Torque X 3D Pro Only Has 2D Tutorials!?

#21 Michael I appreciate your situation. I was trying to make the point that a documented application is very different from a commented program in terms of the customers' perception of value. I agree that documentation should not be a separate charge, but referring users to a $59 book is exactly that. (See earlier post - where it is mentioned that one of the developers has turned documentation into a profit center - BTW I don't begrudge him this, I love the entreprenurial spirit of the effort).

I have learned a few lessons over the past 50+ years. One is that a leaders job is to provide the resources necessary to accomplish the mission. Another is that the value of a product is not in its potential rather its outcomes.

Also, the quality and timing of documentation will reduce the demands for assistance across these channels and probably deliver a cost savings against the incremental cost of expanding the department. The task is to drain the swamp, not become a great alligator wrangler.

To the credit of the organization, I have always received prompt replies to any support issue, and a rapid response on these forums. I hope my comments will be of assistance in your success. Thank you for your efforts!

#22 I still want to know if the source is well documented or not.

#23 Mr. Perry (Michael)

I found the video at http://vimeo.com/tag:torquex3d produced by John Kanalakis combined with his book "Torque X Book: The Complete Guide to Torque X”, and the 3D demo packaged with Torque X 3D to be helpful.

The only thing I have to add to this conversation is that you guys really should produce more "How To" videos. The video I saw appeared to be done very quickly and a rather sloppily, but it was effective.

PS. I used the orange_player.dts in my test project but I was unable to get it to fall to the ground (code below). I was however able to use the code in the Torque X book to get orange_player to fall to the ground, but I would like to use the tool to do most of the work. What did I do wrong?

CODE
public void CreatePlayer(float X, float Y, float Z)
{
TorqueObject playerTemplate = TorqueObjectDatabase.Instance.FindObject<TorqueObject>("BotOTemp");
Vector3 playerPosition = new Vector3(X, Y, Z);
RigidCollisionManager rigidManager = TorqueObjectDatabase.Instance.FindObject<RigidCollisionManager>("RigidManager");

if (playerTemplate != null)
{
//Player data & munipulation
TorqueObject torObjPlayer = playerTemplate.CloneT();
if (torObjPlayer == null)
return;

T3DSceneComponent compScene = torObjPlayer.Components.FindComponent<T3DSceneComponent>();
if (compScene == null)
return;
else
compScene.Position = playerPosition;//Z = 256

T3DStaticGeometryComponent compGeometry = torObjPlayer.Components.FindComponent<T3DStaticGeometryComponent>();
if (compGeometry == null)
return;
else
compGeometry.Position = playerPosition;//Z = 256

T3DRigidComponent compPhysics = torObjPlayer.Components.FindComponent<T3DRigidComponent>();
if (compPhysics == null)
return;
else
{
//compPhysics.SceneGroupName
compPhysics.GravityScale = 1.5f;
compPhysics.Mass = 10.0f;
compPhysics.RigidManager = rigidManager;
compPhysics.CollisionBody.AddCollisionShape(new CollisionBoxShape());
}
TorqueObjectDatabase.Instance.Register(torObjPlayer);
}
}

#24 Did you create the TorqueObject in builder with all of those components and step through debug to see if the else clauses were being hit?

#25 Michael I appreciate your drive to help out GG. I swear if I didn't have to worry about paying off my college debts I would be up there volunteering... what better way to learn the engine then to write the documentation! Keep up the hard work and I hope to see more work from you on Torque X soon.



RandysPortfolio.com

#26 Hey all,
Not to be rude, but we are also partially responsible... I hope I'm not the only one who remembers the "When is it coming out threads?" that went on and on for like 6 months. Personally, I'm happy that we even have a copy to play with. We still have more documentation than TGE pretty much ever had with a pretty good book to boot. Just my 2 cents...

Brian

#27 If there is EVER going to be How To videos, I'd like to throw in my 2 cents, because these are things that I have no idea how to do in torque - some I can barely find in the xna docs, but even then it's difficult to see what might break TX (for instance, adding code in the Draw function - I don't even have a draw function so I assume TX is handleing that?)

Anyway, for what it's worth, these are the things I can't even start my game until I figure out...

* first, pretty much ANYTHING listed under "Graphics" in the feature list of TX 3D except particles. Volume lighting? shading? post processing? I haven't found anywhere that tells me how to use these features. Book included.

* Swapping textures at run-time

* Adding multi-layered textures to one model at run time

* hiding and showing meshes

It's amazing how intuative TX2D was in comparison. With good documentation, I was able to make a game withing 2 months. This is like working blind.

#28 They're saying that Mr Perry will get to it after Torque 3D is done. When that is however, I have no idea.

Have you been digging through the source to see if you can find where these things are done? Granted I'd like to know the answer too. Volumetric lighting IIRC is just a radial blur, though I have no idea how to implement it. The code contains a Guassian blur, so they might be using that to do it.

What do you mean by "shading" ? Self shadowing? Volumetric shadowing? The engine doesn't support these, just a blob shadow.

I think I read that to swap textures at runtine you might be better off having 2 copies of the mesh, each having a material you want on it, then swap between the meshes.

I would have thought hiding and showing meshes would be simple, but I haven't tried it.

#29 I just tested hiding a mesh. Set the Visible property of the T3DSceneComponent and that hides and shows your mesh.

#30 shading such as "toon" or cell shading. It would be great if TX had GUI for that.

swap textures, meaning if I have a create a player and I have 10 different shirt textures, how do I swap one for the other,

Hide show mesh, meaning there is a model that has a hat - you can choose to hide or show it. I think what you were saying hides the entire model, not a mesh within.

#31 Ok I think I know what you mean there. I haven't yet made a model with multiple meshes and I don't think I ever would. If something can be turned on or off then I would tend to make it a seperate model and mount it (granted I don't know how to mount things in TX yet), but I'm not saying my way is right, it's just how I solve that problem.

I know texture swapping would be great, and iirc the method I said above was the method given to achieve it (even if it's not the ideal way to do it, but I'll hunt around and see if I can find it).

If you can find a toon shader you might be able to incorporate it. You'd probably have to make a material for it, or maybe you'd just replace one of the existing shaders.

#32 Have you tried using the HiddenMeshes property of the T3DTSRenderComponent ?

#33 One reason why I went with TX2D instead, at least there can only be one form of documentation.

Apparently the book is very good, however at £36 for me, it's more expensive than any professionally written C# and C/C++ books, I refuse to buy it in other words, until it comes down to a more tempting price.

#34 @trent

I haven't tried anything yet. Like Adam, I went with TX2D. Increadibly easy, well documented and user-friendly. I really want to start my 3D wrestling game for XNA, but I fear it will be nothing more than a lesson in frustration. All TX3D tutorials and even the book - worthless unless you're making a 3rd person shooter.

#35 I have been watching this thread for a while and though i do not have the time right now to make any totrials for using 3D I would like to impart some of my knowledge using torqueX 3d. So, what can i do to help short of writing tourals?

@David Horn
I would disagree with this "All TX3D tutorials and even the book - worthless unless you're making a 3rd person shooter."
We are making a platformer an we found the book very helpful.


Alan Uthoff
Perfect Dork Studios

#36 Wow... I bought Tx2d and thought 'that' documentation was poor. 'was kinda hoping that tx3d would be better (seeing as more GG resources are going towards it, forsaking tx2d), and not actually worse.

When (if?) Tx3d actually gets 'proper' docs... and if the engine actually works as advertised, I'll gladly jump on board.

But there's NO WAY I'll let myself get suckered into buying a half working, non documented engine AGAIN.

Much $$$ down the drain... and back to XNA I go.