packpanda

After numerous attempts on my PC, packpanda finally worked on Sunny's laptop. Thus proving even the computers at IIT are smart :)

Here's more information about packpanda

Chirag's drag and drop module (.py file) was used for the experiment and we successfully built a self-extracting installer, making the module an executable (.exe).

Drag Drop Module Up and Running

Start with a liitle experimentation with the Chessboard tutorial for Panda. Add to that substantial help from the Panda community. And voila! You get a working Drag Drop Module.

Here's a few screenshots:

This is the initial screen. The script provides the user with the capability to select and move the squares across the screen.

The screenshot has somehow not captured the mouse position. The light purple square being dragged. The next image displays the subsequent selection and dragging of the green square.

The code is available at my uhuroo site. Running the code in the Python shell returns the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "", line 3, in
import direct.directbase.DirectStart
ImportError: No module named direct.directbase.DirectStart

Here's the solution to that little problem:

1. Place the code in a particular directory.
2. In command prompt (for the Windows Platform), enter the following command:
ppython filename.py

ppython invokes Panda's python interpreter. It works better since it knows where exactly to look for the libraries.

I am tinkering the code to now achieve the same effect with the .egg meshes exported to Panda. Will post the results soon.

Chicken Exporter

One of the only positives that has come out of the swine flu pandemic is a 3 day break that has allowed me to get cracking on the project after a week long hiatus.

With Shobit working on converting .py files into installer setups, I began working on creating the py app itself. The first task being exporting the Blender molecule meshes to Panda. This is achieved using the Chicken Exporter, a python script that converts the .blend files to .egg files forming a common ground between Blender and Panda.

Here's the download link : http://sourceforge.net/projects/chicken-export/

While exporting UV wrapped meshes works perfectly fine, there have been a few problems with armatures, but for all practical purposes, our meshes can be painlessly transfered to Panda.

The first executable shall be posted shortly.