trueaxis.com

[Andreaz]

Hi.

I'm the developer of a set of open source OpenGL wrappers for Delphi, GLXTreem and i recently found your site and i must say i'm impressed. The car demo is just so sweet.

Now i wonder what's the status of the dll version of the engine ? As i'm developing my engine in delphi i can't use your code . I have checked both ode and newton but trueaxis looks much smooter.

When the dll is done i'll will gladly convert the headers into delphi.
_________________
/Andreaz

http://www.glxtreem.net

[luke]

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback,

The dll interface for the True Axis Physics SDK is coming along slowly.

The current plan is to generate a dll wrapper from the header files using perl scripting. A perl script for generating a C++ as well as a C interface for a dll is well underway. Doing it this way is extra work but it should make sure the dll will be compatable with MinGW aswell as MSVC.

I'm curious. Are there any easy methods for generating pascal headers from C or C++ headers? I'm wondering if generating pascal headers from the perl scrip is a better way to go, especially since there will already be a perlscript generating C and C++ headers.

A dll interface might be release in about a weeks time (so perhaps before March 13th), however, there expect some features missing from the interface at first.

Luke.

[Andreaz]

That sounds really good

There's a tool developed by the Delphi-Jedi team called headconv that can convert c headers into delphi. It's not guarnteed to create 100% vorking code but does most of the conversion.

http://www.drbob42.com/headconv/
_________________
/Andreaz

http://www.glxtreem.net

[luke]

Just updating the Dll status...

The plan is now the release pascal headers as well as C++ and C headers. This is holding things up a little but expect a build soon. A pascal version has actually been built and is working in a very simple scene. Functionallity will be limited with the first release however.

Luke.

[Andreaz]

Very nice Good work !
_________________
/Andreaz

http://www.glxtreem.net

[luke]

1.0.0.2 has been release now with limited experemental dll suport for C, C++ and pascal.

[Andreaz]

Sorry for the late reply but been busy in school etc.

Wery good work with the dll version of the engine, works like a charm and i'm currently planning on writing a wrapper-component for my Engine to simpify it's use even more.

The only thing i'm missig atm is the Collision Detecting functions between objects in the world. ( As far as i discovered the only way to get the collisions is by using the TA::DynamicObject::CollisionIterator, am i wrong ? )

One comment as a delphi developer is the naming of the types, delphi uses a standardised naming conventions of the types where a object's name starts with a t (type) for instance TTaPhysics and pointer names starts with a P (pointer) for instance PTaPhysics. This would make the life much easier for all the delphi devs out there .

I'm willing to contribute by changing the names of the types (or even write a program to do it automatically so it's easier to update the headers)
_________________
/Andreaz

http://www.glxtreem.net

[luke]

The collision iterator doesn't currently work in the dll wrapper. There are still quite a few things missing at this point but there is enough for the basics.

Thanks for the feedback on the pascal naming convensions. The pascal interface(as well as most of the other dll wrapper code) is now being generated with a perl script so this is no big deal to change.

The perl script and the rest of the source for the dll wrapper has been included with the library for people to look at and alter but it is still work in progress.

[Andreaz]

[luke]

A new call back method has been added for accessing collisions.

This has also now been ported to the dll wrapper and the pascal interface. The naming convensions for types and pointers has also been change inline with your sugestion to make life easier for delphi developers.

This will appear in the next release after 1.0.0.2

[Tim]

[luke]

Tim, I think you may have missed Andreaz point a little when in your quote. He wanted a pascal interface. The callbacks and the C interface where actually added to make the pascal interface easier to implement. I was assuming that 'Much Smoother' actually refered to speed and/or stability and behaviour, not code interfaces.

There is a pascal interface now ofcourse.

I havn't looked too much at other engines my self. It sounds like some people find TrueAxis easier to get started with, or it makes better sence to them, but ofcourse, not everybody will share this opinion.

It seems that, since users are requesting features and are often farmilar with other engines, that as TrueAxis matures, it will grow more in common with other engines.

[bobef]

Any plans to add more classes to the DLL soon or I'd better do this job myself? It would be nice if you provide the source of the DLL, so other people like me, who are interested in using TA from !C++ to be able to extend it without having to do the work you've already done again or having to think ugly workourns like second dll or something like that...

[luke]

No imediate plans to add more classes to the DLL. Its been a long time since anybody has expressed much interest.

I thought the code for the dll was provided.

[bobef]