Decals... I'll give it a bash...
by Rhys Butler · in Torque Game Engine · 05/05/2003 (9:53 pm) · 1 replies
Well i've had the torque engine for about 3 weeks now, and ive fiddled with it, added some new scripts and code from the site here, and started working on a mini test game.
One feature that im sorely missing is the ability to render permanant decals (ala mould, blood, scratches, etc), primarily on interiors, but also on exteriors perhaps. I did searches on the forums and found no-one had seemingly sucessfully completed this (at least publically), so i've decided to give it a bash. Dunno how long it will take, nor if ill end up finishing it, but its a feature id love to have and im sure others would mind either.
Before i even get started, i thought id just do a brainstorm and hopefully people can comment and tell me if that sounds ok or if im way off base.
Torque already has a "decalmanager" which handles all the temporary decals, such as footsteps, bulletholes, etc. So most if not all of the rendering code exists, plus a lot of other details about decals.
Im thinking of making a new decalmanager (not a replacement, a whole new thing), and of course, call it something else. Are decals examined (queried, rendered, etc) when they are out of view? Im thinking that perhaps I could work with portal zones, and each portal zone has its own batch of decals. That way, each zone could have say, a certain decal max. If your in one portal, only that portal's decals need be considered (otherwise, if you have a huge level and a lot of decals, there is a huge amount of data to swallow, even if your only displaying one decal at the time). So decals in other portal zones arent even considered. Or maybe decals in adjacent zones are considered.
Of course, we want the ability to add decals in Worldcraft (and quark, but i dont use quark) using the decal entity already available. So the map2dif needs to be updated aswell. This shoundt be too too hard. And possibly decals could be added in the torque mission editor (like a permanant dry blood splatter on the ground.
Anyway, im just thinking out loud. I'd appreciate any ideas, guidance, or otherwise from the community. And if this is giving anyone else ideas and they want to give it a bash themselves, then go ahead. Im thinking this would be a decent addition to the engine, not just a hackjob (although it'll probably start that way). And if the idea does work out, maybe itll even end up a release, who knows.
Any comments would be appreciated.
T.
One feature that im sorely missing is the ability to render permanant decals (ala mould, blood, scratches, etc), primarily on interiors, but also on exteriors perhaps. I did searches on the forums and found no-one had seemingly sucessfully completed this (at least publically), so i've decided to give it a bash. Dunno how long it will take, nor if ill end up finishing it, but its a feature id love to have and im sure others would mind either.
Before i even get started, i thought id just do a brainstorm and hopefully people can comment and tell me if that sounds ok or if im way off base.
Torque already has a "decalmanager" which handles all the temporary decals, such as footsteps, bulletholes, etc. So most if not all of the rendering code exists, plus a lot of other details about decals.
Im thinking of making a new decalmanager (not a replacement, a whole new thing), and of course, call it something else. Are decals examined (queried, rendered, etc) when they are out of view? Im thinking that perhaps I could work with portal zones, and each portal zone has its own batch of decals. That way, each zone could have say, a certain decal max. If your in one portal, only that portal's decals need be considered (otherwise, if you have a huge level and a lot of decals, there is a huge amount of data to swallow, even if your only displaying one decal at the time). So decals in other portal zones arent even considered. Or maybe decals in adjacent zones are considered.
Of course, we want the ability to add decals in Worldcraft (and quark, but i dont use quark) using the decal entity already available. So the map2dif needs to be updated aswell. This shoundt be too too hard. And possibly decals could be added in the torque mission editor (like a permanant dry blood splatter on the ground.
Anyway, im just thinking out loud. I'd appreciate any ideas, guidance, or otherwise from the community. And if this is giving anyone else ideas and they want to give it a bash themselves, then go ahead. Im thinking this would be a decent addition to the engine, not just a hackjob (although it'll probably start that way). And if the idea does work out, maybe itll even end up a release, who knows.
Any comments would be appreciated.
T.
Torque Owner Nick Marden