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Programmed by Strata Drake   stratadrake@hotmail.com

see also   Pie Structure

as an alternative to using 3D Studio Max for creating new Warzone graphics. PIE Slicer can load and save data in Warzone 2100’s native "PIE" 3D-object format.

 

System Requirements:

* PIE Slicer was developed in a Windows 98 environment. It should operate fine under Windows 2000 or Windows ME, as long as Service Pack 1 is installed. If there are any OS-related problems with PIE Slicer, contact the gurus at our site, pumpkin2 .

* You must, of course, have Warzone 2100 installed on your system. You do not "need" to have WZCK and/or WDG Explorer installed, but they are highly recommended as well--you’ll want WDG Explorer to extract PIE graphics from Warzone 2100’s game data, and WZCK to easily compile your own graphics into your Warzone mods.

* Check your Windows\System directory for the following components:

* A desktop size of 800x600 or larger operating at 16-bit color or higher. PIE Slicer *will* run in 640x480 and even 256-color desktops, but doing so is strongly not recommended!

 

How to Install PIE Slicer:

I highly recommended that you create a new directory exclusively for PIE Slicer. Simply un-pack the Zip file’s contents into that directory, ensuring that your unpacker's "Use path names" (or equivalent) option is enabled.

The following additional files are included in the ZIP:

* PIESlicer. exe -Required. The main application. You can place this anywhere you want, but bear in mind that PIE Slicer can only load bare PIE files; it cannot extract them from WDG's. Thus, installing WDG Explorer and extracting the PIE files from Warzone.wdg yourself is a good idea!

* Master.dtb -Required. This file is required in order to view PIE Slicer's built-in textures.

* System.pcx,System.bmp -Required. These two files contain the WZ2100 default texture sets. Without them, aligning a polymodel’s textures is significantly more difficult than it already is!

* Readme-PIE Slicer. rtf - You are reading this file right now, aren’t you? Good.

* Config.dtb - Do not worry about this file, it is managed automatically by PIE Slicer.

Getting Started:

To start PIE Slicer, double-click its file icon its directory in the Windows Explorer. You can also create a shortcut link to PIE Slicer by right-clicking on the EXE and choosing the "Create Shortcut" option from the pop-up menu. Creating a shortcut to PIE Slicer will save you a lot of trouble should you later forget where you installed it, and you can place Shortcuts anywhere on your computer except the main portion of the Windows Taskbar--common locations include the Start Menu (or its associated folders), your Desktop, and the leftmost pane of the Taskbar. PIE Slicer takes a moment or two to fully load, but afterwards, you can begin working on your polymodel.

 

 

What is a Polymodel?:

Warzone graphics are stored in a "PIE" format. Each and every PIE file contains a "polygon model"--polymodel for short--that describes the shape, size, colors, etc. of the Warzone 3D graphic. (Warzone 2D graphics, such as menu icons, are stored in a different format) Polymodels come in six parts:

* Points are the core units of your polymodel. In a way, points are the "dots" in a large 3-dimensional "connect-the-dots" puzzle, and they are connected together by polygons. Visually, points correspond to the vertices/corners of your 3D object.

* Polygons, also called faces or sides, are a two-dimensional shape like triangles, squares, hexagons, etc; altogether, they compose a wireframe version of your polymodel. Polygons also have a "normal" vector which indicates the side that is visible to the camera. Polygons are generally "one-sided", meaning that they can be seen from one side but are invisible from the other.

    * NOTE: Some polygons have a "two-sided" property (changeable in the Polygons toolbox) indicating that they can be seen from either side, regardless of their normal vector. For these polygons, PIE Slicer will display a red vector in one direction and a blue vector in the other.

    * Generally speaking, the normal vectors in your polymodel should point towards the "outside", away from the origin (0,0,0).

* Textures are stored in PCX files and "painted" on polygons to give them their tangible look and feel. Although your PIE file can only use one PCX file as its texture, you can have any number of polygons using any portions of that file as their texture. It is also possible to assign "team colors" that vary depending on the player's color and to assign explosion-graphic animation. When using PIE Slicer’s Texture Alignment View, a light-blue frame indicates the texture displayed on the current polygon and red frames will display its team-color variations (if any).

* Connectors are a special type of point. Although they are managed exactly like points, they can not have any polygons attached to them. Connectors are depicted as a six-armed "star" instead of a circular point in PIE Slicer. Connectors define where your polymodel "connects" to another. For example, all tank chassis have two connectors which indicate where to place its weapon turret(s), and every weapon turret has a connector that defines where a weapon fires its projectile from. Generally speaking, when a weapon is placed on a chassis or structure, it will be placed on the connector. Not every polymodel needs a set of connectors:

* Map features, like trees and boulders, do not need connectors.

* Structures should generally have one connector representing where a weapon/sensor/etc. can be placed on it.

* Tank chassis must have two connectors. The first connector indicates where the tank turret will be located, and the second connector indicates where a VTOL turret will be placed.

* When making weapon turret GFX, place a connector on the business end of it. This connector identifies where the weapon’s "muzzle flash" GFX will be displayed.

* BSP data, also known as "binary sorting plane". Similar to how a connect-the-dots puzzle must be drawn in a specific order, BSP data tells Warzone in what order it should "connect the dots" and draw your polymodel. However, this data was used only on the PSX version of Warzone--it has no function in the PC version, and therefore PIE Slicer does not support it.

* Submodels, also referred to aslevels, split a polymodel into "chunks" that can be used for animation. The Oil Derrick, for example, is split into three submodels, and Warzone rotates each submodel individually to create its pumping motion during game play. All polymodels will have at least one submodel. However, submodel-animation ishard-wired into Warzone. The only PIE files that can be animated are those that are referenced in "anim.cfg".

 

 

 

Quick Start Tutorial: Creating A Simple Polymodel

1. Adding Points

All polymodels contain points, so to begin creating your polymodel, these are what you'll work with first.

Load PIE Slicer and press F6 to switch to "Top View". You will see a grid much like this one:

The blue lines are the coordinate axes. Since this is a "top" view, we are looking "down" at our polymodel, and therefore up (the "z" axis) corresponds to the front of our polymodel. The thin gray lines are spaced every 1.6 units, and the bold grey lines are spaced every 6.4 units. Since a Warzone map square is 12.8 units diameter, every bold grey line represents a 1/2 map-square of distance.

One point already exists in our polymodel (the one in the center). Each point in your polymodel is denoted by a gray circle (black in this illustration). When you click on a point with the mouse, it becomes the "current point". The current point is identified by a red circle around it.

PressV to select the current point. When selected, points highlight blue, and only then can they be moved around. Find theMove Rate: scrollbar on the Points toolbox beneath the grid, and set its value to1. Now, pressRight Arrow twice andUp Arrow twice to move the point to coordinates(2.0,0,2.0). When you're using these "graph paper" views of your polymodel, the cursor/numeric keys can be used to move the selected points, and it's much faster than using theMove Points buttons on the Points toolbox (below your grid).

Since we are done with this point (for now), pressV again to de-select it. It is good practice to de-select points when you have finished moving it (this "locks it down"), and fortunately, there's an easy way. PressingSHIFT+V will either select or de-select all of the points in the current submodel. Right now, it hardly makes a difference since we only have one point, but it's good practice for later--by usingSHIFT+V, you can rest assured that all points have been "switched off" and won’t accidentally be moved around.

Now let's insert a second point. PressIns to add a second point. Note that the second point appears at the origin (where the blue lines intersect; coordinates(0,0,0)) Click on that point with the mouse to make it the current point, then select it withV. Let's move that pointleft by 2 units andbackward (down) by 2 units. This will place it cata-corner from our first point, coordinates(-2.0,0,-2.0).

De-select the second point (useSHIFT+V). Insert a third point and move itleft by 2 units andforward (up) by 2 units, placing it at coordiantes(-2.0,0,2.0).

Insert a fourth point and move itright by 20 units andbackward (down) by 20 units, placing it at coordinates(2.0,0,-2.0).

 

2. Creating Polygons

Ready? PressSHIFT+V to select all four points at once, then pressSHIFT+Ins to create your first polygon:

What’s this? Frequently, when using the Shift+Ins method of creating polygons, PIE Slicer creates a "crossed polygon" like the one depicted here. Crossed polygons occur because PIE Slicer can not determine what order a polygon's points should be connected--thus it defaults to numerical order (if you'll notice the point numbers, they're connected in the 0-1-2-3 order). Observation says that the proper point order should be 0-2-1-3 (counter-clockwise order). There are two ways we can fix this:

    Enter the "Polygon Point Order" mode by pressing the third button on the upper-right toolbar. Polygon #0's point order will appear in a listbox on the right side of the interface. To fix this polygon, we'll need to swap the positions of points 1 and 2. Click on Point 1 in the Point Order databox and drag it across point 2 to swap them. Notice how the polygon changes to reflect the new order.

    Quadrilateral Re-SortQuadrilateral Re-Sort. PressingCTRL+R for afour-sided polygon will automatically re-sort its points into a different order; within two presses, a crossed quadrilateral will refold itself into a proper shape--guaranteed. Try this function out; press CTRL+R repeatedly, and notice how our square will re-arrange itself with each press.

There is also another method available to us. First, though, pressShift+Delete and select "Yes" to remove the current polygon.

Now that we have just our four points again, pressCtrl+Ins. Instructions will appear on-screen saying to "click on at least 3 points". Now, click on each of the square's vertices in either counter-clockwise or clockwise order, and blue lines will connect between the vertices. These blue lines indicate the shape of the polygon we are creating. After clicking for a fourth time, the message "Create this polygon?" will appear. Click Yes to create the polygon. Note that in this mode, since we drew the polygon ourselves, there are no sorting errors to worry about.

 

3. Transforming Polygons

For this exercise, we’ll transform this square into a pyramid. PressF8 to switch to the 3D View:

Notice the red line pointing downwards. This is the polygon'sNormal Vector. Normal vectors indicate the side which the polygon can be seen from; polygons are invisible if viewed from the other side. This is a common feature of most 3D engines, so whenever you create a polygon, you must decide which direction your polygon should "face". This polygon's normal vector points downwards, indicating that we can only see it from below. Let's fix that so that it faces upwards. PressCTRL+F to flip the current polygon. If you're watching the Point Order databox at this time, you'll notice that this function merely reverses the polygon's point order. When a polygon's point order is reversed, a mathematical property known as thecross-product dictates that the polygon's normal vector gets flipped.

Now for some fun. Pyramids have triangle-shaped sides that converge into a single point at the top. Viewed from the top, they look like a square. Although we could add a point to the top and create the triangles ourselves, PIE Slicer can automatically "carve up" our square into component triangles that we can use for the pyramid. Switch to the Polygons mode. Locate the "Fracture Current Polygon" button in the Polygons toolbox and press it. The "Fracture This Polygon" button assigns a center point to the current polygon, then "fractures" it into a group of triangles.

Visually, the "Fracture This Polygon" button allows you to take a polygon's center point and stretch it in any direction, creating a bump, dimple--or in this exercise, a pyramid.

Select the center point and move it upwards for some distance with the "Move Up" button on the Points toolbox or thePlus key on thenumeric keypad. It should now look like this:

Voila! Instant pyramid.

 

4. Editing Polygons

This pyramid is a most basic example of a polymodel.

There are a few other polygon-editing options available to us, but I’ll discuss them in the Reference section, not here in quick-start. PIE Slicer might eventually feature a help system similar to "CK Cyborg" in WZCK 2.0 to give assistance with PIE Slicer’s operation, but for now, you’ll have to do the asking.

 

5. Texturemapping

There are a variety of ways to texturemap a PIE, but for now I’ll cover the most basic--and most important--method. First, pick any polygon in your model. Click on the "Texture Alignment" button on the upper-right toolbar to bring up a set of texture-editing tools. A list of U,V coordinates will appear in the list box at the right. UV coordinates are texture coordinates.

Notice the vertical divider separating the Model View from the Texture Alignment View in the interface? Click on it, then drag, and you can adjust how much space is allocated for both the Model View and the Texture Alignment Views.

On the lower toolbar, you’ll notice a text data box labelled "Texture page". Type in the PCX file that you would like WZ2100 to use as this model’s texture here. All texture pages must have a "page-##" segment in their name (preferably at the beginning) for WZ2100 to properly recognize them; they must also end in ".pcx" for PIE Slicer to properly recognize them. Otherwise, you can specify any valid filename you wish.

If you typed in a page number that corresponds to a default texture, PIE Slicer will load that texture page automatically. Otherwise (or, if you want to use a different texture for alignment), click on thefar right toolbar button in the Texture Alignment View to select a texture.

To create and use custom textures for alignment in PIE Slicer, simply create a "TexData" folder in PIE Slicer’s main directory, then storebmp versions of your custom texpages in that directory. Be sure that each custom texpage you supply has a page number in its name matching the page number specified by your PIE file.

 

There are three ways to texture polygons in PIE Slicer:

Automapping. This function is used automatically when you create a new polygon to give it a coherent texturemapping. If you mangle or otherwise screw up a polygon's texturemapping, you can use this function to reset the alignment to what it originally was.

Manual. Although PIE Slicer automatically creates a default texture alignment when you add new polygons, you can better skin a model by refining those alignments. The "Manual Texturemapping" option in the Texture Alignment toolbox reveals a set of tools similar to those found in the Points toolbox. You can move, shift, scale, or rotate a polygon’s texture alignment all at once, or move just a single vertex’s texturing. You can also directly specify the point index and texture coordinates for any one vertex at a time.

    * You can also adjust texture points with the mouse. Click on any texture point in the Texture Alignment View, then drag the mouse to adjust the point. Or, you can SHIFT+click on a vertex in the Texture Alignment View and drag the mouse to move the polygon’s entire texture alignment.

Texture Projection. This powerful function skins all selected polygons by "projecting" them onto the texture and recording where they appear. The "Automatic Texturemapping" option in the Texture Alignment Toolbox reveals a set of options to define how you would like to texturemap your model:

      * The X and Y coordinates in the Texture Projection toolbox are offset values that indicate where the origin of your model (location 0,0,0 ) will appear in the bitmap.

      * The X and Y scaling values in the toolbox affect how much texture space your model takes up in the bitmap, and thus how much detail you can place in its textures. A scaling factor of 10 is default, where one PIE Slicer unit will correspond to 10 pixels in the bitmap.

      * The option buttons in this toolbox affect whether you want to project the bitmap texture onto the front, side, or top of your model.

      * When you adjust the above three options, a blue outline of the selected polygons will appear in the Texture Alignment View, displaying the bitmap space that will be used to texture the selected polygons. Click on "Apply to Selected Polygons" to finalize these options, and texture the polymodel's selected polygons.

       

       

Reference - Menu Commands:

File Menu:

                New Model * Erases the current workspace, allowing you to begin a new model from scratch.

                Load Model… * Loads a Warzone graphic (PIE file) or PIE Slicer graphic (CAK file) from disk for editing. There are currently two different PIE filters available. The primary filter is quicker, while the alternate filter is slower and more stable. Should a PIE file refuse to load properly, try both filters before seeking technical assistance.

                Save Model * Ctrl+Q. Saves the current polymodel to disk as a Warzone PIE file or a PIE Slicer "CAK" file. The main difference between PIE and CAK files is the preservation of precise coordinate data; point coordinates are rounded to the nearest 0.1 PIE Slicer unit when saving into a PIE, but not when saving CAK.

                Save Model As… * Similar to the above command; however, this command prompts you for a file-name before it actually saves any data.

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                Exit * Return to Windows.

View Menu:

                Front View * F5. Displays your model as it would appear if viewed from behind.

                Top View * F6. Displays your model from the top, with "up" representing forward.

                Side View * F7. Displays your model from the right-hand side, with "right" representing forward.

                3D View * F8. Displays your model from any viewing angle you want. Use thearrow keys to rotate the viewing angle.

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                Points > Show All * Displays all points and connectors in the current submodel and makes them available for selection.

                Points > Hide Selected * Hides all currently-selected points from the display (connectors cannot be hidden). If you are making a complex model, this function can un-clutter the display and speed up PIE Slicer. However, hidden points cannot be edited unless they are made visible again, either by double-clicking their entry in the Points data box, right-clicking on their entry and selecting the "Show this point" option, or by using the "Show All" menu command, above.

                Polygons > Show All * Displays all polygons in the current submodel and makes them available for selection.

                Polygons > Hide Selected * Hides all currently-selected polygons, uncluttering the display. However, as with points, hidden polygons must be made visible again before they can be edited. To make a hidden polygon visible again, either double-click it from the Polygons data box, right-click its entry and select "Show this polygon", or use the "Show All" menu command.

                Polygons > Cull Face * F9. Hides all polygons on the "other side" of your model, un-cluttering the display and giving you a better impression of your model’s shape. This function is also useful for debugging normal vectors and making polygons face in their proper directions.

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                Submodels > Hide Other * Displays the current submodel in your polymodel and hides any/all others. Since most Warzone polymodels will haave just one submodel, this command is automatically enabled when you start PIE Slicer. Some aniamted Warzone PIE files, such as "cybd_run.pie" (animated cyborg legs) display correctly only when viewed one submodel at a time.

                Submodels > Show All * Displays all submodels in the polymodel. Because only one submodel can be edited at any time, all "other" submodels will display in a darkened color. Some animated Warzone PIE files such as "blderik.pie" (Oil Derrick structure) display best with this option enabled.

Points Menu:

                Add Point > Origin * Ins. Adds a new point to the model (centered at the origin).

                Add Point > Offset… * Alt+Ins. Adds a new point to the model, offset from the Current Point / Connector.

                Add Point > Center… * Shift+Alt+Ins. Adds a new point to the model, placed at the center of all selected points.

                Remove Current Point * Del. Erases the Current Point (the point highlighted by a pink circle)if it isnot attached to any polygons.

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                Add Connector > Origin * Adds a connector point to the model, centered at the origin.

                Add Connector > Offset… * Adds a connector point to the model, offset from the Current Point / Connector.

                Add Connector > Center… * Adds a connector point to the model, placed at the center of all selected points.

                Remove Connector * Del. Erases a connector-point from your model.

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                Select > Current Point * V. Selects or de-selects whichever point or connector you most recently clicked on. When selected, points will highlight blue and they can be moved, scaled, or rotated.

                Select > Current Poly's… * Ctrl+V. Selects / de-selects all points that belong to the Current Polygon in your model,even if they are hidden from view. This function is very useful if you wish to move, scale, or rotate individual polygons.

                Select > Selected Polys’… * Shift+Ctrl+V. Selects / de-selects all points that belong to any selected polygons,including those that may be hidden from view.

                Select > All Points * Shift+V. Selects / de-selects all points and connectors in your model,except those that may be hidden from view.

                Delete Selected Points * Ctrl+Delete. Erases all of the selected points which arenotused by any polygons.

                Copy Selected Points * Copies all of your model's selected points onto PIE Slicer's clipboard in memory.

                Paste Points * Dumps the contents of PIE Slicer's clipboard into your model.

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                Attach Nearby Points * Searches your model to see if any extra points exist at the same coordinates as the Current Point. If so, those points will be merged, un-cluttering your model and making that point easier to click on. This will also attach any polygons that had used the duplicate points.

                 

Polygons Menu:

                Create Simple Polygon * Adds a standard triangle, square, etc., to your model, which will be centered about the Current Point and made the Current Polygon.

                Create Simple > 2-Sided * Determines whether polygons created with the above function will be 2-sided or one-sided.

                Create Simple > Orientation * Determines the orientation of polygons created with the above function. You can orient such polygons along the front, top, or side planes, or orient them to face the current viewing angle (even in the 3D View).

                Create Simple >Show Pts * When activated, PIE Slicer will display the model coordinates of the polygons you create with this command.

                Create New Polygon * Shift+Ins. Creates a new polygon using the selected points, and makes it the Current Polygon. The Current Polygon is identifiable by its blue/green highlight, a red normal vector, and point index numbers displayed at each vertex.

                Draw Polygon From Pts. * Ctrl+Ins. Allows the user to draw a polygon via an interactive, "connect-the-dots" interface. Highly recommended, as this avoids Pie Slicer's inability to properly sort a 5- (or more) sided polygon.

                Delete Current Polygon * Shift+Del. Erases the Current Polygon.

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                Re-Order 4 sided… * Ctrl+R. Re-arranges the point order (shape) of the Current Polygon, butonly if it is a quadrilateral. If it has five or more points, you will need to adjust their order using the Point Order mode.

                Flip Normal * Ctrl+F. Flips a polygon’s normal vector, making it face the other direction.

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                Select > Current Poly * N. Selects or de-selects the Current Polygon (whichever polygon you most recently right-clicked on) so that its data can be edited or copied.

                Select > Current Point's… * Ctrl+N. Selects / de-selects all polygons that use the Current Point,including any polygons hidden from view.

                Select > Selected Points'… * Shift+Ctrl+N. Selects / de-selects all polygons that useany selected points,including any polygons hidden from view.

                Select > All Polygons * Shift+N. Selects / de-selects allvisible polygons in your model.

                Delete Selected Polygons * Shift+Ctrl+Del. Erases all selected polygons in your model. Use with utmost care--this operation cannot be undone!

                Copy Selected Polygons * Copies all selected pointand polygons from your model into PIE Slicer's clipboard. It will also copy all the points that comprise the polygons. Ifno polygons are selected,butsome points are selected, then this function will simply copy the selected points.

                Paste Polygons * Adds the contents of PIE Slicer's clipboard to your model; points, polygons, and everything.

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                Export Shape… * Not Yet Implemented. Similar to the "Copy Selected Polygons" command.

                Import Shape… * Not Yet Implemented. Similar to the "Paste" command.

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                Add Edge Point… * Inserts a point in the Current Polygon, along one of its sides. You can then move the new point to "bend" that edge. If you holdShift during this operation, you can add two points at once, dividing that polygon's side into thirds rather than halves.

                Remove Edge Point… * Removes any point from the Current Polygon, simplifying it. You will however lose some texture information in the process.

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                Attach Point… * Arbitrarily moves one of the Current Polygon’s vertices to any desired point in your model.

                Detach Point… * Detaches one of the Current Polygon's vertices from all other points (and polygons) in your model, by assigning it to a newly-created point. You can then move that vertex without affecting other polygons.

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                Fracture Current Polygon * Creates a center-point for the Current Polygon and "fractures" it into a collection of smaller triangles encircling that point. Refer back to Step Two for an example (i.e., square >> pyramid) of this function.

                Slice Current Polygon * Splits the Current Polygon along a line defined between two of its corners. The Current Point will be used as the starting point for this line. Triangles, however, cannot be split.

                Join Polygons * Fuses two adjacent polygons together along one common edge. However, some texture data may be lost in this fusion. If two polygons do share a common edge but cannot be fused, you may need to adjust their normal vectors so that both normal vectors face the same (or similar) directions.

                 

                 

                 

Non-Menu Keyboard Shortcuts / Commands:

            There are several more keyboard shortcut keys available that are not included in the menus. Here they are:

             

            Viewing Commands

            Move View (2D) - Arrow keys. Each 2D view can be shifted individually of the others.

            - Click on the Move View toolbar buttons immediately left of the display.

            Center View (2D) - End. This will center the graph-paper view about the origin (0,0,0). Very helpful should you get lost somewhere in your model.

            - Click on the Center View toolbar button immediately left of the display.

            Rotate View (3D) - Arrow keys

            - Click on the Rotate View toolbar buttons immediately left of the display

            Zoom In/Out - Plus / Minus keys on keyboard.

            - Page Up andPage Down will also work.

            - Click on theZoom In/Out toolbar buttons immediately left of the display

             

            Non-Menu Editing Commands

            Pick Point - Left-click on anyvisible point. If several points exist at identical coordinates, you can flip through them by clicking again.

            - Left-click a point’s entry in the Points data box (even if it is hidden from view)

            Pick Connector - Left-click on any connector

            - Left-click a connector’s entry in the Points data box. Connectors have a "C" designation next to their index number.

            Pick Polygon - Right-click in thecenter of anyvisible polygon

            - Left-click a polygon’s entry in the Polygons data box (even if it is hidden)

            Flip Polygon - Pick a polygon, then pressCTRL+F

             

            Note: Please ensure that NumLock is enabled when using these below functions.

            Adjust Move Rate - Numeric Asterisk / Slash. This will automatically increment or decrement the Point Move Rate by one step, affecting how far points are moved in a single press.

            Move Points (2D) - Numeric keypad arrows. Right/Left/Up/Down will move the points horizontally or vertically along the graph paper. Plus / Minus keys on the numeric keypad will move points "in" or "out" of the graph paper.

            Move Points (3D) - WithNew Key Orientation enabled, orient the viewing angle orthagonally, to move points relative to that axis.

            - WithoutNew Key Orientation, keys will function as they do in Top View:

            Move Polygons - Ctrl + Numeric keypad arrows. This will move all the selected polygons in your model (without requiring you to select their points first). It follows the same conventions as moving points.

            Move Texture Pt - In theTexture Alignment View,Left-click on a vertex anddrag it to a new location.

            Move Texture - In theTexture Alignment View,Shift + Left-click on any vertex anddrag it to a new location.

            Auto Tex Map - In theTexture Alignment Toolbox,clickon theAutomap This Polygon button. to skin the polygon based on the current camera angle.

            Reset Tex Align - In theTexture Alignment Toolbox (manual mode),clickon theReset Texture Alignment button.

             

            Other Selection Commands

              Quick Select All Points - C. Similar to Shift+V, this will select or de-select allvisible points and connectors.

              Quick Select All Polys - B. Similar to Shift+N, this will select or de-select allvisible polygons.

            Select Points (area) -Left-click anddrag along the grid. Allvisible pointscontained within that area will become selected.

            Select Polys (area) -Right-click anddrag along the grid. Allvisible polygonscentered within that area will become selected.

             

             

             

NEWST Pie Converter / Renderer

NEWST member BlackSabbath has made great strides to build a suitable stand-alone renderer for WZ2100 Pie files. Download the "Pie Converter" package from the NEWST Downloads page and install it in any directory you wish (you can even place it in Pie Slicer's own directory).

Once Pie Converter has been installed, you will need to create a set of BMP textures for it to use. Here's how:

      1. Open Warzone.wdg in WDG Explorer andextractone copy ofevery "page-##.pcx" texture page.

      2. Open sep30.wdg in WDG Explorer andextractone copy of"page-15.pcx". This updated texture page includes the Super Cyborg, Wyvern, & Dragon textures.

      3. Convert all of the texture pages into 256-color BMP format. Sorry, but PCX-formatted textures are currently not supported!

How to use Pie Converter:

      1. Double-click on "Pie Converter.exe" to start the renderer.

      2. A dialog box appears, and asks you what PIE file to use. Before loading this PIE file, ensure that the BMP texture it uses is stored in the same directory as the PIE file itself! I.e., if your Pie File is stored in Pie Slicer's main directory and uses "page-16-my textures.pcx", you will need a "page-16-my textures.bmp" in the same directory!

      3. If all you see is a black screen, select the "Drivers..." command from the File menu and switch the Display Driver to "RGB Emulation".

      4. To rotate the Pie model on-screen, use the arrow keys. (To rotate 10x faster, useCtrl+Arrow keys)

      5. To zoom in or out, pressplus orminus on the numeric keypad.

      6. To pan (slide) the Pie Model, useAlt+Arrow keys

Other Features:

Although Warzone2100's texture PCX's must be a 256x256 size, Pie Converter supports any texture size (even 1024x1024 textures). Thus, you can render your Pie models in Pie Converter using a higher and better resolution than you can with Warzone 2100.

Known Issues:

      PCX file support. Warzone 2100 uses the PCX image format for its texture pages, but Pie Slicer and Pie Converter both require BMP textures.

      Transparency support. Warzone 2100 uses palette index #255 (usually the lime-green color) as a transparency. BlackSabbath is currently working on how to properly implement the transparency color. Until then, the transparency color displays as opaque.

      Team-Colors support. Some polygons are "team-colored", allowing them to have different texturemappings, depending on which player they belong to (the same system is used for the animated explosion GFX). BlackSabbath has not yet figured out how to implement this.

       

Bug List:

Find a problem? Check it against PIE Slicer's known list of bugs. If you find one not listed here, be sure to contact us about it, and provide as much detail as you can!

Status: Bug Description:

            Unknown The PIE file format requires integer coordinates. This can cause some discrepancies in point coordinates during scale or rotate operations. This error factor is limited to approximately 0.1 PIE Slicer unit.

            Fixed? v1.05.036 When creating 4- or 5- sided polygons, their points usually weren't ordered correctly and needed manual sorting. That bug is still around, but now there is a suitable workaround! You can now create polygons in an interactive "connect-the-dots" method, thus avoiding any point-ordering errors in Pie Slicer.

            Fixed? v1.05.036 More bugs have been flushed out of Pie Slicer's blitting system.

The following bugs have been fixed in previous updates:

            Fixed: v1.04.035 An erroneus error message, "No Submodels in PIE Structure" was cropping up at unusual times. This has hopefully been fixed now!

            Fixed: v1.04.035 Animated polygon texture-alignment was not displaying properly; fixed.

            Fixed: v1.04.035 When loading a PIE, animated polygons using zero frames are converted to non-animated.

            Fixed: v1.04.033 Dorfl discovered a situation where Pie Slicer crashed if it could not load its system textures (master.dtb and system.bmp) This is generally caused by not installing Pie Slicer properly, but even so, Pie Slicer shouldn't be crashing!

            Fixed: v1.04.032 A few global variables in Pie Slicer's code were causing a plethora of bugs with the polygon-editing functions (split, join, fracture, etc.) . Special thanks to Tako who discovered this bug!

            Fixed: v1.04.030 Program Crash ("error 13") when using some of the polygon-editing functions (i.e., "Join Polygons")

            Fixed: v1.04.028 Loss of the specified texture page if deleting submodel #1.

            Fixed: v1.04.028 Clicking on points #500 or higher tricks PIE Slicer into thinking that a connector was clicked.

            Fixed: v1.04.028 "2-sided conversion" option in Pie Slicer's configuration not working.

            Fixed? v1.04.025 PIE Slicer crashing if the loaded PIE file has no texture page specified.

            Fixed: v1.04.025 Hitting function keys like "c", "v", "b", and "n" causing the Texture Page box to lose focus.

            Fixed: v1.04.025 Loss of polygon point data when using the "Reset Texture Alignment" function.

            Fixed: v1.04.024 Rotation function keys not working properly.

            Fixed? v1.04.022 "Save Changes?" dialog box appearing when it shouldn't, and vice versa.

            Fixed: v1.04.020 Highlight effects for connectors cancelling each other out, i.e., two selected connectors at same coordinates not appearing highlighted.

            Fixed: v1.04.020 Grid toolbar buttons not working properly.

            Fixed: v1.04.017 Toolbar button GFX switched in the Points toolbox.

            Fixed: v1.04.017 Insert key not working.

            Fixed: v1.04.017 Delete key sometimes deleting two points instead of one.

            Fixed: v1.04.017 Texture Alignment textures sometimes not loading properly.

            Fixed: v1.04.017 Flickering when moving the mouse across the Texture Alignment pane.

            Fixed: v1.04.017 Polygon vertex numbers not displaying on the Texture Alignment View.

            Fixed: v1.04.013 Corruption tocertain polygon types and textures (i.e., 4a00 or 6200).

            Fixed: v1.04.010 Program crash when trying to load PIE Slicer-saved connector data.

            Fixed? v1.04.010 Internal bugs in the "Join Polygons" function.

            Fixed? v1.04.005 Blitting bugs in wireframe display.

            Fixed: v1.03.032 "Hair-trigger response" when clicking & dragging on texture vertexes.

            Fixed: v1.03.030 Some PIE files have had data written all on one line (i.e., no carriage returns). Program was crashing when trying to load those files.

            Fixed: v1.03.000 Program crash if texture alignment data was invalid, even though point data was intact

            Fixed: v1.02.000 Program crash if trying to load a rare "Type 220" PIE file.

             

             

Pie Slicer History:

This section details all changes in Pie Slicer up until initial public release.

Please refer toPie Slicer Patch.rtf for information about issues addressed in the Pie Slicer Update(s).

Good news is marked with a üor J, bad news is marked with a û or K. Bug fixes are not listed here.

 

Current Version: 1.05.038

Compiled: 9-28-2k1

Version: 1.04.028, 6-10-2k1

          New ü "New Key Orientation" for the 3D view, so that right is right, left is left, up is up, and so on. It is available in the User Configuration for those who want--or don't want--it.

          Changed û The "click and drag" feature for moving points has been delayed, due to time spent getting the above feature to work.

          Misc. ü Great news--BlackSabbath is currently writing his own renderer for PIE files! It is already superior to Pumpkin's "Pie View", and can only get better!

           

Version: 1.04.025, 5-29-2k1

          New ü More options for the user configuration.

          ü "PIE View Export" option in the Save As... dialog box. It converts two-sided and team-colored polygons into a format more compatible with Pumpkin's PIE View utility.

          Revised ü More code re-organization, providing direct access to internal data. Should remove bugs.

Version: 1.04.024, 5-25-2k1

          New ü PIE Slicer automatically defines a polygon's initial texture alignment when creating polygons. So, if you just add a whole bunch of polygons then render in WZ, it will actually be textured(albeit badly) !

          Revised ü Internal revisions to accommodate this new feature and make data access easier.

          ü Reversed the Cull Face option because it was confusing some users. Will add it to user options, later.

          Misc. û WZ's requirements for PIE coordinates may cause discrepancies with scaling & rotation operations. For example, you can scale a model down to 10% and then scale it back with no problems; but if you scale it down to 10%, save as PIE, re-open, and then scale back to normal, there will be a significant amount of data lost. PIE Slicer's "CAK" format preserves floating-point data that may otherwise be lost when using the PIE format; if this precision is top priority , try eating CAK for a change.J

           

Version: 1.04.022, 5-21-2k1

          New ü At fellow NEWST member BlackSabbath's request, coded "C" and "B" keys to quickly select / de-select all visible points or polygons. Easier to use because it's a one-finger operation.

          ü The Current Point now displays its index number on-screen. This will later become a user-specifiable option.

          Revised ü When inserting a new polygon, its texture alignment starts at the center of the Texture Alignment View, making it visible no matter what portion of the bitmap you are viewing.

          ü A few new conversion functions added to help me get the above fix working properly. It also cleans up the source code, making it easier to work with.

           

Version: 1.04.020, 5-20-2k1

          New ü Added the capability to move, rotate, or scale selected polygons directly. Use the "Move Polygons" option in the Polygons toolbox; to bring up a set of options similar to the Points toolbox. You can also hold CTRL and use the numeric keypad arrows to move them.

          Changed ü When creating new polygons, their texture-alignment starts at 128,128 instead of 0,0.

          ü Cull-face option is now enabled when you start PIE Slicer. Hit F9 whenever you need to change it.

           

Version: 1.04.017, 5-17-2k1

          New ü The Texture Alignment view can now be zoomed in & out! Scale factors up to 8x the usual, which is itself 2x of the source bitmaps. Current zoom factor is displayed on-screen.

          ü More versatility when inserting points or connectors.

          ü The point indexes for polygon vertices can now be specified manually in the Texture Alignment toolbox. Use with care!

          Changed ü Connectors can not be hidden from view anymore (something stated in the Reference section, but not implemented)

          ü The smallest zoom factor is now -20 instead of -15, allowing you to view PIE's as large as 8 map squares wide and long!

          ü PIE Slicer's minimum operable dimensions have grown to 640x480. Be sure to have a larger desktop than this!

Version: 1.04.013, 5-12-2k1

          New ü Specifying a page number that exists in the default set causes it to be loaded instantly. (will make this a user-selectable option later)

          Revised ü Implemented the "StretchBlt" API routine. No visible effect, but it's easier for me to use than the old PaintPicture method.

           

Version: 1.04.010, 5-3-2k1

          New ü I am in the process of preparing some HTML documentation for PIE Slicer, with better tutorials and explanations.

          ü Options / Configuration menu added! These options are saved to disk, and thus aren’t forgotten between uses. More options will be added as I continue work on PIE Slicer.

          ü The 3D View now displays tick marks which are spaced every ½ map square. They alternate colors, too.

          ü "Automapping" function which quickly texturemaps the Current Polygon based on the current viewing angle. Needs work, though.

          Changed ü The maximum allowed zoom factor is now +15 instead of +25.

           

Version: 1.04.005, 4-15-2k1

          Revised ü A few more features for adding regular polygons--use the mouse to define a polygon’s size and rotation.

           

Version: 1.04.002, 4-19-2k1

          New ü New option allows the user to create a simple polygons (triangle, square, etc.) without first selecting a bunch of points! Just pick one point, and in two clicks you can create a standard polygon centered about that point.

          ü Implemented multiple submodels…user warnings and everything.

          Revised ü Toolbar buttons for the Polygon Mode display on-screen regardless of whether the polymodel has polygons in it or not. This allows you to add/create polygons with the toolbar as well as with menus and keyboard.

          ü Confirmation if you try to delete the last point in your model. All polymodels need to have at least one point! You can still delete that last point, though.

          Changed ü The Texture Alignment window is now initially shrunk to its minimum operable size, giving the user more room to look at the wireframe view / graph paper.

           

Version: 1.03.032, 4-2-2k1

          New ü The center-point for rotation & scaling operations can now be displayed on the 3D grid.

          ü The Texture Alignment window now displays a ruler, texture coordinates, and graph lines. When you move the mouse pointer across this window, red tick marks will identify the mouse’s coordinates.

           

Version: 1.03.030, 2-26-2k1

          New ü Polygon textures can now be edited using click-and-drag, but watch out for bugs!

          ü The Texture Alignment window now displays a ruler, texture coordinates, and graph lines. When you move the mouse pointer across this window, red tick marks will identify the mouse’s coordinates.

          Revised ü An alternate PIE-format filter has been added. This is slightly slower than the current filter, but it is much more stable. If the primary filter fails, try the secondary filter before reporting an error to Tech Support.

          Changed ü Removed the sample PIE’s from the download ZIP as to preserve space. They will be made available as a "Sample Package" later.

Version: 1.03.019, 1-31-2k1

          New ü Points and polygons are now selectable by click & drag methods! Left-click & drag to select points; right-click & drag for polygons. You can also use both buttons at once to selectboth pointsandpolygons.

          ü Another polygon-editing function coded, allowing the user to grab a polygon’s vertex and attach it to any arbitrary point in the model, without affecting its neighboring polygons.

           

Version: 1.03.009, 1-23-2k1

          New ü Another large overhaul of PIE Slicer's interface and functionality! More editing commands, more toolbars, and a brand-new status bar on the bottom!

          ü A lot of polygon-editing tools have also been made available.

          ü The Points Mode can now be used to edit connectors as well!

          Revised ü Refined the data coordinate system--scaling and rotation are now possible without corrupting the coordinate data.

          Changed ü "Two-Sided" polygons now display their normal vector in both directions. Previously, they did not display any normal vector. But since Pumpkin’s little PIE renderer has no support for two-sided polygons, two-sided polygons will now display a red vector in one direction and a blue vector in the other.

          Misc. ü I would recommend using the CAK format for all your "work-in-progress" models or important backup copies, and using the PIE format to export the model for use in Warzone. The reason for this is that CAK files have a higher precision, preserving rotation/scaling data more accurately than PIE files can.

           

Version: 1.02.000, 11-26-2k

          New ü Large overhaul of PIE Slicer’s user interface! A few keyboard shortcuts have been coded as well--V selects points and N selects polygons. Please remember that points & polygons must be selected before you can edit them!

          ü When using the orthogonal (rear/top/side) views, the grid-position of the mouse pointer is displayed. In the 3D view, the current viewing angles are displayed.

          ü User can add polygons to a PIE file! As of yet, these polygons cannot be edited, though, and their points are almost always connected in the wrong order. But there is good news! 4-sided polygons can be rearranged automatically by pressing Ctrl+R . For five (or more) -sided polygons, I am building a "Point Order" mode that allows the user to re-arrange a polygon’s point order by hand. Hopefully, I will be able to make a routine that automates the process of point-sorting.

          ü Enabled the moving and rotation functions. 3D models can now be edited (although at a low level)!

          Revised ü Coordinates in the Warzone PIE files must be integers--absolutely no decimal points allowed. Because of this, I limit PIE Slicer’s precision to one-tenth of an integer unit. Because of this, slight data corruption regarding point coordinates may result if the user is working on a small scale, or if they repeatedly use scale/rotate operations.

          ü If an error occurs while loading a PIE file, an extensive error message is reported to the user. It is designed to help sort out any future bugs-PIE Slicer will tell the user what it didn’t like about the file and exactly when the error occurred, which is a lot more informative than any other error messages.

          Changed ü Double-clicking on the grid no longer selects points for editing. Some Warzone PIE files (like the brown AA mount) have duplicate points, and PIE Slicer alternates between with successive clicks; selecting those points by clicking was a tad too confusing, even for me.

           

Version 1.01.000, 11-10-2k

        New ü I uploaded PIE Slicer for alpha-testing by NEWST members. Responses were mostly of the "lookin’ good" variety.

        ü PIE Slicer defaults to its application path upon start-up.

        ü New toolbars for the GUI. Some routines have been coded, others have not…but they do allow the user to modify the PIE’s structure itself. The most important of the new functions is being able to flip a polygon’s "normal vector", thus adjusting which side it is visible from.

        ü PIE files can now be saved back to disk! However, you may want to back-up your old files before you save...just in case!!

        ü Listboxes of the model’s points, polygons, and connectors are displayed on-screen. This makes for easy selection!

        ü User can select a single point of polygon by left- or right- clicking on the 3D display, or by clicking it from the list boxes. If two points/polygons share the same (or similar) coordinates, you can also toggle between the two with successive clicks.

        Revised ü The upper-right toolbar has a status indicator next to it displaying what edit-mode PIE Slicer currently is in (i.e., points, polygons)

        ü Polygon type numbers now read correctly, in a long-integer format (rather than string format)

        ü Revised the coordinate system. Now, it should match the WZ coordinate system perfectly. Grid squares are also displayed in the graph-paper views to indicate WZ map squares.

        ü Discovered the Wingdings font (again). Now I can add some cool graphics to this file, thanks being to the RTF format!J

        ü More revisions to the inner code. Added many more comments to the source, and many function arguments are optional rather than required. I am now starting to need such functionality!

        ü Changed the wireframe colors slightly. It is easier to read now.

        Changed ü User can edit only one submodel (level) at a time. Points cannot be mixed between submodels, so when one submodel is selected, the other submodels are displayed in a darkened color.

        û I won’t be using Pumpkin’s PIE renderer after all…it refuses to cooperate with PIE Slicer. Shame on them! Nor can I build my own PIE renderer because VB4 is not compatible with DirectX (Shame on Microsoft?).