Scripting for idiots like me

[Grogyan]

I've just finished reading a number of of tutorials that Andylegate has written, and i'm pretty sure he and I are in opposite groups

Anyway I know a little about python now, not nearly as much as Andy, but AlcScript is rather too complex for me to get my head around.

I'll try and build an Age, been a while since I did one and try and have a go with the scripting, I doubt i'll get far

We still need a section on the wiki on AlcScripting for dummies in particular how on earth to tie in Animations with SDL variables

[andylegate]

Dude!!! ROFL!!!!!

Other than a LITTLE bit of scripting I did for maps for FPS games like Call of Duty, I knew NOTHING about Python or ALCscripting until I started Age Creation exactly 1 year ago this month!

I just have a knack for seeing patterns and understanding logic (I LOVE logic puzzles).

In other words: I'm just lucky is all! I have no programing experience.....unless you count BASIC that I learn in highschool back in the early 1980's, hehehehehe.

Thanks for the compliment on my tut's though!

[Grogyan]

No problem, they're rather excellent.

I did try map building for UT99 but didn't attempt to try coding.
and again for UT2003 still no scripting again

I love math and physics, though i'm not actually good at them

The only prior experience I had at programming was at high school and playing around with QBasic, for loops and sound, very very basic ie for sound i = 1 to 10000 step 1, play sound i freq

I tried learning and will get back to learning C cause i'll be needing that skill to further any studies in robotics

So then I did the stupid and attempt to write a script for Blender in a language I never used which only partly worked, it was very math intensve to understand what i was trying to do, then someone on BlenderArtists did pretty much the same thing but with 1/10 of the code I used.
I'm still no where near an expert on Python, but I somehow got by, now i'm onto Plasma API and AlcScritping, and no idea where to start.
Past Ages I did used templates from other peoples Ages -> mostly what you did or asked, actually Andy, and still not understanding it

I'm just getting myself prepared to do the next Age using rides as subworld animations, and triggering secondary animations and colliders in relation to what the primary animation is set to do

[Chacal]

It is normal to learn a new language by copying and tweaking what other people did. That's how I learned several languages (I know, most of them are extinct by now).

Don't see alcscript as a scripting language. See it as a data structure for passing parameters to Pyprp. It is like a simplified form of XML. Don't look for logic in it.

Python is a scripting language. You use it for modifying data and calling library functions that will modify data. For example, you used it in your "curves" project for modifying data in a Blender scene. You will use it in your Ages for modifying data in the Age data structure, and for calling Plasma functions.

So if you're looking for where to start, I'd say first understand the data structure, by looking at prp files through Zrax's excellent PageEditor.
Then understand the Plasma functions by studying the source code for Zrax's libPlasma, and reading posts and tutorials written by Paradox and Hoikas.
Then understand how these are used in Uru, by looking at Python code written by Cyan.
Then experiment!

[GPNMilano]

The easiest way to learn alcscripting is just to read some of the examples on the wiki, and then check out pageeditor in libPlasma. That is quite simply the greatest tool for age creation their is, next to PyPRP. I've been using it to tweak so much stuff in my ages, and now have gotten to be able to do what I need to do with PyPRP because I know the names and settings from libPlasma, and can look those up in the prp_matClasses.py for PyPRP, and find out what buttons in blender do what, etc.

Without it I never would have cracked the mysteries of the Particle Emitters, or the GUI's or the SDL Layer Animations.

Just chug along, ask questions when you need, to, and study stuff with pageeditor. once you get the idea of what you want to do, it's fairly simple to look at the three things you'll need. pageeditor for the setting names in plasma, and the python scripts for pyprp to find out the buttons and settings you need to set in blender to make it a reality.

[Lontahv]

Oh, speaking of particles. I coded them into PyPRP a few months ago. Not sure if that code ever got put in a release or the main SVN since it "didn't work" because I forgot to set a few things (including that CI flag). I'm telling you just so you don't have to rewrite 300+ lines of code again if you want them in PyPRP.

[GPNMilano]

Oh, speaking of particles. I coded them into PyPRP a few months ago. Not sure if that code ever got put in a release or the main SVN since it "didn't work" because I forgot to set a few things (including that CI flag). I'm telling you just so you don't have to rewrite 300+ lines of code again if you want them in PyPRP.

I remember reading on the forums that you did this, but since it wasn't mentioned in any release I assumed it wasn't finished yet. I just made mine with libPlasma and PRPExplorer, but if the code is there I'll take a look at implementing it with PyPRP. I want to take a crack at getting some of the MatClasses recoded so the setup offers some more options. I got the ambient color setting working, so people can set the ambient color to their liking. Works great for Lightmaps, but unfortunately, since it uses the mirror color setting, it'll break any age thats exported with it without changing this. (its set to export it as 1 across the board, since there was never any sense in changing this setting in blender before hand) But all you have to do is go through your materials and set the color to your liking, or to black if you want to keep it the way it was.

[boblishman]

Without it I never would have cracked the mysteries of the Particle Emitters, or the GUI's or the SDL Layer Animations.

what I don't understand is .... why haven't you shared these things with the rest of us (lesser mortals) ... ? ? ?

[Trylon]

I think it's because once you finally finished hacking something together, the last thing you feel up to is writing a step-by step tutorial.
It's a bit because it feels like doing everything all over again.

And it is a bit of a letdown to have done a lot of work figuring something out, only to get told off for not explaining in detail how you did it.

P.S.
Bob, that part about the "lesser mortals" was an unnecessary statement (one close to a snide remark). It implies that you think the one figuring something out is acting like he/she is better than you, just because he/she doesn't feel up to explaining something in detail. Give it a bit of time.

[andylegate]

I tend to post mine right away, while it's fresh in my mind. If I don't I forget things and have to go back and look all over again.

The snowfall tutorial that I wrote up I did wait, but that's because the RAD was taking up all of my time, but I did promise to put it out ASAP, and so I did just a day after the RAD was over with.

That's me however, just like when I found out how to do the animated linking panels, I posted literally within minutes instead of going to bed and waiting for this morning.

I understand what you're saying Trylon, however, if you go back and look over old posts, you'll find in many places where people have stated that they figured out how to do something, but no explination, or that they will do a tutorial later.

And then days go by...weeks......even months and still nothing from them. When asked about it, if they even bother to reply, the answer in many cases is that they are now busy with something else....gets rather frustrating to, YES us "lesser mortals"

"lesser mortals" being those of us that don't know programming, don't know how to hack plasma. However we DO know how to follow step by step instructions, and it even teaches us when we do it that way. I know that when I write my tutorials over at the GoMa, I make them with LOTS of pictures, and never assume that the reader knows how to do something already. If I need them to now how to do something already, I'll state that: "You need to know how to do blahblah before you try this tutorial".
Doing the tutorials also burns into me how these things are done. I can do the snowfall now in my sleep now, with a house full of people and a screaming 2 year old granddaughter just behind me.