Leadwerks 3 "How do I ____?" Questions and Answers

[Chris Vossen]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm Chris Vossen, I wrote the majority of "Darkness Awaits" and have spent way too much time with the documentation. I wanted to open a forum up to answering LE3 user questions about how to do things in Lua or editor.

 

Please don't be bashful! If you have a question chances are there are/will be many others out there with the same question.

[Rastar]

Taking my chance and linking to my set of questions ;-)

 

http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/topic/6026-couple-of-questions-on-leadwerks-3/#entry52100

[gamecreator]

Video showing problems here.

Follow-up questions needing answers here.

Thank you!

[Chris Vossen]

Question: "Isn't there a way to change the size of models by entering their numbers? The viewports show me the sizes, but I seem only to be able to change them using the mouse which is awkward."

 

Yes.

 

- Select your model by clicking on the scene tab

- Now there is a tab that says general and within it there are parameters for scale

 

 

If you want to scale the model as a whole you can use the model editor:

 

[Chris Vossen]

Also response time may vary and I am going out of order with the questions.

[Chris Vossen]

Question: "I create a new project using the Project Manager (Lua). I would have expected that I can run the project right away, but it doesn't seem to work. Opening App.lua in the Script Editor and hitting F5/F6 just notifies me that <myproect>.debug.exe couldn't be launched."

 

Answer: Josh is on this right now. I'll post more when he's done.

[Rastar]

Thanks. But that doesn't change the numbers in the graph but rather multiplies them, right? I find that confusing since I can't easily compare the sizes. The scale makes sense for imported models, but when I create a cube I want to directly enter its size.

[Chris Vossen]

Question: "Are there any commands/shortcuts to snap to the grid? Or to align objects? Without that it's pretty hard to construct the scene you want."

 

Answer: You can adjust the grid size via View->Increase Grid Size or View->Decrease Grid Size "short cut key are the brackets '[' and ']' " When you create primitives they will automatically be created according to the grid size.

[Chris Vossen]

Thanks. But that doesn't change the numbers in the graph but rather multiplies them, right? I find that confusing since I can't easily compare the sizes. The scale makes sense for imported models, but when I create a cube I want to directly enter its size.

 

In the editor: You can select the object in the main viewport and their dimensions will appear in the 2d viewports where you can see their dimensions and resize accordingly.

 

or

 

If you are working in code: Box

 

[cassius]

I can see no animate command in Leadwerks 3.

How would I animate a character with a walk sequence containing a framebegin value of 1 and a frameend of 40?

[Chris Vossen]

Question: "Why can't I create new primitives directly in the main viewport? I would prefer to drag-n-drop them from the toolbar (giving me e.g. a unit cube) and then resize/reposition them using their property window (or the mouse)."

 

Answer:

If you would prefer to drag and drop a unit cube you could:

 

1. In 2d viewports create a 1x1x1 using the primitive box

 

 

2. Right click on your box in the scene tab and select "Save as Prefab"

 

 

3. Name it and save it

 

4. Select your prefab from the asset browser and drag n drop into the main viewport:

 

[Chris Vossen]

I can see no animate command in Leadwerks 3.

How would I animate a character with a walk sequence containing a framebegin value of 1 and a frameend of 40?

 

The most convenient way of animating a model in lua is to attach the "AnimationManager" script (located at \Scripts\Animation\AnimationManager.lua) then call "SetAnimationSequence"

 

an example of this is in the Player.lua class (which is attached to the barbarian in Darkness awaits) Lines 219 through 235.

 

 

If you don't want to use the animation manager you could call the entity SetAnimationFrame command. Animation commands are grouped together in Entity

[MCP]

Hi Chris, when executing a project in either debug or release mode a console window opens up before the main application window listing all the assets being loaded etc. Is there a way to suppress the console on a release build?

[Andy Gilbert]

Hi, im seeing no "helpers" for lights or cameras in any viewports? Should i be able to?

 

Also rotating the camera or lights is useless as nothing "rotates" to show you the rotation you making.

 

Andy

[shadmar]

Hi Chris

 

In Camera2, self.target is suppose to be the barbarian.

How can I fetch the material from code?

 

local child = self.target:GetChild(1)
local material = child:GetMaterial()

 

seem to return the shadow material, but using GetChild(0) gives me nothing. Also self.target:GetMaterial() return nil.

is there a way to fetch the material this way from the barbarian?

 

Using to create a behind wall effect (x-ray shader) but I need the material to set the shader dynamicly

Not even sure I'm doing it right.

[Chris Vossen]

Hi Chris, when executing a project in either debug or release mode a console window opens up before the main application window listing all the assets being loaded etc. Is there a way to suppress the console on a release build?

 

Okay I haven't tested this but I believe there are currently 2 steps to accomplish this:

 

1. Make sure you can compile for visual studios

 

Compiling with Visual Studio

 

 

2. Change the linker subsystem property to Windows

 

Project->Properties->Linker->System->SubSystem

 

[josk]

Hi, im seeing no "helpers" for lights or cameras in any viewports? Should i be able to?

 

Andy

 

Copy the Icons folder from Darkness Awaits/Materials, Camera should be around.

[Josh]

I just added the icons folder in the project templates directory, so any new project you create will include them.

 

We only have icons for the lights right now. We didn't have time to produce any for other entities, and I couldn't find any that looked consistent.

[Josh]

Hi Chris

 

In Camera2, self.target is suppose to be the barbarian.

How can I fetch the material from code?

 

local child = self.target:GetChild(1)
local material = child:GetMaterial()

 

seem to return the shadow material, but using GetChild(0) gives me nothing. Also self.target:GetMaterial() return nil.

is there a way to fetch the material this way from the barbarian?

 

Using to create a behind wall effect (x-ray shader) but I need the material to set the shader dynamicly

Not even sure I'm doing it right.

 

Models in Leadwerks 3 are basically the same as a Mesh in Leadwerks 2. A model can have one or more surfaces. In this case, the material you are looking for is applied to the model surface, so it will be something like this:

local child = self.target:GetChild(1)
local surface = child:GetSurface(0)
local material = surface:GetMaterial()

 

Since GetChild() returns an entity, and GetSurface() is a Model class command, you might need to cast the entity object to a model:

http://www.leadwerks...ng-with-lua-r57

 

Note that all indexes in Leadwerks 3 begin with 0, so 0 is the first entity or surface, 1 is the second, etc.

[Chris Vossen]

Models in Leadwerks 3 are basically the same as a Mesh in Leadwerks 2. A model can have one or more surfaces. In this case, the material you are looking for is applied to the model surface, so it will be something like this:

local child = self.target:GetChild(1)
local surface = child:GetSurface(0)
local material = surface:GetMaterial()

 

Since GetChild() returns an entity, and GetSurface() is a Model class command, you might need to cast the entity object to a model:

http://www.leadwerks...ng-with-lua-r57

 

Note that all indexes in Leadwerks 3 begin with 0, so 0 is the first entity or surface, 1 is the second, etc.

 

The lua example in Model::GetSurface might help as well.

[shadmar]

Models in Leadwerks 3 are basically the same as a Mesh in Leadwerks 2. A model can have one or more surfaces. In this case, the material you are looking for is applied to the model surface, so it will be something like this:

local child = self.target:GetChild(1)
local surface = child:GetSurface(0)
local material = surface:GetMaterial()

 

Since GetChild() returns an entity, and GetSurface() is a Model class command, you might need to cast the entity object to a model:

http://www.leadwerks...ng-with-lua-r57

 

Note that all indexes in Leadwerks 3 begin with 0, so 0 is the first entity or surface, 1 is the second, etc.

 

That works, thanks guys.. (my first shader in le3) :

 

    surface = self.target:GetSurface(0)
   initmat = surface:GetMaterial()

 

[DigitalHax]

Very nice! Reminds me of Dishonoured!

[Chris Vossen]

This is awesome!

[Furbolg]

Wow Shadmar real nice, i wish i had your shader (GLSL/HLSL) knowledge Real amazing!

[SpiderPig]

Hi, I'm getting the following error in lua; 'attempt to index global 'Map' (a nil value).

 

function App:Start()

--Set the application title
self.title="MyGame"

--Create a window
self.window=Window:Create(self.title,0,0,1024,768,Window.Titlebar+Window.Center+8)
--self.window:HideMouse()

--Create the graphics context
self.context=Context:Create(self.window,0)
if self.context==nil then return false end

--Create a world
self.world=World:Create()

--Load a map
return Map:Load("Maps\start.map")
end