Modeler 1.1 (Beta 1)
© 1998 Nivloc Enterprises, Ltd.


Modeler was originally created by Tony Polichroniadis written as a final-year college project when studying for his BSC hons at Leeds University around 1995. In 1998, the source code because available and Neil Colvin began developing it. Today, Modeler is the most specific and versatile RenderWare modeller known.

Modeler is a simple 3D (three-dimensional) drawing package specificaly intended for producing RenderWare script (RWX) files. Developed by Criterion Software Limited (http://csl.com), RenderWare is the 3D API (applications programming interface) graphics rendering engine, used in Modeler. Specifically oriented to the Active Worlds (http://activeworlds.com) object development environment, Modeler provides a set of tools to allow the easy creation and editing of Active World objects. Active Worlds is a 3D virtual reality chat/building environment on the Internet.


Original Features (1.0b)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- create objects (primitives, mostly)
- manipulate whole objects
- move specific vertices
- change material attributes
- apply materials to whole objects or faces
- manipulate texture mapping coordinates
- extrude faces
- RenderWare 1.4

New Supported Features (1.1)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- models.ini is removed and settings are now saved in the Windows registry
- RenderWare 2.1
- saved options/settings
- set background color
- MRU (most recently used) files listing
- saved window views
- delete/duplicate materials
- true undo for all modifications (except right-mouse button viewing, which is not considered a modification)
- proper tracking of modified models (with save prompting)
- texture paths (with directory ordering)
- intelligent texture loading (if loading an object and texture isn't in texture path, Modeler prompts to locate it with options to remember the path)
- JPG textures (BMP support native to RenderWare)
- ZIPped object/mask uncompressing/recompressing/encrypting
- animated (multi-frame) textures
- full 3D rotational right-mouse button viewing
- set view window highlight color
- object grouping/ungrouping
- eye dropper polygon material detection
- proper avatar loading (manipulation still needs work)

Planned Features
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- improved vertex and object manipulation capabilities (axis alignment/grid snapping)
- direct specification of vertices locations in Cartesian (x,y,z) space
- DirectDraw and Direct3D support
- bounding box support/manipulation
- online context-sensitive help
- default materials and a materials library (texture + settings) with thumbnails
- vertex/polygon/group info

Possible Future Features
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- importing/exporting of other 3D model formats (3DS, COB, DXF, etc)


Usage
~~~~~
- Decompress Modeler.zip into a directory.
- Be sure the RenderWare 2.1 DLLs (rw21.dll, rwdl6a21.dll, etc) are either in the same directory as Modeler or in the path. For Active Worlds users, putting Modeler into the Active Worlds directory will work. Alternatively, placing the RenderWare DLLs in the path will also work.
- Also be sure msvcrt.dll is in the Windows/System directory. If not, it can be downloaded from the Modeler website (see below).
- Run Modeler.exe.

It should be relatively easy to get used to Modeler, especially if you have used packages like Corel Draw or Corel Xara before. The buttons listed on the left side of the main window represent tools. Each tool displays a different set of controls at the bottom of the program when clicked and a brief description (Tool Tip) of each tool appears over the button if the mouse is left over it long enough.

The tools, in order are:

Edit Object (F2):                  Manipulates, moves, rotates, and shears whole objects.
Edit Vertex (F3):                  Manipulates object vertices.
Material Painter (F4):             Changes and applies materials to objects.
Texture Co-ordinates (F5):         Changes texture coordinates of objects.
Create mesh, light or camera (F6): Creates primitives (cone, block, cylinder, disc, etc), cameras, and lights.
Extrude Face (F7):                 Face (polygon) teetering, tottering, loft lengthening, scaling, and twisting.


Support
~~~~~~~
A Modeler website is at http://www.rwmodeler.com and the latest release is always available from there, as well as a FAQ, links to other RenderWare and Active Worlds resources, and other useful development tools.

Email support is available from modeler-support@rwmodeler.com.


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Active Worlds is a trademark of Circle of Fire Studios, Incorporated.
RenderWare is a registered trademark of Canon, Incorporated.
All rights reserved,