How do I take a 3D model that I created in 3D Studio Max and put it into my Winform C# program and make it spin? I'd prefer not to use DirectX if possible. I don't want anything complex. I simply want my model to rotate along the X axis. Thats it.
Thanks
You should use a 3D rendering engine for C#
Something like
http://axiom3d.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/GDI-plus/exoengine.aspx
http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/features.html
http://freegamedev.net/wiki/Free,_cross-platform,_real-time_3D_engines
I have never used any rendering engines but for your requirements (letting the user move the object) i think a 3D engine would do. But perhaps this is over kill
If you want it to be dynamic, then the simplest option would be to render out an animation of the object rotating, but make each frame a separate file. Then you just show the correct image based on how the user is dragging the mouse. If the user drags the mouse to the right, then increment the frame and show the next image. If moving to the left, decrement the frame.
For something non interactive:
Export the animation to an AVI and embed that in your form:
Embedding Video in a WinForms app
It's not really what I'd recommend, but it's an alternative to creating an animated gif.
For something partially interactive (i.e. allowing limited movement):
I've seen QuickTime movies that you can control with the mouse. There's an example on this page. It's not 3D though.
For something fully interactive:
You need a 3D rendering engine of some sort and that does (usually) require DirectX or OpenGL. However, if you're only dealing with simple objects you might (repeat might) get away with a software renderer.
Related
[using unity 2020.3]
I'm trying to slowly blend different layers in and out in VR, with both layers being visible while the fade between occurs. Right now, I am using two cameras, one as the main camera and one as a render texture (both only rendering their selective layers). Then I use UI to fade the render texture in and out. This looks and works great in 2D view (including builds), but UI components do not render in VR.
I am aware that rendering this in VR will require 4 sets of rendering (two for each eye), but I'd still like to know how to generate and display a render texture for each eye using unity.
This effect can be done in other ways and I'm open to suggestions. There are a lot of different types of elements I wish to fade in and out so I'm aware of one solution to add transparent shaders and fade particles but this can be tedious and requires a lot of setups (I'd like more of a permanent solution for any project). This being said, I'd still like to know how to manipulate what is being rendered out to the VR headset.
I'm fairly certain that the "Screen space effects" section of Unity doc Single Pass Stereo rendering (Double-Wide rendering) -- { https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/SinglePassStereoRendering.html } -- is what I'm looking for, however, this still doesn't answer how to get the render texture for each eye (and I'm a little confused on how to use what they have written).
I'm happy to elaborate more and test some things out! Thank you in advance!
I developing a simple 3D model viewer on XNA 4.0. Is there a way to avoid a infinite game loop with Draw and Update functions? I need render 3D graphics, but without infinite rendering of scene. I mean I need redraw the scene only then it really changed.
I suggest taking a look at how they're doing it in their samples:
App Hub - WinForms Series 1
App Hub - WinForms Series 2
Why exactly do you want this?
If you use a winforms application you have more control on your update and draw loop, but you also could render the scene to a texture first, and then stop rendering at all.
You are going to have to roll your own multi-threaded loop; if you stall either Update or Draw the other will get stalled too. Another consideration is that if your window gets obscured somehow (under non-DWM environments; a window overlapping it for instance) stalling the Draw will leave areas of your window unpainted.
If you want to go ahead with this; what you will do is start a Thread the first time Update gets called and subsequently use a ManualResetEvent to synchronise the two.
A far more robust option is to render your entire scene to a RenderTarget2D when the scene is updated; if the scene has not been altered since the last Update or Draw call simply render the RenderTarget2D instead of the whole scene. This is still an infinite loop, but it tends toward your requirement (even though it does not meet it).
This sort of scenario would be best solved by using WinForms or WPF as the host for your rendering system. I have worked with such systems before and I found using SlimDX with WPF Interop was my preferred solution. Using this approach allows for the addition of nice UI features provided by WPF, overlain on a 3D model rendered to a surface.
I'm thinking about making a 3D point and click game, is it possible to make one in winforms or WPF? I don't need any physics or anything all I need is to make the application render 3D objects. I know that I can use XNA but if I do then I will have to relearn almost everything again. My third approach would be to make the scenes in a 3D game engine and then print the screen and then load it as a image. Any suggestion would be appreciated.
There's a big difference between a 3D game, and just letting players interact with a rendered image.
Your approach of loading a pre-rendered image is possible to do in both Winforms and WPF. You would just need to capture click events on the image and check the location against your list of active areas. Then just handle what needed to be done, ie: move to the next area, activate item, etc.
Edit from comment:
It's not so much which is friendlier. You can host an XNA viewport in Winforms/WPF. It's more about how you want your game to work. If you never have moving 3D scenes, XNA is overkill, and images will work just fine.
If you want dynamic scenes, you'll need to be able to render them on the fly. Then, XNA makes more sense. It is a lot more work though compared to just displaying images.
If you just want to show pre-rendered 3d images in your game, why not create them using a real 3d graphics tool, such as 3D Studio Max or Maya (or a free one, such as Blender)? It sounds like there's no need for actually rendering the 3d scenes in a game engine at all.
In this game im trying to create, players are going to be able to go in all directions
I added one single image(1024x768 2d texture) as background, or terrain.
Now, when player moves around I want to display some stuff.
For example, lets say a lamp, when player moves enough, he will see lamp. if he goes back, lamp will disappear because it wont be anymore in screen
If Im unclear, think about mario. when you go further, coin-boxes will appear, if you go back they will disappear. but background will always stay same
I thought if I spawn ALL my sprites at screen, but in positions like 1599, 1422 it will be invisible because screen is only 1024x768, and when player moves, I will set place of that sprite to 1599-1,1422-1 and so. Is it a good way to do this ?
Are there better ways?
There are two ways you can achieve this result.
Keep player and camera stationary, move everything else.
Keep everything stationary except the player and the camera.
It sounds like you are trying to implement the first option. This is a fine solution, but it can become complicated quickly as the number of items grows. If you use a tile system, this can become much easier to manage. I recommend you look into using a tile engine of some sort. There are a lot of great tile map editors as well.
Some resources for using Tiles:
Tiled -- Nice Map Editor
TiledLib -- XNA Library for using Tiled Maps
What you're describing there is a Viewport, which describes a portion of the 'world' that is currently visible.
You need to define the contents of your 'world' somehow. This can be done with a data structure such as a scene graph, but for the simple 2D environment you're describing, you could probably store objects in an array. You would need to bind your direction keys to change the coordinates of the viewport (and your character if you want them to stay centered).
It's a good idea to only draw objects that are currently visible. Without knowing which languages or packages you are using it's difficult to comment on that.
I would look into Parallax scrolling. Here is an example of it in action.
If this is what you require, then here is a tutorial with source code.
XNA Parallax Scrolling
After you are finished with basic scrolling, try to implement some frustum culling. That is only draw objects which are actually visible on the screen and avoid unnecessary drawing of stuff that cannot be seen anyway.
I would prefer solution number 2 (move player and camera) - It would be easier for me, but maybe its just personal preference.
Greetings, everyone.
I'm trying to learn some Silverlight basics, and have decided to write a simple Mandelbrot-set drawing application for that reason. In Silverlight, of course. ;)
The application is mostly done. I'm using a WriteableBitmap to work on the pixels, and a simple Image placed on an empty form to display this bitmap (using the Source property). I've even managed to get zooming and moving the fractal around under control.
Now I wanted to spice things up a little bit by adding just a slight bit of animations; I know I cannot make the fractal move, as it's a scalar graphics object, but for example, when I zoom in, it would be nice if the initial zoom was a smooth animation, after which the application would recalculate the new, "zoomed in and sharp as a knife" image. Likewise, if I drag the image around (which is used to move the fractal) and the mouse leaves the image area, it would be great if the fractal returned smoothly to it's initial position (as it is now, it just "snaps" back as the initial settings are restored).
My problem is that I have no idea which parameter to control in an animation. I'm using ScaleTransform, for example, for zooming, but that is used to render the WriteableBitmap on the bitmap itself rather than use the transform properties of the image object. I did so because when I started manipulating the image properties, then the whole image started to move around the form, when I'd rather it's boundaries stay in place.
I suspect I may be trying to do something which Silverlight wasn't really meant to do in the first place (or I've started doing this whole thing wrong), but if I COULD add such little animations, that would be great. As such, any tips appreciated.
It sounds like you want to use the Silverlight animation engine to animate your own custom properties, that control your image display, rather than the image elements or containers.
If your properties for controlling the appearance of the image were exposed as double Dependancy Properties, then the animation system can use the basic DoubleAnimation objects to change your settings smoothly over time. You can even author animations in Expression Blend.
The animation engine would certainly give you easing functions etc to smooth out motion. If I had more detail on how your object was structured I could be more specific, but I hope this helps.