World: r3wp

the main problem I think with this kind of hierarchical and dynamical 
size struct is to be anought performant and close to the original 
to save code writing  time and tu enhance the loading performances 
in such tasks. Actually you need to parse and readapt each data from 
the binary dump file to rebol based   things. And that's an heavy 
task


This can be usefull for all langages that allow binary dump file 
read/wirte like C, VB and many others.

if that is the struct of the data stored in a file, it should not 
be too hard to parse the file to get the information...looks like 
a 3-D rendering file or ?

my REBOL coding is nearly as good as my C coding...but my C codding 
had a 22 year head start...;-)

coding = codding ... a slip of the fish

shadwolf, it seems, you need some kind of binary format, so external 
data can be loaded directly in to a REBOL structure. Maybe REBin? 
http://www.rebol.net/blogs/0044.html

this structure is the one for MD2 File format it contents vertex 
point position, texture, texture coordinates, frames of animation. 
In MD2 format each animation move is the difference beetwin 2 frame 
content .

the goal is to provide to REBOL the capability to do such a load 
in the simpliest and fastest way I think the posibility of using 
a vectorial data like float myvar[3];

is there a site with files I could look at? (just seems there would 
be a very simple way to do this without much problem) sorry I am 
not familiar with md2 (guess the enterprise work distracts me too 
much...;-(

you can find an example files in MD2 format here-> http://shadwolf.free.fr/hellpig.md2

what could I use to view it so I see what it looks like?

In fact the actual need to support MD2 file format is not requiered 
but We can use such a complicated hierarchical structure to simplify 
in REBOL/Core the C library branchement witch will in reallity very 
important if we want to have the true capabilité to exploite C library 
 that use vectorial dat or vectorial structure based API

understood.

parsing binary is a bit different than parsing ASCII...and I have 
done a bit for mp4...but I think your point of making it simple is 
a good thing.

To see it you can use the MD2 model viewer http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/md2v/

you need to download too the texture skin image http://shadwolf.free.fr/hellpig.bmp

you open in the modelviewer the hellpig.md2 file and tada you can 
playback the animation

an other way could be to use the MD2 importer script into blender 
but it's not anymore online for the moment (I have a copy of it on 
my local harddrive if you want to test it....)

ok...I see what it does...cool.

when Josh appears, we will scratch each others heads and see if we 
can determine a way to parse this...he has done some work like this 
for his NASA project...and he is working on some crazy computer science 
parsing algorithms...I think he has been chatting with Ladislav too 
long ... ;-)

SMD2Header: make struct! [
   m_iMagicNum [int] ; Always IDP2 (844121161)
   m_iVersion  [int] ; 8
   m_iSkinWidthPx [int]  
   m_iSkinHeightPx [int] 
   m_iFrameSize [int]
   m_iNumSkins [int]
   m_iNumVertices  [int]
   m_iNumTexCoords [int]
   m_iNumTriangles [int]
   m_iNumGLCommands [int]
   m_iNumFrames [int]
   m_iOffsetSkins [int]
   m_iOffsetTexCoords [int]
   m_iOffsetTriangles [int]
   m_iOffsetFrames [int]
   m_iOffsetGlCommands [int]
   m_iFileSize [int]
] none

oki if I can apport my own head to help finding the better solution 
to handle this just communicate it to me thrue skype or altme. Than 
we can give our reflexions solution to Carl in order for him to include 
it to core

thank you ladislave for single int variable that's easy (like header) 
but for file content it's ver hard and harder I think to attribute 
to a REBOL struct based pointer the content of the file

SMD2Vert: make struct! [
    m_fVert1 [float]
    m_fVert2 [float]
    m_fVert3 [float]
    m_ucReserved [char]
] none

struct SMD2Frame
{
float m_fScale[3];
float m_fTrans[3];
char m_caName[16];
SMD2Vert * m_pVerts;

//Cleans up after itself
SMD2Frame()
{
m_pVerts = 0;
}

 this hierarchical structure typical in C is very very very hard to 
 adapt easyly to REBOL or maby I'm to idiot to do it ...

>> a: make object! SMD2Header
** Script Error: Invalid argument: make struct! [
    m_iMagicNum [int]
    m_iVersion [int]
    m_iSkinWidthPx [int]
    m_iSkinHeightPx [int]
    m_iFrameSize [int]
    m_iNumSkins [int]
    m_iNumVertices [int]
    m_iNumTexCoords [int]
    m_iNumTriangles [int]
    m_iNumGLCommands [int]
    m_iNumFrames [int]
    m_iOffsetSkins [int]
    m_iOffsetTexCoords [int]
    m_iOffsetTriangles [int]
    m_iOffsetFrames [int]
    m_iOffsetGlCommands [int]
    m_iFileSize [int]
] [0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0]

why do you want to make object? - it is a struct

that's not that way it has to be done sorry I made a mistake. It's 
only a: SMD2Header

but in this case you can't have a declaration like SMD2Header *myheader; 
that is the common way to do it in C SMD2Header struct will became 
a type in C, In rebol you only make a pointer to the struct so with 
vectorials struct based array mofifying one data will modify all 
data in the array

example SMD2Vert struct is use to make an aray of vertex position 
for each frame int SMD2Frame struct SMD2Frame Struct is use as type 
to make an array of frames

so MD2 format encapsulate many  Frame as array and all those frames 
encapsulate many Vert that discribe for this frame each location 
of every point of my 3d Model

the we have the posibility to take a bunch of frame for example from 
0 to 10  to say that's  animation set correspond to run

animation

aha, you give me so many ideas for my editor...

it is sometimes too mind expanding to write code while chatting. 
 Sometimes I think I need a few more heads, and a couple more arms 
to type and click...maybe I should draw a new model of myself.

but I think I would use REBOL blocks rather than some silly C structs. 
 blocks are such flexible containers.

in my 3D engine I will make a switch to change the animation that 
are into my model that supose for me to have all my 3D model to get 
the identical set of animation or to make animation switch that could 
be adapted to every 3D Model Type (that's why 3D engeneers not even 
more use this format and prefert bone animation based file format 
like MDL or MD3/MD5)

aha...a datatype-sensitive editor...see, I should close down the 
right side of my brain so the left side can type code easier.

for example if I say walk is frame 0 10 for human but for aliens 
in my game I nead to have only frames 0 to 5 for the walk I need 
to make 2 animation list and 2 animation switches to handle human 
(main caracter of my game for example) and alien

If i have alien type 1 alien type 2 alien type 3 etc... and all of 
them with different set of animation it could be very heavy task 
to handle all of them using MD2 but that's not our purpose in fact 
 :)

data-type sensitive editor  but normally rebol is datatype unsensive 
 :)

so or we allways ue struct! to typify our variables (wich can't be 
reuse). In C if I make SDM2Header *a, *b; a content and b content 
(physical memory localtion) will not be the same

in rebol a: SMD2Header and b: SMD2Header will point to the same memory 
chunk ...

>> a: SMD2Header
>> b: SMD2Header
>> a/m_iMagicNum: 1234234
== 1234234
>> probe b/m_iMagicNum
1234234
== 1234234
>>

and that normal becaus in C to initialise data I will use a malloc 
call witch will attrubute to a and b on the same based type different 
memory location

in my example program that exploite the SMD2Header strucure we can 
see:

//-------------------------------------------------------------
//- Load
//- Loads an MD2 model from file
//-------------------------------------------------------------
bool CMd2::Load(const char * szFilename)
{
	unsigned char * ucpBuffer = 0;
	unsigned char * ucpPtr = 0;
	unsigned char * ucpTmpPtr = 0; 
	int iFileSize = 0;
	FILE * f;
	
	if(!(f = fopen(szFilename, "rb")))
	{
		APP->Log(COLOR_RED, "Could not open MD2 file %s", szFilename);
		return false;
	}

	//check file size and read it all into the buffer
	int iStart = ftell(f);
	fseek(f, 0, SEEK_END);
	int iEnd = ftell(f);
	fseek(f, 0, SEEK_SET);
	iFileSize = iEnd - iStart;

	//Allocate memory for whole file
	ucpBuffer = new unsigned char[iFileSize];
	ucpPtr = ucpBuffer;

	if(!ucpBuffer)
	{

  APP->Log(COLOR_RED, "Could not allocate memory for %s", szFilename);
		return false;
	}

	//Load file into buffer
	if(fread(ucpBuffer, 1, iFileSize, f) != (unsigned)iFileSize)
	{
		APP->Log(COLOR_RED, "Could not read from %s", szFilename);
		delete [] ucpBuffer;
		return false;
	}

	//close the file, we don't need it anymore
	fclose(f);

	//get the header
	memcpy(&m_Head, ucpPtr, sizeof(SMD2Header));

	//make sure it is a valid MD2 file before we get going
	if(m_Head.m_iMagicNum != 844121161 || m_Head.m_iVersion != 8)
	{
		APP->Log(COLOR_RED, "%s is not a valid MD2 file", szFilename);
		delete [] ucpBuffer;
		return false;
	}
	
	ucpTmpPtr = ucpPtr;
	ucpTmpPtr += m_Head.m_iOffsetFrames;

	//read the frames
	m_pFrames = new SMD2Frame[m_Head.m_iNumFrames];
	
	for(int i = 0; i < m_Head.m_iNumFrames; i++)
	{
		float fScale[3];
		float fTrans[3];
		m_pFrames[i].m_pVerts = new SMD2Vert[m_Head.m_iNumVertices];
		//expand the verices
		memcpy(fScale, ucpTmpPtr, 12);
		memcpy(fTrans, ucpTmpPtr + 12, 12);
		memcpy(m_pFrames[i].m_caName, ucpTmpPtr + 24, 16);
		ucpTmpPtr += 40;
		for(int j = 0; j < m_Head.m_iNumVertices; j++)
		{

   //swap y and z coords to convert to the proper orientation on screen

   m_pFrames[i].m_pVerts[j].m_fVert[0] = ucpTmpPtr[0] * fScale[0] + 
   fTrans[0];

   m_pFrames[i].m_pVerts[j].m_fVert[1] = ucpTmpPtr[2] * fScale[2] + 
   fTrans[2];

   m_pFrames[i].m_pVerts[j].m_fVert[2] = ucpTmpPtr[1] * fScale[1] + 
   fTrans[1];
			m_pFrames[i].m_pVerts[j].m_ucReserved = ucpTmpPtr[3];
			ucpTmpPtr += 4;
		}
		
	}

	//Read in the triangles
	ucpTmpPtr = ucpPtr;
	ucpTmpPtr += m_Head.m_iOffsetTriangles;
	m_pTriangles = new SMD2Tri[m_Head.m_iNumTriangles];
	memcpy(m_pTriangles, ucpTmpPtr, 12 * m_Head.m_iNumTriangles);

	//Read the U/V texture coords
	ucpTmpPtr = ucpPtr;
	ucpTmpPtr += m_Head.m_iOffsetTexCoords;
	m_pTexCoords = new SMD2TexCoord[m_Head.m_iNumTexCoords];
	
	short * sTexCoords = new short[m_Head.m_iNumTexCoords * 2];
	memcpy(sTexCoords, ucpTmpPtr, 4 * m_Head.m_iNumTexCoords);

	for(i = 0; i < m_Head.m_iNumTexCoords; i++)
	{

  m_pTexCoords[i].m_fTex[0] = (float)sTexCoords[2*i] / m_Head.m_iSkinWidthPx;

  m_pTexCoords[i].m_fTex[1] = (float)sTexCoords[2*i+1] / m_Head.m_iSkinHeightPx;
	}
	
	delete [] sTexCoords;

	//Read the skin filenames
	ucpTmpPtr = ucpPtr;
	ucpTmpPtr += m_Head.m_iOffsetSkins;
	m_pSkins = new SMD2Skin[m_Head.m_iNumSkins];
	
	//Load textures
	for(i = 0; i < m_Head.m_iNumSkins; i++)
	{
		memcpy(m_pSkins[i].m_caSkin, ucpTmpPtr, 64);
		//hack off the leading parts and just get the filename
		char * szEnd = strrchr(m_pSkins[i].m_caSkin, '/');
		
		if(szEnd)
		{
			szEnd++;
			strcpy(m_pSkins[i].m_caSkin, szEnd);
		}

		m_pSkins[i].m_Image.Load(m_pSkins[i].m_caSkin);
		ucpTmpPtr += 64;
	}
		
	delete [] ucpBuffer;
	return true;
}

countainer class :

class CMd2 : public CModel
{
public:

	//Set skin to one of the files specified in the md2 files itself
	void SetSkin(unsigned int uiSkin);
	//Set skin to a different image
	void SetSkin(CImage& skin);

	//Load the file
	bool Load(const char * szFilename);
	
	//Render file at the initial position
	void Render();
	//Render the file at a certain frame
	void Render(unsigned int uiFrame);


 //Animate the md2 model (start and end frames of 0 and 0 will loop 
 through the WHOLE model

 void Animate(float fSpeed = 30.0f, unsigned int uiStartFrame = 0, 
 unsigned int uiEndFrame = 0, bool bLoop = true);

	//constructors/destructo
	CMd2();
	CMd2(const char * szFile);
	~CMd2();

private:
	
	CTimer m_Timer;
	//file header information
	SMD2Header m_Head; 
	//Frame information
	SMD2Frame * m_pFrames;
	//Triangles
	SMD2Tri * m_pTriangles;
	//Texure coords
	SMD2TexCoord * m_pTexCoords;
	//Skin files
	SMD2Skin * m_pSkins;
	//Interpolated vertices
	SMD2Vert * m_pVerts;
	//Current skin
	unsigned int m_uiSkin;
	//Using a custom skin?
	bool m_bIsCustomSkin;
	//The custom skin
	CImage * m_pCustSkin;

};

you go too fast for me...;-)  I have to find some time this weekend 
to play with the first toys...

so you make a SDM2Header *m_Header; to declare your header type from 
structure SMD3Header, then you read the correct emont of data in 
the file  storing it to ucpPtr then you init m_Header it using  memcpy(&m_Head, 
ucpPtr, sizeof(SMD2Header));

if you want to load 3 MD2 files you need only to make other main 
pointer to the information you retrieve from the file