Hello. I am starting a new company, called Robotica, with some friends of mine. I have a program that has come with Genesis 3D SDK, Visual C++ 6.0, Direct X7, and Shadow Realms Animator. Well, my problem is that Shadow Realm Animator does not create meshes. It just imports and exports them. So, I need a program (I would prefer for it to be free) that allows me to create Meshes (the outer frame of the actual character or monster). Now, I do not know if DirectX Draw can create a mesh. When I tried to run what I thought was the program, the monitor all of a sudden broke into purple and black lines. I could hear sounds and all in the background from other programs (other times there were no programs running other than that, so the other programs can''t be a problem). So, would anyone know the actual program name for it, or what the solution to the problem would be? One other program that came with Genesis 3D does the same thing. ActBuild.exe. So, if anyone could help, I would appreciate it. Thank You. Be kind to geeks. Someday they''''ll be your boss.

There´s a lot of free products dedicated to low-poly mesh creation. Milkshape 3D is one the bests. Discreet´s going to release a free downloadeable version of 3D Studio MAX (stripped down, of course) in the near future.
DirectDraw can´t draw any meshes, Direct3D´s the one you´re talking about. There are two modes on D3D, RM (retained mode) and IM (inmediate mode). The biggest difference is that IM can create new triangles, while RM just loads the standard .X files.
The DirectX SDK comes with a little program called "conv3ds", that transforms .3DS files to the .X extension.

Your problem seems like a video card problem. You should download the latest DirectX (8), and check if your drivers are fully supported by DirectX. Maybe the programs are trying to access a impossible resolution and/or color depth. You have a really strange problem, since DX ussually gives message errors instead of video lockups.


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FTF Software

Well, what program would I use to create a mesh? If DirectX can create their own (I read the essay they have on the site, and it sounds like it can)?

Be kind to geeks. Someday they''''ll be your boss.

Yes, you can directly draw meshes with DirectX, but I won´t recommend that. The only way to do it is to load a D3DIM enviroment and draw each triangle stating the 3 coords. Ridiculous.
Download any mesh editor, export to 3DS (most of them can do that) and convert to .X using conv3ds (the instructions come with the program in the SDK).

I don´t know much about free editors, you should wait for more replies... Milkshape 3D is a great program, but I´ll guess no one beats 3D Studio MAX.

Well then, either way, could you tell me the specific name of the program to run anyway, for future reference?
And, which is the best 3-D Mesh Modeler on the sites link page so I could use that! I need help and I am not really getting any.

Be kind to geeks. Someday they''''ll be your boss.

MilkShape 3D ($20)
Blender (free)

I have the same software Arakis and Shadow Realm does creat meshes you just have to go to the correct dircetory, if i'm correct which i think i am the mesh is nothing but like a big square your job is to do the editing of it with the bone, joint, and other editors, if you want it to do textures and stuff then your SOL. Try one of the Shareware/Freeware programs i have no favs yet so i can't really say which one i really like. The actor studio thing is no good if you don't have a model that was mad in something like 3ds Max (formaly known as 3d Studio Max), Genesis3D Actor, Genesis3D Body, once you get that stuff than you can use it to build a model like the ones that comes with software ie: armor.act, grenade.act, rocket.act, ect. Those things are not the best but they work ok once you've figured it all out. Take the game GTest for example it was created using all the software that came in the software bundle except for DirectX that was not used in the game or atleast it doesn't look like it was when i looked at the source code to it. If your running Wndows 9x, or any other windows platform than you can do a search for it by going to Start, Find, Files or Folders and click on whatever drive your Game Programming stuff is on. Then type 'GTest' in the drop down box with word 'Named:' next to it and search for it. I totally agree with richardve about checking our MilkShape3D. If you want to learn how to use the software in the bundle then checkout there web sites www.Genesis3D.com and www.shadowrealmgames.com.

I have one thing to say about the compiler that came in the software bundle "get another one it sucks" not that there's anything wrong with the MS Visual C++ 6.0 compiler it's just that edition of the compiler is not for distributing your games and stuff it is only for getting use to how the compiler works.


If I were you I would take the whole bundle back and get each thing one at a time.

1. MS Visual C++ 6.0 Standard compiler.

2. 3d Modeling/Animation software this stuff right here cane get really expensive some are like the MilkShade3D software good for a low pice of $30 - $50, others can knoke a $8,000 hole in your bank account.

3. the DirectX SDK note: if you do not have some sort of super fast conection than don't even mess around with uninstalling the Direct X7 SDK it will only just cause trouble for you to install because it's like a 25+ Megabyte of a download note that DirectX8 has just came out so you might want to look at it to see wether certian things that were on Direct X7 are still around or if they've become defunct.

4. whatever else you need to make a game(s).

If your looking for software for making models then checkout the posts at NeHe Productions Forum look for the topic "Modelling Software" and in there you find lots of links and stuff to modeling software.

I hope i didn't confuse you on anything.

Edited by - Blade Runner on December 31, 2000 5:56:18 PM

Edited by - Blade Runner on January 1, 2001 2:03:52 AM

I was bored so i'll just drop this off here. http://www.gignews.com/ there you will find little stuff about whatever. Scroll down and on the right side is a little thing about trueSpace4 and stuff. The first page kind of describes me when i first DL'ed trueSpace3.

If you ever wanted to just play arund with the software then try download a program called 3D Exploration for changeing the file extensions other things. Wou can find it at www.download.com also check the links page of GameDev.net there's some great stuff
there.

Edited by - Blade Runner on January 1, 2001 2:08:18 AM

Thanx for your help and suggestions.
However, if I am pretty much going to get MS Visual C++ individually anyway, why not keep it?
I am going to keep all of the programs. Just not do much yet. We are going to upgrade my comp soon, and afterward I am either going to get something called Anim8or (looks very good), or blender.

For now, I am going to just design with my friends and begin learning C and C++. Thanx for the help, though.

(BTW, about DirectX, would you know if I could just delete all of the samples in the samples folder, or are there important files in there? I wanna clear some space on my hard drive).

Be kind to geeks. Someday they''''ll be your boss.

I''m not really into DirectX but i''ll just ansewer your question the way i think your asking it. The samples that come in the SDK are there to help you learn techniques and things so that it will be easier for you to make demos or games, from what i''ve seen some of them are sort of useless. the one that you dowant the sourece code are like the flying game which i play every now and then and the deom with the colors rolling in the back ground and the ball is bouncing. you might want to just skim trough the samples to check for source code and stuff and if you don''t like some you can just put them on a CD if you have a burner and then delete them from hard drive. The book that comes with the bundle is a great book to read or atleast in my opion. The web adress are a first to checkout on page 209 is some names of software for making art like textures, models, etc. Note: That the programs that are listed on that page cost a arm and a leg, but some of those you can find a shareware version of them like the MAYA if you have NT, trueSpace and others.

If your going to keep the programs than cool. I was just informing you about that edition of the compiler if you have yet to creat a game of something then you will see why i said it''s best to get a different compiler just compile something and you will get some sort of stupid message.