The holidays are upon us, as well as another Flow3D update! With the latest 1.075 update, Flow3D is as good a gift as any to buy for a friend or loved one! What could be more compelling and thoughtful than giving someone something that they will probably never understand or care about? I thought so!

This update provides some much-needed functionality and some important fixes to both fG and Flow3D in general. This update is in effect for both the Demo and Retail versions of Flow3D. You can get the updated .exe in the Member’s section if you’ve purchased Flow3D previously. Hope you enjoy the update and the holidays as well!

Flow3D 1.075 Changelog

• Added simple text output using the TTextManager
  • TtextManager.init() and TtextManager.uninit() for initialising/destroying.
  • TtextManager.addTextBox(…) to add text boxes to the screen.
  • See http://flow3d.boxsnap.com/FlowDocs/FlowDocs.htm#TTextManager
  • See fG_Using TtextManager.bmx for a working example.
• Added fG.SetOption( “name” , “value” ) for user to specify options on fg creation.
  • “vsync” , “true”/”false” added, for setting up vsync outside of config window.
  • “logging” , “true”/”false” added, for disabling writing logs to a file.
    “scenetype” , ST_GENERIC/ST_INTERIOR/ST_EXTERIOR_* - For enabling different scenemanagers through fG.
  • “useResourceCFG” , “true”/”false” - Sets whether or not to load data from the /conf/resources.cfg file.
• Added class to handle DLL loading and provide more useful error messages and checking
• Fixed issue where some function references were Null
• Added two basic shaders to facilitate learning how to program Ogre3D Shaders
  • Shaders located in /Samples/media/BasicShaders
  • Corresponding Wiki articles located in http://flow3d.boxsnap.com/wiki/index.php5?title=Tutorials
• Added ability to push data into shaders ( vec3 , vec4 , int , float , matrix4×4 )
• Added required interfaces to allow for full manual mesh creation and animation via skeleton. See fG_Manual Skeletal Animated Mesh. This should allow you to write importers for most 3d model data types.
• Fixed fG rendersystem issue where rendersystem would not properly select without the config window.
• Added full iteration support to TrenderSystemList
• Added params to TMesh.generateTangentVectors for more robust tangent/binormal/etc calculations. (splitMirrored , splitRotated , storeParityInW )
• Added Visibility masks for 2d objects thru adding visibility masks to viewports
• Removed some old OgreNewt DLL Code ( No interface breaking changes )
• Fixed issue where log output was pushed to stdout. This fixes the compiler errors generated in the BlitzMax IDE and the general slowdowns associated with executing programs in the BlitzMax IDE or BliDE.
• Fixed issue where F10 would cause program to lose focus.
• In FG - Set up all parenting to use TMovableObject instead of Tentity.
• Added parenting options for fG.createCube(…) and fG.createSphere(…)
• Ensured that lights created with fG.createLight were created with parent nodes
• Added helper method TMovableObject.attachTo for attaching TMovableObjects to one another. ( TEntity s, TCamera s , TLight s , TParticleSystem s ,etc )
• Added fG.createSkyBox(…) , fG.disableSkyBox() , fG.isSkyBoxEnabled() and wiki article (http://flow3d.boxsnap.com/wiki/index.php5?title=Building_a_Basic_SkyBox)
• Added fG.createSkYPlane , fG.disableSkyPlane , fG.isSkyPlaneEnabled() and wiki article (http://flow3d.boxsnap.com/wiki/index.php5?title=Building_a_Scrolling_Sky_Plane)
• Added functionality to allow a more manual rendering process
  • Added wiki article: http://flow3d.boxsnap.com/wiki/index.php5?title=Manual_Buffer_Flipping
• Added Quat(…) helper function for quickly creating quaternion values.
• Added ability to scale texture maps/texture unit state uvs.
• New Skeleton and HardwareBuffer managers added to allow creation of skeletons , vertex and index buffers.
• Updated to latest Ogre version ( 1.6.4 )
• Tested and working with latest BlitzMax ( 1.36 )

Summer time has finally arrived, and it’s time for a maintenance update! This latest update, which spans both Flow3D Demo and Flow3D Retail versions, is a maintenance update that adds a few key features that you’ve been requesting, and fixes a few bugs present in release 1.05. This revision uses the latest 1.6.2 Shoggoth version of the Ogre3D Rendering engine, and it also brings a wealth of other improvements like 2D Drawing support and better support for manipulating skeletons and bones through code. Hopefully the 1.1 release will be along in record time! Head on over and grab the latest version of Flow3D!

Changelog:

FLOW

o Added example for creating a custom mesh and adding a skeleton
o Added example for fG 2d drawing interface
o Added TAnimationStateSet Interface
o Added both apply(…) methods in TNodeAnimationTrack
o Fixed a memory/garbage collection issue with TTimeIndex
o Added TAnimationStateIterator
o Fixed bug with TManualObject.convertToMesh(…)
o Added helper function TMesh.getTriangleCount:Int()
o Added TVertexBoneAssignment
o Completed TAxisAlignedBox implementation
o Fixed garbage collection issue with TAxisAlignedBox
o Added TBone for manipulating/modifying bones of a TSkeleton.
o Added new methods to TSkeleton interface.
o Added TSkeletonManager to allow for creation and destruction of skeletons in code.
o Fixed module compilation issues
o Includes single and multi-threaded libraries

FG

o Fixed an issue where fG.createPlane(…) could not take decimal for scale.
o Added some max2D drawing functionality
o fG.DrawRect(…) , fG.DrawLine(…) , fG. DrawOval(…)
o fG.Cls() for clearing
o fG.SetMaterial(…) for setting what ogre material will be used for the 2d object.

OGRENEWT

o Added addLocalForce , getTorque , setTorque to TBody.

CEGUI

o Added ability to create listbox from TCEGUIWindowManager
o Added functionality to allow manipulation of Tab Controls.

That’s all for now, and have fun tinkering!

Lina Adkins
Flow3D Technical Lead

We have updated FlowED beta to 0.88 with changes that compliment the recent Flow update.

New features include:

.Scene (dotScene) loading
This opens up flow to loading scenes created in a variety of 3d applications eg. Maya, Blender and quite a few others. It also makes FlowED a useful .scene to .OSM converter for teams that use 3ds max with ofusion combined with other 3d tools.

Viewport Controls.
We added some basic UI enhancements to allow switching between views and returning to your last perspective view.

We also  added a triangle count counter for the current view (currently includes the UI) The node properties dialog shows you the actual tri count of the selected mesh.

You can also switch render modes between Shaded, point, and wireframe rendering. As well as having a physics debug lines button that shows you the collision geometry in the current viewport as wireframes.

Basic Animation Support
You can now load animated meshes and play back their animation tracks/sequences. If you have tried Flow you will have seen the basic key frame animation example source code. Something we hope to incorporate into flowED at a future date.

One other thing that’s still in testing is that you can now load media from remote locations on your HD. It works perfectly so long as ALL the media for the scene is self contained in a single folder. This is something we will be addressing in the next version

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It’s been roughly a month and a half since the initial release of Flow3D and we’ve been hard at work since then. We’ve fixed and added many things as we progress towards version 1.1 - this maintenance release is a culmination of these efforts. The BlitzMax software has also been updated to version 1.32, which removed some functionality that Flow3D utilized. This update fixes problems that users were experiencing when updating to BlitzMax 1.32.  If you want, you can head on over and download the latest version, or check out the changelog and future release schedules below!

Change log

• .scene/dotscene loading support added with the OgreMax Loader. See Samples/fG_DotScene Loading.bmx for details.
• Added cross-compatibility with BlitzMax 1.32
• Added support and samples for scene node animation.
• Added support and sample for billboard objects.
• Added support for using external window handles with fG.
• Added samples for using WxMod and MaxGUI with fG. WxMod and MaxGUI are native window APIs that allow you to create native application windows for use in your applications.
• Added better line drawing implementation.
• Added manual object and line drawing samples.

While the 1.05 update provides some modest improvements, many of the major features planned for 1.1 are still in development. To give you an idea of what’s coming up in version 1.1, here’s a short list of features that are guaranteed to be in Flow3D Version 1.1.

Abbreviated 1.1 Feature List

• Mac OSX Compatibility
• Full Render-to-Texture Support
• Hardware Instancing Support
• Max2D Emulation Support
• Simple Shader Examples
• Low-Level Vertex Access and Modification
• OgreNewt Vehicle Physics Demos

That’s it for now! As always, a big Thank You to all of our testers and supporters who have helped shape Flow3D into what it is today.

We look forward to bringing out Flow3D version 1.1 in the near future!

The Flow3D Team

Flow3D’s commercial release is here. You may purchase a commercial license for $80 here. The updated Flow3D demo is available here. We’ll continue to work through the planned release schedule in the coming weeks. On another note, FlowED, Flow3D’s companion scene editor, has also received a major update. You can download the updated FlowED version here!

A big thanks to all the testers and the Flow3D community who’ve made this release possible!

Please let us know about your Flow3D projects on the Forums. We are anticipating starting a showcase section on this site soon and look forward to showcasing your creations there.

Best Regards,

~The Flow Team

NOTE: Mac and Linux versions are coming soon..

FLOW BETA IS HERE!!!

We had a tenative release date for Christmas, it’s been a bit of a rush but we have the Flow beta for windows ready for download.

For those new to Blitzmax and installing mods, there is a guide on the Wiki at:

Blitzmax demo and Flow3D install guide

For those coming from Blitz3D there is a basic guide to migrating to Flow/Ogre which outlines a few key principles that are different to Blitz3D.

Blitz3D to Ogre3D/Flow3D guide

This beta release does have some code examples, they were mostly designed to test features and aren’t supposed to impress visually.

There’s a page on the wiki with links to various exporters listed. Here

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I updated the download file on the server with a new version incorporating  a couple of bug fixes.

A bug where merging a couple of the scenes caused flowED to crash. You should now be able to load TerrainONLY.OSM and merge in tiles.OSM etc without flowed crashing.

The zoom has been reversed and works more intuitively now.

A few typos in the manual were also fixed.

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As promised the FlowEd Beta is officially out today at version 0.8! Our team has been working quite heavily the past week to ensure that the Beta release goes as planned! Even so, keep in mind that FlowEd is currently beta software, and any input you can give will be greatly appreciated! Any issues you may encounter or features you may desire can be reported on the forums here. Without further verbiage, you may proceed to the download page here:

And thank you for helping us improve FlowEd in the future!

Lina

Here’s an older video of Flow in action recorded by Cygnus back in July earlier this year.

Managed to embed high quality youtube… Yay!

Here we go, updating the site. Hope to get things up and running properly soon.

~Evak