31.31. Turbulenz SDK 0.8.0

31.31.1. Summary

Turbulenz SDK 0.8.0 is an update for both the Turbulenz Engine Installer and SDK components.

Please see the Change List for details on API changes.

31.31.2. Requirements

Essential

• Python 2.6.5 - http://www.python.org/download/releases/2.6.5/
• Turbulenz Engine Installer 0.8.0 - http://www.turbulenz.com/download

Optional

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 - Used to compile speed-ups for python environment if available on platform.
• Java 1.4+ (Required for YUI Compressor) - http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp
• PDF reader

Note

Performance of any Python modules could potentially be slower if speed-ups cannot be compiled. It is recommended that you install Visual Studio before installing the Turbulenz SDK, so that the speed-ups can be configured in the environment. If you are using a 64bit version of Python you must have installed a 64bit version of the Visual Studio compilers.

31.31.3. Change List

31.31.3.1. New Features

• Added custom geometry “morphing” sample.

  • Demonstrates the use of a custom geometry instance (implemented as morphInstance) that allows a custom prepareDrawParameters function.
  • Demonstrates a method of adding effects to a renderer.
  • Uses the geometry format to create morphShapes and apply weights to them at runtime in the shader.
  • Implementation exists in “samples/scripts/morph.js” and an example “morph.cgfx” shader.

• Added sound archive loading to sound device interface.

  • New function loadSoundsArchive on sound device, similar to the loadTexturesArchive function on the graphicsDevice.
  • Allows the loading of sounds from a tar archive.
  • Supports decompression of compressed sounds stored in the tar.
  • Sound object supports ‘name’ parameter.

• Added properties to the GraphicsDevice for getting the desktop resolution.

  • See graphicsDevice.desktopWidth and graphicsDevice.desktopHeight.

• Additional documentation:

  • Turbulenz JSON format
  • Profiling JavaScript

• More support for browser debuggers, such as firebug, evaluating the native engine variables:

  • Our native engine variables properties and methods can now be accessed from the debuggers.
  • The native engine variables are now named Turbulenz::ObjectName instead of NPObject JS wrapper class.

• The Profile object.

• More support for firebug evaluating the native engine variables:

  • Our native engine variables properties and methods can now be accessed from firebug.
  • The native engine variables are now named Turbulenz::ObjectName instead of NPObject JS wrapper class.

31.31.3.2. Changes

• Moved the DrawParameters to the native engine for improved performance.

  • A new GraphicsDevice.drawArray() to efficently render arrays of DrawParameters.
  • A new GraphicsDevice.createDrawParameters().
  • See DrawParameters for the updated interface.

• The Scene JSON format has moved the skeleton object off nodes and into a new dictionary.

  • The dae2json tool has changed to this new standard.
  • See Turbulenz JSON format for the updated format.
  • Added ‘meta’ object to JSON geometry object. Requires assets to be rebuilt to take advantage of the scene delayed loading feature (yieldFn required).

31.31.3.3. Fixed

• #Issue 44: The failure to load certain types of TGA file with RLE compression.

31.31.4. Known Issues

• The MathDevice ignores JavaScript arrays as destination parameters and acts is if no destination has been given.

• The engine requires a CPU that supports SSE2.

• For shader support the engine requires a GPU that supports GLSL (OpenGL Shading Language).

• The SDK HTML help search feature does not work on Chrome. See http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=47416.

• Running Turbulenz tools at the same time as the Local Server can sometimes result in access errors in “simplejson_speedupds.pyd”. Please close the Local Server before running any Turbulenz tools.

• When running intensive JavaScript applications, such as the multiple animations sample, some browsers, such as Safari, may lockup the user interface. This is due to the JavaScript interactions. You may have to manually terminate the process to regain control. Make sure the browser you are using can handle JavaScript running at full load and scale up slowly. Turbulenz recommends Firefox.

• The following browser(s) do not fully support the samples in development mode:

  • IE 6/7/8 - Engine not compatible
  • Opera 10.X - Engine not compatible

• The following browser(s) do not fully support the samples in release mode:

  • IE 6 - Not compatible with the styling
  • Opera 10.X - Controls are not fully functional

• The following browser(s) are performance limited for the samples in development mode:

  • Chrome (not using the Turbulenz JavaScript Engine)

• Some browsers don’t support delete on native engine object properties, e.g. delete techniqueParameters.diffuse does not work, use techniqueParameters.diffuse = undefined instead.