Polytron32 Manual - written by Steve Klinger

The Object Browser is the "Control Center" for Polytron. Everything you want to do with your polymodel will be center around the Browser. The Object Browser has five "modes" that control what aspect of the polymodel will be worked on. If you want to work with points, you choose the Points mode.

Each Browser mode opens a different set of data pertaining to the subject of the mode. A toolbar is also opened with each mode that has a set of commands to perform a variety of tasks also related the subject of the mode. This toolbar is the Lower Toolbar. We'll look at the toolbars later. For now, we'll look at the Object Browser itself.

• Mode Title - Descriptive name of the current Browser mode.

• Point Mode - This icon selects the Point mode of the Browser.

• Polygons Mode - This icon selects the Polygons mode of the Browser.

• Polygon Point Order Mode - Selects the Polygon Point Order Mode of the Browser.

• UV Vectors Mode - Selects the UV Vectors mode of the Browser.

• Submodels Mode - Selects the Submodels Mode of the Browser.

• Info Area - Displays some totals for the current Browser mode.

• Points Mode - In this mode, the data displayed is for the points in the polymodel.
  - The NR column displays the point number. The current point is hi-lighted. Left-clicking of the mouse will make that point current. Right-clicking a number in this column will mark/unmark the point.
  - The # column will display a "#" beside the point if that point is marked. Clicking on the header will mark or unmark all the models' points.
  - The X,Y, and Z columns display the coordinates for each of the polymodels' points.
  - The S column displays the number of the submodel that the point belongs to.

• Polygons Mode - In this mode, the data displayed is for the Polygons in the polymodel.
  - The NR column displays the Polygon number. Left-clicking on a polygon number will make that polygon current and right-clicking on a polygon number will mark/unmark that polygon.
  - The # column indicates if the polygon is marked by displaying a "#". Clicking on the header will mark or unmark all the models' polygons.
  - The Texture column displays the texture name of the polygon if it is a texture mapped polygon. If the polygon is a flat-shaded polygon, the display will read as "<flat>" with the RGB numbers beside it.
  - The Points column displays the number of points that make up the polygon.

• Polygon Point Order Mode - This mode displays the point order for the current polygon. Its use is simply to allow the ordering of the points to be changed. Left-clicking a point will select the point.

• UV Vectors Mode - The data displayed shows the UV Vectors for each point in the current Polygon.
  - The NR column displays the point number. Left-clicking will select the point.
  - The U Column displays the coordinate for the U component of the UV Vector.
  - The V Column displays the coordinate for the V component of the UV Vector.
  - The L columns data always displays "0" and is not used by Descent2.

• Submodels Mode - The data displayed in this mode shows the submodel data.
  - The NR column indicates the submodel number. Left-clicking will make this submodel current.
  - The Parent column indicates the parent submodel of the submodel.
  - The Sorting column indicates the polygon number of the polygon used for BSP Tree sorting.
  - The Points column shows the number of points in the submodel.

When you select a different mode, the lower toolbar changes, too. The following sections descripe each mode and the lower toolbar of the mode.

Points Toolbar:

• Current Point -  This shows the currently selected point and the total number of points in the model.

• Point Insert - Clicking on this icon will insert a new marked point at the origin.

• Point Delete - This icon will delete all marked points that are not attached to a polygon.

• Mark/UnMark - This icon toggles the current point between a marked and an unmarked state.

• Coordinates - This shows the location of the currently selected point in the X, Y and Z axis's. We can also manually enter a new location for the selected point in these text boxes.
• Decrease X - Moves any marked points in the negative X direction.
• Increase X - Moves any marked points in the positive X direction.
• Increase Y - Moves any marked points in the positive Y direction.
• Decrease Y - Moves any marked points in the negative Y direction.
• Increase Z - Move any marked points in the positive Z direction.

• Decrease Z - Move any marked points in the negative Z direction.

• Move Rate Control -  This allows quick and easy changes to the move rate in ten different increments. The increments are 0.000, 0.002, 0.005, 0.010, 0.020, 0.050, 0.100, 0.200, 0.500 and 1.000. These are the most important increment choices.

• Center Tool - This tool is used to both find and display the center point of a group of marked points. The center Icon will display an average of all marked points in the Center Coordinates box. The Center Coordinates box displays the location of the center point to be used by the Rotate and Scaling tools.

• Rotate Tool - This is used to rotate a group of marked points around the center point displayed in the Center Coordinates Box. The Rotation Amount is the amount in degrees that the rotation will take. The six Rotation Direction buttons determine which direction the rotation will take. One click of the button will rotate by the amount in the Rotation Amount Box.

• Scaling Tool - This tool is for scaling. The plus and minus buttons scale up or down. The amounts boxes determine the amount of scaling for that plane. A setting of 1.0 equals no change. A setting of 1.1 will scale by 0.100

Polygons mode serves two functions. First it is where polygons are created but it also serves as one of two texture alignment modes.

Polygon Toolbar:

• Current Polygon - This displays the number of the current polygon.

• Insert - This icon inserts a polygon for the currently marked points.

• Delete - This icon deletes all marked polygons.

• Mark/UnMark - This icon toggles the current polygon between a marked or unmarked state.

• Adjustment Settings - The Move setting displays the amount of UV movement applied when using the Texture tools. The scale setting applies the amount of scaling for all scaling operations. Rotate, of course, applies the amount in degrees of rotation for all rotation operations.

• Texture Tools - See Below.

Texture Tools:

Texture Mapped Selector:

• TMap/Flat Toggle - Toggle between Texture Mapped and Flat Shaded polygon.

• Image - The texture of the current polygon.

• Available Textures - The list of available textures as set in the Select Texture dialog.

Flat Shade Selector:

• TMap/Flat Toggle - Toggle between Texture Mapped and Flat Shaded polygon.

• Color - Display of the color of the current polygon.

• Red Slider - Sets the amount of red in the shade. Use the sliders or manually enter.

• Green Slider - Sets the amount of green in the shade. Use the sliders or manually enter.

• Blue Slider - Sets the amount of blue in the shade. Use the sliders or manually enter.

The Polygon Point Order Mode is for changing the point order for polygons. The reason this mode was created was because Polytron created polygons based on the numerical order of the points the polygon is defined by. However, I have created an algorithm that sorts the points based on their location in space. What this means is that this mode should not be required any longer. The point order is now corrected when a polygon is created. The reason this mode is still present is in case the algorithm fails and a polygon appears crossed. If users ever need to use this mode, I would like to know about it. Just send me an email. My address is: stevekli@nconnect.net

• Current Polygon Point - This displays the current Polygon Point as selected in the Object Browser. This is the point that will be affected by using the Move Up and Move Down icons.

• Move Up - Click this icon to move the Current Polygon Point "up" in the Point Order list.

• Move Down - Click this icon to move the Current Polygon Point "down" in the Point Order list.

• Flip Normal - This flips the normal so it points opposite to what its current direction is. The point order is reversed by this process. The shortcut to this is Ctrl-F.

UV Vectors Mode is used for texture alignment. You can manually set the U and V coordinates for each point on the current polygon. You can also use the icons to move the points. You should have the Alignment Display open when using these tools to see the results properly.

• Current Vector Point - Displays the number of the currently selected Vector point as seen in the Object Browser.

• Align Current UV Point

• Align Next UV Point

• Reset Texture Alignment - This is used the set all UV Vectors to default values as well as correct crossed UV Vectors if they occur.

• UV Point Translate Up

• UV Point Translate Down

• UV Point Translate Left

• UV Point Translate Right

• Settings Boxes
  - U Coordinate - Displays the U Coordinate of the Current UV Vector as well as allowing manual changes.
  - V Coordinate - Displays the V Coordinate of the Current UV Vector as well as allowing manual changes.
  - Translate - Sets the amount of movement that the Translate buttons apply when used.

The submodels toolbar provides the functions needed for working with submodels.

• Current Submodel - Informs the user of the number of the submodel whose information is displayed in the Toolbar.

• Sorting Selector - This displays the polygon that is used as a splitting polygon for the current submodel. You can manually set the sorting polygon here if needed.

• Parent Selector - This displays the current submodels' parent submodel. If the selected submodel is the root submodel, the word '<root>' is displayed. Any other selected submodel will display the currently set parent. You must manually set the parent with this selector.
• Put Points in Submodel - This icon when clicked, will place all currently marked points into a new or pre-existing submodel.
• Check and Compress Submodels - This will check all submodels for data integrity. Use this if you may be concerned that one or more points may be shared over two or more submodels. This function is automatically performed when ever a save operation is attempted.
• Find - Use this icon to have the computer determine what is the best polygon to be used as a sorting or cutting plane.
• Find All - Use this icon to have the computer determine what is the best polygon to be used as a sorting or cutting plane.
• Mark Current Submodel Points - Use this to mark the current submodels points.
•   UnMark Current Submodel Points - Use this to Unmark the current submodels points.
•   Mark Current Submodel Polygons - Use this to Mark the current submodels polygons.
•   UnMark Current Submodel Polygons - Use this to unmark the current submodels polygons.
•   Show All Sorting Polygons - Use this to Show all sorting polygons.
•   UnMark All Points - Use this to unmark all points.
•   UnMark All Polygons - Use this to unmark all polygons.

Back

Contents

Next

WebHits counts accesses on this page since 02/08/97. View detailed statistics!