Importing a Blender Model into OpenGL

Posted: August 31st, 2009 | Filed under: Misc Programming | Comments Off

Recently I was looking for a simple way to export a basic model from blender to use in my opengl code written with c++. After a few searches I came up with nothing and decided to look at all the different ways I could export a blender file. The first that was easy enough to recognize the pattern right away was the the Raw Faces (.raw) format.

I quickly created a very basic (and very bad) model of a cup to see how it looked when I exported the cup in the .raw format. You can export a blender model using this format by first selecting the object you want to export (For whatever reason only the selected object(s) will be exported.) Then go to File -> Export -> Raw Faces(.raw). This is what I got after exporting. There shouldn’t be line wraps, however depending on your monitor you may see them. You can download the file in .raw format here.

0.011633 -0.011633 0.011633 -0.001836 -0.016245 0.011633 -0.001512 -0.011633 -0.011633 0.008956 -0.008956 -0.011633
-0.001836 -0.016245 0.011633 -0.011633 -0.011633 0.011633 -0.008956 -0.008956 -0.011633 -0.001512 -0.011633 -0.011633
0.008956 0.008956 -0.011633 -0.001512 0.011633 -0.011633 -0.001836 0.016993 0.011633 0.011633 0.011633 0.011633
-0.001512 0.011633 -0.011633 -0.008956 0.008956 -0.011633 -0.011633 0.011633 0.011633 -0.001836 0.016993 0.011633
0.011633 -0.001745 -0.011633 0.008956 0.008956 -0.011633 0.011633 0.011633 0.011633 0.016943 -0.002119 0.011633
0.016943 -0.002119 0.011633 0.011633 -0.011633 0.011633 0.008956 -0.008956 -0.011633 0.011633 -0.001745 -0.011633
-0.011633 -0.011633 0.011633 -0.016295 -0.002119 0.011633 -0.011633 -0.001745 -0.011633 -0.008956 -0.008956 -0.011633
-0.016295 -0.002119 0.011633 -0.011633 0.011633 0.011633 -0.008956 0.008956 -0.011633 -0.011633 -0.001745 -0.011633
-0.001512 -0.011633 -0.011633 -0.001512 -0.001745 -0.011633 0.011633 -0.001745 -0.011633 0.008956 -0.008956 -0.011633
0.008956 0.008956 -0.011633 0.011633 -0.001745 -0.011633 -0.001512 -0.001745 -0.011633 -0.001512 0.011633 -0.011633
-0.008956 -0.008956 -0.011633 -0.011633 -0.001745 -0.011633 -0.001512 -0.001745 -0.011633 -0.001512 -0.011633 -0.011633
-0.011633 -0.001745 -0.011633 -0.008956 0.008956 -0.011633 -0.001512 0.011633 -0.011633 -0.001512 -0.001745 -0.011633
-0.011633 0.011633 0.011633 -0.016295 -0.002119 0.011633 -0.013645 -0.001861 0.011633 -0.009766 0.009583 0.011633
-0.016295 -0.002119 0.011633 -0.011633 -0.011633 0.011633 -0.009766 -0.009779 0.011633 -0.013645 -0.001861 0.011633
0.011633 -0.011633 0.011633 0.016943 -0.002119 0.011633 0.014015 -0.001861 0.011633 0.009596 -0.009779 0.011633
0.016943 -0.002119 0.011633 0.011633 0.011633 0.011633 0.009596 0.009583 0.011633 0.014015 -0.001861 0.011633
-0.011633 -0.011633 0.011633 -0.001836 -0.016245 0.011633 -0.001613 -0.013616 0.011633 -0.009766 -0.009779 0.011633
-0.001836 -0.016245 0.011633 0.011633 -0.011633 0.011633 0.009596 -0.009779 0.011633 -0.001613 -0.013616 0.011633
-0.001836 0.016993 0.011633 -0.011633 0.011633 0.011633 -0.009766 0.009583 0.011633 -0.001613 0.014044 0.011633
0.011633 0.011633 0.011633 -0.001836 0.016993 0.011633 -0.001613 0.014044 0.011633 0.009596 0.009583 0.011633
0.009596 0.009583 0.011633 -0.001613 0.014044 0.011633 -0.001311 0.010066 -0.007815 0.006850 0.006819 -0.007815
-0.001613 0.014044 0.011633 -0.009766 0.009583 0.011633 -0.007247 0.006819 -0.007815 -0.001311 0.010066 -0.007815
-0.001613 -0.013616 0.011633 0.009596 -0.009779 0.011633 0.006850 -0.007278 -0.007815 -0.001311 -0.010072 -0.007815
-0.009766 -0.009779 0.011633 -0.001613 -0.013616 0.011633 -0.001311 -0.010072 -0.007815 -0.007247 -0.007278 -0.007815
0.014015 -0.001861 0.011633 0.009596 0.009583 0.011633 0.006850 0.006819 -0.007815 0.010067 -0.001513 -0.007815
0.009596 -0.009779 0.011633 0.014015 -0.001861 0.011633 0.010067 -0.001513 -0.007815 0.006850 -0.007278 -0.007815
-0.013645 -0.001861 0.011633 -0.009766 -0.009779 0.011633 -0.007247 -0.007278 -0.007815 -0.010071 -0.001513 -0.007815
-0.009766 0.009583 0.011633 -0.013645 -0.001861 0.011633 -0.010071 -0.001513 -0.007815 -0.007247 0.006819 -0.007815
-0.001311 0.010066 -0.007815 -0.001115 -0.001287 -0.007815 0.010067 -0.001513 -0.007815 0.006850 0.006819 -0.007815
-0.001115 -0.001287 -0.007815 -0.001311 -0.010072 -0.007815 0.006850 -0.007278 -0.007815 0.010067 -0.001513 -0.007815
-0.007247 0.006819 -0.007815 -0.010071 -0.001513 -0.007815 -0.001115 -0.001287 -0.007815 -0.001311 0.010066 -0.007815
-0.010071 -0.001513 -0.007815 -0.007247 -0.007278 -0.007815 -0.001311 -0.010072 -0.007815 -0.001115 -0.001287 -0.007815

Basically, if you haven’t already noticed, it is 4 sets of x,y,z points. You will not get any of the materials when you export the object only the polygons.

Now that we have our object we will need to be able to display it using opengl. First we must read in and store the points.

CupVectors[3][4][33];

ifstream cupFile;
cupFile.open(“cup.raw”);

for(int z=0;z<=32;z++)
for(int y=0;y<=3;y++)
for(int x=0;x<=2;x++)
cupFile >> CupVectors[x][y][z];

cupFile.close();

Pretty simple code. Store the points, open the file, loop through the points, store the points, close the file.

Now that the cup vertex points are stored we are able to easily display them in opengl with another small loop that will create the triangles and save them in our display list.

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12 Slick jQuery Plugins

Posted: August 17th, 2009 | Filed under: General | 8 Comments »

As I have been updating the jQuery links on my @jQueryLinks twitter account there were a couple that really stood out as a way to make just about any site feel slick. So here they are. Enjoy.

1. Gritter – By:@jboesch

Plugin Page

Demo

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2. jQuery Link Nudging – By: @davidwalshblog

Plugin Page

Demo

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3. Create The Fanciest Dropdown Menu You Ever Saw

Plugin Page

Demo

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4. ColorBox – By: @jacklmoore

Plugin Page

Demo

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5. Interactive, Filterable Portfolio – By: @JoelSutherland

Plugin Page

Demo

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6. Animated Menu Using jQuery

Plugin Page

Demo

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7. jQuery Ajax delete

Plugin Page

Demo

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8. Galleria

Plugin Page

Demo

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9. Easy Slider By: @cssglobe

Plugin Page

Demo

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10. Cycle Lite

Plugin Page

Demo

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11. Notify Bar By: @DmitriSmirnov

Plugin Page

Demo

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12. Animated Tabbed Content – By: @gayadesign

Plugin Page

Demo

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To Stay up to date with more great jQuery Links follow @jQueryLinks on twitter.

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ASP.NET/C# Prompt a Save Dialog Box to Download a File

Posted: May 15th, 2009 | Filed under: ASP.NET | Tags: File | Comments Off

To save you all (as well as my future self) the trouble of searching all over the place just to find terrible answers on almost every form post out there. Here is a small ASP.NET/C# code snippet that will prompt the user with the save/open dialog box to download a file.

String FileName = "FileName.txt";
String FilePath = "C:/...."; //Replace this
System.Web.HttpResponse response = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Response;
response.ClearContent();
response.Clear();
response.ContentType = "text/plain";
response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + FileName + ";");
response.TransmitFile(FilePath);
response.Flush();
response.End();

For more content types check our http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIME_type#List_of_common_media_types

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