does Esenthel egine require experience with the DirextX SDK?

craksy · 12-13-2008 02:08 AM

does the Esenthel engine require any experience with the DirectX SDK?
i have experience with C++, and i have looked a little on the DirectX SDK, but i have never really worked with 3D programming.
will i still be able to use the Esenthel engine?

also where do i find tutorials for the Esenthel engine?
when i run the tutorials.exe it just tells me to replace the C++ source file, with another, but i dont see any others? :S
i hope you can help me!

in advance: Thanks grin

-Craksy

EDIT: i fiqured the tutorial thingy out... i was just looking in the wrong folder -.-'
but i wouldnt call it tutorials... its just example code, with some simple line comments!
are there anything else? maybe something a little bit more "tutorial like"? i dont think i would be able to learn from the tutorials included with the engine!

**Esenthel** · 12-13-2008 01:41 PM

Hi,

DirectX knowledge isn't required, Esenthel Engine handles all the rough stuff.

What do you mean by "tutorial like"? the provided codes are pretty simple imo.

xenno · 12-13-2008 02:00 PM

Hi.
Esenthel engine have a lotts of little and efficient samples wich you can put together in a easy way for to get lots of game mechanism today.
For example, with very fews lines, i get my player grabbing items (like barrels) and launching them through air (half life gravity gun? XD).
Also, i have my player jumping and climbing walls. Or shooting my weapons (pistols, machinguns, shotguns) very easy.
Thanks to all this tutorials, you could get a clasical shooter (including a bit of IA) in less than ~2k lines. (Yeah, you could do a differents games of course)

PD: Esenthel admin is allways helping users, this engine have all lol

.
Take a look and u will be fine with.

craksy · 12-13-2008 10:17 PM

thank you for your replies grin

what i mean that those are not verry "tutorial like" is that it just explains, what each line does! it doesnt break it down, and explains why it does that.
the Kb object is kinda self explainatory (spell?), but there are many other things that, i am just guessing at.
but i think ill take another look at it, and try to understand it! maybe it will be easier to understand if i look at some more code smile

but just one question for now: what is the object "D"?
i have seen that is is being used for stuff like input, and drawing to the stage, but the exact meaning of the object, could maybe give me an understanding of what else i can do with it?

thanks in advance xD

**Esenthel** · 12-13-2008 10:25 PM

Hi,

for knowing what exactly is 'D' please right click on it, and select "Go to Declaration" it will point you to the right header, where you'll get all the necessary info

craksy · 12-13-2008 11:05 PM

oh. cool xD

the more i look at this thing, the more i fall in love with it!
even though the line comments aint explaining it that well, its just easy to understand, and you can just start playing around with the code right away!

one thing i dont understand though, is in the mesh tutorial: where do the mesh come from?
it doesnt point to a folder, or anything in the code :S
is it a standart mesh or something? and if so: how do i import my own?

in advance: Thanks grin

EDIT:
i started to make my own project to play around with, while learning, but just want to know: do i have to inlude all the header files, that are in the tutorial, and are there some sort of Esenthel project template, or do i have to make one myself?

also i noticed that there are some basic animations included which aplies for all of the characters... can i make those animations aply for my own characters too?

**Esenthel** · 12-14-2008 02:28 PM

Hi,

I'm glad that you like the engine smile

If you mean the "07 - Mesh.cpp" tutorial, then the mesh inside it is generated programatically

"mshb.create(Torus(1,0.3),VTX_NRM); // create Mshb from torus, and automatically create vertex normals in order to lit the mshb properly"
this function creates mesh from a Torus, there are also other functions for generating meshes out of shapes
loading models from files is of course also supported smile

you can use Mesh::load method for loading, or simplier - use mesh cache "Meshs("your custom.mesh")->" it's all in the tutorials

In your custom projects you need to include only one header "EsenthelEngine.h".
Those files on the left in Tutorials project (engine headers) are optional, they're only present there for easy viewing the headers content, normally they're not required.
When using custom projects remember to set their "Project Settings" as stated in the documentation.

As for the animations, yes you can apply them to your own characters, all you need is to supply an animation skeleton for your mesh, and set it's bone names as in Engine standards (you can check that in the documentation "resources\skeletons")

Let me know if you'll have more questions

Thanks

craksy · 12-14-2008 08:15 PM

thanks!
first of i want to say that i really respect you for taking the time to help people here on the forum grin

anyway, i tried to make a project just with the "EsenthelEngine.h" header file, and took the "Main.cpp" (from "Tutorials\Source\Advanced\5 - Projects (here all files from a single...") and changed #import "stdafx.h" to #import "EsenthelEngine.h" but now i get this error:
1>LINK : fatal error LNK1561: entry point must be defined
know what may cause this problem?
and btw. in a future version of Esenthel engine, you may want to put a Esenthel engine template or something!
it would make everything much easier grin

and last question (for now, at least): how do i open .anim files?
do i have to convert them to .obj, in the mesh editor?

in advance: Thanks grin

**Esenthel** · 12-14-2008 08:40 PM

Hi,

No problem, I'm glad that I can help

Quote:1>LINK : fatal error LNK1561: entry point must be defined

- Have you set your project settings as in the documentation? (specifically check the Linker\Additional Dependencies" line, to make sure EsenthelEngine.lib file is mentioned there)

Quote:and btw. in a future version of Esenthel engine, you may want to put a Esenthel engine template or something!

maybe you could just try copying the Tutorials.sln (solution and project) to your custom folder, and rename it? maybe it would be simplier that way

And .anim files can be opened in Mesh Editor tool,
first try to load a human mesh
then load its skeleton (in Skeleton Mode)
and finally you can load an animation (in Animation Mode)

Hope that this will help

craksy · 12-15-2008 03:23 PM

ok i tried to make some simple stuff displaying a mesh on the screen, but for some reason it doesnt work...

heres my code:

Code:

/******************************************************************************/

#include "stdafx.h"

CSkeleton cskel;

/******************************************************************************/

void InitPre()

{

   App.name="Test project";

   App.flag=APP_NO_FX;

   PakAdd("C:/3D engine/EsenthelEngineSDK/data/engine.pak");

}

/******************************************************************************/

Bool Init()

{

   Cam.dist=2;

   Cam.yaw =PI;

   cskel.create("C:/3D engine/EsenthelEngineSDK/data/obj/chr/skeleton/0.skel", 1.7);

   return true;

}

/******************************************************************************/

void Shut()

{

}

/******************************************************************************/

Bool Main()

{

   if(Kb.bp(KB_ESC))return false;

   return true;

}

/******************************************************************************/

void Draw()

{

    D.clear(BLACK);

    D.full(true);

    LightDir(1,Vec(0,0,-1)).set();

    D.text(0.0, -0.8, "test");

    Meshs("C:/3D engine/EsenthelEngineSDK/data/obj/chr/skeleton/0.mesh")->draw(cskel);

}

/******************************************************************************/

the text shows up fine, but the mesh isnt showing up...
what am i doing wrong?

in advance: Thanks grin

edit:
also whats about all those "vec" thingys? it seems that there are a couple of vectors (i suppose thats what "vec" stands for) but i dont really know what they do, or when to use which one :S

**Esenthel** · 12-15-2008 03:27 PM

Hi,

You need to 'animate' the skeleton, set its proper pose,

first call cskel.clear to reset its animations, then you can call cskel.animate(..) to set a custom animation for it, and finally call updateMatrix

see the tutorials about animating

craksy · 12-15-2008 03:31 PM

so even if you dont want it to be animated you need to, set an animation?
can i just set the animation to NULL then?

and btw. updated my other post, with some vector question, before i saw you answer.
could you try to explain that to me?

thanks grin

**Esenthel** · 12-15-2008 04:01 PM

'animate' is optional, however 'clear' and 'updateMatrix' are required

Vec is a 3D vector (x,y,z values), please check its header for more info

**Esenthel** · 12-15-2008 04:03 PM

you can alwas just draw a mesh without a skeleton, but using only a matrix, like this:

Meshs(...)->draw(MatrixIdentity); // <- here use a custom matrix, here identity matrix is used

craksy · 12-15-2008 04:41 PM

i see

again: i really respect you for helping, us here on the forum! it makes you feel well welcomed to the whole comunity grin

lets hope that ill one day be experienced enough to ease your job, a little on the helping part wink

okay, as far as i see it, the Vec is just a function to define a position in 3D space, like if you where to place a light, or a mesh?

second question:
to make my skeleton interupt the old animation, to run a new one, i have to run the clear() function right?

i tried this code first, but it didnt work:

Code:

Bool Main()

{

  if(Kb.bp(KB_ESC))return false;

   CamHandle(0.1,10,CAMH_ROT|CAMH_ZOOM);

   {   

      cskel.clear();   

      if(Kb.bd(KB_SPACE)){

          cskel.animate("C:/3D engine/EsenthelEngineSDK/data/anim/run.anim", Tm.time());

      }

      else{

          cskel.animate("C:/3D engine/EsenthelEngineSDK/data/anim/walk.anim",Tm.time());

      }

      cskel.updateMatrix(MatrixIdentity); 

      cskel.updateVelocities();

   }

   return true;

}

what is wrong?

and another one:
i dont know how much experience you have with Maya, but i have rigged, a simple character in maya... now how do i export it as .mesh and .skel?
i know this is kinda of topic, since its not about the engine, but its gonna be used with the engine smile

in advance: Thanks grin

does Esenthel egine require experience with the DirextX SDK?
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