Modeler Version 5
By XenoVacivus!
=Simple modeling=
This program works simply by placing vertices in any 3D point then connecting them to form a
polygon. This is a pretty simple idea except it makes modeling large objects really slow, so
there are also features to speed up modeling listed below.
=Two main modes=
This program has two main modeling modes. The first is placing mode where you begin to put down
vertices to form new polygons. The second is selecting mode, where you can select different polygons
and vertices to manipulate. You can switch the modes by clicking on the text line saying "Placing mode"
or "Selecting mode".
Placing mode- The program begins in placing mode. Here you can position a vertice with the mouse,
hit return to lock it in place, then when you have more than 3 vertices you can hit the space bar
to connect them with a polygon. There are some rules on making polygons however. For proper lighting
(and later on, collision detection) you must construct the vertices in counter-clockwise fashion.
I.E, if you are making a square, place the bottom left, bottom right, top right, and finally top left
vertex in that order. The polygon also must be convex (able to wrap a string around it and touch all
vertices). And proper .OBJ file format says that it must be flat (yes, you can make 3D polygons) but
the save file format still works with non-flat polygons, but they might not load properly into other
programs... I'll fix the save format to make all polygons flat later on.
Selecting mode- This is where you will be doing most of the modeling. There are several features in
save mode that speed up the modeling process, like copying polygons and rotating or flipping them. There
is a list of polygons and vertices in the text window which you can click on to select or de-select.
=The many features of selecting mode=
Clicking the mouse on one of the screens- This will toggle the selection of a vertice if the mouse
is on the vertice and the polygon is selected.
Holding the mouse button down while moving the mouse- will translate the selected vertices.
"B" key- This will make the selection of polygons into a block of polygons.
"O" key- This will reverse the lighting of a polygon. More on lighting below.
"F" key- Flip the selected points across a selected axis.
"R" key- Rotate the selected points by a selected amount of degrees on each axis.
"T" key- Toggle the texture menu.
"I" key- will make the selected polygons invisible.
"S" key- will select all the vertices within selected polygons.
Add button- will make the resolution larger (more below).
Subtract button- will make resolution smaller (more below).
Delete key- Delete selected vertices. If a polygon has less than 3 vertices, it will be deleted also.
Insert key- will insert a vertex next to the selected one. You may have to re-texture after inserting a vertex.
F6- will open a menu to save to. (more below)
F7- will open a menu to load from. (more below)
=Lighting=
The modeler finally supports accurate lighting! A drawback of lighting is that it only works on one
side of a polygon. The side is determined by the order of vertices. whichever side has vertices
arranged counterclockwise will be the lighted side. Its not hard to tell which side is which- non-lighted
sides will appear dark red while the lighted side will appear shiny blue and green.
=resolutions=
The resolution is displayed on the bottom of the text area, in dark grey font. This is not the screen resolution,
rather the resolution of the cursor and vertice positions. This feature is here because it is almost impossible to
place two or more polygons together so the surfaces don't overlap or have a gap between them. So the resolution
feature makes it easier to match polygons together.
=Save/load feature=
To load a file, turn Selecting mode on and hit f7. A list of files will come up, then just double click the one you want.
There is a list of files to load or save from, or you can click the text area saying "new (save/load) file" to
type in a new filename. The filenames are stored in a text file called "directory". You can add or remove filenames
to this file if you wish.
=Polygon Blocks=
These are simply lists of polygons that can be selected, made invisible, and all in all make navigating through
large lists of polygons easier. Unfortunately they aren't saved, so once you exit all the polygon block info
is removed and you will have to set them up again. To set up a polygon block, just select the first and last polygon
you want in the list then hit the B key. Polygon blocks inside polygon blocks are possible (poly 1 and 4 in one block,
poly 2 and 3 in another) but the polygons always stay in order regardless of the block setup. just play around with it
for a while, it's not too hard to figure out.
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