Korman: wanted features

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Re: Korman: wanted features

Postby J'Kla » Wed Jan 09, 2019 2:56 am

While the following are wanted features I am unsure if they are strictly features that can be implemented using Korman. Of course the only way to find out is to ask.

I have been looking at some tools to create new game assets particularly Meshroom Photogrammetry (to make 3D meshes from photographs in the real world) and Instant Meshes to convert the created meshes from triangles to quads this also allows for a reduction in faces in a more finessed way than the blender decimate tool.

For some of my other work beyond age building I am looking at learning my way around the new Blender 2.8 interface so it would be useful if I could have Korman available there. I would emphasise that useful is not compulsory there is no issue having both versions 2.79b and 2.8 available it would just be sweeter if I could eventually do everything in 2.8.

If there were anything I would currently like available in Korman it would be a way to use Nodes to construct puzzles for example nodes for "variables" and "if" statements to change objects in game like opening doors for example.

I would love for us to have collectable objects that could be moved between ages we already do this with feathers or clothing once the pith helmet is on your head it stays with you it would be interesting if we could find some way to make it possible to hand off such an object to another player. Here I am talking about a game asset in one age becoming a vault asset that could be passed on.

I would also like to have some more book options like a simple way of adding pictures to a book by this I mean small images mixed in with text as opposed to full pages as it happens I can produce a page as an external object and have the whole page appear in a journal however it would be sweet to be able to add a small graphic like a map within text without having to recreate the whole page.

It would also be cool to have some tools to edit/create clothing and avatar animations.

I have managed all of the options I need on the clothing front but I am sure there has to be some way to streamline the process for Noob's.

As you probably know I did a mess of work last year building a Noob compatible method to build a dirtsand shard. I would like to see some tools to make Vault manipulation easier.

Please note this is a glorified wish list I am more than satisfied with the Status Quo and I am sure most of this is actually beyond the remit of Korman particularly the Vault tools.

I would like to make it clear how I cannot thank everyone enough for the support I received getting the dirtsand stuff sorted. :)
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Re: Korman: wanted features

Postby Sirius » Wed Jan 09, 2019 12:50 pm

Not a Korman dev, but from what I know...

Korman on Blender 2.8: not possible currently due to heavy changes to the programming interface and general behavior. This will probably happen at some point, but not for a while. In the meantime, you can probably model objects in 2.8, then import them in 2.79.

Nodes for puzzles: might be possible, as I said in the other thread.

Collectibles: Plasma isn't really designed for this (partly because there is no inventory), but might be possible to find a workaround in the future... Since one of the Intangibles project requires an inventory, this would be a welcome addition (and would allow for more interesting puzzles). Not coming anytime soon, but possible.

Books: ideally it would be cool to have a WYSIWYG editor. Doing it in Blender sounds a bad idea, but it might be possible to make a simple webpage with a split view of the book's code, and what it will look like in Uru (like JSFiddle does). Food for thought...

Clothing/avatar animations: those definitely sound possible, they are just low-priority compared to things like Python scripting.


Damn, now that I think about it, Korman has come to the point that we're almost on par with Cyan's tools :shock: Of course the engine itself is still a bit limiting for things like inventory, instant testing or better graphics; but when it comes to building Ages there aren't a lot of limiting factors anymore... This is really cool ! :D
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Re: Korman: wanted features

Postby Tsar Hoikas » Wed Jan 09, 2019 1:03 pm

matthornb wrote:I've got to say thank you so much, Adam Johnson, for such an exciting and outstanding toolset. Korman has enormous potential to revolutionize Uru content creation, and indeed is already starting to.

While I found many of the features of Korman explained well in the docs, and while almost every part of the toolset worked correctly once I understood how to correctly use it, there have been scattered gaps where long stretches of trial and error became necessary for me.

For example, personally, I'd like to be able to use a video file or alternatively an image sequence as a texture.

I found the process for setting the UV mapping texture animation with offsets for Uru: CC tended to mess up frequently and often produced flawed and unexpected results.

Could've used more clear documentation on that, would've saved hours of frustration trying different things in the Graph editor. There are other things that were like that too, where I tried to do stuff - like water effects or different bits of interactivity - that were not fully explained in the Korman documentation.

I guess my main request, really, at the moment is I'm asking everyone here who knows how to use Korman, just keep expanding on the available Korman docs and tutorials so the process of learning to use Korman and all of its features, is more efficient and accessible.

Maybe I'll be posting some tutorials as well at some point. I have kind of gotten the hang of using Korman in Blender by now but I can't help feeling there's more I could still learn here.


Thanks for these kind words. I'm going to echo the sentiments of Sirius, however, and say there's no way Korman could have happened without the whole crew. Some of whom hardly ever post here anymore. Korman couldn't exist whatsoever without Zrax's libHSPlasma, for example. It wouldn't be nearly as easy to use without Deledrius' nit-picking [trollface.jpg] and Doobes constantly breaking everything.

The lack of documentation is a serious issue, especially when you start to play with some of the more advanced features, like nodes. Those may or may not assume you know how the engine works. I think we're moving in the right direction by adding shortcuts that use nodes under the hood but expose a small panel to you. Off the top of my head, I know the footstep sound and journal book modifiers do that.

I do like to hear (concise) feature requests. We do have to have direction on how to move forward after all :)
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Re: Korman: wanted features

Postby Aloys » Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:10 am

Sirius wrote:Korman has come to the point that we're almost on par with Cyan's tools :shock:


I am very sad to say that I couldn't tell... As someone who started dabling early on in Age making Cyan's tools came so late that I was already deep into Blender and jumping back into Max was something I just couldn't do. :?
I did try the toolset a bit, but the only thing I can clearly remember is the easter egg with the button labeled 'Unleash Satan' or something like that..

I do love the direction things are going here, and the project that keeps me busy at work is coming to an end and I look forward to some decent holidays spent with Blender and Korman. :)
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Re: Korman: wanted features

Postby Tsar Hoikas » Fri Jan 11, 2019 5:40 pm

Aloys wrote:I did try the toolset a bit, but the only thing I can clearly remember is the easter egg with the button labeled 'Unleash Satan' or something like that..


That's actually not an easter egg but rather a legitimate feature. It allows for runtime lights to affect objects that are prelit with vertex colors. You can find references to this amusingly named feature in Korman as well, if you know where to look.
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Re: Korman: wanted features

Postby Sirius » Sat Jan 12, 2019 5:44 am

Aloys wrote:I am very sad to say that I couldn't tell...

To be honest I have never used the Max plugin either. But judging from its documentation, Cyan's PRPs, and Korman's feature list, it seems we're not too far behind. That, and I'm pretty sure Korman's node trees are much easier to use than whatever is the Max equivalent.

Tsar Hoikas wrote:You can find references to this amusingly named feature in Korman as well, if you know where to look.

And now I couldn't resist running a quick search on Korman's code to find references to "satan" :P

Tsar Hoikas wrote:Korman couldn't exist whatsoever without Zrax's libHSPlasma, for example.

LibHSPlasma is awesome. I have no idea how one can reverse engineer the game to gather so many informations about its file format, but it sure is really convenient for my experiments. That, and having PrpShop translate all this into some neat XML when I need to find a particular object...

Tsar Hoikas wrote:The lack of documentation is a serious issue, especially when you start to play with some of the more advanced features, like nodes.

Yeah... I think I'll try to write a bit of documentation about nodes, and come up with a few useful node trees. Hopefully this can help people get started with adding switches, doors and the like. I just have to get off my lazy butt first :x
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Re: Korman: wanted features

Postby J'Kla » Sun Jan 20, 2019 2:52 pm

I have done some playing with nodes in ordinary Blender to get various effects with textures in my NON age building ventures.

I find playing with nodes actually one of the easiest things to come out of Blender the concept of having puzzle nodes and puzzle variables that could be tested and manipulated by nodes something I would find particularly useful.

I am prepared to be patient, ladders were a while coming to Korman they were well worth the wait.
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Re: Korman: wanted features

Postby Chacal » Mon Jan 21, 2019 7:13 am

Wanted features:
- export aborts when a corridor in the Age is longer than 30 meters;
- export aborts when more than 3 ladders in the Age OR total number of rungs exceeds 60.

:P
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Re: Korman: wanted features

Postby Sirius » Mon Jan 21, 2019 11:28 am

Chacal wrote:Wanted features:
- export aborts when a corridor in the Age is longer than 30 meters;
- export aborts when more than 3 ladders in the Age OR total number of rungs exceeds 60.

:P

You totally want to sabotage fan-Ages production, is that it ? :D (although I hate ladders too... I don't mind long corridors if there is a nice view to enjoy while walking, but ladders are horribly annoying.)

J'Kla wrote:I find playing with nodes actually one of the easiest things to come out of Blender

Yeah, it's pretty cool and simple to use. Node trees can quickly get very big and messy, though (hence being able to create sub-trees might be worth it...)
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Re: Korman: wanted features

Postby Aloys » Mon Jan 21, 2019 3:42 pm

Chacal wrote:Wanted features:
- export aborts when a corridor in the Age is longer than 30 meters;
- export aborts when more than 3 ladders in the Age OR total number of rungs exceeds 60.


I just checked, and I have an area in development that has exactly that.. :o

(my Ahra Pahts shell, "in development" for like 9 years.. >_> )
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