Author Topic: Blox Builder  (Read 8901 times)

Offline trisco

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Blox Builder
« on: November 20, 2009, 01:24:14 pm »
Hey all,

First of all, thanks for this great framework, I started the project in Java3D but quickly became frustrated. This framework made it all a lot easier.
Also thanks Paul for making all the examples, they helped a lot :).

Now, the project I made can be found on http://www.freedownloads.be/bloxsystemsapplet/test.html (temp link, you need a decent resolution to view the applet). It's for a manufacturer of modular stands (for expo's and stuff). You can build and texture stands, save them and order the materials right from the java applet.

It works alright but I have a few questions left:

- for the "request quote" functionality I would like to include a render of the world as an image, however when I call getPixels or getOutputBuffer on the FrameBuffer the entire program freezes. I use the opengl mode with enableGLCanvasRenderer.
- The 3DS file are stored in a mysql database blob field and sent on request to the builder. Can anyone give me any tips on how to load the 3DS file with textures in this way? I thought about making a zip of the 3DS file + textures, download it to the local PC, unzip and load from there. Sounds like a good plan?

Offline trisco

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Re: Blox Builder
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2009, 01:46:10 pm »
Some screenshots for people who don't want to load the entire applet to view what it is about :)




Offline EgonOlsen

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Re: Blox Builder
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2009, 02:22:23 pm »
- for the "request quote" functionality I would like to include a render of the world as an image, however when I call getPixels or getOutputBuffer on the FrameBuffer the entire program freezes. I use the opengl mode with enableGLCanvasRenderer.
- The 3DS file are stored in a mysql database blob field and sent on request to the builder. Can anyone give me any tips on how to load the 3DS file with textures in this way? I thought about making a zip of the 3DS file + textures, download it to the local PC, unzip and load from there. Sounds like a good plan?
I can't really test it ATM, because this machine doesn't have the new applet plugin installed. I'll give it a try when i'm home again. However, about your questions:

- Both, getPixels() and getOutputBuffer() work asynchronously when used on a GLCanvasRenderer, because they have to perform an OpenGL operation which can only be executed in the awt event dispatch thread. The calling thread waits until the dispatch thread has executed the request. If your method call happens in the same dispatch thread (for example in a button listener or something) they'll wait forever for this to happen. Try to move your method-calls to another thread and see if that helps.

- Why not load it directly from the server? I guess, i don't fully understand the question, because i'm not sure where the link is between the mysql-Db and the local access to the files!?

Offline EgonOlsen

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Re: Blox Builder
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2009, 08:57:44 pm »
I've moved the technical discussion to another thread in the support forum to keep this thread open for discussions about the project itself. It can be found here: http://www.jpct.net/forum2/index.php/topic,1463.0.html
« Last Edit: November 20, 2009, 08:59:19 pm by EgonOlsen »

Offline EgonOlsen

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Re: Blox Builder
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2009, 09:00:51 pm »
I've finally run it with the new applet plugin and it worked fine. However, it had some major problems to figure out how to use it. A small tutorial or something like that would be cool IMHO. Apart from that, it looks pretty nice.

Offline trisco

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Re: Blox Builder
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2009, 10:43:18 pm »
Thanks, and yeah, it's part of a bigger site which I didn't want to mention here, it's not an advertising board ;). But that site will have a tutorial on how to use it :). Also the first screen you get will feature a short demo video and tutorial.