Subject:
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Re: Crazy, OK Heretical Idea ...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.cad
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Date:
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Sun, 27 Apr 2003 20:33:52 GMT
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Viewed:
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721 times
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In lugnet.cad, Jason S. Mantor writes:
> I've been kicking this idea around in my head for a while and I'd like
> to throw it out for discussion.
> I think the ldraw specification needs to evolve in order to take the
> great work that James started and make it into the "toy" that everyone
> really wants it to be. We all want programs that can spin and animate
> large assemblies of parts, in glorious detail, in real time. We want
> bricks to snap together and we want gears to slide onto shafts. We want
> to be able to work with our parts in whatever modeling program we feel
> like. Unfortunately the current file format isn't capable of this and
> probably won't ever be : (
>
> So what would we want in a new file format ? Here's a short list
> 1. Easy upgrade path (convert the current parts easily)
> 2. Fast rendering
> 3. Cross-Platform portablity
> 4. Supported by common modellers/renders
> 5. Human Readable/Editable
> 6. Capable of animation
> 7. supports "mating" of parts
> 8. supports texture/material mapping
>
> What existing formats come close ?
> Md2 (Quake II)
> Milkshape
> OBJ
> Md3 (Quake III)
>
> Here's my crazy Idea: We should choose one of the formats above or
> something simmilar and start converting the existing parts to work with
> it. We'll get better performance, more tools, and more features without
> having to re-invent the wheel. My personal preference would be to
> convert to md2 in the short term and md3 down the road.
>
> OK, Begin Flaming : P
Jason:
There are lots of 3D formats out there; some proprietary, some
semi-proprietary, and some completely open. Besides the 3D game
folks, there are the 3D art programs (e.g. 3D Studio Max) and
the 3D CAD/CAM folks (e.g. AutoCAD.) Each area has a plethora
of 3D formats.
I'm unconvinced that the current LDRAW format needs to be
replaced; however, there is nothing wrong with becoming familiar
with alternative 3D formats to grab ideas for LDRAW format
extensions.
I would recommend looking at VRML first; it is one of the cleaner
3D formats out there, with several books published on the topic.
It is frequently possible to borrow one of the VRML books via inter
library loan (ask your local librarian about ILL), rather than
having to outright purchase it. For a variety of reasons, VRML
never really connected in the marketplace, though.
My $.02,
-Wayne
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Crazy, OK Heretical Idea ...
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| (...) Yep. I've actually written code to convert between several of these and they don't really fit the bill : ( The ones that are commonly used are proprietary and these kinds of programs typically need workstation-level computing power to work (...) (22 years ago, 28-Apr-03, to lugnet.cad)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Crazy, OK Heretical Idea ...
|
| I've been kicking this idea around in my head for a while and I'd like to throw it out for discussion. I think the ldraw specification needs to evolve in order to take the great work that James started and make it into the "toy" that everyone really (...) (22 years ago, 26-Apr-03, to lugnet.cad)
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