Behemot Graphics Editor News 18

Behemot Graphics Editor is the new name for older RT Editor.


New Behemot Graphics Editor version 0.8.0

Only for Windows 95 / Windows NT , soon for Windows 3.1 and Linux/386
 

New version 0.8.0 features:

 
  • Improved interface
  • Improved editor
  • Attributes
  • Skeleton objects
  • Multiple selection for curve
  • Jpeg texture
  • MPEG 1 support
  • Improved VRML Support
  • Events and Fields

  •  


    A description of the new features:

    Improved interface

    Improved editor

    Attributes

    Attributes are special user defined values, which allow to extend the normal characteristics of an object.
    They may contain information for special user defined action like animations, used by scripts object for complex modelling operation or  by  new objects like skeleton objects.

    Every object an have a list of attributes. An attribute has a name and a value. The attribute name follows the rules for object name (only alphanumeric characters or '_', cannot start with a digit, case sensitive).

    To set the attributes of an object in the editor use the command Edit|Object|Modify Comm. In the following dialog press the button attribute.
     

     

    An attribute is selected using the "Name" combo box.
    To add a new attribute press the "Create" button, then insert the name of the new attribute; the new attribute will have a null string value.
    To delete the selected attribute press the "Delete" button; it will be immediately deleted.
    To show the value selected of the selected attribute always the Update button must be pressed.
    To set the value of the selected attribute, insert the new value in the "Value" edit control the press the "Set" button.

    To set the attributes of an object in the .rt file format
     

    An attribute section may exist. All attribute values are strings.

    Skeleton objects

    A skeleton object is a base structure with control points (black square) and links between two controls (lines), and a group of objects, where each one is tied with a link. To add or delete an object from a skeleton object, use the special object menu. Look at the example 'skel2.rt' in the examples directory.
    To move a skeleton it is easy how to move the control points of a curve, just fix a point (clicking on it with the CTRL+Left button of the mouse), the move a close point (clicking on it with Left button it will become red; press the 'm' key to rotate it).
    It is possible move a control point, but not to change the length of a link.
    In this program version it is impossible to create or modify the base skeleton structure from the editor, you need to write the code; in a next release it will be possible to manage skeleton structure by the editor.
     
    The .rt file format for skeleton object is:
      The skeleton object is like a group object, with two new sections
     
    npoint the number of the control points in the skeleton
    point this section contains all the control points of the skeleton. The first if the control point number 0, the last is the 'npoint'-1. 
    All the points in the skeleton are in the format 
    (x,y,z), (xb,yb,zb),f 

    'f' can be 1, if the control point is fixed (impossible to move) or 0, if not fixed 

    '(x,y,z)' if the position of the control point 
    '(xb,yb,zb)' if the base position of the control point

    nrel the number of links (showed like a gray line when the skeleton is selected on the editor view)
    rel list all the links 
    a link is the format: 
      x , y ;
    where x and y are the indices of the two control points of the link.
    Important: an object must be associated to a link, so every time a link in the skeleton is moved, the object move too. To associate an object to a link, two object attributes must be set, 'from' and 'to', ...

    Multiple selection for curve

    It is possible to select a group of control points (only for curve), and to move, rotate and scale them (using the 't','r','s' keys).
     

    Jpeg texture

    The jpeg file format is now supported for textures.
      When the program finds this section, it looks for a "FILENAME.jpg" file in the current directory or in the texture directory.

    MPEG 1 support

    Using the built in animation support, the output format can be selected by the "mpeg" check box in Edit|Param dialog. If the check box is not selected, the "Action|Create All Frames" creates a .bmp file for each frame image (in this case a large space on the disk is needed); otherwise, if it is not selected, a .mpg file will be create (using MPEG 1 file format), without requiring a large amount of disk space.
     

    Improved VRML Support

    Events and Fields

    A new way to generate animations more powerful the anim package and anim objects is now possible.

    The objects in the scene can communicate thought events. Every object has his own events.
    The events can be in or out. The events can be linked through routes. A route can link a event out with an event in.


    Where to find more informations:

     Behemot Graphics Editor home Page
     
     

    Download :

    You can download Behemot Graphics Editor 0.8.0 for Windows 95/NT at  Simtel .



     

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    Sergio Perani
    e-mail: sergio.per@iol.it