United3dArtists Archive

Not sure if a thread has been created specifically for the discussion of shared space or not.
So here's one now.

Looks like noko is getting the hang of specifics for creating models and properly shading/lighting
them for real time purposes. This is a major milestone required for shared spaces with trueserve,
and any other app in which the models/spaces will be available.

I recall Emmanuel is also well versed in this area. He made at least one room on the shared spaces:
the Meeting Room. I am not sure if he made the others ro not.

And 3dvisuals dude (M. O. D. - Mark O' Dwyer ) is very talented with shared space designs as well.
I bring cubes, he brings a Möbius strip! LOL.

It would be cool to have something similar to what Caligari hosted before. An Art gallery in which we can walk through,
a meeting room, a scriptorium (which is a blank space, used specifically for collaborating on scripts/plugins, and experimenting
with interactive real time models and scenes), and other rooms.

I think I am getting some free time now (unless someone yanks the rug out from under me again) so I'd like to fire up
trueserve on my machine again. It's really easy to setup; prodigy, stan, and 3dfrog came to visit, so it does work. I had some
issues a week or so ago with directx, but that's been resolved. I still need to check inside, to make sure the dust bunnies have been defeated.

There are quite a new folks here who may be unfamiliar with trueserve and trueplay. Basically, using truespace or trueplay, you login to a particular trueserve, go to a room where a scene is, and you can run around in it, as in a game. You can drop your own models in to show others in the room. This is good for showing clients your WIP. Come to think of it, it is also good for the MMC's: You can ask your friends to login, and look at your model, for feedback.

We used to have Tuesday night scriptor meetings, Thursday Night Live! events, Saturday afternoon Animator's club meetings, etc. It would be good to revive these, or other activities.

We discussed before, linking trueServes together, so users can hop from one server to another. We've never done that.
Each trueServe instance resides on a person's machine. Each trueServe instance can host multiple rooms.

So that will be my trueSpace project next; I'll get trueServe fired up on my machine and announce it here.

Froo

Great Froo! I'm one of the unfamiliar people with it, so I have a few questions...

Will Trueserve and Trueplay continue even after Caligari's site crash?
Where can I found good tutorials to real-time materials? I need to learn it first.
Can I adapt my old models to real time materials?
Could I enter in this small group?

Cya

Hi Leon.
Development of trueServe and truePlay will not continue, just like trueSpace.
However, you can use trueServe and truePlay. truePlay is used to connect to
a trueServe server. You can also connect using trueSpace.

Regarding real time materials, I am not sure about tutorials. I thought I've seen some around here;
there may be a real time shader course. There are some folks here who have experience
with them: noko, Jack Edwards, Prodigy, and parva. Others as well, I'm sure. I don't have much
experience with them either.

You should be able to adapt your old models to real time materials.

Of course you can enter the group!
There was just not much interest in the technology.
Though, I do think it's fun. And it can be interesting.

Prodigy had developed a really awesome realtime material editor.
I think it was planned for sale but have not heard about it recently.
This would make our lives in real time much better if he ever releases it.

I always went to those meetings in shared space and had some great times meeting others.
It would be great to see this happen again.
The educational value was never tapped in my opinion.

Looks nice, I'll add to my learn list, that's filled with things
Could you enter in contact with prodigy and ask him about the project? I just can contact him by PMs and he always off. Hope his life become stable again soon.

Cya

I have a few thoughts on this...

Emmanuel created EVERY truePlace room aside from the few that I created and one (which I believe Johny created (but you had to extract the unpublicized port link for that one **the roller rink** from the existing truePlaces using the LE), and the few temporary ones we all created from time to time together there. Much of the scripting was not Emmanuel's alone though. And yes, I also found the hidden link in truePlaces that led to the secret (and pretty cool) truePlace called "The Loft" created (I think) by Emmanuel, with the guitar, hot tub, etc.

As for us "never" porting between two different trueServe applications on two different servers, yes, we did on a few occasions, between the trueServe "tsportal" which (btw) would not permit truePlay users at one point, so player discrimination IS do-able) and the truePlay portals on a different physical server. not merely a second port on the same one. That condition did change though, and one server was used for both through the latter half of 2007. This according to three staff there, but Paul doesn't recall it the same way, so I am not certain now.

As for me getting back into the "shared spaces" phenomenon. I would love to in many ways, but I would hate to in others. If the truePlay wire-highlighting bug isn't addressed first I don't see trueServe being a viable tool for me to sell content for at all. I just cannot see devoting what I already know would be very significant weekly time to a product which in the end would not be marketable for me at all as it is now.

That said, in truth, I have been heavily cionsidering selling ALL my trueSpace software and files, including V-Ray, and dropping my involvement in trueSpace completely in favor of devoting serious dev time into more commercially viable software channels. I would prefer not to... would prefer to see truePlay made usable and therefore trueServe made commercially viable in the sense of us all selling licensed content for it all, but until I see that bug conquered I simply cannot get excited again about the potential of truePlay and trueServe at all.

At least I am still watching so far, and hoping!

I should clarify what I mean by 'we have never done that'.

Yes, Caligari had 2 servers which we used.

I meant, since trueServe has been released for free,
we (the community) have never setup our own servers, and linked them together,
and had a 'shared space meetup', similar to those we had with the Caligari servers.

However, a couple of us did do some experimenting; stan and I jumped between our two servers,
though we didn't keep them up for long, and setup any kind of official meeting.
That would be worth doing.

I intend to work on that 'outline' issue, though I cannot specify a specific completion date, due to
lack of free time to commit to it. I would say, within the next couple months.
I am trying to 'make things happen' regarding specific personal goals, so that takes priority.
But I think I can start backing off those efforts somewhat now.

ok np, i misunderstood on the server hopping thing, sorry.

another thing worth mentioning...

EVERY shared space scene on both the "tpportal" and "tsportal" servers which existed at ANY point from February 2007 to February 2008 I have saved to disk intact without exceptions. Granted, much of the scripting is no longer usable without modifications to the newer (post-7.51) "function set" methodology, but I have every script that existed on both servers intact. The structures not built by us are of course not our property to use, but the scripting employed in all shared spaces was not only something we were all allowed to "harvest" as we saw fit, it was also a major reason why many of us purchased 7.51 in the first place, given that we were told that the existing shared space scripting was ALL ours to harvest, use, and develop as we saw fit, and that specific frequent official encouragement (which i have a few screencaps of BTW) played a significant role in our purchase decisions, as did the "carrots in the race" called "let's build trueTown" and "the soon coming rentable shared spaces."

So, that years worth of scenes from both servers and all their instance changes includes not only Paul's working two server inter-server avatar portal trigger, in two flavors, lol, but also the inter-server hacked version we once made which utilizes some of the proximity trigger coding developed by trueBlue and Asem, if I recall correctly. I believe we whipped that up one night when someone had screwed up the interserver trigger from the TS to the tp portal which Paul had created for us all.

There are MANY, MANY, examples of highly developed script for a vast array of purposes that I "harvested" from every single truePlace, including the truePlaces that were hidden! : )

Also all the places we made which were temporary? and all the scripted objects we created and used and developed and dabbled with in there for a year? ... long story short.... I pretty much have all of it saved : )

There were also development objects I created myself or collaborated very secretly on which could not be released due to either Beta status or (utterly outside the Beta Team) due to generally agreed or implied business confidentiality, but I destroyed every one of those meticulously in February of 2008 the day I quit the Beta Teams after the takeover. Those are all unfortunately lost forever, for that matter their methodology was so complex I couldn't even begin to reconstruct them even if I wanted to now. My NDA is still in full force and effect though, regardless of what a few armchair attorneys may believe, so I wouldn't resurrect that work even if I could.

But all the toys we had in shared space? all the working avatar vehicle dev code we created before joining Beta, the flying saucers, the HUD, the avatar shrinker and grower, the avatar locking codes, the flying Artificial Intelligence Insects, and MUCH more.... all of that.... we still have every bit of it all intact, or at least I do.

All the experimental things we all ever worked on in the Scriptorium too.

If truePlay gets fixed, I will make it all available to everyone free, if truePlay doesn't get fixed it will all be part of my total trueSpace package that I sell in one bundle with V-Ray, ts7.51, ts6.6 boxed with manual and many content pak CD's, and even ts4.3 with a ton of content and ts version 1.0, lol. Without a viable truePlay with trueServe combo, I will be prepared to part with all of it at once with NO saved versions of ANY of it witheld.

I am very tempted to do it right now, but I will hold off a bit longer and see if someone solves the one bug preventing it all being viable. I won't be holding off very long though at all.

I absolutely love V-Ray, and truly will miss that, but the absolutely vast marketing potential of licensed content sales for the trueServe / truePlay combo is what kept me so devoted to trueSpace after 6.6, without that I don't truly need trueSpace at all any more.

Anyhow, what I do or don't do is irrelevant, what is relevant to the community as far as shared space is concerned is whether the final truePlay version we have is viable or a permanently crippled POS. Sure, we can use trueSpace to hook up in shared space, but commercially as a content provider selling licenses to your content, if that is the way it must be the whole scenario is completely unworkable... users being able to trash or steal your licensed content daily is clearly not viable. The access software (truePlay versus trueSpace) can be controlled at the server level, regardless of opinions to the contrary, but truePlay was created for a good reason, that scaled down simplicity is absolutely critical to the viability of trueServe commercially, and if the one is broken, so is the other, they are inseperable businesswise.

Nuff said....

Hanging on a little while longer, lots of devs here have the skills to solve this, it's their time and motivation I am truly watching for now.