Dialog controls on 3D object surface

[Einherj 10]

Couldn't find a thread about this on the ArmA 3 categories.

I'm trying to use the old Radio or GPS models which were used in previous ArmA installations (and are still included in ArmA 3, but not used) and display dialog controls on their display areas but I'm having no luck.

I can get the radio model to display but can't get any controls to show on it's surface. Here's my code from my mission's description.ext:

class Dialog3DTest
{
   idd = -1;
   movingEnable = true;

   controlsBackground[] = {}; 

   class Objects
   {
       class RadioTest
       {
           access = ReadAndWrite;
           scale = 0.5;
           direction[] = {0,1,0};
           up[] = {0,0,-1};
           shadow = 1;
           idc = 101;
           type = 80;
           model = "\A3\ui_f\objects\radio.p3d";
           selectionDate1 = "date1";
           selectionDate2 = "date2";
           selectionDay = "day";
           x = 0.5;
           xBack = 0.5;
           y = 0.5;
           yBack = 0.5;
           z = 0.22;
           zBack = 0.22;
           inBack = 0;
           enableZoom = 0;
           zoomDuration = 1;
           waitForLoad = 0;

		class Areas
		{
			class Papir
			{
				class controls
				{
					class ControlTest
					{
						idc = 66;

						type = 0;
						style = 0;

						x = 0;
						y = 0;
						w = 1;
						h = 1;

						colorBackground[] = {0, 0, 0, 0};

						colorText[] = {1, 1, 1, 1};
						font = "PuristaMedium";
						sizeEx = 0.4;
						linespacing = 1;
						text = "Control Test";							

						tooltipColorText[] = {1, 1, 1, 1};
						tooltipColorBox[] = {1, 1, 1, 1};
						tooltipColorShade[] = {0, 0, 0, 0.65};

						shadow = true;
						colorShadow[] = {0, 0, 0, 0.5};
					};
				};
			};
		};
       };
   };

   class Controls
   {

   };
};

Has anyone done this in ArmA 3? Do you have any suggestions what I should try?

Thank you for your interest.

[Einherj 10]

Got it working!

Here's the class in description.ext:

class Radio3DTestDialog
{
idd = -1;

movingEnable = 0;
enableSimulation = 0;

controlsBackground[] =
{

};

objects[] =
{
	Radio3DObject
};

controls[] =
{

};

class Radio3DObject
{
	idc = -1;

	type = 82;

	model = "\A3\ui_f\objects\radio.p3d";

	scale = 1;

	direction[] = {0, 1, 0};
	up[] = {1, 0, -1};

	position[] = {0, -0.043, 0.25};
	positionBack[] = {0, 0, 0.625};

	inBack = 1;
	enableZoom = 1;
	zoomDuration = 0.5;

	class Areas
	{
		class ThisClassCanBeNamedWhatever
		{
			selection = "papir";

			class Controls
			{
				class EditBoxMultiLine
				{
					idc = 1;

					type = 2;
					style = 16;

					x = 0;
					y = 0;
					w = 1;
					h = 1.9;

					colorText[] = { 0 ,0 ,0 , 1 };
					colorSelection[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 };
					colorDisabled[] = { 0, 0, 0, 0 };

					sizeEx = 0.2;
					font = "PuristaMedium";

					text = "";

					autocomplete = "";
				};
			};
		};
	};
};
};

Just run it with this from your script:

createDialog "Radio3DTestDialog";

And you should get this to play with:

http://skipgo.net/arma3/hvm/dialog3d.jpg (471 kB)

Happy editing!

Edited May 18, 2014 by Einherj

[das attorney 858]

That's really clever there Einherj - Thanks for sharing :)

[Tajin 349]

Ew, I didn't even know ArmA could do that. oO

How does it handle interactive controls?

[das attorney 858]

How does it handle interactive controls?

Not very well from what I can tell - I could attach onObjectMoving, but not anything like onMouseZChanged for example - plus the object won't respond to commands like setVectorDirAndUp because it's not really an object but a control. I'll do some more testing tonight but I don't think there's much I can find.

(If that's what you mean by interactive - moving and rotating it).

[Tajin 349]

Oh I was actually thinking about buttons, listboxes or similar things.

I wonder if they still work normally when projected onto a model.

[[CORP] Sacha 3]

Thanks for sharing man, this is awesome.

Edited May 19, 2014 by GID_Sacha

[IndeedPete 1038]

Hm, that's really cool. Would be awesome if we could project controls to any object. Laptops, interactive whiteboards etc. My university owns more touchscreen whiteboards than Arma's NATO forces do I'm afraid.^^

[Einherj 10]

You have to keep in mind that the model is rendered onto the GUI layer so it's not a world model. That's why it can not be rotated or moved with script commands - it's just a control container inside the dialog.

Buttons and listboxes should work fine.

[Tajin 349]

Buttons and listboxes should work fine.

Woooh, thats awesome.

I'm going to have to give this a try. Thanks!

[Einherj 10]

I'm detecting color anomalies in some controls: buttons, editboxes, frames and backgrounds seem to be only rendered with primary colors (red, green, blue, yellow, cyan, magenta, black & white) nothing in between. Every value above zero in the color array is read as a one.

Text and pictures are rendered normally in all possible colors.

Also, map controls can't be rendered on the 3D surface. if you try to do it, the map is just rendered normally in 2D.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Einherj

[[CORP] Sacha 3]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to use this technique on a self made model, but I can't find the right way to create the name selection on the model.

The model has only one LOD (0.000), with a named selection called "screen" (a single planar rectangular face).

I configured a controle as mentionned by Einherj. The model appears in game, but nothing is rendered on the "screen" selection.

Any ideas on how to do this on user made models ?

Thanks.

[Einherj 10]

Hi Sacha,

You need four vertices in the Memory LOD each representing a corner of the screen area. In my example they would be named "papir tl", "papir tr", "papir bl" and "papir br". tl is for Top Left, tr for Top Right, bl for Bottom Left and br for Bottom Right.

I hope that helps.

Edited June 17, 2014 by Einherj

[[CORP] Sacha 3]

Hi Sacha,

You need four vertices in the Memory LOD each representing a corner of the screen area. In my example they would be named "papir tl", "papir tr", "papir bl" and "papir br". tl is for Top Left, tr for Top Right, bl for Bottom Left and br for Bottom Right.

I hope that helps.

Yep, that was exactly it ! Thanks a lot.

One point thow, the control rendered on texture doesn't seem to be clickable, i have to use tab to cycle focus between controls. Maybe the points in memory LOD have to be slightly in front of the model.

Edited June 17, 2014 by GID_Sacha

[Einherj 10]

Maybe the points in memory LOD have to be slightly in front of the model.

That might be it. That's how it's done in the BIS models.

[[CORP] Sacha 3]

Got it to work !

So here's how the model has to be configured to be able to map controls on it, and to be able to click them :

- A view LOD (0.000, 1.000, whatever)

- A Geometry LOD (apparently this will define the bounding box that will be clickable)

- A Memory LOD with the following named selections (given you want to name it "screen") :

* screen tl (top-left)

* screen tr (top-right)

* screen bl (bottom-left)

* screen br (bottom-right)

* screen (the 4 above points)

That's it.

[kremator 1065]

Have you got a picture/video that shows this Sacha? Would be cool to see it in action.

[[CORP] Sacha 3]

Hi, I'll try to make a video if I have the time.