PaceMaker Needs Testing
Community Forums/Showcase/PaceMaker Needs Testing
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 Credits to : Chris Fuller - BlitzUI Robin King - File Selector for BlizUI Al Mackey - Ragdoll Physics Library Ninja, Robot, Zombie and MiB animated models by Psionic It is as yet far from finished but just so you can have an idea of how this is shaping heres a work-in-progress test version to play with. I need to know basically if it works on your system. If there are any anomalies on import or export etc ,etc Your feedback and constructive critisism would be most welcome. Please read the documentation contained in the zip file before using the application. (You will need a 3-button mouse and be able to run in Full Screen 32 bit colour 1024 x 768) Many Thanks Smiff |
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| Love the title, Pacemaker! |
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| this looks good. I did my first human character today. looks complete crap but its a start. It will be a lot easier now when it comes to animating it thanks to you.. Just one thing. I couldnt seem to be able to load the 3ds model.. |
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| Sorry - .b3d only at the moment = 3ds and .x import will be supported very soon ! |
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| I might get into modelling and such again if I have a good animation app. Will give it a test. |
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| Seems like a really well designed program. I'm no animator but I got to grips with this pretty quickly. The only gripe I would have is that once I loaded a model it ran far too slowly on my computer, which I think is because of all the 2D drawing operations which my card doesn't seem to like. I have a Radeon 9500 Pro. |
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| So, does your model already have to have the skeleton in place? I was under the impression Pacemaker was going to pretty much do that part also. Maybe I missed something. There was no way to test the programs import since I don't have any b3d models. I tried loading the TrueSpace stickman saved out as 3ds into MilkShape to convert to B3d but I guess MilkShape stripped any anims. I don't know. Long and short of it is the B3d stickman got ticketed with an access violation. Sorry Bud, no stickmen allowed.;) |
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| @ Doggie - I included 4 of Psionics animated models in the zipfile - you can use these for testing - if you send me the model you are trying to load I will have a look at why it creates an error. The exe has been updated for a few bug fixes as well so I would recommend downloading again. I will include the Joint creation very soon - just going through final testing - you WILL be able to create your skeleton in PaceMaker and a LOT more ! @ Simonh Thanks - yes it can get pretty slow - especially if you enable the skeleton not to mention the edges ! - There's plenty of room for optimisation. if youve already downloaded the zip then you can just download the new exe : http://webzoom.freewebs.com/smiff/pacemaker01.zip http://webzoom.freewebs.com/smiff/pacemaker01EXE.zip |
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| how much does this cost? (when its finished) |
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| The first version will be free but will have only the option to export to .b3d although import of .3ds and .x will be there. Once I have added .X format export and the more advanced procedural animation tools like the Walk generator then I may think about charging a token amount. |
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| Really well done there m8. The idea for a free version that blitz users can use is awesome, good on ya! I'll end up buying it just so you get the props ya deserve :). |
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| Hi I have just been testing pacemaker it looks like a potential CFX killer. I poetically liked the Rag Doll mode it worked Gr8 on one of my one of my caricatures 2 little problems I Noticed ware * You can close the tool bar window * Also if any of the mesh / rigging is Blow the Grid it looks a bit confusing has shown blow in the Screen shot  Keep up the good work I relay like the look of this app. i am gowing to go test it on a few B3d meshes if you need a copy of the mesh from the screenshot or any other assistance please feal free to email me and i will be happy to help my address is adam.woodall@... Thanks Qcat |
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| Hi Qcat, Thanks for trying it out - yeah I need to include an option to hide the grid. You can make it transparent by replacing the grig.jpg in the res folder with your own masked texture - pure black will be transparent. I'm working on a real 3d grid for the future. You can also adjust the position of the model using the menu option Model\position. To re-open the Main Window just hit ENTER ! Very nice model by the way ! Cheers Smiff EDIT : Just uploaded a new version with a Hide Grid option in the Display menu. |
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| 404 :( |
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| There seems to be a problem over at freewebs.com ! shouldn't last too long . EDIT - OK now - Problem resolved ! |
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| I have just downloaded and tried the new version. It is a gr8 improvement been abele to hide the Grid thanks!! I will be interested to see how the rigging posse’s works in this program how it develops. I poetically like the way rotation of each bone can be controlled using a different mouse button. Witch seems a lot easer than methods used in sum other animation programs. It is also nice has a wings3d user to only have one viewpoint to work on I also think the rag doll features will speed up the presses of animation for a lot of users Keep up the good work I look forward to seeing future updates! |
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| Many Thanks to all who gave this a viewing and supplied me with feedback( all 3 of you). The reaction overall seems quite positive so I'll steam ahead. Will post a new version soon with the Joint Creation and Vertex assignment............ |
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| Hmmm...seeing that the level of interest in this tool is very low and no technical feedback at all I ask myself should I dedicate my time to something that would be more needed. It seemed like a good idea when I started but it seems that people really don't want/need a lowcost easy to use Procedural Animation tool with RagDoll physics integration. I imagine that most people are happy using their current animation tool. It's not too late to change direction if the general consensus is that I'm wasting my time. I'd rather work on something that would be useful. |
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| Seems like a good package so far. I havent tried anything with it except to play psionics animations. I appreciate the ability to see a specific animation right away (such as run, walk, attack). I think this is a can be a very useful tool, and even more useful if its easier than charfx. The downfall of charfx is spending eternities assinging vertex's properly to a bone, which is a long...did I say... long process as well as being a completely boring process. If you can make vertex assignment a lot easier and offer many import/export options, then I do not think your going in the wrong direction. I think you will do well. |
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| Also, I dont know how this would work really... But if there was a way to have many preset animations on a skeleton (like walk run die etc...) that the user can just scale the mesh to your skeleton... assign verts, then viola, a nice animation... then you really have something good. Of course people would be able to tweak it to suit the character more... but to have a preconfig animation would save lots of time. I guess biggest criticism and advice is... if you can save animators (for games at least) some time... then who wouldn't want this? |
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| Vertex assignment is one of the most time consuming and fiddly of all jobs when it comes to character rigging so that is why I am paying special attention to this area to make it as painless as possible. But if there was a way to have many preset animations on a skeleton (like walk run die etc...) that the user can just scale the mesh to your skeleton... assign verts, then viola, a nice animation... This is exactly how it will work - and there will also be options to add animation to existing skeletons too !! |
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| Smiff, should you tackle those problems, then you are definately not wasting your time. Just keep in mind the more import/export abilities you have, the larger your market. Besides I have seen numerous posts here in this community about users modeling skills being low.... so the blitz community wouldnt be your main market (hence the very little feedback). Your package would be great for the people who program and model in blitz, but I think you should finish it (with the highest quality of course) and market your software elsewhere too. ~best regards. |
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| If you DO NOT continue and COMPLETE PaceMaker I will personally hunt you down to the ends of the Earth and hold you hostage till you do! PLEASE! This is just too good to let it go. C'mon people - give Smiff a little encouragement eh? |
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| @Lucid - wise words ! @Doggie - LOL ! - now I've got no choice !! |
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| I like it I like the gui love that BUI |
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| I like it too ^^ |
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| I would love it and buy it if you could load any mesh from obj to 3ds with material import( multi sub object), create bones, assign vertices with weights. something like skin in 3dsmax would do me. Don't know how much if this you already have , but it looks like a promising app. I can't test it ont his machine for now , my vid card is too old, but will test it out soon. Oh and animation too. the I could stop using more expensive products how well does it deal with larger poly counts BTW? |
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| as a CS user I think it's excellent, but needs the following: Window Mode But it is so cool, and fast, please KEEP ON DEVELOPING as I would buy this |
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| Hey Rob , it odd my game demo is called 'pearman' . Hope this doesn't cause any confusion |
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| @Rob Pearman - thanks - there will be a Window Mode. @Ruz - The only limit at the moment is one of memory although I have limited the test version to 10k polys and 2k frames of animation. I will test with higher poly models and see how high I can get before it gets too slow on my machine - These parameters will be user configurable. From the start - I set out with low poly models in mind and game-style animation rather than full on cinematics. Joint/Skeleton Creation now in - very cool - create single joints or an entire customised skeleton with one mouse click ! |
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| create single joints or an entire customised skeleton with one mouse click ! Oh yeah... This is the moment I've been waiting for. Got an ETA? |
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| create single joints or an entire customised skeleton with one mouse click ! Well - got carried away there - reality is you will need 2 clicks - one to choose style and one to build ! ETA : Soon |
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| Where and when? Been 2 weeks. Chop chop... |
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| I just downloaded it, and at first glance, I am very impressed. Preliminary feedback: Seeing the X/Y/Z axis might be handy to ensure your model is facing the right direction. The scrollbars on the windows need to reflect the size of the list more (is this an issue with BUI?) i.e. Resize the block on the scrollbar relative to the number of items. Being able to use the scrollwheel to zoom in and out would also be good. If you move a window too quickly, you end up rotating the view. That's all for now, need to sleep. |
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| Great work Smiff ! I'll buying it's when he is ready :) Regards, |
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| I'm interested in it, and might have good use for it on my forthcoming project. I will definitely try it when it's closer to release, as I don't have any use for it at the moment. |
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| seeing that the level of interest in this tool is very low and no technical feedback Don't assume that -- I only just found out it exists via the Newsletter, and expect quite a lot of others will now! Looks very cool, and I'm going to try it tonight... |
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| Same here, I just spotted it. I already got tools I can work with, but I'm always on the look-out for fresh stuff. Especially anim-tools! |
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| Hi James :) you go to make an game with ? :-D Regards, |
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| You could even add tokamak properties. |
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| I can't model or animate for pickle, but I saw you wanted feedback so I downloaded it. I am impressed, it looks quite easy to use and I think if I persevere with it even I will be able to create something useable. I gave up with CFX demo because I didn't find it intuitive and it kept locking up on me -.- |
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| This is more like it. I wondered why the heck more people weren't clamoring for PaceMaker to reach release stage when Smiff first previewed it here. Now, we'll just have to wait for him to mosey on by to see what's the deal. Doggie - Great Expectations |
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| I haven't been on BB.com very often these days, that's my excuse. :) |
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| Well I would have had another demo out by now but as Mark Sibley has announced Vertex Weighting (Hooray !!) so I am incorporating this into the mix. I of course will retain the current rigid method too. A demo including the skeleton creation and semi-automatic vertex assignment will be out before too long ! p.s I have made many changes and bug fixes since the last demo was released so something you may notice may already be fixed but I would still appreciate as much feed-back as possible. Warning : the test version has been limited to deal with a maximun 5k poly model only - higher than this will give unexpected results - there is no real reason for this except that I forgot to change the value of one of my constants !! |
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| Grrrrr!! Unable to set 3D scene!! I am not able to go to 32 bits!!! Grrrrrrrrr |
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| Awesome! Skeleton creation, semi auto vertex assignment and vertex weighting should make this an incredible program!! work faster :)))) |
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| Just tried the demo, its shaping up very nicely indeed. Keep at it :) Jason. |
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| Smiff, what have you let yourself in for?! lol. <cracks whip> |
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| Yeah, please keep up work with this. It could be among the top blitz tools. The Gile[s] of animation ;) |
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| @big10p - ouch !! |
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