Torque 3D Development - Beta 4!
by Matt Fairfax · 07/17/2009 (3:54 pm) · 68 comments
Download Torque 3D Beta 4 from your Account
I'm not sure how, but I believe we have managed to get more into Beta 4 than we did into Beta 3 and we did it in half the time! You'll find the complete list in the Torque 3D forums.
New Stuff in Beta 4!
Datablock Editor - This new editor allows you to quickly and easily update the shared data that powers so much of Torque from inside of the World Editor. Quickly create and modify datablocks and watch the changes happen in realtime while saving directly into your existing scripts.
Undercity - First debuted at GDC 2009, this tight, fast paced deathmatch map by Logan Foster and Adrian Wright of Max Gaming Technologies has been pushing the boundaries of our lighting system and Collada loader since day one. This level is helping to lead the way in redefining what a "Torque" level can be.
Beta 4 also includes...
- Dynamic lighting in Basic Lighting
- A Cubemap Editor accessible from the Material Editor
- Specular Maps which allow you to control your shape's specular color and power on a per pixel level
- Vastly improved Depth of Field PostFX
- Simple example objects with source code to demonstrate how to best use GFX2
- Support for non-convex (polysoup) collision meshes
Decal Editor Video Tutorial
Be sure to not miss the latest of Lara Engebretson's excellent video tutorials about how to use the Decal Editor:
Torque 3D Showoff!
One of the most impressive thing about Torque 3D is just how quickly people are getting incredible artwork into their games! There has a been a ton of developers and artists willing to show off cool things they are doing with Torque 3D and for Beta 4 we decided to open up that thread so that everyone can see the jaw-droppingly cool stuff that has been happening during the Beta. For those of you who don't own Torque 3D yet, be sure to ask questions about it in our new open forum. (The private Torque 3D forum will continue until full release.)
Here is just a small sampling from Song Yongjin, Daniel Hopkins, deepscratch, JulianR, J, Qbound, Tom Spilman, Hewster, and Steve Acaster:
There are also a number of beautiful Torque 3D videos floating around. Here are some from Steve Acaster, the ever excited and industrious OmegaDog, and deepscratch:
More development blogs to come. This is post #27.
Torque 3D development blogs:
- Post #1 - Kickoff
- Post #2 - Apparatus and Warrior Camp
- Post #3 - Luma's racing kit
- Post #4 - Josh Engebretson and Web Publishing
- Post #5 - Pricing and Licensing
- Post #6 - Pricing and Licensing CONTINUED
- Post #7 - Wetness & Precipitation
- Post #8 - Screeen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO)
- Post #9 - Matt Langley and the Torque Launcher
- Post #10 - Chris Robertson and Collada
- Post #11 - Depth of Field
- Post #12 - Advanced Lighting
- Post #13 - Soft Particles
- Post #14 - World Editor
- Post #15 - Pricing and Licensing ANNOUNCED!
- Post #16 - GDC Live Edition
- Post #17 - River & Road Editors
- Post #18 - Beta is UP!
- Post #19 - Light Rays, Undercity, and the Material Editor
- Post #20 - Mass Market Hardware
- Post #21 - Beta: Part Deux
- Post #22 - Marching Towards Beta 3
- Post #23 - pureLIGHT
- Post #24 - Lighting, Terrain, and Cloth
- Post #25 - Beta 3!
- Post #26 - Documentation
- Post #27 - Beta 4!
- Post #28 - Coming Soon!
About the author
By day, I am a senior programmer at The Playforge, makers of the popular iPhone game Zombie Farm. By night, I work on my own games as Night Heron Games. I am an ex-GarageGames employee who helped ship TGE, TGEA, Torque 3D, and Constructor.
#22
Love the datablock editor! Somewhere along the line the particle editor got fixed too. So no more text editing particle effects for me :D
Hehe -- loved seeing Steve's pet dino again.
It's been more than great seeing Torque 3D come together over the past few months and become the towering force that it is. Lots of excellent work being done behind the scenes... and a whole lot of awesome being shown by a lot of different people in such a short time.
07/18/2009 (6:15 am)
Whoa! What size widescreen was that first shot taken on?Love the datablock editor! Somewhere along the line the particle editor got fixed too. So no more text editing particle effects for me :D
Hehe -- loved seeing Steve's pet dino again.
It's been more than great seeing Torque 3D come together over the past few months and become the towering force that it is. Lots of excellent work being done behind the scenes... and a whole lot of awesome being shown by a lot of different people in such a short time.
#23
that huge scene that I am working on has jumped from 11 FPS to a whopping 35 FPS!!!
and now I'm getting around 65 FPS in warrior camp, where before I was getting 21 FPS.
NICE!!!
07/18/2009 (8:16 am)
wow, I'm impressed, there must have been a lot of optimizing goin on for this beta,that huge scene that I am working on has jumped from 11 FPS to a whopping 35 FPS!!!
and now I'm getting around 65 FPS in warrior camp, where before I was getting 21 FPS.
NICE!!!
#24
I just had a look through the Unreal Engine features, and there isn't too much there which it has above Torque 3D (aside from a few things). Great work, I can't wait to see what BETA 5 brings.
One question - I've had a look through the available Add-Ons, and I'm definately intrested in a couple. How can I tell which ones support Torque 3D and which don't?
07/18/2009 (10:44 am)
Nice to see some more improvements to an already amazing engine =) I've yet to buy Torque 3D professional (waiting for that $1000 to come through!), but I should have it by the end of next month :DI just had a look through the Unreal Engine features, and there isn't too much there which it has above Torque 3D (aside from a few things). Great work, I can't wait to see what BETA 5 brings.
One question - I've had a look through the available Add-Ons, and I'm definately intrested in a couple. How can I tell which ones support Torque 3D and which don't?
#26
yay......
07/18/2009 (12:06 pm)
Downloading sure is fun when you're using a neighbor's internet connection....ESPECIALLY when it stops working whenever the phone is being used. Even better, when the download is 98% finished and your mom calls to check up on you!yay......
#27
Maybe you could tie an extra bit of string and paper cup to it
;D
07/18/2009 (1:51 pm)
Quote:using a neighbor's internet connection....ESPECIALLY when it stops working whenever the phone is being used
Maybe you could tie an extra bit of string and paper cup to it
;D
Quote:download is 98% finished and your mom calls to check up on you!Awwww, she was just making sure it was going okay ... which it was till then! I believe this is known Internationally as "Murphy's Law".
#28
Can you add decals to animated dts shapes? Such as blood spots on players?
07/18/2009 (7:02 pm)
I am guessing since it said the decal editor is part of the material editor it's true, but I have a question.Can you add decals to animated dts shapes? Such as blood spots on players?
#29
I'm afraid the system can't handle that at this point =(
07/19/2009 (2:31 am)
Quote:Can you add decals to animated dts shapes? Such as blood spots on players?
I'm afraid the system can't handle that at this point =(
#30
07/19/2009 (5:42 am)
Pure Awesomeness! 
#31
07/19/2009 (6:42 pm)
Wow you can miss some really great stuff in life when you go camping for the weekend... :D
#32
You mean go ... like ... outside?
8D
07/19/2009 (7:41 pm)
Quote:
when you go camping for the weekend
You mean go ... like ... outside?
8D
#33
(beta 4) and got all normals flipped and
the lower half of the screen is in lower resolution?
the z buffer does also very strange things:
i can see through the player.
did i install something wrong?
( direktX ans it's SDK are up to date)
can i somehow post a jpeg here?
THX
07/19/2009 (8:25 pm)
just bought and tried Torque 3D Professional(beta 4) and got all normals flipped and
the lower half of the screen is in lower resolution?
the z buffer does also very strange things:
i can see through the player.
did i install something wrong?
( direktX ans it's SDK are up to date)
can i somehow post a jpeg here?
THX
#34
relpace second "image" with "/image"
Whats your Hardware etc..
07/19/2009 (8:30 pm)
[image]http://YourSite.com/YourFilename[image]relpace second "image" with "/image"
Whats your Hardware etc..
#35
GFX card is NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT
i just found out that any other display mode
(normals VIZ, light color VIV,....)
is perfectly working.
only the normal display mode is not "normal"
THX
07/19/2009 (8:36 pm)
i got a mac running WINDOWS XP ( 8 core )GFX card is NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT
i just found out that any other display mode
(normals VIZ, light color VIV,....)
is perfectly working.
only the normal display mode is not "normal"
THX
#36
So no blood splots on players?
What about 3d decals? Like an arrow stuck in a wall?
07/19/2009 (8:52 pm)
Quote:I'm afraid the system can't handle that at this point =(
So no blood splots on players?
What about 3d decals? Like an arrow stuck in a wall?
#37
You can update your directX runtimes as well and see if that helps as well. That card should be working just fine.
07/19/2009 (9:49 pm)
Christian, can you update your drivers from nVidia if you haven't already and see if that makes a difference?You can update your directX runtimes as well and see if that helps as well. That card should be working just fine.
#38
it's all updated BUT:
i found out if i switch from advanced
to normal lighting, then the errors are
gone.
may that helps to find the bad boy (driver)
THX
07/19/2009 (9:56 pm)
thx Kennethit's all updated BUT:
i found out if i switch from advanced
to normal lighting, then the errors are
gone.
may that helps to find the bad boy (driver)
THX
#39
07/19/2009 (11:18 pm)
@Tyler: There aren't really 3d Decals, but you can use Materials on your decals, so you could give them a parallax map for bullet holes or crevices for example.
#40
Here's an exercise for you. Fire a projectile -> record it's transform at the moment of impact -> place a new static shape at said transform (maybe add a velocity based offset for penetration). I've done that before... all in script.
07/19/2009 (11:29 pm)
Quote:Has always been possible -- it's called static shapes.
What about 3d decals? Like an arrow stuck in a wall?
Here's an exercise for you. Fire a projectile -> record it's transform at the moment of impact -> place a new static shape at said transform (maybe add a velocity based offset for penetration). I've done that before... all in script.
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