OK..... so....to summarise the current situation regarding creating Linking Books within Ages: (Please correct me if I am wrong)
1) Alcugs has (i.e.)
the only tutorial on creating Age Linking books ... and that uses the
uam script which is currently distributed with the ULM client ...
however... that (uam) script also needs an updated
UruAgeManager.int file ... and that file is
not automatically generated by the ULM client ... and therefore any age using this method (uam) for creating linking books will not work if distibuted via the ULM Library ...
urgo ...
this method of creating Linking books is completely useless for ages that are going to be distributed via the ULM Library(ies) (and the tutorial should be removed from Alcugs, saving people wasting time making journals using this method!)
2) The only other published method of creating a linking book is currently the post:
Dynamic Book Template by D'Lanor, which, whilst I am sure it is easy to understand for experienced programmers, is
very difficult for newbies (like myself) to even
begin to understand. (This is NOT a crticism of D'Lanor's post ... it was made in the programmers section of this site and therefore aimed at programmers) ...
urgo ...
there is currently no way for a non-experienced programmer to create a linking book in an age that is intended to be distributed via the ULM Library(ies)As I have already spent two days of completely wasted time trying to find the answer to a problem whose answer simply created a 'dead-end' for my linking books, I may as well spend the next two days trying to work out exactly
what to use and
how to use D'Lanor´s scripts ... (I too
am grateful to you D'Lanor for writing these ... if only I could use them ...

)
I am
MORE than happy to write a
full picture tutorial for using these scripts if I can actually figure out HOW to use them (and I
will write a tutorial if I do manage to) ... so, D'Lanor, would you prefer me to write to you via pm with my questions or post them to the original thread ? (I am trying to avoid confusion for other creators and I'm wondering if perhaps it's best not to generate a large thread that may put off potential users of the scripts, i.e. if you can explain some things to me, and I understand them and am able to make a working Linking book using your scripts, then I can write the tutorial from a 'newbie' perspective to help other new creators to use your scripts)
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Paradox wrote:However, upcoming python support should allow for using cyan's python files for this kind of stuff
Again, I am sure that this means something
very significant ... but what exactly does it mean ? ... and how 'upcoming' is upcoming? .
If it means what I
think it means (that there wil be a prp script available in Blender to generate a Linking book or Journal or Letter) then what kind of timescale are we talking about ???
(because if it's a matter of a few
weeks then writing the tutorial for D'Lanors scripts will be another waste of my time ... however, if it's going to be
months, then I'm
more than happy to go ahead and write them...)
andylegate wrote:So then you get someone like me, or Kierra, or Jennifer, [EDIT: or BobLishman] or several other people. We're trying to do it all ourselves. So we expect that others are too.
So when we go to find tutorials on Age Building, we expect to find them there in a nice, neat package.
Tutorials on using Blender.
Tutorials on Creating Ages in Blender.
Tutorials on Scripting for Ages.
All under one heading of: Tutorials for Age Creation.
I totally agree Andy. It´s hard to image
any age creator building an age with no journals, no linking books or no conditoinal objects.
(I also assumed that the programmers section of the forum was for programmers to discuss and share new 'discoveries' or methods or just new facts about the coding, rather than tutorials on 'simple' coding that is
NEEDED in (relatively basic) age creation.
Furthermore, I have appealed several times for a collaborator-codewriter (but with no success

) as it is not a part of the age creation process that I really enjoy, but I realise is essential for an age to be 'playable' ... the only reason I am currently 'working alone' is because I can't find a coder who wants to join me ...

It does seem strange that most other areas of creation (music, storyline, texturing, modelling etc) all have people volunteering their services to become involved with age creation ... what is it about coding that makes it so 'different' that there are no volunteers ? ... it's as vital a part of age creation as any of the others ... and, in some ways, more so ... (hmmm, maybe that's what it is

)