I haven't posted here for ages!
Just a thought...I can use 3ds max well, and I teach people how to use it at Bournemouth uni.
However I don't own a copy myself as I don't have the money.
I am learning Blender at the moment so any freelance work I do will be legal.

Obviously models can be exported to max format, but are there any plans to create Blender tools to work with open source myst online?

I know the plasma engin is built into max, and to re code it into blender would be a mission, I'm just wondering if any of the coding guys has concidered it?

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Last edited by Slightlybartfast on Sat Jan 24, 2009 11:49 am; edited 1 time in total

Slightlybartfast wrote:

Obviously models can be exported to max format, but are there any plans to create Blender tools to work with open source myst online?

Yes; in fact, explorer-created ages are typically built using Blender.

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Sören Nils 'chucker' Kuklau; KI number: 221581
MYSTcommunity & MYSTlore
I write soeren says. You don't.

That's interesting...I'll have a trawl through the open source sections some more. Before I ask any questions that have been covered there...
This is exciting

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Currently no released tool yet has exported Blender > MOUL. However, I have a working (very simple) plugin that can export to MOUL format--things are in the works on a Blender exporter for MOUL.

Currently the Blender exporter (PyPRP) being used currently by age-builders supports UntilUru and CompleteChronicles.

There's more info about this on the GoW's site: http://guildofwriters.com

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Guild of Writers Councilor
Age Creation Tool Developer
Plasma Hacker

My understanding is that the reason the fan-made Blender plugin hasn't supported the MOUL formats is due to a sort of gentleman's agreement that the uru-hacking community would confine their efforts to the single player uru while Cyan was still trying to make money off the online version. With uru going open source, the situation is changing to where Cyan is encouraging people to hack on the game. There have never been any significant technical barriers to releasing a MOUL compatible Blender plugin, and with the legal barriers falling, you can expect a compatible version of the plugin to be released within days of the MOUL source code being released. You can also expect the Blender plugin to improve significantly with the game source available as a reference for what the plugin should produce.

Fantastic...It'll be interesting to have a play with that when the source is released.
I'll have a look at the gow site.
Of all the speculation that happened when game tap left, this was the one piece of speculation, I thought was too far fetched to happen....and it has happened...I'm amazed!
Last time I was on this forum it was almost dead....now it's alive again.
I am really pleased.

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Blender has done wonders so far, despite it's flaws (user-friendliness being an obvious one). That said, I'm intending to look at ways to make plug-ins for TrueSpace (free) and Bryce/Daz Studio when I get the opportunity.

isomorphic wrote:

My understanding is that the reason the fan-made Blender plugin hasn't supported the MOUL formats is due to a sort of gentleman's agreement that the uru-hacking community would confine their efforts to the single player uru while Cyan was still trying to make money off the online version. With uru going open source, the situation is changing to where Cyan is encouraging people to hack on the game. There have never been any significant technical barriers to releasing a MOUL compatible Blender plugin, and with the legal barriers falling, you can expect a compatible version of the plugin to be released within days of the MOUL source code being released. You can also expect the Blender plugin to improve significantly with the game source available as a reference for what the plugin should produce.

There hasn't been any "gentleman's agreement" to my knowledge. You can pick up many editors and viewers and stuff that read MOUL prps (mainly, just old stuff doesn't support MOUL).

The Blender plugin's main limitation is Blender's API.

I don't think the plugin will significantly improve after the source is released--partly due to the limitations of Blender and partly due to the fact that everything is known that's needed to make a plugin comparable or better than the Cyan one.

(the notorious ) libPlasma's ability to read and write to prps everything Cyan's plugin can (or at least that Cyan uses their plugin for) is a good example of how it's hard to learn much more about the prps.

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Guild of Writers Councilor
Age Creation Tool Developer
Plasma Hacker

Last edited by Lontahv on Sun Jan 25, 2009 7:52 am; edited 1 time in total

[quote="Lontahv"]

Lontahv wrote:

The Blender plugin's main limitation is Blender's API.

I don't think the plugin will significantly improve after the source is released--partly due to the limitations of Blender and partly due to (the notorious ) libPlasma's ability to write to prps everything Cyan's plugin can (or at least that Cyan uses their plugin to export).

As blenders open source, is it possible to write new api's for it?

What's a prp?

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prp: Plasma Resource Page

These are the main files that Plasma versions later than realMyst read.

These are the "descriptive book" pages of an age so to speak (holding 3d-models among other things).

Oh and about changing the Blender API: The problem is that in doing this we would create a branch. This branch wouldn't be the Blender books are written about etc.. As Blender progresses, our branch will stay behind and the latest documentation won't line up.

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Guild of Writers Councilor
Age Creation Tool Developer
Plasma Hacker

I like the myst lingo description. I think there should be a rule that, anything technical must be explained that way.

Thanks for letting me know what prp's are.

....

that makes sense about the blender branch.
I hadn't thought of that, it may bring more players to uru if people are forced to have the updated uru bits (joke)

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Lontahv wrote:

prp: Plasma Resource Page
Oh and about changing the Blender API: The problem is that in doing this we would create a branch. This branch wouldn't be the Blender books are written about etc.. As Blender progresses, our branch will stay behind and the latest documentation won't line up.

Methinks you already know how to use subversion.

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Through space and time; along the threads of the stars; we seek the knowledge and wisdom of the ages.

Teedyo wrote:

Lontahv wrote:

prp: Plasma Resource Page
Oh and about changing the Blender API: The problem is that in doing this we would create a branch. This branch wouldn't be the Blender books are written about etc.. As Blender progresses, our branch will stay behind and the latest documentation won't line up.

Methinks you already know how to use subversion.

Methinks version control system don't really address Lontahv's point. Forking is painful.

_________________
Sören Nils 'chucker' Kuklau; KI number: 221581
MYSTcommunity & MYSTlore
I write soeren says. You don't.

chucker wrote:

Teedyo wrote:

Lontahv wrote:

prp: Plasma Resource Page
Oh and about changing the Blender API: The problem is that in doing this we would create a branch. This branch wouldn't be the Blender books are written about etc.. As Blender progresses, our branch will stay behind and the latest documentation won't line up.

Methinks you already know how to use subversion.

Methinks version control system don't really address Lontahv's point. Forking is painful.

Of course it's painful. Just how painful depends on how fast Blender's trunk moves. Use of a vcs makes it easier to keep a branch 'in tune' so-to-speak with a main branch. Conflict resolution can be a huge hassle but it should be relatively simple to keep a namespace that doesn't collide very often.

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Through space and time; along the threads of the stars; we seek the knowledge and wisdom of the ages.

If you know 3ds max you can get GMAX for free, export the models as OBJ, import them to Milkshape and export them again as 3Ds.... Milkshape is $30... and you might get an older version of 3DS max on Ebay...