Hi,
seems like some people are struggling how to use this, so let me try to explain how I do it!
The convert tool is written in TCL language. To make use of it you need to have a TCL compiler installed. To be honest: I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TCL IS! But, you may want to follow this easy steps to use it:
1. Download the TCL Compiler installation file. It is available free of cost for Windows, OS X, Linux.
http://www.activestate.com/activetcl/downloads2. Run the installation routine
I'm using Windows 7 Pro 64-bit for development. Since you need to run the convert script from the command prompt (CMD) I've decided to install it into the root directory of my PC (C:)
- Install TCL compiler in C: (root of your HDD) - make using it a 'lil easier
3. Download the latest CONVERT.TCL script
At the time of writing you can find it in this post:
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=4456&start=40#p32942Check the thread for later version!
4. Place the script into the BIN folder of your TCL installation
- copy convert.tcl script to bin folder of your installation
5. Edit your XML-file for QUATOS (or use one from my latest posts to test/start with) and place it in the tcl bin folder too
- Copy your QUATOS .XML file to bin folder
6. Start the console (command line) by clicking the Windows start button and typing CMD into the search box. Hit RETURN/ENTER!
- Command Prompt
- startcmd.png (43.96 KiB) Viewed 21124 times
7. Command prompt is ready for duty
- readyfor.PNG (54.27 KiB) Viewed 21124 times
8. Don't know if you guys ever worked with DOS (if you need to use google to find out you didn't) so here's what to do next:
You need to change the working directory to use TCL from the command prompt.
The command to change one layer towards ROOT (C:) is
cd..The current directory for me is: C:\Users\admin
To get to ROOT I need to change directory twice --> type
cd.. -> hit enter
cd.. -> hit enter
Now I'm on ROOT level
- root.PNG (34.59 KiB) Viewed 21124 times
To change to TCL/BIN I need to use the change directory
cd command again --> type
cd tcl -> hit enter
cd bin -> hit enter
The command
dir lists the content of this directory (optional! just to make sure we're there)
- Now we're in the required directory to start using the tool!
- changetclbin.PNG (61.9 KiB) Viewed 21124 times
9. Now you can convert to .XML-file into a 3D .WRL-file
I'm using the .XML-file for my Rachel quad for this example! So, the required command line is:
tclsh.exe convert.tcl rachel_0r1.xml rachel_0r1.wrlwith:
tclsh.exe - compiler for TCL language
convert.tcl - program to run
rachel_0r1.xml - XML input file
rachel_0r1.wrl - WRL output file
You can use whatever filename you want! Just make sure your input is a valid .XML-file and the extension for the output file is .wrl
- Start the conversion tool from the command line
- run script.PNG (73.68 KiB) Viewed 21124 times
- Output file is rachel_0r1.wrl - 3D model of your quad
- output.PNG (67.84 KiB) Viewed 21124 times
10. Use a program to view WRL-files
One example is ORBISNAP (free of cost, find it here:
http://www.orbisnap.com/download2.html). That's the one I used for most of the screenshots in this thread (the ones with a black background)
Another one - not free of cost - is 3D-TOOL (
http://www.3d-tool.com). This is a commercial software but a test version is available too. I've used this tool to generate the 3D .PDF files and the screenshots with the gray background.
There are for sure other tools out there! If you find a nice - FREE - one post a link!
11. Re-View your 3D .WRL file and find possible errors!
Feel free to ask your questions here! Maybe Fred will also add something to this. As far as I know he's planning to have an easier to use (C-language) version of the convert tool soon.
Cheers
Joerg
P.S. The answer to my question is: left- and right skid names are mixed up!