22 February, 2002

• Wrote simple test bed application to test animation playback and skinning performance.
• Despite declaring the file format finalised last week, I decided to make some minor changes that will make LOD ranges easier to edit in third party tools.
• Updated the tools so they are able to create mdl4 files without a skeleton (for simple static meshes with LODs). This will mean that the old model format can eventually be discarded.
• Found a bug in the shadow volume generation code in the model conversion tools, which is now fixed.
• Killed off some old legacy entry points into the renderer.
• The model cache is now dynamically growing.
• Updated the model system in Cipher, so it is capable of loading mdl4 files.
• Made the new model loading code endian safe (works on big and little endian systems now)
• Optimised the skinning code to exploit some obvious fast paths.
• Tested new mdl4 conversion, loading and rendering using sample models from licensees. Passed all tests first time...
• More optimal culling when shadows are disabled, but a model has asked to cast shadows.
• Updated the company web site with a page that links to our partners.
• Added a function to the game code API that lets developers query the transform of a bone in a animation. This is especially useful for attaching models to the skeleton (eg placing a sword in a characters hand).