Axiom - how to get content into the engine

[andris]

Hello,

I have to get over a critical step - need to load a scene into Axiom,
can you help me?

I'm using Blender for which a DotScene export is available.
(Collada export as well, just couldn't prove its functionality yet,
however)

If a particular SceneManager.LoadWorldGeometry() shall be used for
loading scenes, first I'm not sure about the file format it "eats"
except it's xml, seconds I don't see it loading anything except some
options - so I assume it either to be an incomplete implementation or
I'm sneaking around the wrong methods.

I don't wish to use RF for now, coz it seems quite buggy, however if
the RealmForge.Importers.Collada project was working and could easily
be integrated with current Axiom branch, that would be something at
least... still, is there an easier way?

What would be you suggestions on loading scenes into Axiom?

I you can help, please reply here or maybe better here
http://forums.realmforge.com/viewtopic.php?t=591
so other users can also read the answer.

Thank you

[Dan Moorehead]

I posted a response.

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Dan Moorehead
_____________________________________________
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Project Manager and Software Architect
RealmForge GDK (http://realmforge.com)

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[JW Sullivan]

IIRC, the Chronos editor was able to load the DotScene format, so you could check that out for an example (if it is still available):

http://chronos.digitalsentience.com/cgi-bin/trac.cgi

 

What you could do is set the SceneManager to the OctreeSceneManager, and then load the DotScene xml file yourself.  This won't be quite as good as a dedicated SM for the DotScene format, but that SM has not been ported at this time.

 

The DotScene format may have evolved a bit, however the code in the Chronos project for loading a scene should still work.

 

J.W.

 

RealmForge GDK ( http://realmforge.com)

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JW

[andris]

Thanks J.W.

the current Chronos code doesn't seem to contain a dotscene loader, I
didn't found it at least. (downloaded 0.5 SVN and nightly tar ball as
well)

Am currently digging through the Axiom code to get a better idea what
could be done...(but need a break ;)

Thanks for replies.

[DavidClifton]

I wrote a very simple dotScene loader for Axiom. I sent it to
Mike...perhaps he would put it up somewhere for you. It is not very
well tested yet, but I'd be more than willing to fix any bugs in it you
find.

[DavidClifton]

FYI, I see no real reason to have a scene manager for DotScene.
Especially with .Net 2.0 the speed of xml parsing is fast enough that
it probably surpasses the 'binary' implementation they developed for
that DotSceneManager anyway. Really all you want to do is load a scene
into a scene manager...the scene manager should worry about how to show
and modify that scene as well and fast as possible, not how to load it.
KISS principle is probably best. Not to mention, I never saw any real
value in limiting the format to a particular scene manager...you're
best off just using a loading process similar to what I sent to Mike to
load it into any scene manager you like. My intention is to add a node
which allows for args to be sent to the standard 'LoadWorldGeometry'
(forget if that is the exact name...) so that, for instance, the
TerrainSceneManager could be used and the terrain set in the DotScene
file. All of this should occur during a 'loading phase' of the incoming
geometry anyway, so can be easily forked off if you are loading in
runtime instead of on a 'loading' screen, and honestly the reading of
the DotScene format is the smallest, most minute piece of the process
compared to loading in the actual geometric structure of the mesh
files, etc, that it really isn't worthwhile on current hardware to
bother with much optimization time on your part. The longest piece of
the process is going to be the instantiation of the DOM. Once you are
past that, the actual reading through, since the DOM is a binary
structure anyway, is blazingly fast...and supposedly 2.0 makes it
double the 1.1 speed on XPath parsing.

Collada could be a whole different bag of tricks, if you actually
wanted to embed your geometry in the collada scene file itself...which
I highly recommend against, imho, just from the standpoint of being
able to selectively modify and manage your resources.

Sometimes the simplest solution is the best, at least until you
actually see a real life reason to deviate..

[andris]

Hello David,

How you destcribe your DotScene loader implementation is exactly the
solution I have been thinking about after inspecting the Axiom code.

Who's Mike? Can you help me obtain the code?

I hope I wouldn't need any much help to get it working, If I isolate
some bugs I'll be happy to report/fix them.

Thank you.

[andris]

Borillis says there is somebody working on DotScene loader already, was
that you David or maybe Mike?

I'd preferably like to help test/improve code that would be part of
Axiom (although am not sure about my skills honestly).

However, just need to load Blender scenes now, any piece of decently
working code is appreciated...

[Michael Cummings]

Mike == Borrillis = Michael Cummings == me :)

 

And yes, I was refering to David when I was describing the DotScene Loader.

 

I'll see if I can find someplace to put the zip file.

 

[andris]

Great! ;)
"All the ways lead to Rome"

Feel free to use my e-mail eventually...

[andris]

Hello Borrillis,
I hope you didn't forget, did you? ;)
(just...you made such a quick reply before...and...I can't wait to test
it ;)

You could use my e-mail visible here on forum or maybe here is
something usable for this

http://filethatfile.com/

(no registration, no terms of use, no limits hmm.. nearly suspicious,
ain't it? but what can happen when uploading free stuff, anyways)

Thank you very much

[Michael Cummings]

andris,

   Did you get the file?

 

On 2/1/06, andris <and...@seznam.cz> wrote:

[andris]

Hello Michael,

I did, thanks a lot. The next day or so I already sent you an private
e-mail to "michael dot cumings at gmail <nosmapdot> com" with
corrected and refactored code of DotSceneLoader020.cs and
DotSceneXmlUtility.cs.
(it was not that bad, but could be improved)

Didn't you get the patch?
I'll send it again to the same address, please tell me if you got it...

Cheers,
andris

[Michael Cummings]

Unfortunatly, you sent it to the wrong address. It's cummings DOT michael AT gmail DOT com

[andris]

eeek, overstike - no I didn't fotgot the double-m in your name...

New e-mail sent now however.

[andris]

Come on, before I just replied to the file download notification ;) so
someone else got that...

Ok, sent again that's no prob.
a.

[DavidClifton]

When you get this, Michael, I would appreciate seeing what precisely
the proposed changes were.

Thanks,

David