A new version of PyPRP for Blender 2.5 that includes an AWESOME GUI is in-progress. It's slowed a bit the past couple of months because the main authors have classes, but once they sort out exactly how they want the GUIs to work, adding them for all the Plasma modifiers should be fairly simple. They're working on storing Plasma objects inside the .blend file, rather than as a list of text properties. Should mean fewer bugs and faster export times.

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MOULagain KI #: 66990

When I was your age, we rocket-jumped up hill both ways in boiling lava.

matthornb wrote:

As is, only a minority of GoW members have copies of 3ds max 7 or 8, so this tool - even as good as it is - can only be used by a few.

That's not to say we don't appreciate your work, but many of us in the age creation community can't do anything with it because we don't have old copies of 3ds max.

(I know a lot of people confuse the fictional GoW with guildofwriters.com, so I guess that is what you mean here. Guildofwriters.com doesn't actually make Ages, though I know that a number of people from there try to make it sound like they do. (Heh, someone even tried to make it sound like guildofwriters.com made Talcum, which I had made!) To see who actually makes the fan Ages, you can find credits for each Age on the UAM walkthrough project: http://dusty.homeunix.net/wiki/UAM/Walkthroughs)

And actually, you'll be glad to know that it *can* be used from Blender/Pyprp using Alcscript, though Alcscript is itself very complicated. If Blender/Pyprp ever do get the ability to create GUIs like Cyan's plugin does, then this framework will be just as easy from Blender/Pyprp as it is from 3dsmax!

By the way, my best guess is that approximately half of folks currently making fan Ages are using 3dsmax, if anyone's interested..

Several of us have hopes for Blender getting GUI's.

If your interested in what is happening with Blender follow Letworthy. You'll find stats and information on what is happening with Blender. The average 'fix' rate right now is 9.5 issues per day. Release of 2.55 beta may happen this year.

The 2.5 versions are not all that usable for Collada and, AFAIK, PyPRP. I'm not sure anyone knows when 2.5 will become usable for those exports. But, I expect within the next year... hope.

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Nalates - GoC - 418 - MOULagain: Nal KI#00 083 543, Nalates 111451 - Second Life: Nalates Urriah
Guild of Cartographers

Nalates wrote:

Several of us have hopes for Blender getting GUI's.

If your interested in what is happening with Blender follow Letworthy. You'll find stats and information on what is happening with Blender. The average 'fix' rate right now is 9.5 issues per day. Release of 2.55 beta may happen this year.

The 2.5 versions are not all that usable for Collada and, AFAIK, PyPRP. I'm not sure anyone knows when 2.5 will become usable for those exports. But, I expect within the next year... hope.

Blender 2.5 is already usable, albeit with an API that keeps changing. We've already started work on PyPRP2, using Blender 2.5 and libHSPlasma.

One of our screenshots from earlier this year:

ddb174 wrote:

(I know a lot of people confuse the fictional GoW with guildofwriters.com, so I guess that is what you mean here. Guildofwriters.com doesn't actually make Ages, though I know that a number of people from there try to make it sound like they do. (Heh, someone even tried to make it sound like guildofwriters.com made Talcum, which I had made!) To see who actually makes the fan Ages, you can find credits for each Age on the UAM walkthrough project: http://dusty.homeunix.net/wiki/UAM/Walkthroughs).

Yes, there are other groups besides the GoW, and yes the GoW does have a very informal membership system (if you consider yourself a member, you're a member). There are plenty of artists and programmers who consider themselves GoW members, and who would have no objection to themselve or their workbeing referred to as part of the GoW as a whole. You're the only person I've seen who insists that all the artists need to be considered separately. I'm not saying there aren't some artists who would object to being lumped in with the GoW - surely there are some. But there are also many of us who do consider the GoW to be a productive group of people, and your insistance that the GoW does nothing, and is no more than the sum of its parts, is not only disingenuous, it's an affront to the projects and teams who work well together and create truly amazing works of art and code.

I do think it's unfortunate that Talcum got lumped in with the GoW. And I hope people will understand that you consider yourself mostly (if not entirely) separate from the GoW as a whole, because it's not good for either of us to have that association where it's not warranted. I also think that the other groups deserve credit for the work they do - there are lots of different people doing amazing things.

But I don't think what matthornb said really warranted your response - you could have answered his points without attacking the GoW. Saying "not all artists are part of the GoW" would have been enough to answer his point, and it would have been true.. Saying "The GoW does nothing"... well, I've already answered that point, I won't repeat myself.

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MOULagain KI #: 66990

When I was your age, we rocket-jumped up hill both ways in boiling lava.

When I built my age for the Rapid Age Development contest, I was building it FOR the GoW. Sure, I own the copyright, but I also have the right to say it is a GoW age, developed using GoW tools, for a GoW contest. I don't really see how it's anyone's business to rudely disregard the author's purpose. It is the writer's choice whether their age is a GoW age or an independent project or a guild project. We're not stealing people's ages to make our website look good, but rather, there are many writers there who are knowingly enriching the GoW community, showing their support in the form of posting screenshots, asking questions, and starting projects.

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Guild of Writers Councilor
PyPRP2 Developer
Plasma Hacker

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Mac - MOULagain KI#00004826
In the interests of the environment, this post has been constructed entirely from recycled electrons.

@Paradox, so is this to the point you would recommend novice or intermediate Blender users building ages switch from 2.49b to 2.5x?


I know the Collada export in 2.49b has some issues and so does the 2.54's. The 2.55 version's Collada is better if one works with animations. But, most it seems are still using 2.49b. So, it seems very much up in the for the SL and Blue Mars communities.

I had problems getting 2.49b and the 2.54 versions to work together. They seem to keep hiding Python from each other.

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Nalates - GoC - 418 - MOULagain: Nal KI#00 083 543, Nalates 111451 - Second Life: Nalates Urriah
Guild of Cartographers

No, wait for Blender 2.6 to actually be released, and wait for PyPRP2 to become available.