Legacy LD5

Well, after many weeks of hemming and hawing, I've finally gotten around to figuring out enough of Caligari's trueServe server to get a VM of it up and running at LD5 at long last, with some help from the folks at http://www.united3dartists.com.

For those just off the , trueServe is the 3D equivalent of OpenCanvas -- it's a 3D modeling/rendering/animation environment that allows you to connect your program to a server where there's a shared 3D space to work in or wander in.

What's the point? Well, much as 2D arr-teests can connect and collaborate on drawrings with that old abandoned version of OpenCanvas, 3D arr-teests can connect and collaborate with THIS old and abandoned software.

In order to access a shared space, you need to download and install the full trueSpace 7.61 beta 8 subsection 9 paragraph 12 program from Caligari's abandoned web site. Once you have that program installed, you can connect to a shared space. Currently, the program is only available for Windows so if you're on OS X or Linux you'll need to memurate.

For the current shared space addresses and locations, and full information for getting the client program, refer to the Faibanx 3D wiki page on the subject at:

http://faibanx3d.lavadomefive.com:88/tiki-index.php?page=trueServe

I've set up this server hoping that 3D artists would be interested in collaborating online. You don't have to be interested in collaborating for Faibanx 3D to take part in this, though...I'm not making it a requirement that you work on stompy models for Faibanx 3D in order to take part in a shared space, 'cause that would be a dick move. If enough artists are interested enough in seeing this server continue, I'd be happy to add additional shared spaces for a variety of collaborative efforts.

So, if you're interested, chime in here and give the shared space(s) a try!

And, as predicted, the cubes and dino I put in the shared space are still there, untouched! I knew this server would be wildly popular.

Actually, I just checked tonight, and the boxes had all been lined up under the dino all nicely. I see ESC and SRGI have been on. At least someone used it!

I figured since I get a lot of head scratching when I try to describe what trueServe is to other people, and since even with my feeble "Here it is, use it" level of promotion I got a couple of people to check it out, I would post some screenshots to show exactly what it is.

So here's a picture of firing up the trueSpace client program:



As you can see, the few models I had tossed into the Shared Space remain saved on my local computer...that's the default behavior of the program. If you connect to a shared space and disconnect, you still have a copy of the models on your computer that you can manipulate and save. However -- doing so offline and then reconnecting will NOT magically sync things you did offline! I mean, how could it? Someone else could be in there making changes to the shared space while you're offline, and you can't just blow theirs away. So just think of the space that you're left with when you go offline as a sort of backup. You can always save the models individually and bring them back into the shared space when you reconnect online as well.

To connect to a shared space, you click on the little two-eyeballs-with-hats icon in the lower right, and that pulls up this window:



As I mentioned in the instructions on the F3D wiki, you put in a username to ID yourself and leave the password blank. The top line gets the server shared space location (currently //trueserve.lavadomefive.com/1109 ).

Once you connect, the space you're currently viewing will clear. Models and details of the shared space will be redownloaded to your computer fresh. The login window becomes a chat window, showing you who else is logged onto the shared space and what they're saying.

And here's one thing I did for the first time today (remember, this shit is all brand new to me as well). I was aware that much like the dreaded SecondLife(tm), this system also allowed you to create virtual 3D worlds to hold virtual meetings in using personal 3D avatars. Well, clicking the icon in the middle right bottom that has the blue guy with arrows jammed in him (it's slightly highlighted in the picture below) puts you in first-person perspective mode. I found the mouse then looked around, and W-A-S-D allowed me to walk around on the "ground!" As I moved, I saw model data being updated in the status bar of the chat window, so I'm sure I was actually creating a model to look through, and if someone else was connected they'd see my avatar! I have a feeling the default avatar is that eyeball with the top hat, but I'll have to see how we can make our own personal avatar models to use. Anyway, here's the screenshot of the first-person perspective:



So that's what it's like, currently. I just have a few simple models (and some 3D text) thrown in the shared space for now, but maybe some intrepid arr-teest will import something more stompy than a rubber dino eraser.

What a very groovy idea!

Added a tree and glassy dome at work today, since I'm angsty and bored.

I'm definitely going to have to play around with this. ^^

Uh oh.

what format does the imported files have to be? and does this thing support animation/posing?

Everything, and sure!

so-um.. how do you log into the LD5 shared space? is there like an address? and how do you get your username registered?

All the info is on the link to the Faibanx 3D wiki page at the beginning of this thread.

Thanks for pointing out the first-person camera button! How-to tips are very good info at this point... I'm not familiar with these 3D artism programs, and this interface confuses and frightens me. Like, just moving the camera- this is the camera interaction thingy:

What is this shape? Does this make sense? I can't tell! What does it mean?? Aggh... I'm getting unnerved just looking at those screenshots up there... I need to go look at some code to calm myself down.

-SRGI

Good news is, I got onto it and it works just fine.

Bad news is, How do I import models? none of the filetypes I use (obj. 3DS. ma, mb) work. the thing just reads files created in truespace.

*gives Dino the clown laugh*

- I mean, surely there will be an easy way to do this.

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