Gamekit render window opens behind Blender

[GoogleCodeExporter]

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Build Gamekit on OSX
2. Follow instructions to enable and configure Gamekit in Blender
3. Render a scene by click the "Start Gamekit" button.

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
Gamekit render window should pop up. But instead it opens quietly behind 
Blender. Since the Blender window is usually big, getting access to the Gamekit 
window means that you have to drag Blender a long distance to be out of way. 
This becomes a nuisance if one has to do it many times.

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?
Different versions of Gamekit (from r1020 to r1180) have the same behavior. OS 
X 10.6 and 10.8. Blender 2.63. 

Please provide any additional information below.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by afterb...@gmail.com on 24 Sep 2012 at 6:52

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hmm,...all I can say is that it works on Linux and Win. So it is os-specific.
(Actually this is the first time I heard about this issue...)

Since I have no mac-testsystem anymore, fastest would be to help us fix it.
Maybe there is a way to start external applications in python with a priority 
or such. To see what is done when the start-button is pressed, right-click on 
the button in blender and click "Edit Source"(or similiar). The coresponding 
python-script is then available as TextBlock...

Original comment by thomas.t...@googlemail.com on 25 Sep 2012 at 10:19

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Whenever an issue becomes OSX-specific, it's no good news, as it means I 
"boldly go where no man has gone before" :)

I looked at python documentation about subprocess. Couldn't find anything 
relevant for OS X, even though there is a STARTUPINFO option for Windows. Since 
I'm not a python guy, I don't know where to go next step.

Original comment by afterb...@gmail.com on 25 Sep 2012 at 11:12

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Maybe we can trick a bit here. I searched for a way to keep a window on top on 
osx and found afloat which seems to be able to do the job. Actually I'm not 
sure if these can remember to do this always for e.g. gamekit...but maybe it is 
worth a try:

http://infinite-labs.net/afloat/

Original comment by thomas.t...@googlemail.com on 26 Sep 2012 at 1:26

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks for the lead. Unfortunately afloat doesn't work with the gamekit popup 
window, even though it can work with the blender main window. 

The other issue is that the gamekit window hid mouse pointer when it's on 
focus. This makes it very hard to simulate a tap (as you would do on a touch 
screen device), since you can't see where your pointer is and don't know if 
you're tapping a object or not. Any workaround on this one? Thanks very much.

Original comment by afterb...@gmail.com on 27 Sep 2012 at 5:45

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Disable "Grab Input" in the addon!? Or you have to create some kind of 
software-mouse e.g. using overlay...

Original comment by thomas.t...@googlemail.com on 1 Oct 2012 at 12:31

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Unchecking "Grab Input" has no effect. The mouse pointer is still missing in 
the gamekit render view. Is this another Mac OS-specific issue? I have not used 
gamekit addon in Windows or Linux.

Original comment by afterb...@gmail.com on 1 Oct 2012 at 10:35

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hmm,...sounds familiar. I think for some reason showing the mouse-cursor didn't 
work, so you have to use a software mouse using overlay. I created one sample 
for you (using TestLuaProcessManager.blend as base)
Hope that helps for the moment.

Original comment by thomas.t...@googlemail.com on 2 Oct 2012 at 12:55

Attachments:

• TestSoftwareMouse.blend

[GoogleCodeExporter]

How wonderful !  The example file gave me the effect I want, and saved me a lot 
of time. Thanks. I have to confess I'm still learning my rope with Lua. 

I think this file should be helpful to other people too. So it may also be good 
to put it in the wiki somewhere. 

Original comment by afterb...@gmail.com on 2 Oct 2012 at 5:48