Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Develop Ogre3D applications using Eclipse on Mac OS X

This tutorial will lead you trough all the steps required to configure Eclipse for Ogre 3D applications development on Mac OS X.

Requirements
To perform the tasks described in this tutorial it is necessary for you to setup a basic development system including:
Application creation
To create your first application start Eclipse and select New -> C++ Project from the File menu.
Now select Hello World C++ Project and give it a name (let's say MyFristOgreApp).

Application configuration
The application is now created, but is not connected in any way to Ogre, thus any ogre specific code, if compiled, would give compilation, link and run-time errors.
To solve this problem you have to include the Ogre framework in your application, and make the project aware of the Ogre and Carbon frameworks position.
  1. Right-click on your project name in the Project Explorer and select Import, then select import from File System.
    Browse to the Dependencies directory of the OgreSDK folder, select the subfolders and then import it in the Frameworks subdir for your project.

  2. Now right-click again on your project name in the Project Explorer and select Properties.
    Move to C/C++ General -> Paths and Symbols and press the Add button.
    Select Frameworks/Ogre.framework/Header directory in you workspace and check Add to all configurations, Add to all languages and Is a workspace path.
    Do the same for Frameworks/Cg.framework/Header and Frameworks/include directories.
    Press Add again, select /Developer/Headers/FlatCarbon folder and check only Add to all configurations, Add to all languages this time.


  3. Move to Library Paths tab and press Add; again check Add to all configurations, Add to all languages and Is a workspace path and add Framworks/lib/Release directory.


  4. Now select C/C++ Build ->Settings from the tree menu on the left and set the configuration selector to [ All configurations ].
    Click on C++ Linker -> Libraries and add ois to Libraries


  5. Finally click on C++ Linker -> Miscellaneous and write -F${CWD}/../Frameworks -framework Ogre -framework Carbon -framework IOKit -framework Cg in the Linker flags text box.

Last bug-fix
Now your IDE is correctly configured but your application will not compile due to an error within the Frameworks/Ogre.framework/Headers/OSX/OgreTimerImp.h file. Edit this file and change the line #include <ogre/OgrePrerequisites.h> to #include <OgrePrerequisites.h>.

Conclusion and last hints
Now this setup will allow you to compile any Ogre based application, however, if you want to work with Ogre official tutorials, you have to go through some further steps:
  1. Import in you application the headers required by the tutorial you are working on (most of the times ExampleApplication.h and ExampleFrameListener.h are required).
    You can find them in the Samples directory of your OgreSDK.
  2. Import the Media directory of your OgreSDK into your project's root (this directory contains all the tutorials required textures, models, etc... )
  3. Import the .cfg files from you OgreSDK and modify them to match the path of your Media directory (typically ../Media is good).
  4. Add this command: install -d ${CWD}/Contents/Resources && cp -f ${CWD}/../*.cfg ${CWD}/Contents/Resources to your project's Post-build step (set it in the Build steps tab of the C/C++ Build -> Settings configuration form and remember to do it for all configurations)

Monday, January 19, 2009

ZappOne.tv FAQ

In this little FAQ I will address some common questions about ZappOne.tv

First things first, what's this thing all about ?
ZappOne.tv is a Rich Web 2.0 Interactive Ajax Enabled Multimedia Videoclip Streaming Internet Application (oh yes and also iSomething).
Said with poorer words, it's a Web application based on a very simple concept: create an enhanced experience with YouTube.
In straight words, a continuous stream of YouTube videoclips without the hassle of clicking on next video's link.

How to reach this paradise ?
Simply go to ZappOne.tv website and start using it

What can i do with it?
Well, you can search YouTube media library for your favourite videoclips and watch them one after another.

Ok, but how ?
The easiest way is to put in some keywords into the tex box on the homepage, then you can press on the GO! button and enjoy your videclips.
Following you can find two screenshots along with some explaination about other functions.

This is the main search page for ZappOne.tv

  • Keyword to search for: here you can insert your keywords separated by a space
  • Ordering: this selection determines which order your results will be displayed (default is by most relevant to lesser)
  • Filter criteria: these options let you filter and further optimize your search results by selecting only ones that match checked categories (this is very usefull for music :P )
  • Recent tags: just to remember what you have searched so far
  • Popular tags: the classic Web 2.0 tag cloud containing most used keywords by every user browsing through ZappOne.tv (you can click them to add to your search)
  • Submit Button: the button with a "Go!" label. As it's name suggests, it starts your experience. Plain and simple.

This is an example of a result page

  • Current video: Just to remember you what are you looking at. Also contains a link to the original media on YouTube
  • Playlist: a strip with the thumbnails of your search results. You can scroll it and peek what will be the next videoclip to be shown.
  • Remove button: by hovering over a thumbnail you will be able to exclude it from the playlist by simply clicking on this red button (you can then restore it by pressing it again)
  • Link button: have you found a particular playlist you want to share with your best friends ? Here's a link to show them from this point on.

Who developed this marvel ?
digitalapes, of course ;)

Now tell me the real thing: how much does it cost ?
Nothing. ZappOne.tv is absolutly costless and ad-free. The only thing we ask you is to give us a little of feedback on your experience. That's it.

What am I waiting for ?
Don't know ... go visit ZappOne.tv