[Kazan]

Ok... post your feature requests here.. I'll add them to my lists here

(approved features are added to the roadmaps - additional revision goals will be added as needed)

PCS 2.0 Roadmap

• Completely rewritten POF BSP compiler
  
• New internal model format [PMF]
  
• PMF saving to disk
  
• POF Load from/saving to disk
  
• gunpoint convergence calcuator
  
• .cob import
  
• .cob Autogen features
  
• BSP Debug (ala show sortnorms/bboxes from PCS1)
  
• Functional import features (PMF->PMF data copy)
  
• ALL data editable in sections (HDR2, TXTR, OBJ2, SPCL, DOCK, FUEL, PATH, GPNT/MPNT, TGUN/TMIS, GLOW) Dev: Bobboau
  
• autopath Dev: Bobboau
  
• universal copy+paste Dev: Bobboau
  
• POF Smoothing Data->faceted/autofacet/smooth reverse engineer Dev: Kazan
  
• .cob save (requires editors to be done first) Dev: Kazan
  
• new POF Chunk SLDC for Shield Collision Trees Dev: Kazan (ref: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,47751.new.html )
  
• Glow/shine/env mapping Dev: Bobboau
  
• Moment of Inertia calculator (math involved)Dev: Bobboau
  

2.0 Notes/Caveats: adding new file formats is orders of magnitude less difficult in PCS2.0 - this is because of the new internal model format "PCS Model Format" - BSP compilation (the hard part of generating a .pof) is ONLY done when generating a .pof (whenever you save to new POF or one which's geometry has been altered - opening a POF caches the BSP).  

PCS 2.1 Roadmap

• Geometry Import (IE add additional geometry to existing file)Dev: Kazan
  
• Collada XML Format support (Max, Maya, Lightwave, Blender, etc) Dev: Spicious
  
• AutoTurret upgrade to new Keldor's new side-facing compatible turret code Dev: Kazan
  
• New and Improved UI Dev: The_E
  
• Refactoring all pointers not passed to wxWidgets to use boost (std::tr1/C++11 std:: ) smart pointers to eliminate memory leaks.Dev: Kazan
  
• PMF metadata export to text Dev: Kazan
  
• .ASE File Format support (Maya, 3DS Max and others support this format) Dev: Kazan Format Found to be Unrelaible
  
• .OBJ file format support Dev: Bobboau
  
• geometry/UV editing capabilities + Geometry error detection
• BSP Geometry Error checker (will do a precompile and check for any polygons that will be dropped due to errors - dropped polygons will be shaded red, others green)
• Render with VBOs Dev: Bobboau
  
• PMF upgrade to indexed vertex array. (more time spent in COB/ASE/OBJ -> PMF, less time PMF->POF) -- Strike, maybe? Could make geometry editing more difficult
  
• .eff support (MAYBE)
• Normal Mapping support (MAYBE)
• Model rescaling

PCS 2.2 Roadmap

• Add (FS2) table data to PMF
• ship tbm export for .pof

------------------

Tentatively Accepted Features (not yet roadmapped)

• Empty

Pending Features (not yet accepted or rejected)

• Empty

Tentatively Rejected Features

• Empty

Permanantly rejected features

• .3ds Support (format replaced by more useful one)
• .ASE File Format support (Maya, 3DS Max and others support this format) Dev: Kazan Format Found to be Unrelaible
  
• .OBJ file format support Dev: Bobboau
  

(please sticky this)

[Starman01]

Maybe not really a request, but just to make sure, the only thing I find Modelview superior to old PCS is the render window, with it's sharp lines and the possibilites to switch into wireframe and untextured mode, automatic sideview and so on. I'm sure you have it in, but If not, consider doing it

Besides that, aurora's autopathing-function was very handy and save a lot of time, but should be upgraded to place at least 4 paths per fighterbay.

[Kazan]

latest screenshot i can find (2006-04-16) and PCS2's render window doesn't suck CPU like a blackhole

[Wanderer]

MoI calculator/estimator?

[Kazan]

teach me the math so i can understand it and it's there  (i think bobboau knows how to do it.. maybe he can describe the algorithm) (does the FS2 engine even USE the MOI?)

[Wanderer]

Well... according to this thread FS does use MoIs...

[Kazan]

ok.. a quick skimming of the linked thread apparently has the information in a format that I can understand and work with - just requires me to grab every LOD1 bounding box for all submodels and use them to calculate... should be acceptable... moving to tentatively approved until I get a chance to look closer at the math

[Col. Fishguts]

Yes it does, and while a MOI calculator might be too much work, make at the very least an edit box for the values, like ModelView has. That way we can copy/paste values from ships

- Make a ship radius edit box, so we can fix POFs which were created with older versions of the MAX exporter.

- Ability to read DDS textures. (JPG, BMP would be useful too)

- Any option to read model formats that support proper smooth grouping data would be awesome.

- A 3D cursor thing would be useful. I mean something like a point defined by 3 crossing lines (each parallel to an axis), that could be moved around. Together with a text readout of the coordinates, it could be used to determine x/y/z coords for gunpoints, thusters, etc. directly in PCS

I'll add more requests when I remember them.

[Kazan]

Yes it does, and while a MOI calculator might be too much work, make at the very least an edit box for the values, like ModelView has. That way we can copy/paste values from ships

already editable

- Make a ship radius edit box, so we can fix POFs which were created with older versions of the MAX exporter.

already editable

- Ability to read DDS textures. (JPG, BMP would be useful too)

already there.. i had to custom compile the image library i use

- Any option to read model formats that support proper smooth grouping data would be awesome.

such as?

- A 3D cursor thing would be useful. I mean something like a point defined by 3 crossing lines (each parallel to an axis), that could be moved around. Together with a text readout of the coordinates, it could be used to determine x/y/z coords for gunpoints, thusters, etc. directly in PCS

probably doable

[Taristin]

Support for Glow/shine/env mapping? (In the said various formats?)

[Kazan]

Support for Glow/shine/env mapping? (In the said various formats?)

if taylor shows me how to do those, or codes them himself (PCS uses OpenGL to render)

[Axem]

The ability to see, and possibly edit, axes would be nice.

[Col. Fishguts]

- Any option to read model formats that support proper smooth grouping data would be awesome.

such as?

Ideally MAX, but that's probably not doable. Could you parse model data from the Max ASCII format ? That would be very kickass too. See the attachement for an example (note the "*MESH_SMOOTHING number" in the face list)

3ds exporting in Max allows sort-of smooth grouping, it creates non-welded vertices betweeen non-smoothed polys. That would require PCS2 to detect those, extract the smooth grouping data and then weld the vertices. Probably too much hassle.

OBJ supports smooth groups, IIRC, but I'm not sure if one can find proper format descriptions.

Another way of doing things (and the most flexible one) would be to include an option to edit smooth grouping data in PCS. I don't know how you're handling the smooth shading properties of polygons internally in PCS, but ideally you would create an option to select multiple faces with the mouse and then assign a smooth group number to them, à la Max.
That way we could import any model and then edit smooth groups on the go. It would be also the easiest way to fix the smoothing on old POFs.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Nuke]

now that we have gunpoint convergance what about a normal calculator. it would operate on selected  gunpoints and maybe thrusters as well, and determine the normal for each point based on a convergance coordinate.

i like axem's idea of a coordinate tweaker, so you gan swap axes and invert them as well, so as to help orient models that may be out of whack.

when converting cob files, use something other than lights to terminate geometry. on some of the newer versions of truespace, especially when working on capships, rendering all those lights can slow down the program considerably. it would be nice if autogen worked on single, one sided polys instead, like the freelancer model converter does. for points with a radius you can use the size of the polygon to calculate that. normals could be calculated off the way the polygons are facing calculated to a length of 1. converter should remove the geometry from the model while keeping the data.

import/export of all non-geometry pof data to an easy-to-edit text file.

animation code simulator, allows you to test animatons based on the table parameters. perhaps even a point and click editor that allows you to specify how the subobjects will animate and generate animation code which may be directly pasted into the table.

i think pretty much everything else has been mentioned already

[Kazan]

now that we have gunpoint convergance what about a normal calculator. it would operate on selected  gunpoints and maybe thrusters as well, and determine the normal for each point based on a convergance coordinate.

that should be doable (slating for 2.1)

i like axem's idea of a coordinate tweaker, so you gan swap axes and invert them as well, so as to help orient models that may be out of whack.

ok.. coordinate cursor sounds good to me.. but wtf does it have to do with axis   (slating for 2.1)

when converting cob files, use something other than lights to terminate geometry.

no changes to the cob format.  Set the lights luminosity to zero

import/export of all non-geometry pof data to an easy-to-edit text file.

i can probably do that especially since PCS2 internally is using PMF (slating for 2.1)

animation code simulator, allows you to test animatons based on the table parameters. perhaps even a point and click editor that allows you to specify how the subobjects will animate and generate animation code which may be directly pasted into the table.

if someone else wants to code it i'll add it to the roadmap, but i'm not touching that with a 10-foot pole

[Kazan]

...

already filed under new model formats

[Nuke]

ok.. coordinate cursor sounds good to me.. but wtf does it have to do with axis   (slating for 2.1)

this is just to support modeling programs that have a totally wierd axis order *cough* truespace *cough* and others as well. so you can get your ship pointing straight with just a few mouse clicks.

one more, cut and paste for all 3 coords in an xyz field array, rather than doing it one number at a time.

[Scooby_Doo]

Not to get off-topic but where did you get that Waterloo?

[Col. Fishguts]

...

already filed under new model formats

Which one of my suggestions ?

If you could make a documentation for your PMF format available, I might be tempted to write a Max ASCII -> PMF converter.

[IPAndrews]

The ability to auto-generate paths would be nice Kazan. Setting up docking paths and attack paths is mind numbingly dull and I'm not sure why PCS can't at least have a guess. If you don't like the path it comes up with you can either modify it or delete it and make your own so what's to lose? Maybe add auto-generate path buttons to the dock, turret, and subsystem screens?

Support for >100 subobjects as well please. PCS1 actually would do it but it messed up one of your list boxes .