Leadwerks Architectural Walkthrough 1

Community Forums/Showcase/Leadwerks Architectural Walkthrough 1

JoshK(Posted 2006) [#1]
Here's an example of what can be made with 3D World Studio. Enjoy.

Music provided by John Michael Keay (john@...).

http://www.leadwerks.com/ccount/click.php?id=14






t3K|Mac(Posted 2006) [#2]
on my laptop it works pretty well. slow but well ;) i can hardly see a one second jitter... frames are between 13 und 30 on my notebook. i have to try on my big machine...

EDIT: hey man, you just edited your post while i was writing this one. thats not fair ;)


puki(Posted 2006) [#3]
heh - I noticed that.


Ricky Smith(Posted 2006) [#4]
That's very impressive and a good framerate, never dropped below 42 fps on my old rig. The lighting and reflections are excellent - even the trees are animated.


t3K|Mac(Posted 2006) [#5]
the one second jitter is there...


big10p(Posted 2006) [#6]
Well, my monitor can't do 1024x768 - I get a double-scan image at this res. Even so, I could see the demo running at about 2-3FPS. Then again, my rig is an antique.


Gabriel(Posted 2006) [#7]
I like this, both because it's good in itself, and because you're sticking it to the competition by showing you can do what they do only better. Good plan, and good execution.


WendellM(Posted 2006) [#8]
I found that the grenades weren't powerful enough, but despite that, the end boss was too easy to beat... ;)

Getting serious, it looks good. I did notice a couple of potential issues though (just pointing them out to maybe help, not to be negative). There's some atypical "light refraction" business when walking up to the wall that's next to the entrance doors. That effect looks great on the windows/doors, making them look more realistic, but it looks a bit odd on a brown brick wall:



The white columns don't have this. However, there's a bit of a tint halfway into the columns near the brick wall (visible above), making it look like there's a glass pane in front of the brick portions (perhaps this was intentional, then, to make the bricks look shiny?).

And the trees in the planters don't cast shadows (perhaps "stand ins" could be used when creating the light map):



Other than these two niggles, it looked good to me - a very nice Blitz3D project.

Edit: I see some problems posted below, so the specs on my system where it works (to help track down problems) are: AMD Athlon XP 3000+, 1 gig RAM, ATI Radeon 9600 Pro with 128 megs, Windows XP Pro with SP 2, DirectX 9.0c.


Red Ocktober(Posted 2006) [#9]
verrrrry nice Josh... a good showpiece for 3DWS...

--Mike


AdrianT(Posted 2006) [#10]
doesn't work here, the loading screen pops up and a few moments later (still displaying load screen) it plays 2 notes of music and crashes to the desktop.


GfK(Posted 2006) [#11]
I get about 3s of music followed by a BSOD - a rare sight in WinXP.


Grey Alien(Posted 2006) [#12]
nice work 77fps on mine, looks great (needs a run button and WSAD support too ;-) Good music too. The glass reflections are a bit strange and the reflective brown walls. Ooh one thing, how come on the 1st and 2nd floors, you can't walk from one wing to the other in the stairwell area? Seems odd you have to go all the way down then up again.


Robert Cummings(Posted 2006) [#13]
I understand you're showing off 3d world studio but it's very dated stuff. Honest feedback is all I can do.

Even architectural walkthroughs should have furniture and so forth...


JoshK(Posted 2006) [#14]
I agree this is not technically amazing. I just needed to get something up there to show that my program can produce the same thing as Quest3D, which sells for ten times more, and probably has 30 times as many employees.


Red Ocktober(Posted 2006) [#15]
I just needed to get something up there to show that my program can produce the same thing as Quest3D
which program is that josh... 3DWS can script entities to do stuff, produce sounds, and includes shader effects??!!

--Mike


Erroneouss(Posted 2006) [#16]
Looks pretty. But I agree with One Eyed Jack, as there is
nothing new in it. But nice work, its pretty! :)


IPete2(Posted 2006) [#17]
Hey guys, Josh just builds the buildings - you have to bring your own furniture! ;).

@Mike I think 3DWS is part of a bigger plan - Josh has an engine which is shaping up to be something akin to Quest3D, except he's writing it on his own and the combination of the two is what Josh is talking about I believe.

IPete2.


Neuro(Posted 2006) [#18]
Looks good...BTW, i'm stealing your music file and i'm gonna use it for a commerical game and claim it as my own.... :p


John Blackledge(Posted 2006) [#19]
Sorry if this is a slight hijack, but while we're talking about architectural visualisations there is already one which is a fraction of the cost of Quest3D, where the non-technical designer/architect can import their own models, change terrain, skies etc - all click and drag, then export it as a self-extracting exe for the client:

Reality4D


Rob Farley(Posted 2006) [#20]
Josh,

I get around 80 fps on my computer.

Generally looks very nice, rock solid, smooth, not a bad building design etc etc, so I'm going to be overboard and picky.

* I have to agree with WendellM with the shiny walls, it looks odd, the windows looks good though.
* I would have expected a building like this to have lifts (elevators) even if they weren't functional in this demo I would have expected to have seen some there.
* (as already mentioned) There's a lack of furniture... I assume you'll be putting some in at some point.
* I would have expected to see more partition walls to make smaller offices in a building such as this for managers etc.
* No Toilets (if you discount the plants anyway!)
* Also the first area I would expect to hit walking into an office building would be a reception desk.
* Fire exits and Fire exit signs.
* A path that leads to the entrance.
* A Carpark at the front with cars in it.
* I would rotate every other plant pot 90º so you don't get the same repeating brick pattern on two side by side.
* Make a sunnier skybox... Nice skybox but you don't want to be demostrating something on a grey day (also the shadows on the building are suggesting a stronger sunlight)
* Put a lens flare on... we all know they're crap but they look great for this sort of thing.

I know some of this is unnessary for what you're demostrating, however, just giving ideas.


WendellM(Posted 2006) [#21]
No Toilets (if you discount the plants anyway!)

LOL!

You're quite right. Even the (retro-fitted) Trek blueprints for the bridge added a toilet (TL):



The rest of your comments are dead-on (if not as funny <g>), especially:

* Also the first area I would expect to hit walking into an office building would be a reception desk.
[...]
* A path that leads to the entrance.
* A Carpark at the front with cars in it.

And:

* Put a lens flare on... we all know they're crap but they look great for this sort of thing.

Heh, I agree on both counts (crap and expected)! <g>

BTW, just to add a hint of relevence, I get a smooth 42 FPS here on my mid-range machine (specs above).

Best of luck, Josh!


Red Ocktober(Posted 2006) [#22]
Josh has an engine which is shaping up to be something akin to Quest3D

... yeah, that's what i was trying to get a dribble about :)

have you seen anything of it yet IP?

--Mike


JoshK(Posted 2006) [#23]
As for the engine, I am working on stencil shadows, then physics. After that point, it will be ready to use, though not necessarily finished.

The engine is much more advanced than systems that just test everything, every frame. Portals divide the world up, and efficient (and complicated) internal management allows the engine to run large-scale scenes, not just little one-room demos.


big10p(Posted 2006) [#24]
Are you doing the engine in Blitz3D, Halo? If so, I'm interested in how well/fast you get stencil shadows working.


MerseyMan(Posted 2006) [#25]
Totally crashes for me, very odd for my system


big10p(Posted 2006) [#26]
"Calm down. Calm down." :P


Sorry, I'm in a silly mood. :)


JoeRetro(Posted 2006) [#27]
I hear 3 or 4 notes then it crashes...Geforce 6600GT


big10p(Posted 2006) [#28]
Revenge of the non-pow2 textures?


N(Posted 2006) [#29]
If it was crashing because of that then I'd have noticed it, since my card (oddly enough) doesn't support the GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two extension.

Just thought I'd post that to remove any chance of it being that.


big10p(Posted 2006) [#30]
Why, if it wasn't for you meddling kids...


Red Ocktober(Posted 2006) [#31]
for you guys who are experiencing crashing... it may be the version of dx9... that pain... you may need the feb release of the dx dll... it's a small download and quick install... http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx/sdk/

@ Josh...
sounds cool... i expected no less...

does the demo incorporate any of your engine code?

--Mike


JoeRetro(Posted 2006) [#32]
Blitz3D uses DirectX7...not sure why getting the latest would help? But, I followed your suggestion and installed the Feb runtime dlls and I still get the crash.


big10p(Posted 2006) [#33]
That would be assuming he's using Blitz3D, which is why I asked my question. :)


Red Ocktober(Posted 2006) [#34]
sorry about that JR... it was just a thought, as i'm not sure if his demo was written in Blitz3D or DBPro or what... and DBPro is a lil funny about which version of dx9 it will run on...

--Mike


gosse(Posted 2006) [#35]
Crashes on my system too, after walking a bit.
WinXP Pro w/ SP2, AMD Athlon XP 2800+, 1gb of RAM, GeForce FX5500 256mb.


JoeRetro(Posted 2006) [#36]
@Red Ocktober: No biggie my friend :) I just wanted to see the demo...


xlsior(Posted 2006) [#37]
Crashes for me too. Shows the Leadworks loading screen, starts playing the first 4 notes of the music, and then it throws me right back at the desktop without error message.

AMD Athlon 2800+, ATI Radeon 9600Pro/128MB, 1GB RAM, XP Pro.


WendellM(Posted 2006) [#38]
Eek! When something like 1/4 to 1/3 of users can't run the program, I'd be a bit freaked out...


AdrianT(Posted 2006) [#39]
looks like everyone myself included who's system crashes has a AMD processor.

XP Pro, Nforce 3 mobo, a64 3200+, 1gb ram, 6600GT here


Rob Farley(Posted 2006) [#40]
I've got an AMD and it didn't crash.

Proc: AMD XP 2600+
Mobo: Asus A7N8X2.0
Mem: 512mb
DX: 9.0c
Graphics: NVIDIA Geforce FX 5900XT (128mb)
Sound: NForce


N(Posted 2006) [#41]
Works fine on both my laptop and desktop.

Specs as follows..
Laptop
Pentium M 1.6ghz
512mb RAM
GeForce 6800 Go
Some sound thing I'm unable to identify

Desktop
AMD64 3000+
1gb RAM
X800 XT 256mb AGP
Onboard Realtek 7.1 Audio


Gnu(Posted 2006) [#42]
Crashed to desktop here.
AMD XP2100
Soltek SL-75DRV2 (Via Apollo KT266A series)
512MB ram
Radeon 9800Pro 128
Soundblaster Live!

Regards
Gnu


JoshK(Posted 2006) [#43]
It's an extremely simple Blitz3D program, so I really don't know what to say.


N(Posted 2006) [#44]
I've heard random tidbits about the latest versions of Blitz3D being worthless, that might be it.


MadJack(Posted 2006) [#45]
Works fine on my

Athlon64 3200+
Geforce6600GT 128mb
W2000 service pack4, 1gig ram


...also works great in stereo 3d with my Z800 VR headset.


big10p(Posted 2006) [#46]
Are you using the latest Blitz3D update (v1.96), Halo? Some of the earlier versions had issues.


stayne(Posted 2006) [#47]
works fine here...

WinXP Pro SP2
1 Gig Ram
AMD Athlon XP 2800+
Geforce FX 5500 256mb
nvidia nforce audio


JoshK(Posted 2006) [#48]
I compiled using runtime 1.91.

I uploaded the source here:
http://www.leadwerks.com/post/walkthrough.bb


JoshK(Posted 2006) [#49]
Compiling in v1.96, I get a really bad stutter every second, along with errors in the sound playback.

Since this program is so simple, I am guessing it must be some internal Blitz3D thing. You're welcome to play around with the source.

I am guessing Blitz3D re-sorts transparent surfaces once every second, which causes the slowdown. Can we get an official comment on this?


JoshK(Posted 2006) [#50]
If you had problems with this program, please replace the .exe with this download, and let us know if that fixes things:
http://www.leadwerks.com/post/Walkthrough.zip


t3K|Mac(Posted 2006) [#51]
the stutter is still there... strange...


AdrianT(Posted 2006) [#52]
Still crashes with the new .EXE
Very strange if it's blitz3D stuff this is the first time a blitz app hasn't worked on this puter.


Robert Cummings(Posted 2006) [#53]
lots of my old blitz progs crash like bastards on my new hardware.


Mustang(Posted 2006) [#54]

Can we get an official comment on this?



:D That would be the first... getting even yes/no seems to be impossible... ;)


CodeGit(Posted 2006) [#55]
Can somebody from Blitz Research please reply.


Mustang(Posted 2006) [#56]
Oh, and forgot to say that it worked flawlessly on my work system, no stutter or crashes, all nice and smooth:

ASUSTeK A8N-SLI
2GB mem
WinXP pro (latest sp's etc)
DirectX 9.0c
AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 Processor, 2.6 GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 7800GTX (Driver: 8.4.2.1, WHQL Certified)


Matty(Posted 2006) [#57]
Original executable runs fine on my laptop (Asus A4K, AMD 3600+(or something like that) 512MB Ram, ATI 9700 Mobility, WinXP Pro SP2, DirectX 9.0c)

Did notice though that when I pressed 'H' to hide the 'help' it immediately quit the program, not sure if it was meant to though as it was rather sudden.


DH(Posted 2006) [#58]
Crashed here on a P4 3.0 GHZ (socket 775), 1 GB DDR 2, GF 7800 GT OC.

Plays 2 notes and then back to desktop....

I will try and run the source.


DH(Posted 2006) [#59]
By commenting out this
frames#=FPS()

The demo runs fine!

[update]LOL here's why:
Function FPS#()
oldtime#=FPS_fpstime#
FPS_fpstime#=MilliSecs()
elapsed#=FPS_fpstime#-oldtime#
If Not elapsed#
	elapsed#=1.0
	Delay 1
	End
EndIf
Return 1000.0/elapsed#
End Function


On my pc, the rendering is less than 1 ms, so Elapsed is going to be 0, and thus, end the demo.....


Red Ocktober(Posted 2006) [#60]
good work DH... i'm curious... Josh, why this bit of code?

--Mike


JoshK(Posted 2006) [#61]
Oh crap, why did I put an "End" statement in there?!


N(Posted 2006) [#62]
That's a very good question...


JoshK(Posted 2006) [#63]
I re-uploaded a fixed version.


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2006) [#64]
The screenies look beautiful.
I like the global illumination feel it has. It makes it so much more real than most wannabe eyecandy stuff. tho in the shade there isn't enough contrast on the building parts sometimes.

The screenies also look rather blured, is this postproduction antialiasing?


DH(Posted 2006) [#65]
Oh crap, why did I put an "End" statement in there?!

To be bias against those of us who could finally afford an upgrade?? :-P

So where's my prize for finding the (very obvious) END code in there (j/k)?


CodeGit(Posted 2006) [#66]
Thank goodness, I thought we had a general problem in the new version of the Blitz compiler. I just assumed that the code was correct as some folks got it work and others did not. Won't make that mistake again.