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What if the Dev Docs were made public?
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These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
What if the Dev Docs were made public? // Rants and Raves
Post by PrimMac // May 25, 2007, 3:25am
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PrimMac
Total Posts: 78
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Hi all,
Now this is probably going to sound weird or insane to many, but I'd like to see the community's opinion on this matter. Now, as far as I know, the boxed version of TS doesn't include a printed copy of the Developer Guide (correct me if I'm wrong about this). So far, the only place the Dev Guide can be downloaded is inside these forums in a very specific thread, and then, it requires your Caligari user/password to download. I've been reading the first chapters of this guide, and I have to admit, Caligari put much thought into the new architecture. The chapter seems to be about the philosophy behind Rosetta. It seems to be centered around the concept of "collaboration", about how, with TS not only users, but the very objets themselves, can collaborate by assuming certain roles within certain contexts.
Now, TS has made this new architecture to be quite extensible, and after reading the first and second chapter, my mind is going wild with the possibilities. As I understand it, with Rosetta, anyone can extend TS's functionality. Most other 3D apps require a deep understanding of programming languages like C++ in order to be able to write plugins. In TS, with VBScript it's possible. Can you imagine everyone writing new plugins, new exporters, new modeling tools, making TS7 into an entirely different application?
The question is, why isn't it happening? Why do we only get new modeling tools when a new TS version is released? The new tools, as I understand it, are simply Rosetta COM objets, added into the built-in tools. There were (and still are), plenty of plugins for the old architecture. Was it because the developer documentation was freely available from Caligari's site? So here's my main point: why not make the Dev Guide available to anyone? Or perhaps, making an in depth Guide about developing for the Rosetta platform.
Now, I've had the Dev Guide since a few weeks after 7.0 was released, and only recently began reading it in detail. When 7.0 was first released, I understood that there weren't many extensions to TS, as everyone was probably still figuring it all out, but it's been more than a year now. I figured, "there aren't many new plugins/scripts/new tools out yet, but with this new architecture, in a few months all the old plugins will be rewritten for the new architecture". If the idea behind Rosetta is collaboration, why isn't it happening? Why is it that when I search Google for "truespace 7 scripting" the only relevant results point to these forums? But when I search for TS 6 stuff, I get a lot more relevant results (most of which are looking quite dated by now, with lots of broken links)
So why is it? What does the community think about this? I just think there is much untapped potential in Rosetta. I may not fully understand, or have what it takes, to extend TS with scripting, but I'm sure there a a lot folks out there that can.
On a final note, this is not meant to flame Caligari or the community. I think Caligari has done a great job in creating Rosetta, I just think the... adoption rate is slow. |
Post by stan // May 25, 2007, 3:56am
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stan
Total Posts: 1240
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they have not yet released a 7.x sdk for making plugins..
there is only scripting at the moment which is a bit limiting. they also changed some things in scripting from 7.11 to 7.5..
I imagine many 3d party developers won't create scripts because they can be opened and read, where as plugins inner workings are private. |
Post by xmanflash // May 25, 2007, 4:33am
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xmanflash
Total Posts: 335
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they have not yet released a 7.x sdk for making plugins..
there is only scripting at the moment which is a bit limiting. they also changed some things in scripting from 7.11 to 7.5..
I imagine many 3d party developers won't create scripts because they can be opened and read, where as plugins inner workings are private.
Totally agree with Stan, Scripts are for us to make adjustments and do cool things, TS is really better off going with an Open Source model to promote the programming system.
Wonder if the Demo is as programable? |
Post by stan // May 25, 2007, 5:25am
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stan
Total Posts: 1240
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there was mention that the new dev guide will be out soon, but personally I can't wait until the sdk is posted..:D |
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