Docs T2D only users?

#1 This is still just the early adopter release. Melv and Josh are still making documentation, tutorials, adding features, and overall making T2D even awesomer than it already is.
I don't know about the online docs, but probably once Melv and Josh get more documents out you won't need much else beyond that.

#2 Official scripting documentation:
www.garagegames.com/docs/torque/general/pt03.html

About the particle editor, there is no documentation yet, and the editor is a placeholder. The best way to learn how to use the editor, for now, is to load up some of the stock effects within the editor and tweak their various settings.

#3 @Matt Van Gorkom
I understand T2D is still in early adopter release, but I don't think Melv and Josh rewrote a new version of Torque Script just for T2D, thus those docs should be available, since they already exist for the TGE.

@Corey
When I go to that link it says "Torque Preview Documentation" and there is *very* limited information. I am logged in but T2D members don't seem to have access to TGE documentation.

I did load up various example particles effects, but not much seems to change as far as the settings go (that I can see.) I think I'm not finding all of the settings or something. I was hoping for just a quick walk-through of a simple effect so I can see where things are being set to get any kind of usable results.

Matthew

#4 I could have sworn there was scripting docs available for the non-TGE T2D developers..

#5 I may have to retract my last comment about that link being limited. It seems there is more there than I realized the first time I looked. However, it would seem that T2D members would at least have full access to existing docs, no?

Matthew

#6 Yea... that graphic is annoying... I second that. At least move it vertical to the right so it is out of the way. But hey, who am i to complain.

#7 @Matt H - It took me a while too to work out how to create particles that didn't spew out in circles! Once how the editor clicks though, it becomes quite apparent about how powerful it is.

I'm assuming you know how to create the a particle emitter that sends particles in all directions. What you need to do in order to have fine control over the particles can probably be best explained with an example:

In the Emitter Edit dialog:

1) Make sure the Use Effect Emission button is not selected.
2) Scroll down and click on the Graph Field button.
3) Select emissionarc_base from the list.
4) Select the first key in the list displayed in the white box below.
5) Click the edit button.
6) Put in an angle value of 90.

This should now send the particles upwards in a range between -45 and 45 degrees. Try playing around with the other graph field settings to get different effects. I must have spent a good couple of hours playing around with the editor once I worked this out. :-)

The key step to remember when creating new particles seems to be turning "Use Effect Emission" off, as with it on, changing the settings in the editor doesn't seem to have an effect.

Hope that helps.

- Dave

#8 Much more specific T2D documentation to come. I'll be honest though, we need to address the immediate T2D issues that people are having (be negligent not to) as well as prepare for another update. We absolutely want T2D to stand on its own in terms of documentation but we won't be duplicating the T3D documentation as it's huge and has been evolving for years.

Unfortunately, this means that things like the editors, physics and other major systems are not documented at the moment and you're left to your own devices but this will change.

No false promises, more doco on its way.

- Melv.

#9 @David R

Thank you! I did finally figure this out last night. I didn't realize that Graph Field was a selection of properties that you then edited below. I thought it was just one more setting of the emitter, i.e. you set your emitter to type emmisionarc_base or particlelife_base or whatever. Now that I understand what's happening I'm able to make things happen. However, this sure is a tedious way to modify the particle parameters. I would be nice to have all of the properties listed in a single dialog with sliders or something to control the values. This would make it much easier and more intuitive to get results.

@Melv May

Don't get me wrong, I know docs are usually last and that the engine and tools are priority, and that this is a early release. I think you and the GG developers are doing an awesome job! However, in lieu of docs initially, just jotting down your steps while making one of the sample particle effects and putting it in a readme would have been enough for now (at least for me.) A misunderstanding of the interface gave me all my grief, and now that I understand it I'm going to complain about how it could be better... ;-) Just kidding, I'll be patient.

Matthew

#10 Matthew, you see the official scripting documentation there, the same exact stuff (and all of it) that TGE owners get. That is over 40 pages of TorqueScript documentation in chapter 5 of the online doc alone! :) Yes, there is a big "preview" graphic watermark, but TGE owners see that too. It is there to represent that we are working on more docs. However, we might want to get rid of that watermark finally.

Also there are more TorqueScript docs available here on the site. Check out the main TGE Tutorials page, which anyone can see. Check out Joel Baxter's quick TorqueScript reference and Ron Yacketta's TorqueScript command reference in particular.

Note that the next release of T2D has an HTML page in the docs dir pointing you directly to these links, so that it's more clear to everyone.

As for particle editor docs, a quickie write-up is the next doc on that "to do" list. As Melv says, it may take a little while to get to it, but it is on its way. On the tile editor, you see the temporary doc we have in place already, and Melv has posted some more temporary info here

#11 @Josh

I'm finding the 'official' scripting documentation woefully inadequate so far. What I really need to get into the scripting is a complete list of the functions available for me to use with all the set/get and utility funcs. I have not been able to find something like that anywhere so far.

#12 I agree with Ben, this is my first time with a Torque engine, and a complete list of everything would be convient. I thank you for that link to the Script doc though :)

#13 Did you guys check this link above? It has exactly what you just asked for. :) It could be formatted better, but the info is there, and it's searchable.

#14 There's also the ability to call "object.dump()" on any object, which gives you a lot of information about it. Sadly, the functions lack documentation/notes or whatever is supposed to be shown after the "methodName() -" part of the output. But it's better than nothing, and has helped me a few times.

#15 @Jason: We're working on getting more information to you on this. It's early days and I understand that there's a need for more fundamental information on the underlying platform to T2D but if you can just be patient for a little while longer, we'll see what we can organise for you.

In the meantime though, be aware that the debug release of T2D dumps the detail after the "methodName()" you mentioned. Also, you have all the source and can browse any of those functions to see the comments on them which although doesn't seem ideal, actually gives you more detailed information than the documentation itself.

- Melv.