xion wrote at 2012-04-04 00:26:

Hi Objo,

fine work all the Helix stuff! Keep it up, please!

I've noticed differences in displaying .obj files, exported from 3dsmax, between the downloadable compiled example of ModelViewer(Nov2011) and the example in the current source dowload package.

The already compiled version displays the .obj file pretty well, including transparency.
The non-compiled recommended source version fails to display some objects correctly.

There's a bunch of code commented out. When I remove the comments some of the code is buggy (list1, fileModelVisual3D.Children)

Could you please give a feedback on it?

Thanks and regards, xion.

objo wrote at 2012-04-05 01:32:

hi xion, can you provide some simple .obj test files that renders incorrectly? We have tried to solve some texture/transparency bugs since the november version, but there is probably some work left... Also, some features of the .obj format (smoothing groups?) are not yet supported.

xion wrote at 2012-04-06 17:29:

Yes I can provide the .obj file. Send you a p.m. with a downloadlink.

objo wrote at 2012-04-07 23:13:

Thanks, I think I found the bug - the "Tr" setting in the material file should set the material opacity to 1-Tr.

xion wrote at 2012-04-08 00:35:

Thats interesting! Is it a buggy .mtl file? I used the latest 3dsmax design to export the file.

Expression Blend (MS) has the same problems on import these obj/mtl files.

objo wrote at 2012-04-08 00:39:

sorry, I thought the error was in the helix interpreter, but then I checked the spec:

objo wrote at 2012-04-08 01:08:

I have added a "SkipTransparencyValues" property to the "ObjReader". I also added support for smoothing groups.

xion wrote at 2012-04-08 11:44:

Thank you! 2012.2.2.1.46 shows all materials correctly. Thats great!

In 3dsmax the transparency value is called Opacity, which is set to 100% if the material is non-transparent. Maybe here's the clue.

objo wrote at 2012-04-08 13:05:

Good! 

Opacity 100% should be exported as d = 1.0 or Tr = 1.0 if the wikipedia spec is correct. I think the exporter you are using will export d=1.0 and Tr=0.0.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Material_Template_Library

jacobya wrote at 2012-01-12 23:19:

Hi,

Let me first start off by saying thank you very much for your efforts and for sharing this code, it is a tremendous piece of software and exceptionally well written.  I'm wondering if you can give me your advice on how to accomplish the following: 

I'm using the TubeVisual3D class to represent a pipe and what I'd like to do is draw a colored circle at a specific location on the surface of the pipe.  Any suggestions on how this could be done, is there something in the existing library that would allow me to do this?  I'm currently looking at using the Material attribute of the TubeVisual3D to accomplish this, but I'm not sure if this is the best approach.

Again, thanks very much, great work.

Jason

objo wrote at 2012-01-13 19:47:

You could do this by a rendering the circle to a bitmap and use that as a texture. But the edge of the circle will not look very sharp when zooming close, and it could be challenging to calculate the right texture coordinates.

I think it would be better to render the circle(s) as a separate mesh slightly outside the tube, but then the challenge is to calculate the 3D coordinates... Look at how the tangents and normals are calculated in the tube implementation, I hope this can help!

jacobya wrote at 2012-01-13 20:56:

Hi objo,

Thanks for the advice, I will look at rendering the circle as a separate mesh slightly outside the tube.  I seem to be having difficulty applying a Material to the TubeVisual3D class.  Am I doing something wrong here?  In this case the tube shows up completely green:

<Window x:Class="PipeDemo.Window1"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:ht="clr-namespace:HelixToolkit.Wpf;assembly=HelixToolkit.Wpf"
     Title="Pipe Demo" Height="480" Width="640">
	<Window.Resources>
		<MaterialGroup x:Key="dm1">
			<DiffuseMaterial>
				<DiffuseMaterial.Brush>
					<LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0, 0.5" EndPoint="1, 0.5">
						<LinearGradientBrush.GradientStops>
							<GradientStop Color="Yellow" Offset="0" />
							<GradientStop Color="Red" Offset=".25" />
							<GradientStop Color="Blue" Offset=".50" />
							<GradientStop Color="LimeGreen" Offset=".75" />

						</LinearGradientBrush.GradientStops>
					</LinearGradientBrush>
				</DiffuseMaterial.Brush>
			</DiffuseMaterial>
		</MaterialGroup>
	</Window.Resources>
	<Grid>
		<ht:HelixViewport3D ZoomExtentsWhenLoaded="True" PanGesture="LeftClick"  >
			<ht:SunLight  />
			<ht:GridLinesVisual3D/>
			<ht:TubeVisual3D Path="{Binding Pipe}" Diameter="5" IsPathClosed="False" Material="{StaticResource dm1}" BackMaterial="{StaticResource dm1}" />
		</ht:HelixViewport3D>
	</Grid>
</Window>

 and my code:

public IList<Point3D> Pipe { get; set; }
		
public Window1()
{
	InitializeComponent();
	Pipe = this.CreatePath();
	DataContext = this;
}



private IList<Point3D> CreatePath()
{
	List<Point3D> list = new List<Point3D>();
	for (int i = -5; i < 5; i++)
	{
		list.Add(new Point3D(i * 10, 0, 5));
	}
	return list;
}

objo wrote at 2012-01-13 21:10:

I see the TubeVisual3D is not currently supporting texture coordinates. 

I will add a Values property where you can set the texture X (u) coordinates. The Y value (around the tube) is difficult to define and will simply be linear from 0 to 1.

You can also create the tube geometry by MeshBuilder.AddTube (where you also can specify the diameters along the tube).

jacobya wrote at 2012-01-19 03:53:

Hi objo,

Thanks for adding the TextureCoordinates property to the TubeVisual3D class, I also see that you added a Diameters property as well.  I'm still not sure how to apply a texture to a TubeVisual3D though, would it be possible for you to give me a very simple example?  I basically want to apply a RadialGradientBrush to a TubeVisual3D, any advice you can provide is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

objo wrote at 2012-01-19 10:53:

see the "StreamLinesDemo" example. It is currently using MeshBuilder.AddTube, but could now be rewritten to use the TubeVisual3D. The example uses a linear gradient brush (hue colours) in the material, and uses the streamline velocities (scaled to [0,1]) as "values" (first texture coordinate). It is difficult to control the position of the texture around the tube (second texture coordinate) (unless we specify a normal direction for each point of the path), so I am currently only using "1-dimensional" textures.

ahmad_luqman wrote at 2013-04-02 15:06:

var size = 6000;
var axesMeshBuilder = new HelixToolkit.Wpf.MeshBuilder();
var bb = new Rect3D(-1 * size / 2, -1 * size / 2, -1*size, size, size, size);
axesMeshBuilder.AddBoundingBox(bb, 10);
Box = axesMeshBuilder.ToMesh();

public Geometry3D Box { get; set; }

         <h:HelixViewport3D>
            <h:SunLight />
            <ModelVisual3D>
                <ModelVisual3D.Content>
                    <GeometryModel3D Geometry="{Binding Box}" Material="{h:Material Black}"/>
                </ModelVisual3D.Content>
            </ModelVisual3D>
        </h:HelixViewport3D>

System.ServiceModel.CommunicationObjectAbortedException: The communication object, System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel, cannot be used for communication because it has been Aborted.

         <h:HelixViewport3D>
            <h:SunLight />
            <ModelVisual3D>
                <ModelVisual3D.Content>
                    <GeometryModel3D Material="{h:Material Black}">
                        <!--Mesh Builder logic here -->
                    <GeometryModel3D />
                </ModelVisual3D.Content>
            </ModelVisual3D>
        </h:HelixViewport3D>

ahmad_luqman wrote at 2013-04-02 15:40:

<h:BoundingBoxVisual3D Diameter="10" BoundingBox="{Binding Box}" Fill="White"/>

medecai wrote at 2012-04-23 17:56:

Hey there,

first of all, i want to thank you for providing such an awesome Toolkit!

Second I have a question concerning the ModelImporter. I was using the beta (helixToolkit-release) for some time now and it was possible to import Geometry3D data by:

  private Geometry3D LoadGeoFromFile(string objPath)
        {
            Model3DGroup group = ModelImporter.Load(objPath);
            GeometryModel3D model = group.Children[0] as GeometryModel3D;
           
            return model.Geometry;

        }

I could afterwards bind the Geometry in Wpf like

 <helix:HelixViewport3D>
                <ModelVisual3D>
                    <helix:DefaultLights/>
                    <ModelVisual3D.Content>
                        <GeometryModel3D Geometry="{Binding TestFile}" Changed="GeometryModel3D_Changed">
                            <GeometryModel3D.Material>
                                <DiffuseMaterial>
                                    <DiffuseMaterial.Brush>
                                        <SolidColorBrush Color="Gray"/>
                                    </DiffuseMaterial.Brush>
                                </DiffuseMaterial>
                            </GeometryModel3D.Material>
                        </GeometryModel3D>
                        
                    </ModelVisual3D.Content>
                </ModelVisual3D>
            </helix:HelixViewport3D> 



and was therefore able to display the geometry just with a plain brush (to improve performance). Right now I tried 
the newest source code (to check if loading times etc. improved) but the described procedure isn't working anymore.
The ViewPort only shows parts of the whole model at best.  
Did something substantial change which could forbid this way of doing it or is it just a minor thing which I am not seeing ('cause 
I am still starting to learn programming)?

Cheers

Mede

 

objo wrote at 2012-04-25 07:08:

What kind of file are you importing? It should still be possible to extract the geometry from the returned Model3D, but I don't think you should depend on this being in Children[0] (an imported file could contain more than one GeometryModel3D).

medecai wrote at 2012-04-25 13:19:

Obj.-Files exportet by blender. And you are, of course, completely right concerning the number of geometries in the file. Which is most likely the problem of most models not be shown correctly . For me it seemed to be the easiest way to include lots of models/geometries and be able to transform them in relation to each other by binding (in Wpf), like moving an arm for example. Somehow it was working just fine for the beta-release of helix toolkit.

Seems that I have to find out how I can bind to different models and transform them the correct way =)

EDIT: I found a workaround:

private Geometry3D LoadFromFile(string objPath)
        {
            Model3DGroup group = ModelImporter.Load(objPath);
            MeshBuilder TestMesh = new MeshBuilder(false, false);


            foreach (var m in group.Children)
            {
                var mGeo = m as GeometryModel3D;
                var mesh = (MeshGeometry3D)((Geometry3D)mGeo.Geometry);
                if (mesh!=null) TestMesh.Append(mesh);
            }
            return TestMesh.ToMesh();

        }

Seems to work fine. Or am I again missing something?

Btw. Again: this toolkit is just great! Whenever I think I just don't now how the hell I should accomplish something I find again some nice method to help. =)

BogusException wrote at 2014-08-22 20:08:

    Public Function CloneElement(ByVal orig As UIElement) As UIElement
        If orig Is Nothing Then
            Return (Nothing)
        End If
        Dim s As String = System.Windows.Markup.XamlWriter.Save(orig)
        Dim stringReader As New StringReader(s)
        Dim xmlReader As XmlReader = XmlTextReader.Create(stringReader, New XmlReaderSettings())
        Return CType(System.Windows.Markup.XamlReader.Load(xmlReader), UIElement)
    End Function

Task.Factory.StartNew(
    Function() { 
        Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(New Action(Sub()
            Dim clone As CubeVisual3D = CType(CloneElement(cube1), CubeVisual3D)
            Messenger.Default.Send(Of HelixToolkit.Wpf.CubeVisual3D)(cube1) ' sends to AddAChildMvvm()
    End Sub))})

bdeldri wrote at 2014-08-13 22:09:

                case ChunkID.MAT_MAP:
                    texture = this.ReadMatMap(reader, size - 6);
                    break;

eonxxx wrote at 2014-06-26 22:56:

objo wrote at 2014-07-02 13:21:

eonxxx wrote at 2014-07-06 10:59:

          // model materials
            this.RedMaterial = PhongMaterials.Red;
            var diffColor = this.RedMaterial.DiffuseColor;
            diffColor.Alpha = 0.5f;

objo wrote at 2014-07-11 21:58:

eonxxx wrote at 2014-08-09 22:46: