Support for 3D World Studio?

[Absalom]

Hi. I was just about to purchase an LE license when I read a forum post on here that 3D World Studio is no longer supported due to the short staffing. That is basically why I wanted to move to LE because 3D World Studio is such an incredible structure builder. I attempted to use it with NeoAxis and that failed. Does 3D World Studio still work with LE? And will it continue to work? Also, it almost sounds like Leadwerks went the route that Torque did where games are mostly scripted. I hate mostly scripted because scripts (at least torque script) are like C++ on crack. They give you just enough power to get something done, but not enough to get something done right. For example, in Torque Script you couldn't pass or return arrays (or pointers to arrays), and in fact, arrays weren't really arrays in Torque Script, just a bunch of uniquely named variables (e.g. somevar_01, somevar_02, etc.). I really don't want to get into the scripting business again, so if that is the primary development tool (lua) then that would probably be another turn-off for me.

 

Thanks for any info anyone has on this issue.

[cassius]

3d world studio works well with Le, I was using it a few minutes ago.

lua scripting is mostly optional exept for a couple of lines to set up an objects properties.

You can use any coding language that supports a dll but most are using c++ or Blitzmax.

EDIT: I don't know where you saw that thread about 3dws no longer being supported but I can't find it.

[Absalom]

3d world studio works well with Le, I was using it a few minutes ago.

lua scripting is mostly optional exept for a couple of lines to set up an objects properties.

You can use any coding language that supports a dll but most are using c++ or Blitzmax.

EDIT: I don't know where you saw that thread about 3dws no longer being supported but I can't find it.

 

It was this thread: http://leadwerks.com/werkspace/index.php?/topic/1504-unable-to-import-x-files/page__p__14041__hl__3dws__fromsearch__1entry14041

 

I might attempt to purchase it again soon if 3DWS is going to continue to be the preferred structure builder. I think it is better than anything I have tried. It is very simple to use, and you can generate some pretty high quality props and structures with it. I have been using it since it came out and I love it.

 

I am both a C++ and C# fan and have been working with both for a while now. I am primarily into C# now as it has become incredibly efficient and really helps to prevent some of the common problems that programmers run into with C++ (primarily pointer problems resulting from bad logic). It also allows me to easily publish games over the web through the browser (e.g. the NeoAxis player). The reason I am leaving NeoAxis is so that I can more easily use 3DWS and I have to admit, the Leadwerks engine looks very nice. It seems like there were enough tools to get me by, about as many tools as NeoAxis, so I think it will work out fine. I also like the solid network logic. That is going to be important as we have been working for more than a year on an MMO Space Combat/Station Siege sim concept that we would love to get a demo of sometime soon.

 

Anyway, thanks for the reassurance about 3DWS. My team is all programmers so we have to be able to prototype quickly without artists so that we can recruit artists! Lol.

[cassius]

There are header files in le for c# so you will be ok on that count and several people are using it here.

3dws files have to be converted to the le format (gmf) using the supplied converter.

[Canardia]

common problems that programmers run into with C++ (primarily pointer problems resulting from bad logic).

Basically you shouldn't use pointers at all in C++, but only references. References are much faster than pointers also, plus they don't allow uninitialized and null "pointers".

[cassius]

I think that thread about 3dws not being supported anymore simply means it is completed and there will be no more updates to v 5.52.

[Pixel Perfect]

I think that thread about 3dws not being supported anymore simply means it is completed and there will be no more updates to v 5.52.

Exactly, there are some minor bugs in 3DWS and these are unlikely to ever be fixed but on the whole the product is a really good one and well worth the money being one of the simplest CSG modellers out there and ideal for programmers who maybe don't have great modelling skills. In terms of using it with Leadwerks Engine everything apart from the CSG modelling functionality is now superceeded by the Leadwerks Editor and, as such, 3DWS should only be purchased where the CSG modelling capability is the requirement.

 

Of course it's still a good choice as a level designer for use with other engines.

[Absalom]

Exactly, there are some minor bugs in 3DWS and these are unlikely to ever be fixed but on the whole the product is a really good one and well worth the money being one of the simplest CSG modellers out there and ideal for programmers who maybe don't have great modelling skills. In terms of using it with Leadwerks Engine everything apart from the CSG modelling functionality is now superceeded by the Leadwerks Editor and, as such, 3DWS should only be purchased where the CSG modelling capability is the requirement.

 

Of course it's still a good choice as a level designer for use with other engines.

 

 

Well thankfully I purchased 3DWS a long long time ago (in this galaxy and not too far away).

[Absalom]

I just resubmitted my purchase and now I just wait. and wait .... and wait... ...and wait .... .... .... I can't wait!!!!

[Absalom]

Of course it's still a good choice as a level designer for use with other engines.

 

Actually, I found it to be quite a pain to use with other engines (like NeoAxis which uses Ogre3D). That is why I am looking into Leadwerks. There just weren't any good converters to get my structures into the correct format for Ogre3D.

[cassius]

I took alook at neoaxis demo out of curiosity and it was good but I saw nothing there that cannot easily be done in Le by an average ability coder.

[Absalom]

I took alook at neoaxis demo out of curiosity and it was good but I saw nothing there that cannot easily be done in Le by an average ability coder.

 

Yeah the both engines are great. The thing I look for in an engine is whether it is extensible or not. Both Leadwerks and NeoAxis come in the form of DLLs so the answer to both is yes (not 100% about whether Leadwerks classes can be inherited, but I assume so). I don't yet know how leadwerks sdk is packaged, but the NeoAxis is packaged where every piece of the engine is a separate library. You have your network library, the Ogre3D libraries, the file system libraries, windows app libraries, and many others. It's a lot of libraries, but you can use each piece as needed. For example, I can use the network libraries without involving the Ogre3D renderer in any way. This is great for writing non-game applications too.

 

Another thing I like about both NeoAxis and Leadwerks is that they both support C#. C# allows you to easily implement the full potential of .NET which is good for anyone who wants to do things like publish their game to a browser (which is pretty sweet and makes packaging and publishing a breeze). The one thing I have noticed about NeoAxis vs Leadwerks though is that NeoAxis does have more tools (or it seemed that way in the past), but just the fact that I can use both 3DWS and Blender with no problems is a pretty good deal, so I came to Leadwerks. It's difficult to find an affordable, easy-to-use architecture type modeler that can do what 3DWS can do.

 

I used Torque Game Engine Advanced for a long time too, and I will say, that was a badly designed engine. It was a pain to modify the engine, and it was a pain to write the entire game in script. It wasn't easily extensible, and it seemed tightly coupled in many places, which means if you break one piece you took the chance of breaking the entire engine.

[Absalom]

Ok, my LE Updater is running. Wooot! It can't finish fast enough! I am very excited to get started!