As may have been mentioned on these boards once or twice before in passing, I am working on writing a program to allow users to prototype their designs in 3d. With Nick_A hard at work creating the LM brackets in SolidWorks (the same program I used to design and prototype my robot), I decided that it would be a valuable tool for the community to have.
I am writing it in Java (as with all the code for my robot). While I am relatively new to Java, I am making decent progress. So far, I have primarily been playing around with learning how to rotate/translate/zoom both objects and the view of the world. Right now I am trying to combine them.
I am hoping to have a workable early beta by the end of the week. By workable, I mean having the ability to import parts, move them around in any way desired, and move around in the world in any way desired. Right now, I would say I am about halfway there.
Once that is done, I will work on things like being able to attach parts to one another, as well as some simple physics (collision and gravity only- I don’t think I’ll be able to implement anything more advanced than that).
My ultimate goal is to integrate this program (which I am tentaively calling the “Robot Construction Kit”) into the suite of software I am writing, to include the servo controller and various gait sequencers. Eventually you will be able to control your robot visually with this program, or link the feedback from your servos (if they support it) to this program, and see what your robot is actually doing.
If anyone has any questions, suggestions, or feature requests, please post them here. My time and skill are limited, but I will do my best to make this a robust and valuable tool.
Being a dumb poophead, I don’t know what you mean by “beta testing”.
But, if all you want is for me to use it, and give you a general review + any bugs that need to be worked out, then sign me up.
Yeah, that’s basically the jist of it. Keep track of what you do to break it, and let me know. Then I make it so that you can’t break it by doing that anymore, and you find a new way to break it. Cycle repeats.
Seriously though- just using it, letting me know what needs to be changed/fixed/implemented/removed is all I need. I do also need to have everyone’s input as to what features they want to see in a program such as this. With limited time, I have to prioritize what features I will implement, so the more requests I get for a certain feature, the more likely it is to be implemented.
Naw Nick, you’re not a poophead. On the contray you seem like a pretty smart cookie.
Besides if you were a poophead I would have seen your name on the newsletter or at the meetings (I hold them at my house, we drink beer and think up silly things to do with bots!)
MWGemini, as for beta testing, I would be glad to participate if needed.
Just wanted to update everyone on the status of the RCK. I haven’t had time to work on it since Wednesday. My robot parts showed up Thursday, and I’ve been working on that ever since. I’m hoping to get some time this week to try to put out the beta release 1 of the RCK. Failing that, spring break is coming soon, and I will almost definitely have the beta release out during that break. I’m working on some issues with pick detection in Java right now. Once I get that sorted out, I just need to get the model import working, and we can go from there.
Once I get to the stage of writing the code for importing the files, I’ll probably work with you a bit more closely, since you have all the raw files used in making the SolidWorks parts. So far, I have only been using simple geometric shapes to get the basic UI built. It has a long ways to go, but it is getting there.
I have hit a snag with importing the files. The library I am using to import the 3d files is either not set up correctly, or is missing files, and I have not been able to figure out what exactly the problem is, let alone how to fix it.
However, I have tidied up a few other things, so once I figure out the model import issue, it will be at a point where it could tentatively be called “workable”. Still a very long ways to go, but with a bit of luck, I can have this figured out by the end of the day. Spring break is over in a few days, so I won’t have much time to work on it after that.
First off, I apologize for the double post. I have just gotten the model import working, so it is now possible to import a bracket model and manipulate it in 3d. There is still a ton of work to be done, but here is where it stands now:
Current Features:
Import SES bracket models
Manipulate bracket models in 3d space (rotation and translation on all axes)
Manipulate world view in 3d space (rotate, translation, zoom)
Features yet to be implemented:
Confine world rotation to two axes (keep camera parallel to ground)
Fix scaling and bounding issues (the brackets are to scale, and so are pretty small in the world)
Enhance tree view to alllow user customizable groups
Make tree view a direct reflection of the current state of the scene graph
Develop and implement a system to attach parts to one another
Collision avoidance
User requested features (this means you, guys )
Whatever else I have forgotten
I can make the current state of the code available to anyone who is interested in checking it out, but it is incredibly sloppy and hacked together right now. I need to do a lot of clean-up and figure out exactly what libraries are in use so that I can package it into an executable .jar file for distribution. I’ll probably have that done before Monday. I still want to work on adding a few features before I make a first official “beta release”. If you want to check it out before then, contact me and let me know.
Wow Mike, it sounds like you are making some good progress! 8)
I think it is very cool of you to devote all of this time to developing something I’m sure we will all find very useful.
Thanks in advance for the hard work, if you need beta testers I’ll be glad to “pick” at it once you are ready.
Even if it’s only able to view and move around the bracket files, right now, that’s going to make it a lot easier for new people to familiarize themselves with the brackets.
I am about to upload the first beta to my website now. I did not have the time to properly package or document anything, so for now you will have to extract the contents of the .rar archive into a folder, and run the file RCK.class. You should be able to do this from a command line by typing “java RCK”. If this does not work, send me an e-mail and let me know. I should be able to properly package it into a .jar later tonight, but my wife and I are about to leave for dinner and a movie, so it won’t be for a few hours. I figured you guys might want to play around with it before then.
For those of you who are able to get it running, please drop me a line and let me know what you think. Feature requests and bug reports are needed.
It is mike-winters.com, you can also reach it by clicking on the icon below my posts.
I’m still working on getting an executable .jar put together. Not sure why I am having such problems with it. If you get everything downlaoded but are unable to get it running, contact me and I’ll see if I can help.
The .jar is up on my website now. You should be able to run it just by double clicking on it. If that doesn’t work, right click and select the “Open with Java…” option. If neither of those work, contact me and I’ll help figure out whats wrong.
The RCK is extracted to a directory on my desktop.
I’m getting two distinct error messages depending on how I attempt to open the jar file.
When I double click on the jar or right click on it and select “Java 2 Platform Standard Edition Binary” I get the following error message from the Java Virtual Machine Launcher: “Could not find the main class. Program will exit.”
Right clicking and selecting “Java Web Start Launcher” gives an error message from “Java Web Start”:
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