Standalone works only with daily builds?

[SanderB]

I wanted to see if I could make a quick UI for the standalone version to create some studio setups. Intended to work with .obj files coming from Marvelous designer to let the MD users also use the power of corona :) because right now it doesnt really have its own renderer so a lot of images from its creative users dont look as good as they could be imo.

But the first problem i came across is that the standalone version seems to work with daily builds and I wanted to know if it is possible to let it work with the Alpha5 build?

[Ondra]

the way corona works changed quite a lot between the versions, so it is unfortunately not easily possible (I do not keep old builds of standalone app), but I will certainly make and keep matching versions for the next stable release

[SanderB]

Ok i see, is it possible for me to get access to the daily builds then so I can at least have a play with it and maybe have something usefull for the next stable release?
If I understand correct you need to have uploaded some images to the gallery and if I remember correctly i have done 1 or 2  :)

What I plan to make is just a simple WPF UI where one can load an .obj file with .mtl -  select a lighting setup from a few studio presets - press go. Think this shouldn't be too hard to achieve.

[Ondra]

How well do you know C++...?

[SanderB]

I don't know c++ very well but i don't plan on using it.
Just use WPF to build a simple UI and use some c# to let it create some files like the .scn and .conf based on some presets and adjust the obj to add a background. then simply let it run it the same way as the sample.
Like i said it shouldn't be too hard to make but will make it a lot easier for MD users to render their clothes(or whatever cloth thing they design) in a good renderer. Or in fact probably anyone with a model in .obj that wants to render it in some studio setup but doesnt have a 3D package available.

I will make it opensource or at least share the code here.
I just want to do a little project to keep my c# a bit fresh and maybe learn a thing or two in the meantime. But if you don't want me to make something like this, or think its nonsense to make it just let me know :)

[Ondra]

ok, the thing is that there is a C++ API for Corona :D.
Add me on skype, I'll make you a build

[SanderB]

Let it be clear that I am by no means a real programmer, but i do know my share of c#, javscript, maxscript.
But c++ is something different, I dont know more then a few courses i had a long time ago in school and the time I took a quick look into the maxsdk, so basically nothing :).
I am just looking for a little project to do in my spare time and thought this might be nice to play with. Initiated by me looking in the gallery over at marvelousdesigner and seeing so many images that were basically more screenshots then renders and knowing about this standalone version. So wanted to make like a 3-click solution to be able to make nice studio renders using a WPF UI. But since it doesn't support the alpha version the only thing i would need then to make it work would be access to daily builds for testing. (and so would the users but thats a thingy for later)
But if you are actively developing a GUI for the standalone version already or plan on changing the way it works like now with the commandline there would be no real use for it and I would be better off spending my time elsewhere.
Like I started, I am no real programmer and don't want to dive into too deep just do something relatively simple :)

ps. don't mind adding you on skype but need your username

[Ondra]

my id is ondra.karlik
I do not wish to develop GUI myself, but I can provide the necessary API to somebody who wants (but it is C++, so you're not the guy, no problem ;) - you can still do your project with the standalone version)

[SanderB]

Hey Ondra,

I got two questions/bug reports.

I tried using the build from 9-12 and noticed the .scn file has undergone some changes.
Am I correct that these are:
include conf -> confFile
include mtl -> mtlLib
include obj -> geometryGroup

running the same .obj coming from marvelous designer that worked fine before gives me some errors.
With assert:
File: D:\Corona\src\CoronaStandalone/parsers/AbstractParser.h
Line: 66
Condition: getIndex(name) == -1

with release:
It tells me the mtlLib line ignored, you must set path to MTL in SCN file.
It does start rendering but with everything using the same material.
So I am probably doing something wrong with linking the mtl file?

Next thing that doesn't seem to be working is the usage of maps.
for example when i use lights with a softbox image in it:
newmtl LightMat1
Kd 0 0 0
Ke 2 2 2
map_Ke  softbox.png

Once a map is set, the Ke value doesn't seem to be of influence anymore.
Also find the same happening with a reflection map.

I attached a quick picture of the UI I am working on.
Did turn out having more otions/settings exposed then the 3-click thingy i was initially going for :)
Will make a new topic for it one of these days when i finish some last things.

[Ondra]

yes, the formats have changed, I will update the standalone build and documentation soon

[SanderB]

Thanks,

But about my second question.
Am I right that at the moment the map doesn't get multiplied by the value, or am I doing something wrong?
For now I can just use multiple versions of a map as a workaround to achieve the same result but that isn't ideal.

[Ondra]

yes, the map is not multiplied by the constant

[SanderB]

It's been a while and I also haven't been busy with this little project for a while.
I just wanted to show what I got  through a little movie i actually recorded some time ago.
I ended up adding a lot more then i initially wanted, so the interface got quite big instead of a 3-click solution :).
So it has a fully customizable interface with also a 3D window to set up the camera position.
Four other parts of which one is meant to show the loaded objects and to select and move/rotate them.
One to quickly setup some studio lighting presets, another for all settings and one for materials, which at this moment does nothing yet.

Not everything was shown in this vid but also it is far from finished still.
For example also the DoF and render passes do work.

Anyhow will have to see when I will be able to do some more finishing touches on this project like adding more and tweakable studio setups or ability to tweak materials.
If anyone is interested in the source files, plz contact me and you can have them (just keep in mind I am no pro programmer so the prog might not even be setup correctly.)
Ow and I noticed it doesn't work yet on the latest standalone version since there have been some changes to the .conf file.
But this can prolly be easily fixed.

[Ondra]

Wow that looks good. What are your plans with it?

[SanderB]

I wanted to make a quick UI to let people quickly create some renders with some studio lighting presets without the need to own some expensive program like 3ds max. But I noticed the quick UI part went out the door and I kept adding more to make it work better. Right now I don't have much time, nor motivation, so will have to see when I will continue (I was also working on it as a little project to learn some new things).
I do think a material editor part would be really necessary because some tests i did with .obj's coming from marvelous designer showed that materials need to be tweaked to get better results.

Maybe you could change the topic of this thread to something like UI for standalone (wip) ?