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* NeL plug-ins for 3DSMAX 3.1 compilation notes
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* $Id: compilation_notes.txt,v 1.6 2001/10/05 14:56:45 corvazier Exp $

** DISTRIBUTION NOTES **

Given that Max plug-ins are linked to the 3DSMax SDK (which is not Gnu GPL) 
and to NeL (which is Gnu GPL), anyone distributing plug-ins in binary form will be in 
breach of the Gnu GPL.
 
In English than means that you shouldn't distribute the plug-ins as binaries.
You are, of course, free to distribute the source code.

THIS PLUGIN HAVE BEEN TESTED ON 3DSMAX3.1 WITH CHARACTER STUDIO 3.

** VISUAL CONFIGURATION **

This projects have been compiled with MS Visual c++ 6.

You must have the 3dsmax 3.1 SDK installed (by default, it is not).
You must have the Character Studio 3 SDK installed.

You must configure your compiler and add the following pathes:

/MAXSDK/lib			to the lib search path
/MAXSDK/include			to the include search path
/MAXSDK/include/maxscrpt	to the include search path
/CHARACTER_STUDIO_SDK		to the include search path

The maxsdk is "c:\3dsmax3_1\maxsdk" on a standard installation.

Put the 3dsmax sdk include directories before the Visual studio ones
because there is some conflicts between them.

** PROJECTS **

There is three plug-ins in this package:

1) nel_export : an export / view utility plug-in for NeL.
2) nel_patch_converted : a patch converter to translate max patches in NeL patches.
3) tile_utility : an utility plug-in to load tile banks in 3dsmax.

** DEPENDENCIES **

Thoses plug-ins need some sub projects to work with:

1) NeL 3d library
2) NeL misc library
3) NeL openGL driver
4) nel_mesh_lib : library of functions to convert max Meshes and animation data in NeL format.
5) nel_patch_lib : library of functions to convert max patches in NeL format.
6) object_viewer : the common NeL tool to watch nel objects and animations.
7) nel_3dsmax_shared : shared dll for NeL plug-ins

** INSTALL **

Once all those projects are compiled you should have:

* nelexport.dlu
* neltileutility.dlu
* nelconvertpatch.dlm. 

Thoses dll must go in a plugins directory of 3dsmax. (ex: c:/3dsmax3_1/plugins)

* nel_3dsmax_shared.dll
* object_viewer.dll
* object_viewer.cfg
* nel_drv_opengl_win.dll

Thoses dll must go in the 3dsmax root directory. (ex: c:/3dsmax3_1)

* nel_light.ms
* nel_material.ms
* nel_swt.ms
* nel_flare.ms
* nel_ps.ms

Thoses scripts must go in the startup script dirctory. (ex: c:/3dsmax3_1/scripts/startup)

** FUTURE WORKS **

* We will add a macro define to remove the need of character studio to complile the plugins
* Support for 3dsmax 4. If you compile succefully the plugin under the 4 version, write
  to us.

** HAVE SOME FUN **
