MultiGen-Paradigm - FAQs - Creator

Q: How do I import different file formats into Creator?

Q: How do I get shape (*.shp) files into Creator?

Q: One of my floating tool boxes has disappeared. Where did it go and how do I get it back?

Q: Does the Creator OBJ importer plug-in tool convert materials/textures to OpenFlight?

Q: In the Vega Viewer my textures are gone, why?

Q: My Vega Viewer still doesn't show my textures, I can see them in Creator however

Q: How can I learn about the new features in a Creator release?

Q: How do I get help for a specific user interface dialog or control?

Q: How can I check the ordering of vertices in a polygon?

Q: When I am placing a vertex while building geometry, for example, during the Polygon or Rectangle tool, how do I place the vertex exactly at the position of another vertex in the scene or exactly on an existing edge?

Q: The shading of my scene does not look right. How can I diagnose what might be wrong.

Q: When I look in the Hierarchy view, I can only see a small part of my database. Is there a way to see more without getting a wider monitor?

Q: Creator has a lot of useful tools but I need a very specific tool that Creator does not provide. Can I make my own tools for Creator?

Q: Can I change the keyboard shortcuts assigned to tools in Creator?

Q: After running Creator for a long while, the performance can get a bit sluggish. Is there anything I can do to help this?

Q: When I open a file in Creator, I don't always see all the model. Why is that?

Q: I use construction vertices and edges a lot when modeling. When I quit and restart Creator, I have to re-enter them each time.

Q: How do I find a node in the database if I only know its name?

Q: I suspect my model may have colinear vertices on some polygons. How can I find them?

Q: What's the best way to get a screen capture of a scene in Creator?

Q: Whenever I select a vertex that is shared by more than one polygon, all vertices get selected. How do I select just one of the vertices in the cluster?

Q: How can I see the name of a node in the Graphics view?

Q: How do I find a node in the database if I only know what type it is?

Q: Q. When I am running a tool in Creator, do I have to click the "Ok" button before starting another tool?

Q. How do I import different file formats into Creator?
A. You have three options 1. Creator has the ability to import the .dxf, .3ds and .obj format. 2. We recommend the use of a third party conversion tool such as Okino's Polytrans. Polytrans allows the conversion of 20+ formats and writes out valid OpenFlight files, along with texture conversion and maintaining the hierarchy. www.okino.com 3. Max user can use a plugin from 3DPipeline. This product allows users to easily use OpenFlight files in 3D Studio Max or export Max projects into OpenFlight.

Q. How do I get shape (*.shp) files into Creator?
A. You have two options: 1. Use the OpenFlight API to write a custom converter for your data 2. Use FME (www.safe.com) to convert your shape data into DFD.

Q. One of my floating tool boxes has disappeared. Where did it go and how do I get it back?
A. The tool box may already be open (possibly off of the screen). Creator will remember where your tools are when you close the application, so that next time you start Creator the tolls are right where you left them. If someone were to accidentally move a tool box off of the screen and close Creator, then next time Creator was opened it would place the tool box back off of the screen. Creator does not know the size of your screen, and we do not perform any error-checking. You can modify Creator's Desktop Configuration file to resolve this issue. This file is named creator.dcf and is stored within the \config\creator directory. Please find this file and rename it to creator.bak. Changing the extension will cause Creator to not find the file (without physically deleting it) so Creator will start up fresh.

Q. Does the Creator OBJ importer plug-in tool convert materials/textures to OpenFlight?
A. The Wavefront OBJ file format importer plug-in tool for Creator does not import materials or textures. We may update the tool in the future, but for now you have two options: 1. Use a third party tool, there are companies that focus only on 3D file format transition. You may want to look in to Polytrans from Okino (www.okino.com) or Interchange from Viewpoint. 2. Write your own custom data importer with the OpenFlight API.

Q. In the Vega Viewer my textures are gone, why?
A. Vega sometimes has a hard time finding textures (even if the paths to the textures are stored in the OpenFlight file). In Vega, you have the Path panel to add as many data paths as you would like for Vega to search for these files, but the VegaViewer does not have a Paths panel. The way most people handle this issue is by making use of the TXTPATH environment variable. TXTPATH will point to one directory that holds your textures, then the Vega Viewer will be able to find them. The TXTPATH environment variable already be set, in which case you want to modify it to a new directory, or it may not yet exist, so you may need to create it. On Windows systems you can create/modify environment variable by going to Start->Settings->Control Panel->System. On IRIX systems you can create/modify environment variables at the command prompt by using the setenv command.

Q. My Vega Viewer still doesn't show my textures, I can see them in Creator however
A. Vega will only display the .rgb, .rgba, .int and .inta image formats. Creator can display many other formats, such as .gif, .tga, .jpg etc. Make sure that you are only using the .rgb and .int image format for your textures. We provide a PhotoShop plugin on our Creator CD (CD:\Free_Stuff\Photoshop_Plugins), which will allow you save out .rgb, .rgba, .int and .inta files from within PhotoShop) You can use the Replace Pattern option from within the Texture Palettes Edit menu, to replace an already applied texture.

Q. How can I learn about the new features in a Creator release?
A. You can learn about all the new features in this release of Creator by checking out the What's New command in the Help menu.

Q. How do I get help for a specific user interface dialog or control?
A. To view context sensitive help for any dialog or control within Creator, press the F1 key and then click on the item for which you would like help.

Q. How can I check the ordering of vertices in a polygon?
A. You can check vertex ordering within polygons in the Graphics view by turning on Draw Vertex Numbers in the View Panel. Vertex numbers increase counterclockwise when the face is viewed from the front.

Q. When I am placing a vertex while building geometry, for example, during the Polygon or Rectangle tool, how do I place the vertex exactly at the position of another vertex in the scene or exactly on an existing edge?
A. When you are entering 3D points during a tool (like Polygon or Rectangle), you can enter a point on an existing edge or at the location of an existing vertex by using the middle mouse button to enter the point. Simply point at the vertex or edge you want to reference and click the middle mouse button to place the point. If you are pointing at an edge, you can drag the new point along the edge. To force an "edge" reference and ignore any vertices that are close to your edge, hold down the Alt key. Similarly, to force a "vertex" reference and ignore any nearby edges, hold down the Ctrl key.

Q. The shading of my scene does not look right. How can I diagnose what might be wrong.
A. You can visualize vertex normals in the Graphics view by turning on Draw Vertex Normals in the View Panel. This might show you where shading discontinuities exist. To control how long the normals are drawn in the scene, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking the Draw Vertex Normals button. Creator will prompt you to enter the length of vertex normals you desire.

Q. When I look in the Hierarchy view, I can only see a small part of my database. Is there a way to see more without getting a wider monitor?
A. You can zoom the Hierarchy view to see more or less of your database structure. To zoom, hold down the Shift key while dragging the right mouse up or down over the Hierarchy view you want to zoom. Dragging the right mouse upward will zoom out, downward will zoom in. You can also use the mouse wheel to zoom in both the Graphics and Hierarchy views.

Q. Creator has a lot of useful tools but I need a very specific tool that Creator does not provide. Can I make my own tools for Creator?
A. You can create your own custom plug-in tools using the OpenFlight API to extend the functionality of Creator. For more information, install the OpenFlight API (included on the Creator Product Installation CDROM), and check out the documenation there as well as the many sample plug-ins that are included.

Q. Can I change the keyboard shortcuts assigned to tools in Creator?
A. You can customize the keyboard shortcuts assigned to almost every command in Creator. To do this, use the Keyboard Shortcuts command in the Info menu.

Q. After running Creator for a long while, the performance can get a bit sluggish. Is there anything I can do to help this?
A. By default, Creator caches all textures when they are first loaded so that the next time they are needed they will already be in memory and ready to use. While this can speed up Database Load time, it can also tie up a lot of memory - even when you no longer need those textures for any database you are working on. You can enable or disable this behavior on the Texture Panel of the Preference dialog. You can also purge all cached textures from memory here.

Q. When I open a file in Creator, I don't always see all the model. Why is that?
A. When you load a database that contains Levels of Detail (LODs), Creator displays the lowest LOD by default. To see higher levels, use the More Detail command in the LOD menu. To go back down to a lower level, use the Less Detail command. To see the LOD that corresponds to where your eyepoint is currently positioned, use the Eyepoint LOD command.

Q. I use construction vertices and edges a lot when modeling. When I quit and restart Creator, I have to re-enter them each time.
A. If you use construction edges and vertices, you can save them out to an external file so that they can be re-loaded later into this or a different database. Use the Save Constructions command to save your current construction edges and vertices. Use the Open Constructions command to load a set of constructions you had previously saved. Both these commands are located in the Construction submenu of the File menu.

Q. How do I find a node in the database if I only know its name?
A. If you are looking for a node in your database with a particular name, you can use the Select From ID command in the Select menu to find it for you. This command can search for full names or can do pattern matching to help you find many nodes at one time.

Q. I suspect my model may have colinear vertices on some polygons. How can I find them?
A. There are two ways to help you find colinear vertices. The first is the Select Faces with Coaligned Vertices tool in the Select menu. The tolerance for this tool can be set on the Edit Panel of the Preference dialog. The second is by turning on Draw Vertex Large in the View Panel. When this is set, vertices are drawn in the Graphics view as small boxes which are easy to see.

Q. What's the best way to get a screen capture of a scene in Creator?
A. You can create a full screen anti-alias screen shot using the Full View tool in the View menu. To do this, click the Antialias button in the Full View window. When the image has completed rendering, press the Print Screen key on your Windows keyboard. This will place an image onto the Windows clipboard that can be pasted into your favorite paint program.

Q. Whenever I select a vertex that is shared by more than one polygon, all vertices get selected. How do I select just one of the vertices in the cluster?
A. The Shrink control in the View Panel shrinks each face in the graphics view about its center. This is helpful for selecting individual vertices and edges when more than one item occupies the same space. For meshes, the Shrink command is useful to visualize the individual primitives of the mesh.

Q. How can I see the name of a node in the Graphics view?
A. Using "Pop Up IDs" you can display the name and, optionally, selected attributes of a node in the graphics or hierarchy view by simply positioning the mouse over that node. You select which attributes to display using the Define ID Attributes command in the Attributes menu. You can enable or disable Popup IDs on the State Panel of the Preference dialog.

Q. How do I find a node in the database if I only know what type it is?
A. You can find a node in the scene even if you don't know its name or where it is located - as long as you know what type it is. To do this, set the Modeling Mode to match the type of node you are looking for. Then invoke the Select All command. This will select "all" the nodes of this type, highlighting them, making them easy to locate in the scene. Now that they are highlighted, you can use the mouse to point and pick at the one you want.

Q. When I am running a tool in Creator, do I have to click the "Ok" button before starting another tool?
A. You don't always have to click the "Ok" button in a tool dialog to "finish" the tool. If you are in the middle of a tool and simply start another tool (without clicking the "Ok" button first), the current tool will finish automatically and the new tool will start. This can save many mouse clicks during a busy modeling session.