nXt Studio Product

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Here's an early look at a product I've been working on.  It's a version of nXt that runs outside of a host modeler such as AutoCAD.  Remember, it's early, so a lot of things aren't working yet.  I'm still very interested in opinions.  I'm not going to explain how it works-- I'm interested in people's reactions-- so ask questions if you need to.

Download the 64-bit version.

Download the 32-bit version.

The thing uses a file format called .nXtScene.  These are subsets of XML so you can examine the files in a variety of editors or browsers if you want.  Here are some sample files to download:

Material Scene 000.nXtScene -- A scene useful for creating materials.

Room.nXtScene -- Scott Davidson's interior model.

Aloha3.nXtScene-- One of our oldest models

To create your own nXtscene file from AutoCAD you need to download Build 313 (unannounced, but available now as the latest build.)  Set up your mdel and type (nXtWrite), parentheses and all, at the command line.  Start with smaller models first before you get very ambitious.

Let me know.

[akinlolu olugboji]

As to crashes Nxt Studio does not like to be hurried. Orbiting, switching views while rendering (without pausing) can cause the program to freeze up or even crash to desktop. 

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Don't pause it.  It's meant to be real time.

akinlolu olugboji said:

As to crashes Nxt Studio does not like to be hurried. Orbiting, switching views while rendering (without pausing) can cause the program to freeze up or even crash to desktop. 

[akinlolu olugboji]

Meanwhile can build 313 be updated to have a progress bar when writing nxt scene files. Lots of time one is not sure if AutoCad  has frozen or the process is on going.   

[Jan Verzelen]

nxt studio starts rendering right away, without hitting the render button, is this normal behaviour?

Is the light meter a new function or am i missing something? Can you explain the purpose of this?

[Jan Verzelen]

Compared to Walkabout flyover and walktrough i found the camera setup easier to use with the shift and ctrl keys.

Will there be a wireframe view because the movement is a bit choppy now (maybe this has some to do with my graphics card)

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

The basic display is "near real-time".  It renders continually at screen resolution, restarting when you make changes.  If you make the window smaller it will go faster.  There is a button on the toolbar to start a "modal" rendering at a fixed resolution which you can set on the Camera tab.  There is also a pause button on the right hand side-- generally you don't need to use this.

The values in the Light Meter box may be useful as information if you know something about lighting.  They show the average and maximum luminance values in the scene (cd/m^2). These are the values that act as input to the tone operator.  They can help you see a units problem, for example, if the values are too high or too low.  The lock exposure and manual manipulation of these may be useful for very special circumstances-- in general leave these alone.

Not sure about a wireframe view.

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Just uploaded Build 005 of the nXt Studio product (pre-release).

This one adds the ability to open Sketchup (*.skp) files.

Download the 64-bit version.

Download the 32-bit version.

[Marc Chaumier]

I agee with Akin, some material are not good translated (313), like angular blend, and I have a case where the material desappear from the solid.

Wil it be added later some model or transformation fonction, or the possibility to act on the mapping?

[akinlolu olugboji]

When do we get to have RPC incorporated?

Roy Hirshkowitz said:

Just uploaded Build 005 of the nXt Studio product (pre-release).

This one adds the ability to open Sketchup (*.skp) files.

Download the 64-bit version.

Download the 32-bit version.

[Alfons Akamp]

Nxt Studio 005 funktioniert super. Very good.

Alf-1234

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

If you have an example of something that isn't translating well send it along-- I'll take a look.  Whether any editing functions are added is an open question-- I'm exploring some options right now.

Marc Chaumier said:

I agee with Akin, some material are not good translated (313), like angular blend, and I have a case where the material desappear from the solid.

Wil it be added later some model or transformation fonction, or the possibility to act on the mapping?

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

It depends what you mean by incorporated.  If you mean being able to manipulate the view and have the RPC adjust accordingly, probably not.

akinlolu olugboji said:

When do we get to have RPC incorporated?

Roy Hirshkowitz said:

Just uploaded Build 005 of the nXt Studio product (pre-release).

This one adds the ability to open Sketchup (*.skp) files.

Download the 64-bit version.

Download the 32-bit version.