(UPDATE 2 - 2/14/2016) Coding an external ship editor

[Cheapskate]

will i beable to get a image of a ship and past it into the editor? then turn it into what i want?

Depends on the image! If it's a screenshot of a ship at a random angle than no. However, one of the functions of the editor will be a a top-down blueprint view. You can load a topdown image of a ship and the editor will turn every pixel into a block. There will be multiple filter modes such as pixel colors equal hull colors, pixel color equals systems [with silver being hull], and multi-image overlay where you can change the rules for every image. To make basic geometry generation easier, the pixel layer that determines wall structure can be automatically multiplied. In layman's terms, this means you outline the walls for each deck and the editor will automatically make the walls as tall as you want. You will also be able to mark a specific pixel color as "doors". This will let you automatically install doors en masse with complex logic, rails, etc. With any luck, the editor will also be able to study the wall geometry and try to align doors [including rails, logic, etc] automatically.

For those reading this and suddenly loosing all interest, this is just one of many modes and views I have planned xD. This will probably be the first mode available, but I want to try and accommodate as many players as possible.

There's a lot of planned functions for future updates... Maybe I should make an official thread to list them all and ask for suggestions.

 

[navy3000]

Depends on the image! If it's a screenshot of a ship at a random angle than no. However, one of the functions of the editor will be a a top-down blueprint view. You can load a topdown image of a ship and the editor will turn every pixel into a block. There will be multiple filter modes such as pixel colors equal hull colors, pixel color equals systems [with silver being hull], and multi-image overlay where you can change the rules for every image. To make basic geometry generation easier, the pixel layer that determines wall structure can be automatically multiplied. In layman's terms, this means you outline the walls for each deck and the editor will automatically make the walls as tall as you want. You will also be able to mark a specific pixel color as "doors". This will let you automatically install doors en masse with complex logic, rails, etc. With any luck, the editor will also be able to study the wall geometry and try to align doors [including rails, logic, etc] automatically.

For those reading this and suddenly loosing all interest, this is just one of many modes and views I have planned xD. This will probably be the first mode available, but I want to try and accommodate as many players as possible.

There's a lot of planned functions for future updates... Maybe I should make an official thread to list them all and ask for suggestions.

would i bealbe to easly convert ships from Faster Then Light?

https://ftlblackbox.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/federation_cruiser_a.jpg

 

[Reilly Reese]

Depends on the image! If it's a screenshot of a ship at a random angle than no. However, one of the functions of the editor will be a a top-down blueprint view. You can load a topdown image of a ship and the editor will turn every pixel into a block. There will be multiple filter modes such as pixel colors equal hull colors, pixel color equals systems [with silver being hull], and multi-image overlay where you can change the rules for every image. To make basic geometry generation easier, the pixel layer that determines wall structure can be automatically multiplied. In layman's terms, this means you outline the walls for each deck and the editor will automatically make the walls as tall as you want. You will also be able to mark a specific pixel color as "doors". This will let you automatically install doors en masse with complex logic, rails, etc. With any luck, the editor will also be able to study the wall geometry and try to align doors [including rails, logic, etc] automatically.

For those reading this and suddenly loosing all interest, this is just one of many modes and views I have planned xD. This will probably be the first mode available, but I want to try and accommodate as many players as possible.

There's a lot of planned functions for future updates... Maybe I should make an official thread to list them all and ask for suggestions.

Say I took this

Spoiler: image

Could I turn this into a full size 3D model?

 

[Cheapskate]

will be a a top-down blueprint view. You can load a topdown image of a ship and the editor will turn every pixel into a block. There will be multip

would i bealbe to easly convert ships from Faster Then Light?

https://ftlblackbox.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/federation_cruiser_a.jpg

Nah, but hopefully with this program, even people with no experience building will be able to whip up functional ships in no time at all. It would be pretty easy to just build the ship in the editor.

Say I took this

Spoiler: image

Could I turn this into a full size 3D model?

Isn't this already a 3D model?

 

[Reilly Reese]

Isn't this already a 3D model?

Unfortunately the creator must have kept the model to himself as only that blueprint picture exists publicly. I've attempted to contact the creator but he hasn't shown activity for six years.

 

[Cheapskate]

Unfortunately the creator must have kept the model to himself as only that blueprint picture exists publicly. I've attempted to contact the creator but he hasn't shown activity for six years.

Ahh, well my program won't be able to automatically generate a ship based on an image like this, but using the top view image of this file you could very easily construct a StarMade ship [and from there, convert the StarMade ship into a obj file]. However, it would be a lot easier to download a copy of Blender and try to remodel the ship yourself :D

Blender is free, open source, pretty powerful and amazingly easy to use. There are a ton of videos on YouTube to help you in any stage of your Blender learning journey.

 

[Reilly Reese]

Ahh, well my program won't be able to automatically generate a ship based on an image like this, but using the top view image of this file you could very easily construct a StarMade ship [and from there, convert the StarMade ship into a obj file]. However, it would be a lot easier to download a copy of Blender and try to remodel the ship yourself :D

Blender is free, open source, pretty powerful and amazingly easy to use. There are a ton of videos on YouTube to help you in any stage of your Blender learning journey.

Would it be possible to take each shot of the ship and transfer them into a separate entity and use that as a conceptual piece in-game?

 

[Cheapskate]

Would it be possible to take each shot of the ship and transfer them into a separate entity and use that as a conceptual piece in-game?

Good question! No clue XD. There are image-to-structure converters in Minecraft, where you load an image and they turn it into a 1-block thick schematic. Your best bet would be to look for one of those programs [they're pretty common] and then take the schematic and convert it into a blueprint via SMedit or another program.

PS, when you finish building the ship show me some pics. I would love to see it. :D

 

[Megacrafter127]

Speaking about that, what about parsing an animated gif or png. Each frame is 1 layer, the layers are stacked on top of another in the same order as the frames of the image[although the user determines the direction, offset, and axis].

 

[Cheapskate]

Speaking about that, what about parsing an animated gif or png. Each frame is 1 layer, the layers are stacked on top of another in the same order as the frames of the image[although the user determines the direction, offset, and axis].

I thought about that! With that type of system, you could basically auto-build a ship from an animated gif. The only problem is I don't know how to handle GIFs yet [but I'm sure I can figure it out]. I based the topdown view system after how I construct mega ships in StarMade. I always designed them in an image-editing program with every frame being a deck.

 

[TomW1605]

i have 1 request: please make it work on mac.

 

[Cheapskate]

i have 1 request: please make it work on mac.

I'll see what I can do. I'll need someone with a mac to help me test it though.

 

[navy3000]

so..when will be a ETA on an alpha be ready?



EDIT: also would i beable to say use this in the editer?

http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/sd-nova/sd-uss-nova-nx-72228-sheet-6-x.jpg

 

[Cheapskate]

so..when will be a ETA on an alpha be ready?



EDIT: also would i beable to say use this in the editer?

http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/sd-nova/sd-uss-nova-nx-72228-sheet-6-x.jpg

At the moment, the project hinges on whether or not I can adapt my coding language to use StarMade's file format. As we speak, the initial tests seem to be going quite well... but there is still a lot to test and adapt. If I can make my editor understand StarMade file formats, then coding the actual alpha of the editor won't be that big of a problem [the more advanced features I have planned will, however, be a bit more difficult].

This is the type of image you will need for the image-to-ship per-pixel converter! It has all the systems, interiors, etc. However, since the per-pixel converter is... well, per pixel, that would mean the outer hull of your ship would be 14 blocks thick, and the overall width of your ship would be 1000 blocks. Looking over this ship, it seems to be a lot smaller than 1000 blocks [which is 1000 meters (1 kilometer), 3000 feet, or otherwise known as HALF A MILE XD ]. I can upload an example ship blueprint if you want to see exactly what kind of design you would need for optimal conversion. These types of blueprints are alarmingly simple to make.

 

[Megacrafter127]

At the moment, the project hinges on whether or not I can adapt my coding language to use StarMade's file format. As we speak, the initial tests seem to be going quite well... but there is still a lot to test and adapt. If I can make my editor understand StarMade file formats, then coding the actual alpha of the editor won't be that big of a problem [the more advanced features I have planned will, however, be a bit more difficult].

This is the type of image you will need for the image-to-ship per-pixel converter! It has all the systems, interiors, etc. However, since the per-pixel converter is... well, per pixel, that would mean the outer hull of your ship would be 14 blocks thick, and the overall width of your ship would be 1000 blocks. Looking over this ship, it seems to be a lot smaller than 1000 blocks [which is 1000 meters (1 kilometer), 3000 feet, or otherwise known as HALF A MILE XD ]. I can upload an example ship blueprint if you want to see exactly what kind of design you would need for optimal conversion. These types of blueprints are alarmingly simple to make.

I infer from this, that endianess is not a problem? (Obviously endianess can be adjusted, however, if the endianess of your system and the file format aligns, it may be easy to forget to check/adjust for it)

 

[Cheapskate]

I infer from this, that endianess is not a problem? (Obviously endianess can be adjusted, however, if the endianess of your system and the file format aligns, it may be easy to forget to check/adjust for it)

What do you mean? Keep in mind that this is the first experience I've ever had working with bitwise operations and HEX in general. Honestly it's kind of a miracle that it's going as well as it is [especially since my coding language has no official HEX support].

 

[Megacrafter127]

What do you mean? Keep in mind that this is the first experience I've ever had working with bitwise operations and HEX in general. Honestly it's kind of a miracle that it's going as well as it is [especially since my coding language has no official HEX support].

What language are you using?
Endianess refers to the byte/bit order of integer types. The endian is the last bit/byte. If the order is Bigendian, the endian has the most influence on the overall value. If the order is Littleendian, the endian has the least influence on the overall value. Different processors use different orders, and e.g. C/C++ integer variables always have the endianess of the processor. Littleendian is widespread amongst processors, but for network traffic, and files meant to be portable across multiple machines, bigendian is the norm, if raw byte data cannot be avoided.

Spoiler: E.g., assuming an 8bit integer:

bits : littleendian : bigendian
00000000 : 0 : 0
00000001 : 1 : 128
00000010 : 2 : 64
00000011 : 3 : 192(64+128)
...
10000000 : 128 : 1

 

[navy3000]

At the moment, the project hinges on whether or not I can adapt my coding language to use StarMade's file format. As we speak, the initial tests seem to be going quite well... but there is still a lot to test and adapt. If I can make my editor understand StarMade file formats, then coding the actual alpha of the editor won't be that big of a problem [the more advanced features I have planned will, however, be a bit more difficult].

This is the type of image you will need for the image-to-ship per-pixel converter! It has all the systems, interiors, etc. However, since the per-pixel converter is... well, per pixel, that would mean the outer hull of your ship would be 14 blocks thick, and the overall width of your ship would be 1000 blocks. Looking over this ship, it seems to be a lot smaller than 1000 blocks [which is 1000 meters (1 kilometer), 3000 feet, or otherwise known as HALF A MILE XD ]. I can upload an example ship blueprint if you want to see exactly what kind of design you would need for optimal conversion. These types of blueprints are alarmingly simple to make.

alright

 

[Cheapskate]

What language are you using?
Endianess refers to the byte/bit order of integer types. The endian is the last bit/byte. If the order is Bigendian, the endian has the most influence on the overall value. If the order is Littleendian, the endian has the least influence on the overall value. Different processors use different orders, and e.g. C/C++ integer variables always have the endianess of the processor. Littleendian is widespread amongst processors, but for network traffic, and files meant to be portable across multiple machines, bigendian is the norm, if raw byte data cannot be avoided.

Spoiler: E.g., assuming an 8bit integer:

bits : littleendian : bigendian
00000000 : 0 : 0
00000001 : 1 : 128
00000010 : 2 : 64
00000011 : 3 : 192(64+128)
...
10000000 : 128 : 1

GML, if you can believe it.

So far, endianess hasn't seemed to be a problem. I've barely even started being able to export the the Header, though. I might find that this is going to be a problem later. Do StarMade files use Bigendian or Littleendian?

 

[Megacrafter127]

GML, if you can believe it.

So far, endianess hasn't seemed to be a problem. I've barely even started being able to export the the Header, though. I might find that this is going to be a problem later. Do StarMade files use Bigendian or Littleendian?

Bigendian.