 new primitives and this has happened to all 3.

[freneticamnesic]

The cross is at the axis of your primitive, if you're importing wire guides from FP then they're likely at the top left of your table now. Wire guides are fairly high face count, the higher the face count, the slower it is in the editor. 

[Astromarkus]

I think this needs to be forwarded to groni! FREE 3D development software at its prime... Oh with support from the community!

[toxie]

The cross is at the axis of your primitive, if you're importing wire guides from FP then they're likely at the top left of your table now. Wire guides are fairly high face count, the higher the face count, the slower it is in the editor. 

 

You can use the 'Editor' setting in the VP primitive option to speed things up: Lower value = more speed in the editor (but also less quality).

[chepas]

After going through and building a table again the only real problem I could find was small post rubbers and occasionally the larger rubbers. I've known about this for a while on other builds but chose to ignore it. Now its becoming a bit of a burden.

 

Have tried reshaping points to make a better shape for the ball to hit, adding thickness etc but more often than not the ball goes through the rubber. The properties are set to the same as the other rubbers.

[chepas]

Whats args are available with VP, is it just -play?

 

Some extra basic ones would be really handy to have.

 

Vpinball.exe [table] [ -play -editor -cameramode ] , View [-DT -FS ]

[Shockman]

I have found the ball trapped under a plastic a few times. Collision works great then, I have never jostled one out. It hasn't for a while, but next time it does,the rubbers are gone and the walls are back.

 

I think my complicated pop bumpers are going to have to be put back in too. When it comes to the new bumpers, they may match a certain type, but for me the skirt is too high and beveled sharply instead of rounded. (It's unshown and the skirt and mount is drawn instead). I can't find a material i like for the shaft. It does not show the correct orientation, as far as rotation, not a biggie but shows a lacking. The rods and ring are left out of material selection, but are more detached from the base than the skirt as far as the model, and with the materials I use to get the shaft the right color, the ring becomes invisible. Moving on, the cap looks way too rounded when the graphic is applied, and these hat shaped caps are proving so far to be impossible to display lit with VP lights, satisfactorily anyway. I would work on them more, if I could get dark rods and rings, and maybe whip the other issues into shape. but invisible, worse, only invisible in front, actuation, would make it futile.

 

This is not bitching about VP bumper object. It is listing my problems in getting an mmpac bumper from it. In my opinion though, rotation should be fixed and the actuator assembly allowed a material of it own. 

[ICPjuggla]

I'm also having issues finding material's I like and getting objects to look a certain way ..

 

It would be nice if we had the option to just use a spheremap texture on primitives like in VP9. It was much easier to get things to look the way I wanted without spending an hour to just find one material that only looks 1/2 decent..

[Shockman]

When I first read we are going to be using materials , I was thinking great, color something or image map it, and make it into a material, like simi transparent plastic, dull rubber etc.. I would have never guessed that the material would dictate the color and texture. Maybe there will exist enough .mats to do that... but not today.

[toxie]

Thats why its still the beta.. 

(and thats also where you, the authors, must come into play, sharing resources, etc)

[Shockman]

Authors that understand the structure and how to create a .mat file. I don't even know where they come from. If there is an image editor that could do it, good. If they are a support file for a 3D modeling program, created by it as a result of rendering settings, they will always have a level of obscurity, and be out of reach for at least some.

A layman like myself might ask, could we have one that has rgb sliders?

[freneticamnesic]

Lots of trial and error. I grabbed the materials from the default table and started messing with them to see what did what. There's no real visual representation except for applying the material to an object and starting the table. As I've created more materials I've added them to my tables and the materials are growing that way. I come to an object that doesn't look right and I just get a material that looks close, and adjust from there.

[lodger]

I had a question that may/may not be the most appropriate here, but I figured it would be worth a go. In future versions, have you all considered changing the blueprint export to include filtering of certain types of objects, or groups? I know when I am designing a table, I usually use the blueprints to paint on directly...it would be so nice to be able to exclude things like triggers flashers, etc. via a check box or to turn off things that are on certain layers, etc. Thanks

[Shockman]

I have done some of that, with the plastic material. Every adjustments requires a copy, hence another material. Not that that is a bad thing, just reminder if you do that you may be changing more than you bargained for. Maybe a reset to default would be the handiest setting they could have.

[Shockman]

I had a question that may/may not be the most appropriate here, but I figured it would be worth a go. In future versions, have you all considered changing the blueprint export to include filtering of certain types of objects, or groups? I know when I am designing a table, I usually use the blueprints to paint on directly...it would be so nice to be able to exclude things like triggers flashers, etc. via a check box or to turn off things that are on certain layers, etc. Thanks

I don't know if this will help, but I recently wanted to repaint the light inserts. I temporarily put them alone on a layer and exported a blueprint, colored in the lights and made the field true transparent, leaving nothing but the places and precise size and shapes to draw, or paste to. 

Edited by Shockman, 18 March 2015 - 05:35 PM.

[jpsalas]

I had a question that may/may not be the most appropriate here, but I figured it would be worth a go. In future versions, have you all considered changing the blueprint export to include filtering of certain types of objects, or groups? I know when I am designing a table, I usually use the blueprints to paint on directly...it would be so nice to be able to exclude things like triggers flashers, etc. via a check box or to turn off things that are on certain layers, etc. Thanks

Yes, as Shockman says, VP10 can export any layer. So put in a layer all that you want to be in the blueprint, hide all the other layers and export it.

[ICPjuggla]

Just an example...

 

1st screen shot is in VP9: spheremap texture took me 2 seconds to accomplish and looks fantastic in the table with little effort..

 

2nd screen shot is in VPX: using the material manager, took about an hour 1/2 and the texture still isn't even close to looking nice and not the same across all the wire's.. Some wires look different from each other meaning all wires don't blend the same... In my opinion it doesn't look good and far from real..

 

 VP9.png   403.82KB   17 downloads  VPXwire.png   1.62MB   18 downloads

[vampirolatino2]

Saw the pictures and I agree with ICPjuggla, there is a noticeable difference in quality.

[toxie]

1st screen shot is in VP9: spheremap texture took me 2 seconds to accomplish and looks fantastic in the table with little effort..

 

2nd screen shot is in VPX: using the material manager, took about an hour 1/2 and the texture still isn't even close to looking nice and not the same across all the wire's.. Some wires look different from each other meaning all wires don't blend the same... In my opinion it doesn't look good and far from real..

 

How did you setup the material? I would recommend either:

a) choose metal, and set the base color to white or something grayish. with shininess you can steer the look of the metal then (chrome being more or less 1).

b) choose metal, and set the base color to dark gray, and the clearcoat to white or bright gray.

and choose NO image for the object itself! its not necessary.

 

Also in the second post of this thread i posted some material test tables, where you can see how the parameters of the material interact with each other and what effect each parameter has on the overall look.

 

EDIT: i can also tweak the parameters for your test table if you like, just post it here, and i'll setup the material and lighting.

Edited by toxie, 18 March 2015 - 10:51 PM.

[Shockman]

I looked on the internet. .mat is used for different things. The thing mentioned probably least is something to replace a color or image map. I asked about them three times here because .mat would mean the same to who I ask than it does me. If they are something that is here to stay and color and image something that is gone for good. I need to know how to make one, not edit it. Because if these are something I am going to have to use, I have to know if they are something I can create, or if VPX is going to have to be considered over my head. Wait for one that works well to turn up? No, I don't play that game. I still don't know if we are talking about an image format, like a pattern or something, or a math file. Can one be shown?