This is the place to ask questions, share information to help answer someone's query or to talk about what programs we use, what techniques we like to help us get the effects we're looking for. To post a question, please use the THREAD feature at the bottom of the page. To answer a question (it doesn't need to be posted here first, it's enough that you know others wonder or that you yourself came up with a solution to a problem you used to have), click EasyEdit and add the question in bold and then the answer below, in plain text.

For clarity I suggest we use a format such as this, for answers:
Answer: text about how to solve the problem [Fire-Valkyrie]
This way multiple members can give their advice without us all changing texts and colours into something that in the end proves difficult to read... I also suggest that a thread, once answered in the FAQ, is deleted from the page. If the answer by necessity becomes very long, I would recommend writing a tutorial, posting it in the tutorial section and then posting a link to it, from this page.

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Check out the Tutorials page

What is Flux?

Flux Studio is a 3D modelling and animation program which can export in VRML, x3D, and many other formats. Available for free, from the Media Machines website, Flux is an updated version of Spazz3D (which is no longer supported or sold.)

How do I get Flux?

Go here to get an absolutely free download of Flux.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Media Machines also produces Flux Player, a free browser plug-in which enables you to view both VRML and x3D files on the web. Flux Player is an alternative to the plug-ins from blaxxun and Bitmanagement. It's quite cool, but if it is your only 3D plugin, you will have trouble in CT and other blaxxun communities.
Flux Player is automatically downloaded when you download Flux Studio. However, it is NOT automatically installed. Once you have downloaded Flux, open the file to start the Installation Wizard. Accept the default settings until you see the window below. Click "Never Mind" if you would rather not install Flux Player.
An alternative (or fix, if you forgot and let it install) is to install the Player, then reinstall your other plug-in.

How does Flux Studio compare to Spazz3D?

Flux Studio has virtually the same interface as Spazz3D, so if you can use Spazz3d, you'll find it easy to adapt to Flux Studio instead. The menus and tool bars are all right about where you expect them to be, and can be customized similarly.

The first important difference between the two programs is that Spazz3D is no longer sold or supported. So if you want the capabilities of Spazz, and don't already have it on your computer, you'll want to get Flux Studio. Flux is totally free.

The second important difference is that Flux is much more powerful and allows you to export both to VRML and x3D (x3D is the new standard for 3D on the web, which will eventually replace VRML.) Flux allows you to easily produce VRML elements that people formerly needed to handcode in a program like VRMLPad. For example, in Flux, you can easily create cool plane sensors and animate color changes in materials and textures. Flux supports much more of the VRML specification, as well as most of the x3D spec, and provides an easy way to script both. For a full list of features, click here.

There are some differences between the two in the interface. The first one you will notice is that both the Tree Window and the Properties Window (the one with the tabs) are fixed, rather than floating. You can "float" the Tree from the View pull-down menu, and it may be possible to do the same with the other, but I haven't figured that out yet. ; )

Another interface difference is in the Properties Window. Instead of three tabs for Translation, Scale, and Rotation, you'll find just one. Once you are on that tab, you can either enter numbers directly, or click one of the small icons on the far right to determine which action will be performed when you drag your mouse.

Flux also allows you to use "hot keys" (haven't tried it yet), and displays Animation timelines horizontally rather than vertically.

NOTE: Using Flux with Vista OS

Once you have installed Flux Studio, find the name of the program under All Programs.
Right click on Flux Studio, choose Properties from the pop up menu. Click on the Security
tab. Do the following for both the name you usually use on your computer, and for the
Administrator name: Click on Edit and click the Allow checkboxes for the whole list of options.
Click OK. This should allow you to use Flux without your computer arguing with you about it.



How do I get help with Flux?

You can visit Media Machines' Developer Forums or the Flux Studio Wiki. Additionally, most Spazz3D tutorials will be helpful for users of Flux Studio. And, of course, we hope to add tutorials on this site (there's one already.) You are also welcome to post additional questions below this one (click the Easy Edit button at the top) or add Comments below.

What is "Layer3D"? The Blaxxun Contact Console won't open WRLs that have this Layer3D input or node, and states "Syntax Errors" as the reason. Why does Flux add this Layer3D line into the edit tree, just below Group:GROUND to every imported WRL file, even those WRLS that were created wholly by Flux itself? What causes this anomaly, and what are the possible methods to work-around this issue?

Layer3D is a special extension node for VRML but is a standard node for x3D. The blaxxun and bitManagement plug-ins support it only when the correct EXTERNPROTO is referenced (and according to rumor, not always then---apparently it isn't possible to use Layer3D in CT at all.)
Why Flux always "wraps" imported wrl's into a Layer3D node is probably best answered by the people at Media Machines, but it is most likely because Flux is directed more to x3D development than towards VRML, which is an outdated standard declared dead many years ago ; )
Dealing with this is easier than explaining why it happens. In your Tree, click the "+" sign next to Layer3D. Manually drag the contents out and up into GROUND until the Layer3D folder is empty. Then delete Layer3D from your tree.
Keep in mind that when you create your own wrl's in Flux, you should save them as .fxw files while working, then export in the format you choose. Avoid importing to avoid the Layer3D phenomenon.

While building and examining WRLobjects in Flux Studio there are two buttons located on the main toolbar for viewing in 3D. One button has a red box icon "Quick Preview" and it displays the object every time. The button "X3D" to the left of it will show the object with full functioning animations, when it works. Many times when I hit the X3D button the object doesn't show at all. Sometimes the object is hiding and sometimes it's nowhere to be found. Why is this X3D preview failing to display the objects consistently?

It's hard to be sure, but my theory here would be that the objects previewed contain references to blaxxun EXTERNPROTO's or other VRML extensions which the Flux Player doesn't recognize. Even if you use Blaxxun Contact or Bitmanagement as your default VRML viewer, the X3D preview is provided by Flux Player.

The UNDO Arrow: "Go-Back" from most recent manipulation, act, edit or setting?
Am having trouble learning the charactoristics and "moods" of the Undo Arrow as it seems to be unpredictable and inconsistent at times. There are some single basic edits I'd like to "go-back" one step from and the Undo utility won't allow it. Here is one example: Create a simple Sculpted Surface. Edit spine and add a couple of vertebra. Now choose any of the vertebra and make any kind of singular alteration to it. If you don't like that change you just did to the vertebra you'd expect to be able to hit the Undo Arrow and try that alteration again. However the Undo does not go back one step, but instead deletes the entire vertebra. And there are other anomalies and eccentricities regarding the Undo untility too. How can we set up the Undo mechanism to go back to most recent act, instead of sometimes skipping acts?

I've had the same experience in Flux, and don't know any way around it. You might try looking at the Command History and selecting a particular stage.

One other feature within Flux that is available and VERY useful is to utilize the Undo History setting. When you choose this, a small window pops up that lists all of the 'changes' that are available to alter/undo. If you double click, for instance, on where you converted a node to IFS, it will make a copy of the original node in place of the IFS. It will also retain the IFS that had originally made.

NURBS and Flux:
Have noticed that if you choose to use Nurbs on your Flux creation the WRL you export cannot be opened by Blaxxun. Have found a tutorial page that supplies a special code that can be implanted into the file, just below the VRML header using VRML Pad that cures this mismatch. However that code is not working for me. What is the working code, where do we paste it in, and why does Flux require a Nurb/Blaxxun workaround while Nurbs created with Spazz seem to render fine?

This is another x3D/VRML thing. x3D is the replacement for VRML, and unlike VRML, it has a built-in nurb node. VRML did not, so the ability to use nurbs was supplied by blaxxun extensions. blaxxun recognizes its own nurbs, but not always the nurbs created by Flux. Flux Player, in turn, doesn't recognize blaxxun extensions. Do check though, that blaxxun really won't open it: if you just get a warning, it may open anyway. I'd have to see the tutorial page and how you are using it to help on the coding. CT has blaxxun's nurb extension built-in, I believe, so that it won't be necessary to include it.

Flux "Create Text" :
Have created some items with initials on them using the Create Text utility in Flux. I first tried a few in the extruded text mode but when completed I found that my exported WRLs didn't perform correctly using Blaxxun to open it. I'd get this popup "Unknown Node class "ExtrudedFontStyle" which evidently means Blaxxun couldn't recognize or render the Flux text. The WRL would open after closing out the popup, but without any text. So then I re-did all my texts, opting for the standard non-extruded font. The WRLs this time opened in Blaxxun without any warning popups, however the text did not display properly. All the letters were askew and a couple were missing. Even though I triple-checked all my alignments and parenthoods and even put them into a new fresh group it didn't help. The FXW files display the creations correctly, exactly as I built them, however Blaxxun is having some troubles with this Flux text. Any clues?

Found a work-around to this anomaly. Did some testings and discovered at least one method to use this function. Opened up a fresh Flux and made a couple of different types of extruded texts to export as WRL files. Did this to make sure the texts were in a pristene environment so to rule out the possiblity the software was getting confused by something else in the scene. Yet again though, all these WRL exports failed to open with Blaxxun and with the same reason that Contact didn't know how to process this unfamiliar "Extruded Text Node". So I began to think about ways to simply change the name of these files, and happily I found ways:) I tried mixing these nodes with other nodes, and by trying various manipulations such as Boolean Operations. Both the Extraction and the Union Operations worked. All these text extractions could now be opened by Blaxxun after being manipulated in this manner. The Boolean changes/converts the character of these nodes to Indexed Face Sets and of course Blaxxun can recognize those. One glitch still however, in that Blaxxun opens the altered text nodes, but they are still out of place from where they belong. And I found that I could workaround this last setback by making sure the text node is making direct physical contact with another main node in order to display its correct placement in Blaxxun as built in Flux. So the answer seems to be that you can use text extrusions as long as you alter them into a more mainstream node. And no "hovering". You can attach the text to a thin board or poster and make the board invisible and place the combined unit anywhere after that if hovering is desired:) ...... *Addendum: By further investigation and testing I've found that no special manipulations are necessary to the extruded texts to make them adapt to Blaxxun. Simply right-click any extruded text node and use the "Convert to IFS" command in the dropdown list and that should take care of most problems:)

One hint that might prove helpful when placing ABC's in an item is to utilize the Hor. Justify and the Vert. Justify settings. By adjusting these settings you can get a far more accurrate placement of teh ABC node when it is exported.