ZModeler3 engine have been upgraded to DirectX11. Since this version is incompatible with previous builds, it is unavailable via automatic updates. You can download and install this version into a different folder manually. No more updates will be made for ZModeler 3.2.1 on DirectX9 engine. Also, mind the minimum OS requirement for ZModeler 3.3.0 is Windows 8.1. Mind the backward-only compatibility of .z3d files - you can open old files in ZModeler 3.3.0, but you can't open newly saved files (saved in 3.3.0) in any older version of ZModeler.
As this have been causing problems for some users already, I state this here explicitly: Do not unpack ZModeler 3.3.0 files into the folder of your current ZModeler version! Create a new empty folder for ZModeler 3.3.0 (perfectly not on a system drive) and unpack files into empty folder. You can copy your ZModeler_profile.xml file from an old installation to retain your preferences and settings. (read full story...)
8th May 2022[Guide] GTA V: Glass crash data (Updated May.2022)
GTA V: Glass crash data guide.
Updated: May 2022 (see below)
Vehicle model usually includes a set of glass objects (windscreen, rear windscreen, door windows) that can be crashed with several shots or during impact with other objects. This includes rendering of shatter-glass effect on glass objects and involves making of holes that can expand up to boundaries of the window. The technical background of this process is hidden inside the game and shaders code, and the data required for this logic is stored inside *.yft files. The data is not explicitly bind to the object itself, instead it just defines the boundary limits for the crash glass holes. The image below shows an original windscreen (orange) with original crash boundary data (red) and a modified windscreen (orange: it's moved aside and rotated), while crash data still makes crash holes in this object with original boundaries: (read full story...)
It is ten years passed since ZModeler3 have been released to the market. Today I post the news my customers will dislike for sure, but this is the only option to keep the project running and evaluating. It is about a year since I have moved from Russia to Slovakia and now I have to finally adjust the financial setup of the project. (read full story...)
Since I've been making this all on a laptop device, I can't make a video guide, so a brief forum guide topic will be added later.
It took a really long even though the main decode work was done years ago - you've seen animations in OpenIV already. Another major step was done in CodeWalker that is able to decode YCD files to XML. To my surprise I haven't found a "YCD from XML" recreation feature there, as this would make the task much easier (an XML import/export). (read full story...)
ZModeler3 has moved to the new server. Its uptime and response time should be the same or even better, so in general your should not notice any difference.
To summarize recent updates and bug fixes, I have re-uploaded the latest version of ZModeler. It is still version 3.2.1, but contains the latest versions of all components. As an addition, the package includes Autodesk FBX filter for import and export. This filter could be a good alternative to bring models to or from 3D packages of your choice, as it can retain Skeleton, rigging information, multiple UV channels, multiple color channels, normals and tangents. Yet you might still need to play around with objects scale or axis system before and after importing models, but it's still a much better choice than commonly used Wavefront OBJ model format. (read full story...)
ZModeler3 core have been upgraded. This is technical runtime (C++ core libraries) upgrade without any new features. However, the 64-bit version got significant changes affecting stability under Windows 10 OS. Several critical issues have been fixed, so you might expect 64-bit version of ZModeler to be more reliable now. Additionally, this update includes the most recent updates related to .z3d files. If you have noticed your .z3d files become slow on open or merge, it is recommended to resave them in current version. Your .z3d files are backward compatible, you can open them in older version of ZModeler.
