Dashboard3D and the Common Libraries!
 

Dashboard3D will be reentering production sometime this week! Version 2.0 will include such features as DirectX 9, mesh optimization, FPS optimization, implementation of new dashboard standards, and:

The Tri5 Software Common Libraries

The common libraries are a group of libs created by my software "company" (organization of 4 team members...) to make common application things much easier to do. These "things" include a general library for creating a common app window (for simple projects only; though it can be modified we do not recommend it for advanced W32 programming as it has not been configured for that use), a common library of 3D functions that allow a user to implement both DirectX and OpenGL without knowing the API to either, a common and global vector class, general logging features (quite useful for debugging), and more...
The project is entirely open source and will be released on the team 555 website (www.montclairrobotics.com) until the Tri5 site (www.tri5.com) can be purchased and completed. If you wish to directly access the server (located right here! finally got a linux box!) you can through tri5.serveftp.com. Anyone who wishes to have a CVS logon to access the sources, please email me (or PM/IM me) and I'll be happy to give you one.

Please feel free to distribute any binaries released by 555 or Tri5 Software freely. Enjoy the programs to come!

Re: Dashboard3D and the Common Libraries!
 

Sounds cool.

Do you have any screenshots?

Re: Dashboard3D and the Common Libraries!
 

Not as of yet, I will make some though. I'll try to post them by Wednesday.

Re: Dashboard3D and the Common Libraries!
 

GPL? Just curious.

Also... why DX9? Why not OpenGL?

Re: Dashboard3D and the Common Libraries!
 

The D3D project (as well as all other Tri5 Software projects) is fully released under the GNU GPL.
Actually, with the new Common Libraries the user will be able to switch between DX and OpenGL with the change of a single variable (calling Set3D(DIRECTX); or Set3D(OPENGL); ). The only reason for using DX9 as opposed to OpenGL for now is that I am coding the DX API and I have a relatively good knowledge of DX. Another Tri5 member, Jeff Sander, is working on the GL library; though the library is coming along, he doesn't have as extensive a knowledge of GL and must learn it as he goes (and he also has to code mesh loading features for GL and export plugins for Maya and 3DS). Other than that there is no reason for DX over GL, in fact, eventually the Common Libraries will be cross-compatible and D3D will be able to run on all OS's (hopefully :D ).

Re: Dashboard3D and the Common Libraries!
 

As a linux lover, I find that news inspiring. (I also have the situation where I don't have any other OS on my laptop, so this is definately a good thing)

Re: Dashboard3D and the Common Libraries!
 

Not to be rude, but I was wondering if any progress has been made on this Dashboard 3D. Are there any Pre-Alpha compiles?

Re: Dashboard3D and the Common Libraries!
 

Not rude at all! ;)
Unfortunately the robot build and midterms have taken up most of my time and I have not been able to make much progress on the project. I hope to launch into full-scale production this weekend/next week.
I will be making the binaries and the sources available at my software group's site (http://tri5.serveftp.com) as well as the team's site (http://www.montclairrobotics.com) as soon as the web team gets the main site up. You can download the old source (last updated 4/15/03) from our old site hosted by MVRT at http://www.mvrt.org/team555. I will be creating a CVS module on the Tri5 website for the sources starting this weekend and will be happy to provide usernames to anyone who wishes to contribute or just checkout sources. Hopefully the final version will be available and working ASAP!

Re: Dashboard3D and the Common Libraries!
 

Weird Question: Why? The IFI dashboard is ok, except it's HUGE. why not just redo that so items can be resized and/or removed? Why in 3d? Or is that a stupid question?

Re: Dashboard3D and the Common Libraries!
 

Originally that was the plan but seeing as IFI refuses to give the source for the dashboard and I would have to write my own anyway, I figured I might take it a step further.
Not at all! I always thought that 3D interfaces look really nice and it is very easy (and graphical! :D ) to read. It is useful and asthetically pleasing at the same time, plus it is (relatively) easy to configure for each team's specific needs. Also, it is open source!

Re: Dashboard3D and the Common Libraries!
 

The original was probably made in MS Visual BASIC 6 (So was IFI_Loader), and uses the MSCOMM control. I haven't looked at the exe or installer yet. But there are a few key indicaors for that.