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Author Topic: Thinking of documenting Simarboreal-editor...  (Read 6766 times)
Rayblon
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« on: July 10, 2016, 02:57:56 PM »

By documenting, I mean usage instructions of course, rather than all the l33t details. I got around to finding it and playing with it a bit again, but lots a fair amount of the sliders don't make a visible change, or seem to only make a difference in specific situations. Granted, I can still make a damn gorgeous tree, but something to the effect of a Mythruna handbook may be in order for it. It'd be a nice change of pace from what I'm dealing with right now, too.

That is, unless there's some super detailed documentation that I'm not aware of. ;p
« Last Edit: July 10, 2016, 03:00:44 PM by Rayblon » Logged

pspeed
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« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2016, 08:37:17 AM »

I don't think there's any super-detailed documentation.  I think so far that most users fall into one of two categories:
1) just click buttons until they get something they like, export it, and use it in their games.
2) those already somewhat familiar with L-systems that just poke around a bit to translate my names into something they understand.

This is the entire extent of the existing documentation:
https://github.com/Simsilica/SimArboreal-Editor/wiki

...other than what I posted on the jMonkeyEngine forums when I first announced it.

So, yeah, it could definitely use some better docs.  On the other hand, no one is clamoring for them, either... but one could beget the other, really.
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Rayblon
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« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2016, 07:53:28 PM »

I don't think there's any super-detailed documentation.  I think so far that most users fall into one of two categories:
1) just click buttons until they get something they like, export it, and use it in their games.
2) those already somewhat familiar with L-systems that just poke around a bit to translate my names into something they understand.

This is the entire extent of the existing documentation:
https://github.com/Simsilica/SimArboreal-Editor/wiki

...other than what I posted on the jMonkeyEngine forums when I first announced it.

So, yeah, it could definitely use some better docs.  On the other hand, no one is clamoring for them, either... but one could beget the other, really.

I guess I'll be picking your brain soon, then. Tongue

I'll try my best to document what I can based on intuition, first, of course. I have a good sense of about 1/4 or 1/3 of the options.

Oh, and uh... The j3o format is a touch restrictive, in that it can't be exported to another format. Perhaps it would be more popular if it could also export in another format... Though I don't know if that's even possible given my admittedly narrow understanding JME outside of the fact that j3o is a format used in JME. I guess the leaves wouldn't work in other formats either.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2016, 08:45:22 PM by Rayblon » Logged

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« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2016, 10:01:30 PM »

I don't think there's any super-detailed documentation.  I think so far that most users fall into one of two categories:
1) just click buttons until they get something they like, export it, and use it in their games.
2) those already somewhat familiar with L-systems that just poke around a bit to translate my names into something they understand.

This is the entire extent of the existing documentation:
https://github.com/Simsilica/SimArboreal-Editor/wiki

...other than what I posted on the jMonkeyEngine forums when I first announced it.

So, yeah, it could definitely use some better docs.  On the other hand, no one is clamoring for them, either... but one could beget the other, really.

I guess I'll be picking your brain soon, then. Tongue

I'll try my best to document what I can based on intuition, first, of course. I have a good sense of about 1/4 or 1/3 of the options.

Oh, and uh... The j3o format is a touch restrictive, in that it can't be exported to another format. Perhaps it would be more popular if it could also export in another format... Though I don't know if that's even possible given my admittedly narrow understanding JME outside of the fact that j3o is a format used in JME. I guess the leaves wouldn't work in other formats either.

I looked at exporting to other formats but the problem is that the leaves rely on a certain custom shader to do the billboarding and lighting properly.  I'd have to come up with a different scheme for the leaves to export in different formats.
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Rayblon
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« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2016, 10:17:49 PM »


I guess I'll be picking your brain soon, then. Tongue

I'll try my best to document what I can based on intuition, first, of course. I have a good sense of about 1/4 or 1/3 of the options.

Oh, and uh... The j3o format is a touch restrictive, in that it can't be exported to another format. Perhaps it would be more popular if it could also export in another format... Though I don't know if that's even possible given my admittedly narrow understanding JME outside of the fact that j3o is a format used in JME. I guess the leaves wouldn't work in other formats either.

I looked at exporting to other formats but the problem is that the leaves rely on a certain custom shader to do the billboarding and lighting properly.  I'd have to come up with a different scheme for the leaves to export in different formats.

Would creating balls of randomly rotated flat surfaces, akin to Mythruna's leaves, do it?


Here's a test I did of it. The method I used for rotation wasn't as random as I'd like, but it does make clear that to make the leaves work well, super visible cross-sections would need to be prevented
« Last Edit: July 12, 2016, 04:38:43 AM by Rayblon » Logged

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« Reply #5 on: July 12, 2016, 10:44:22 AM »


I guess I'll be picking your brain soon, then. Tongue

I'll try my best to document what I can based on intuition, first, of course. I have a good sense of about 1/4 or 1/3 of the options.

Oh, and uh... The j3o format is a touch restrictive, in that it can't be exported to another format. Perhaps it would be more popular if it could also export in another format... Though I don't know if that's even possible given my admittedly narrow understanding JME outside of the fact that j3o is a format used in JME. I guess the leaves wouldn't work in other formats either.

I looked at exporting to other formats but the problem is that the leaves rely on a certain custom shader to do the billboarding and lighting properly.  I'd have to come up with a different scheme for the leaves to export in different formats.

Would creating balls of randomly rotated flat surfaces, akin to Mythruna's leaves, do it?


Here's a test I did of it. The method I used for rotation wasn't as random as I'd like, but it does make clear that to make the leaves work well, super visible cross-sections would need to be prevented

Yeah, so far there are no particularly good solutions and all of those not-good solutions require development time that I don't have at the moment. Smiley
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Rayblon
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« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2016, 03:05:43 AM »

Sorry for the delay. I'll be working on the documentation today, and, well, I wanted to do absolutely nothing for a couple days, to my own chagrene.
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