Messages

136

Project announcement / Re: Virtua Skimmer

« on: May 18, 2018, 07:57:31 pm »

I had it working using header files as given, however I didn't circum-rotate the mesh much I just saw it working in a few perspectives.
It may be I just didn't move the mesh enough to see anything go wrong. This wasn't with the real-time gourad shading.

When you do have time, take a test of the header files in my previous post (specifically pony.h). Still needs XPDATA for every frame rather than PDATA ( jo engine mesh data ) but that shouldn't take long to do, just only change vertices data.
/e: Now I realize my test was without XPDATA, so I guess I wasn't really testing what we were talking about. With PDATA it did work.
I guess later today I am going to take a closer look at how it works with XPDATA / real time shading.

137

Project announcement / Re: Virtua Skimmer

« on: May 18, 2018, 06:40:13 pm »

Here you go.

My rig is terrible but this should serve well enough for examples.
If you want, I can poke around and try and get a blend file from someone more experienced. (Of course, you might guess by now what subject material it will be ...) These really are my first Blender / 3D animations.

Target 15 FPS (you can change that of course)
0 - 7 Start Walk
7 - 15 Walk Part 1
15 - 22 Walk Part 2
22 - 29 Stop Walk

29 - 34 Mime Part 1
34 - 36 Mime Part 2
36 - 44 End Mime

If it really is only 12KB per frame in memory, that's enough for me, so I understand if you feel its more important to work on something else.

138

Project announcement / Re: Virtua Skimmer

« on: May 18, 2018, 05:49:10 pm »

What that does is it exports each frame as a separate mesh according to the range of frames you put in the timeline and the desired frame-rate you put in the Blender render section ("Dimensions" tab).

I don't think you need an example of how that can be organized into a file but here it is. As you suggested, its converted header files and only the host mesh has complete mesh data. Each other frame has all but its vertices axed and structured as new meshes.

139

Project announcement / Re: Virtua Skimmer

« on: May 18, 2018, 05:41:50 pm »

It works now, and it would seem the only thing I had to do differently was to make a subfolder in the IN folder for the converter.
/e: Actually, I also put the file name in all-caps.

I don't know, my dude, that is the only thing I did differently. Thanks for sanity-checking my mesh!

140

Project announcement / Re: Virtua Skimmer

« on: May 18, 2018, 04:39:12 pm »

At some point a new thread in the "shared code" section should be made about this converter. Though I see there's a bit more activity on segaxtreme than there is here.

Regardless, how do you export your OBJs? I can use the model converter on your Sonic file errorless, even changing the textures (with new ones), and it converts and displays properly.
If I use my own model, it converts fine (no errors) but it does not display. I ask about how you export your OBJs (or handle the models?) because I can import your OBJ file into Blender and then re-export it, at which point if I use the model converter on it again (using either my settings or Blender default), it does not display. Using my demo or yours, and your demo polycount correctly reports with the non-displayed models that there's no polygons happening.

The textures DO load, to the best of my knowledge, as the converter gives information about them (size 8x1, depth around 2800, RLE 2) and states they are written into the file and your demo pauses and states loading textures from that. Must be about my OBJ file.

I'm using Blender 2.78a.

/e: One last thing. Any chance of loading the binary files from a BIN folder on the CD? Just to keep things neat. At present it seems they can't be anywhere but the root dir.

141

Project announcement / Re: Virtua Skimmer

« on: May 18, 2018, 12:04:32 am »

I am just going to comment on how immensely forward-thinking Sega was with how intelligently ... multi-threaded? SGL was for the mid-90's.
I was keen to insist on the gouraud shading being done on the slave since I want the master free for my undoubtedly immensely sloppy game code, but I guess Sega was looking after lesser experienced 3rd party devs like me after all.

142

Project announcement / Re: Virtua Skimmer

« on: May 17, 2018, 08:37:13 pm »

I got it working, my friend!

After adding ztCDinit,
I had to (in one stroke so I do not know for sure which one of these was the culprit for the freeze) comment out the text prints and the fade-in / fade-outs as well as the clear screen as well as slScrAutoDisp (in the model loading function).

I have to run now but my model still isn't displaying but Sonic is. I'll get that figured out, just a matter of exporting it all right.

143

Project announcement / Re: Virtua Skimmer

« on: May 17, 2018, 05:01:57 pm »

Well, I did get realtime gouraud working, but only with a header file. The important thing is XPDATA, which isn't explained in any of the English documents I have (only PDATA, which obviously does not do real time gouraud). Which requires face normals, which jo engine converter does not make (understandably). That makes your tools necessary, and thank you for that.

I did try to get the binary files working. I can get them to compile no issues, but the model loading routine clearly conflicts with jo engine. (Screen opens to a glitched screen reminiscent of loading the file, then fades to black, then ceases) I'd have to rebuild based on your system routines. Making the Z-Treme engine truly an engine of its own being incompatible with the core of Jo.

I suppose if I wanted to build an extensive project, I (or rather we) really needed those binary load-on-demand files. I'll spend some more time experimenting later on what exactly I will need to put in and take out for it to load properly.

Another thing about your binary files is that they seem to require textures to display. Do you intend on it working with texture-less / material-less models? Not too important, as one could just slap a material on everything and put a white texture on it. Haven't made a conclusion there yet, again, need to do more experiments.

144

Project announcement / Re: Virtua Skimmer

« on: May 15, 2018, 12:56:12 am »

That makes sense, not something I have explored enough to understand. When I get that far though a tool like that should be invaluable.
And that explains why you'd need a function to draw the polygon since normally the .h files include that.

145

Project announcement / Re: Virtua Skimmer

« on: May 14, 2018, 11:44:08 pm »

Impressive stuff, XL2. Thanks immensely for sharing.
That takes a 53 KB .h format file down to 16KB.

146

General Jo Engine Help / Re: Fixed Light Source?

« on: May 10, 2018, 01:39:03 am »

That's a very good tip about only needing to change the vertices location, since I won't be adding any faces or edges. That brings 1 second of half-rate animation (where I really want the advantages of bones on a manifold mesh and such on a rig in Blender) down from 720 KB to a maximum of 36 KB, which is definitely manageable. Thanks again. I don't need to worry so much about how much memory it takes in that case.

147

General Jo Engine Help / Re: Fixed Light Source?

« on: May 10, 2018, 01:18:11 am »

Well, while you're here, I do want to ask: What memory are meshes stored in?
Jo engine has a memory used function, it reports I'm using 0% with 2% fragments. I would think that's dynamic memory (not work RAM).

If I can do animation with minimal effort, its having a unique mesh for every frame of animation.
I'm worried about rapidly overflowing memory if it was the case where this meshes .h file is 48 KB, if that really does consume 48 KB of RAM, that is not very many frames of animation that can be done. I can think of ways around that (like only doing a difference between each frame rather than an entire new mesh with redundant data, or reading from CD) but... I needn't worry you about that when I have such a simple question.

I did look over jo engine C and H files trying to find a memory address there, but I could only find references in VDP1 and VDP2 ram or the extended RAM cart.

148

General Jo Engine Help / Re: Fixed Light Source?

« on: May 10, 2018, 12:52:41 am »

I'm not sure if that's sarcasm, but if not here is the link where RB explains it : http://www.rockin-b.de/saturn/saturngametutorial/SaturnGameTutorial.htm#useRealtimeGouraud

No, that wasn't sarcasm. I really didn't know where to look. Thanks, XL2
You, on the other hand, are free to call me lazy. it does mark something off of ones pride to find out the solution really was google

With gourad shading laid out so simply like that, using your CLUT (or really any other) system is made easier

149

General Jo Engine Help / Re: Fixed Light Source?

« on: May 09, 2018, 11:03:15 pm »

That's helpful, now I know where to look. I guess I should have figured Sega would have a demo of such a thing, wouldn't they?

150

General Jo Engine Help / Fixed Light Source?

« on: May 03, 2018, 06:17:43 am »

Simple question. Does anyone know how to organize a fixed light source?

It probably revolves around organizing my matrix properly, but at the moment it seems the light source is always the camera/player.
I want the light source to always be in one particular location in the world. Or rather, from one particular angle (i'm not asking it to be in the center, that would be much more complicated)

Maybe I should figure out gourad shading