PVR Shaman Suggestions

PowerVR Insider
1

A nice tool, it saves us from writing our own FX Composer, and I think it should supports Imagination hardware better.


However, after trying this tool, I found some problems, I'll try to describe them as clearly as possible:


1. The code editor is not convenient enough:
   Do not support comment/uncomment of code blocks. When I try to comment each line seperately, the text cursor do not keep at the home of a


line, so I must keep on clicking "left arrow key" ( or "home key" ).
   Do not support "ctrl + mouse left click" to choose a word.
   When I click in the "line count" region, it can't select the whole line ( includes the /r/n ).
   I can use "ctrl + f" to open a search window, but I can't use "ctrl + f" to close it.


2. No material pannel ( like in 3ds max ). I can't easily preview the materials. Besides, if the material count increases, it's not convenient to choose them from a drop-down list.


3. I opened a material effect code and did some modify, then I pressed F5, but it didn't apply the material to the mesh. Why not apply the current editing material?


4. I open PVR Shaman, maximum the window, then open a POD. But if I close the tool then open it again, the window is not maxed, and the latest POD is not auto opened.


5. The control of the 3D view window is not convenient, I have to click the "pan/rotate..." buttons again and again. Why not refer to 3DSMax ?


6. BUG: open the tool, then click Editor pannel, then the Editor label keeps shinning.


7. The error report of the shader compiler is sometimes incorrect, and may cause some misunderstanding.


8. I choose "Help menu", but it brings up a file relocation window?


I think problem 6,7,8 are not fatal, however I hope the rest problems can be fixed.


Thanks a lot.

2

Thanks for the feedback directdraw19. We will include some of your suggestions in our next release. Which version of PVRShaman are you using, and are you using Windows or Linux?

1.
a) ‘comment/uncomment code blocks’
- This will be supported in the next release.

b) ‘text cursor do not keep at the home of a line’
- PVRShaman’s behaviour is consistent with other popular editors, so we don’t want to change this behaviour.

c) ‘When I click in the “line count” region, it can’t select the whole line’
- I’m not quite sure what you mean here. Is this to do with clicking the line number in the shader output panel?

d) ‘ctrl + f’
- Using ctrl+f to close the find dialog does not seem to be supported in other popular editors, so we don’t want to use it in PVRShaman.

2. We will consider adding a material panel for future releases.

3. This problem has been reported before, it will be fixed in the next release. In the mean time, try using ‘Build’ -> ‘Rebuild Shaders’, which forces all the shaders to be recompiled.

4. The maximised window state should be preserved, this will be fixed for the next release.
‘File’ -> ‘Open Recent Pod’ allows the last POD to be easily opened, there are no plans to auto open the last file at the moment, but we will consider this for future releases.

5. I don’t understand very well. What navigation are you doing that requires clicking pan and rotate again and again? Which specific feature of 3DSMax are you referring too?

6. I will try to re-create this problem.

7. If you could provide us with specific cases where it goes wrong, that would be helpful. A description, or screen shot, of the message and also include the shader/PFX.

8. ‘Help’ should open the PDF user manual. Are you getting a dialog to provide the location of the PDF file, or a dialog to provide the location of your PDF reader? Have you moved the location of the PVRShaman executable? This may cause problems with PVRShaman finding the location of the PDF user manual.

Thanks,
Stefan

3

Thanks for the reply, I'm using the latest version (ver 1.5) of PVRShaman, on Windows XP SP2.


1 c)
I mean the pfx code editor window.
When I click at the very left column of the window ( the gray region which displays line numbers ), I can't select the whole line.
I think this function is quite useful while editing texts, user can copy & paste text lines smoothly.


2
For example:
"left button mouse drag" to pan
"right button mouse drag" to rotate
"mouse wheel" or "left&right button mouse drag" to scale
I think it's easier to navigate this way, as an alternative option to the toolbar.


7
The sample *.pfx is missing, I remember I wrote this code:
uniform sampler2D sampler2d;
varying highp float UVMain; // should be vec2, it's a typing error
lowp vec4 color = texture2D(sampler2d, UVMain);
and the error report said:  can't find the "texture2D" function. ( or something like that, I can't remember )


8
I have installed the SDK to the default directory.
I got a dialog to provide the location of the PDF file, I clicked 'OK' but nothing happened.


Thanks,
TK

4

Thanks for the extra information. We we will try to take the suggestions on board for future releases.

Stefan.

Stefan2008-12-02 16:02:39