[Assimp-discussions] More questions

[Carsten F. <CarstenFuchs@T-Online.de>]

Hi all,

I've been reading a bit through the code (especially the MD5 loader, but also elsewhere), and now 
have a few more questions, in random order:


     - Can animations be imported separately from loading the base mesh? I.e., how do you load 
multiple animations into a single md5 model?

     - How are models with ambiguous file extension (e.g. .mdl, which is used be several file 
formats) supposed to be handled?

     - Are there any coding guidelines for Assimp? I've found the code to be *really* inconsistent 
in this regard...

     - What is the preferred way to submit patches? (Do you want any to start with?) Is there a 
ticket tracker?

     - In the MD5 loader, I've found use of boost besides code like

             // sort all bone weights - per bone
             unsigned int* piCount = new unsigned int[meshParser.mJoints.size()];
             ::memset(piCount,0,sizeof(unsigned int)*meshParser.mJoints.size());

       where for example

             // For each joint, determine how many weights there are.
             std::vector<unsigned int> WeightsPerJoint(meshParser.mJoints.size(), 0);

       had been more correct and appropriate.
       There are plenty of similar examples - are you interested in related patches?

     - I see that many class members are of the pattern

             struct aiMesh
             {
                 unsigned int mNumFaces;
                 aiFace*      mFaces;
                 bool         HasFaces() const { return mNumFaces>0; }
             };

       Well, what about

             struct aiMesh
             {
                 std::vector<aiFace> mFaces;
             };

       instead?

       This would remove (large parts of) the resource allocation issues. The equivalent for 
mNumFaces is obviously mFaces.size(), the equivalent of HasFaces() is !mFaces.empty(), the raw 
pointer equivalent (for C API access) is &mFaces[0].


Sorry for all these questions, but I'm still trying to evaluate if Assimp is the right library for 
the Cafu engine, and if and how much time I might spend with helping improving it.  :-)   (In other 
words, there is no point in submitting patches that you possibly don't like anyways, right? ;-) )

Many thanks for your help, and kind regards,
Carsten



-- 
    Cafu - the open-source Game and Graphics Engine
for multiplayer, cross-platform, real-time 3D Action
           Learn more at http://www.cafu.de