How can I define points?

I have made a space ship in 3dsmax and now I want to put something attached to the ship reactors to indicate my game where the trails should begin. Is there a simple way to do that?
Because I don't really feel like defining it manually in the program...

One way to do it (hack it) is to place a box or something on that spot, name it in a way and then in the application check using the OSM callbacks if that is a "trail point" and process from there on. Hope it helps.

Thank you for the answer. But is there a way to make sure that the boxes won't be rendered in the program (without having to do it manually, of course) ?

In the OnEntityCreate() function you have a pointer to the Entity class. Then you can simply call Entity::SetVisible() or better yet destroy it since your won't need it anymore using SceneManager::removeEntity().

The method pointed by pasman is valid for handling tag nodes in CE

In the Pro version, dummy node helpers and Points are supported for tag nodes

If you want to make sure that some entity will not be rendered, hide it in max and enable "Export Hidden" support at the export dialog, in this case the entity will not be rendered, but can be made visible later with the "setVisible" method

heh I need nodes now too, for weapon mounts, muzzle flash, projectile spawning etc.

We just started creating a game engine combinig Blitzmax with the ogre engine, newton physics and crazy eddies GUI. Going really well for 4 days work

Any hint as to when the pro version of the loader will be released?

Evak.... I sent you a PM but not sure if it went through.. here's the message if it didn't

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howdy.. Antony? I noticed your blitz worklog and am REALLY interested in your ogre/newton wrapper. I teach games making and one subject is using blitz. I'm using irrB3D which is ok but pretty flaky. Since I use OGRE and OgreNewt in c++ I'd LOVE to be able to switch to using ogre with blitz
Are you using OgreNewt? I find it extremely easy to use in c++ and the new ragdoll stuff is cool
If I could test it out soon that would be very cool, if it's usable AT ALL it'd be better than irrB3D and I would swap to it straight away The students would love to be able to use the oFusion plugin for max as well.
I really liked your versions of the irrlicht wrappers btw, but the more I look into irrlicht, the more of a hack it seems.

edit: pps I also really liked your straight Ogre code and how it simplified it nicely. I always thought something like your ogre functions should be included in the ogre distro in a 'toolbox' namespace. Maybe you could start a 'toolbox' wiki page and paste your handy functions up there?

ps blitzmax I assume
Thanks! Cameron Bonde

Evak: the Pro scene loader lib will be available with oFusion Pro

Vectrex: can you describe some of the good points of using that, its similar to using Ogre via a scripted language?

Loric: yeah the language is similar in complexity to lua/python. It has lots of built in commands for audio/bitmap/filestuff etc. Basically just an easy to get going package. In the long run I think using something like C# would be good for them as the BlitzMax IDE is very limited, but it's a good intro to programming though (BlitzMax uses OOP).
Unfortunately irrlicht is the only decent 3d engine that has been wrapped, so I'd love it if I could chuck it out and use Ogre as Irrlicht isn't half as good as ogre.

Vectrex, we (Antony, Damien and Evak) have only been working on it for a week. Reason were using Bmax over C# which we were thinking of initialy, was the lack of mature libraries. So we decided to use something we were already familiar with SO far in Bmax we have input, entity transforms, raycasting/linepicks and physics via newton. Some basic particle stuff. Since you both seem interested I'll post something here.

Nice thing about blitzmax is that its a cross platform compiled language, so its fast, and also pretty easy to use. Our biggest problem is that it seems that ogre does render and flip in the same function, so we havent figured how to add blitzmax 2D stuff over a ogre window.

Lioric, let me know if you would prefer I remove whats pasted below.

Here's the commands we have wrapped into Blitzmax as of yesterday for controling ogre:






It will be a while before we will be releasing anything, here's a simple mouselook with camera WASD were using in our viewer.

Repeat

ang:+1
'Camera.Position( Sin(ang)*40,10,Cos(ang)*40 )
'Camera.LookAt( 0,0,0 )

'Entity.LookAt( Camera.X(),Camera.Y(),Camera.Z() )
'Entity.Rotate( ang,0,0)
'Camera.Pitch( -InputDevice.MouseYSpeed() )
'Camera.Yaw( -InputDevice.MouseXSpeed() )

Entity.TFormPoint(0,10,-30)
Camera.Position( Entity.TFormedX(),entity.TFormedY(),entity.TFormedZ() )
Camera.LookAt( 0,0,0 )

If inputDevice.KeyDown( KEy_W )
Camera.Move(0,0,-1)
EndIf
If inputDevice.KeyDown( KEY_S )
Camera.Move(0,0,1)
End If
If inputDevice.KeyDown( KEY_A )
camera.Move(-1,0,0)
End If
If inputDevice.KeyDown( Key_D )
camera.Move(1,0,0)
End If


'Print "Rot X:"+entity.getpitch()+" Y:"+Entity.getyaw()+" Z:"+entity.getroll()
'Camera.Rotate( Camera.GetPitch(),Camera.GetYaw(),Camera.GetRoll() )
Render3D()
CaptureInput()
If InputDevice.KeyDown(KEY_ESCAPE) Then End

Forever

great! So it looks like you've got both b3d style commands and bmax style oop version? I'd definately be using the oop versions as a) that's the way I've taught the students and b) Blide has . member popups which help alot.
Seriously if I could get my hands on it I'd be using it tommorow for class Plus I'd also help out wrapping some stuff/bug fixing.
And I know it's probably not quite working/buggy, but to be honest irrB3D and irrlicht is pretty bad/buggy and with very minimal commands (no animation for starters). So what you have there so far is actually twice as usefull as irB3d.
Pretty please?

Well the functions posted by evak are what we use to construct the oop interface. A procedural method of working may be implented as an abstraction layer if there is demand for it from the ex-b3d'ers but that remains to be seen yet.

I've actually been hoping to find a ogre guru who codes bmax so perhaps you can help v(In return I'd be happy to give you an early beta of the engine, provided damien and evak are ok with it) Basically the engine is working 99%. Everything works flawlessly except one thing. Shadows! The buggers just won't work no matter what we try. So if you're interested in helping I could send you the latest build with source(Both C++ and bmax)

yeah I'd be happy to help out. Send it too octamed@gmail.com or msn me on octamed@hotmail.com
Gmail seems a bit sensitive to attachments so try it rared (it looks inside zips)
I notice the OgreRAD thing but the b3d style c functions are really horrible to my eyes and your ogre c++ stuff and irrlicht wrapper work is nice and clear (good for the students)

Yeah sweenie's naming conventions are odd to say the least. We were going to use his but decided against it. Though mainly because we'd have no source to improve it with.

I've just sent you the latest build (8) with c++ and bmax source. Please refrain from releasing demos made it in just yet.(Unless it's wowful and makes us look good of course )

Don't know what ad and damien feel about this but personally I wanted to bring in some beta testers to write demos, make sure things are running smoothly so if you're interested I'll be sure to put your name down if we do.

If the rar gets rejected by google, let me know and I'll put it up on our ftp space for you.

hmm doesn't seem to have appeared in my gmail. Email me so we can stop hijacking this thread

Yeah sorry, it was too big to send through my mail server (16mb).

When ad comes online I'll ask him if I can host it on his ftp space until you download it.
Or if you have the latest version of Yahoo Messenger add me "antonycoder@btinternet.com" and I'll send it across that. Earlier versions of yahoo won't be compatible.

And yeah, sorry for hijacking thread original poster

BTW we need to get the ofusion scene loader working first. These are the ofusion forums afterall, so I imagine Vektrex wants to use it. And shadows should work fine then since I have shadows working fine in the ofusion viewer someone here wrote.

BTW ant, if you put it on the FTP I'll stick it somewhere public. I could do with a copy too, since I'd like it up and running in VC2005 instead of codeblocks. Might be able to get it to work with ofusions scene loader then.

We can discuss letting Vektrex on the Forums later, and maybe the FTP. Feels a bit rude discussing this stuff on someone elses thread on the ofusion forums.