Universal 3D Chess V1.10 Preview

[SunXi]

Hello !

I've just post a few videos here : http://www.youtube.com/Universal3dchess It's a preview of U3DC V1.10 - Enjoy !

[EdLee]

Thanks, SunXi. Very pretty. The shapes of the stones are very good, and it's great their size is adjustable.

Suggestions:

1. The grain patterns on the board should be rotated 90 degrees.
Currently they are horizontal (====) relative to the co-ordinates.
They should be vertical (||||).
In other words, the grains should be parallel to the Y-axis (1...19)
and perpendicular to the X-axis (A...T)

2. Currently I think the star points are too big -- please make the size (diameter) adjustable
like the size of the stones. Also, please make the width of the black lines also adjustable.

Thank you and please keep up the nice work!

[SunXi]

Thanks for those suggestions Edlee, what do you mean by star points ? The points on the board for handicap stones or the stars in the background ?

The idea of making the size of the line adjustable is a good idea i think.

For the grain pattern on the board... Well i don't really know if it's necessary and i don't understand why it could be an error (if we can call that an error)

Thanks again.

[EdLee]

The points on the board for handicap stones or the stars in the background ?

The points on the board for handicap stones are too big right now (for me at least). It'd be nice if their diameter can be adjusted.
I completely ignored the stars in the background.

The idea of making the size of the line adjustable is a good idea i think.

Yes, thanks.

For the grain pattern on the board... Well i don't really know if it's necessary and i don't understand why it could be an error (if we can call that an error)

It's definitely an error. Look at any decent Japanese goban (see hidden attached photo)
and Go programs like gGo, gIgo, MultiGo, OroBaduk/WBaduk, Tygem, etc. Please fix it.

correct_grains.jpg (157.05 KiB) Viewed 14793 times

[SunXi]

Here it is ... It was indeed a good idea and easy to implement.

[EdLee]

SunXi, thanks! Would it be possible to use custom photos for the grain patterns of the shell stones?
It's a bit more work since you'd have to map a 2D photo onto the 3D White stone surface.
You'd probably want more than just one photo, otherwise all the White stones would look identical.
Even more work would be to provide random rotation of each White shell stone.

[SunXi]

Funny, i was thinking about that for a long time now. Currently i'm working on GTP protocol, it's, how can i say... Long and awfull at the same time. If i have a break, i'll look at the shell/glass stones.

Put a texture on a 3D shape, make a random rotation, and a reflection/refraction is something easy to do, but long to program.

Anyway, i think it's a good idea, one more good idea i should say

[SunXi]

Here is the custom stones feature in action, if anyone here got a nice marble texture and/or slate and shell nice stone texture i would be please to use it ! Thanks.

[EdLee]

SunXi, please let us know the format of the texture maps of the shell stones: dimensions, JPEG OK?
This is great! Thanks! (Oh, custom wooden board texture maps would be great, too -- that's probably an existing feature...)

[ez4u]

I love the Yin Yang stones! When do you think YMI will have them in stock?

[SunXi]

Easy, you can choose any format, any size (at least 400x400) jpeg,png,tga,...

All you've seen is already in the software (Yinyang stones included, for ez4u of course ^_^). For a custom stone texture, the same, you'll just have to click on "custom texture" and choose one on your disk.

The custom wood board feature already exist in the "Specific menu (GO)"

Here is an example with a custom texture (just a texture metal found on the web) :

Sans titre.jpg (31.26 KiB) Viewed 14654 times

So it'll be very easy to create a custom stone.

[EdLee]

SunXi, is there a beta version that we can download and try the texture maps of the stones,
or would you like me to post some photos of shell stones here so you can try
the "random" look?

[SunXi]

The beta version is closed. You can still post any texture here or give a link if the image is too big.

[EdLee]

You can still post any texture here or give a link if the image is too big.

Thanks, SunXi. I just realized the texture photos of the shell stones must be uniformly lit;
otherwise any uneven lighting would not work with random rotation.
I'll take some photos and post them here. Thanks again!

[EdLee]

Hi SunXi, I took a few photos. As expected, it's not so easy to get very uniform lighting.
I'm uploading 11 photos total. The original resolution is 3072x2304, each about 2.3Mbytes.
These photos are 20% of the originals, cropped, and saved at 80% quality, as a test.
Since each photo has 4 stones, each stone is smaller than 400x400 -- let me know if
they are usable at all, even as a test. If you need each stone to be at least 400x400,
I can re-size and re-post. Thanks!

Here are shell stones photos 01, 02, and 03:

2011_06June_21-01s.jpg (24.54 KiB) Viewed 14591 times

2011_06June_21-02s.jpg (24.42 KiB) Viewed 14591 times

2011_06June_21-03s.jpg (25.58 KiB) Viewed 14591 times