On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 2:41 AM, Minh <minh...@telus.net> wrote: > The .smd format is extremely robust the way accomodates reference meshes, > AND skeletal animation. So you want a method to go straight from 3d model / > animation -> .mdl ? > How is that going to work with parametric animation? where you can combine > multiple .smds to make an animation?
Minh, while the capabilities of the studio compiler are formidable, it still leaves much to be desired in terms of file format and syntax. Don't tell me you've never struggled with the qc format. I am constantly having problems with its limitations. It's a rather robust system that allows for combining animations in many interesting ways, but the syntax still pisses me off quite a bit, and the technicality of it leaves it out of reach of most artists. I hear Valve wrote some simple tools around it, but I'm surprised they haven't replaced it entirely. The SMD format is perhaps a bit clunky, but I don't have too many problems with it, because it does exactly what is needed, even if it does it in a bit of a backwards way. On Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 3:19 PM, Joel R. <joelru...@gmail.com> wrote: > I believe the NS2 engine will be everything you guys here wanted. They > took > all the best aspects of the source engine, gutted them out and rewrote > them. They will have better tools, better everything, all written by 2 > guys > (probably just 1 guy). And it will all have derived from the Source > Engine. From what little we have seen it seems to be shaping up quite > nicely. > I don't mean to detract from the efforts of the UW guys, but creating their own engine for NS2 was a huge undertaking and they may have gotten in over their heads. I heard from a reliable source in March that it was supposed to be out this summer, but I don't see them as being anywhere close to that. Moreover, the NS2 engine is not based on the Source engine at all, as licensing restrictions prevent them from using anything from Valve, even file formats. Last I saw, they hadn't ported over to their own file formats yet, and it's easy to underestimate all of the behind the scenes stuff that Source does that they have to rewrite. (i18n, networking, scene management, resources, fx systems, and so on.) I want to play NS2 as badly as you do, but I wouldn't hold your breath for this "superior technology," which will likely end up being just another way of drawing those corridors and hallways that NS2 is full of, that everybody keeps complaining about in this thread. All we've seen so far is a tech demo and a teaser trailer, which signals to me that they still have a while to go. (And a sincere good luck to them too.) -- Jorge "Vino" Rodriguez _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders
