[size=m]SGI's Performer[/size]
Currently at UB our modeling for the VR environemnt based on SGI's Performer is limited to polygon models. A newer version of Performer (3.1.1) does offer some limited support for NURBS and subdivision models. Version 3.1 also offers a native Maya plugin for Maya 4.5.

[size=m]Creating models for Performer[/size]
Because we are using Performer 3.0.1 I will be talking about polygon modeling exclusively. Just because we are making our final export as a polygon mesh, does not mean that we are limited to polygons when modeling. Examples, the theatre curtains below.





[size=m]UV mapping polygon objects[/size]
Once your model is created and converted to polygons it is best to texture it using one single texture map. Performer, accets texture maps of any size, but must natively convert them to powers of 2, so it makes sense to start with textures that are powers of 2. E.g. 128 x128, 1024x 1024, they do not have to be proportional e.g. 128 x 512.

Using a single texture map has several advantages over multiple texture images.

[list]
Saves on RAM. Only one textuer needs to load into video am. There is also much less wasted space on a texture.
Easy to organise, one texture file per object
Texture image can span across polygon borders.
[/list]

In the below example I created a model with very low poly cont, textured it using Cinema 4Ds Bodypaint and then exported it using Kaydara's FBX format into Maya 6. The FBX format is a universal 3D model format for moving meshes between modeling and animation packages. Alias just bought kaydara and has promised to continue development of the free plugins. they can be found at





Brought into Maya for further manipulation and rendering.



[size=m]Reducing Polygons[/size]
Reducing Polygons is vital when working in a Realtime environment. The fewer polygon in the final mesh, the better. Maya's polygon reduction tools are excellent at reducing the number of polygons in an object and most often preserve the texture coordinates very well. make sur eto use the heads up display to see details. FOund in Display ->Heads up Display -> polycount





[size=m]Checking Normals[/size]
Make sure the object has polygon normals facing outward. In maya this is found under Display -> Polygon Component -> normals

[size=m]Obect Axis[/size]
Make sure to center the object axis where you want the scaling and rotation and transormatiosn to occur. In maya this is done by hitting the insert key and moving the axis where you want it to be.

If the model is going to be moved around in the scene, it may be wise to center it at 0,0,0 in the world coordinate system. If it is part of a statiic envirnment, you may want to export it with the transformation already made, so that those calculations don't have to be made by the GPU during processing.

[size=m]Exporting[/size]
You may want to change to z-up in maya. This is done in the preferences as performer is Z up. This can also be done afterwards by performing a rotation on the model. It is, however, easiest to do it at this stage in the process.

Next, enable the obje xport plugin in Maya and export the object to obj. If you have performer installed you can now go ahead and convert the model to a pfb using the pfconv command at the command prompt. This can also be done in linux afterwards. Change to the folder with the obj model, mtl file, and texture file.

Make sure the ob
ject texture is in rgb fo
rm
at. If it is not, simply convert it using phothsop or the gimp and rename all the file ending to .rgb in the .mtl file. Then type the following to convert

pfconv input_filename output_filename

To view your model in performer, make sure you are still in the directory with the pfb model and type
perfly your_model.pfb

Edit the .mtl file and change all Kd calues to 1.0 instead of 0.0 and reconvert if you object appears black.




You can find example models from the project here:

(e:sqb) ,
[inlink]sqb,113[/inlink], to get the full site rss feed you don't need ot log out. You just need to click on the (e:info) journal. The (e:info) journal is also the homepage. I will change the link at the top to say home intead of (e:info) as I think it might be confusing. Anyways, the (e:info) journal has the rss feed fo rthe site. Every other journal has the rss feed for that individual user.

It is the same with statistics. The user stats on the user page are fo rthat user an dthe ones on the (e:info) journal are for the whole site.

Paul

As (e:sqb) mentioned [inlink]sqb,120[/inlink] Pano's is considering knocking down the Atwater cariage house. (e:matthew), (e:terry), and I are also boycotting Pano's until this issue is resolved. We also eat there several times a week. I am sad to miss the tasty food, but I also don't want elmwood to look like a plaza.

The list keeps growing so fast. Since (e:terry) signed the petition about ten minutes ago there are ten new people.

Here are some great quotes by boycotters:

[size=m]Ian MacDonald[/size]
    Please don't demolish the Atwater House. Please consider obtaining the Forest/Elmwood Parking lot instead. The city can't handle it, it looks like hell and it needs a real owner. There is so little of Buffalo's heydays left except the architecture and the character of the Elmwood strip is a reflection of those days. Parking lots on Elmwood will only make it more suburban and then whats the draw? Lastly it sets the example for other property owners. What is then to stop the numerous slumlords from demolishing their houses to charge for parking? not a pretty sight.

[size=m]Alan Kegler[/size]
You have got to be kidding. Are we as a city loosing our minds. Stop this idoicy immediately before all of our working, eductated people leave the city. Pedistrian friendly (as opposed to car traffic), walkable neighborhoods with magnificant architecture is exactly what attracted my wife and I to this neighborhood. Demolishing buildings like this will only aid in us wanting to move out.

Everyone should switch to firefox . Iy is definately better than IE in so many ways. I have talked about it many time sn my journal [search]firefox[/search] It is especially ideal if you are a web developer. It's web development tools are such time savers. As always firefox, remains the offically supported browser of elmwoodstrip.com.

Thanks (e:sqb) for the update info [inlink]sqb,112[/inlink]

UPDATE: WOW live bookmarks are mazing. This is really the greatest technology. Check it out. First install the new firefox. Then when you load any users journal, simply click on the little orange rss icon that shows up in th lower left hand corner of the browser. It will let you subscribe to their journal as a live bookmark. This allows you to see all of their entries as live bookmarks in your bookmark list which continually update. You will love it!!!!!

I saw the below article today in the Buffalo News. I hope that they don't end thurday in the square out of honor for civil war veterans. I guess you all know how I feel abot soldiers in gernerals, and especially how I feel about their glorification via large stone phalic structures. I personally think they should just knock the monument down to make more room for the future. Why should we remember the killing and snuff the future.

This is generally what happens in Buffalo. Something starts up and becomes sucessful and then some people make a problem out of it and the city goes to rust. I am not even a big fan of Thursday in Square, but I definately see it as one of the public functions that keeps Downtown Buffalo semi-alive. Imagine how much business revenue is generated due on of the massive 10,000 person events. It also brings out a sense of community and commrodery amoung the many attendees, that is rare to city in our city of snow and indoor activitiews.

In fact it is one of the few Buffalo events besides The Taste Of Buffalo where you actually see racial integration. Does anyone remeber the Arrested Development? That was the most racially integrated event I have ever attended in our oh so segregated city.

Here is the artcile ->

Veterans groups are unhappy with crowds swarming the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Monument during Thursday at the Square concert events.

Concerts upset VFW
By LOU MICHEL- News Staff Reporter - 9/14/2004

Good vibrations abound during Thursday at the Square concerts in downtown Buffalo - except for some members of the area's biggest veteran organization, who think the gatherings dishonor a war memorial at the site.

The Erie County Council of Veterans of Foreign Wars wants Buffalo Place, sponsor of the free concert series in Lafayette Square, to halt the successful event that draws thousands of concertgoers, a majority of them from the suburbs, to the heart of downtown.

"It's a veterans' memorial and it should not be used for concerts, drinking or merriment if we're going to abide by the meaning of the monument. It's hallowed ground," said Clarence E. Buob, commander of the council, which represents about 9,000 local veterans.

At the center of the controversy is the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Monument, a massive granite memorial built in 1882, that is thronged with people who come to watch the concerts and party every Thursday after work starting in late May.

I would like to re-write that second last paragraph as:

"It's a park in the center of a living city with many people and should not be used for veteran's memorials, as a museum, or silent area if we are going to abide by the meaning of a having living city. It is viable land. I am sure many of you feel different. feel free to voice your opinion.

I was reading this Reader/readers essay by Phillippe Bootz for the classI am taking with Loss Glazier at UB when I came across a video presentation by Phillippe Bootz in Erfurt, Thueringen. I used to live right next to there. I wonder when the presentation took place.

While the essay is interesting, the project itself looks dated. I wonder if e-poetry is all very dated looking but I am excited to learn more about it.

I have about 1000 new things I want to do with the site my problem is now time and balancing the site development with my homework load and job.

(e:nparkproject),[inlink]nparkproject,3[/inlink] you should record some songs for the elmwood radio station. Also, if you have any upcomming events you could post them on the calendar.

I have been working on lots of new features recently and decided to release two today. One is an rss news feed module for when you are logged in. It allows you to slect a news source and get the last 10 articles from that source. Currently, we have sources including boing boing, Buffalo News, Buffalo Employment, The Buffalo Report, The Beast, estrip, jambase, wired gadgets, wired politics, and yahoo top stories. If anyone knows of any other local rss feeds, I would love to add them to the list. Also, if anyone knows of any good local sports rss feeds, I'd happily add them too.




The second upgrade is the ability to see how many guests are online. Guests are people who are visiting the site but are not users or are not logged in.



More to come soon . . .

In reference to [inlink]paul,1914[/inlink] There is finally some good news in regards to information being published about the site in a local newspaper.

I received a phone call from Tony Violanti at the Buffalo News for an interview about web pages. (e:holly) said that they had called Medaille about web design and she gave them my info. I was so excited to talk about the site but still a little nervous. I don't usually get calls on my cell phone, I try to keep my number secret, so when it rang I picked up figuring it was (e:terry) or (e:southernyankee) calling from work and then all of a sudden I was being interviewed.

He asked me a lot of questions about web design in general and what I thought about it. One question he posed is, "Should people start their own webpages?" another question was, "Should people learn to code web pages or use deisgn programs such as Dreamweaver?"

I responded that everyone who feels that they have something important to say should have a web page. I also said that I encourage people to learn HTML from the ground-up as HTML coding is not that difficult and quickly becomes routinea dn used the intro students at Canisius as an exmaple. While some of them find coding daunting at first, they easily pick it up and can transfer the code from making one site to the next.

I explained that I created this site for people who have something to say but are unable to web program or are simply interested in drawing from the larger audience offered by the site. I also mentiioned that our readershp statistics reflect peoples interest in reality programming on televsion and in gerneral. People simply love to learn about the lives of others and when it can be people within their community it makes it even more interesting because they can meet each other.

[size=m]What do you guys think about it? Why do you keep a journal here?[/size]

So we have over 125 members now and I would really like to see that number grow to about 300 over the next couple months. At that point we will have a really good base to define what was the elmwood experience during our time here. I would like to branch out in some more in terms of user background, hopefully picking up some more younger people and some more older adults. Right now our average age is around 24-29.

I am also working on developing some new stuff and a new look although that might have to wait till my other projects are done.

Today, I sent an article about our site to Alt Press . I hope they carry it. I have been meaning to talk to more news sources about it but was so discouraged after the Artvoice, buffalo.com, and west side times let down.

[size=m]Art Voice[/size]
When I wrote to artvoice telling them about the site, I thought they would be excited about the development of a free local site where people could have a "local" voice on the internet. I was kind of hoping for an article but instead was offered a classified ad for free or a $500 spread. I was not interested in spending $500 on them. I chose neither. I have worked so hard for this project to be free and I felt like they were trying to exploit me.

[size=m]Buffalo.com[/size]
Then I had a similar experience with Buffalo.com. No need to retell it here, you can read it on the entry from the time it happend [inlink]paul,1818[/inlink].

[size=m]West Side Times[/size]
Then we wrote to the west side times. Didn't even get a response!

I guess that is why we created this site in the first place - as a way to circumvent the old media barriers to publication.

So anyhow, I am being brave and writing to Alt Press this time. Wish us luck.