Model slowing down Torque
by Malcolm · in Torque Game Engine · 12/08/2004 (3:54 am) · 13 replies
Hi Guys,
I'm new to the art and modelling and the Torque engine.
I have a slight problem that I can't seem to figure out. I've created a model in blender and hollowed it out so
that my man can walk into it. Now when I put it into the world and look at it Torque seems to slow right down
and jutter a little.
1: I thought that there might have been a problem with the collisions so I took them off however still slows
down Torque when I look at the object. It is a considerable difference to just wondering around the terrain.
2: I also took the textures off too because I thought that I might not have done the mapping properly however
to no avail. I have a grey model now with no texture or collisions defined and it still slows Torque down when
I look at it.
3: I've installed the tweak now to the Torque engine that increases the rendering time by 5% that was used in
the think tanks game which has improved it slightly however still the same issue. The Performance is really bad
when I use my object in the scene.
In blender I hollowed out the object by using boolean differences on a scaled down version of model I was creating
so that the model had walls. To create an opening I did a boolean from a box the size of the door on the object
which looked good and seemed fine right up until I use it. I'm thinking that maybe I need to be using blender
differently or something.
Any ideas would be appreciated?
Cheers
Mal
I'm new to the art and modelling and the Torque engine.
I have a slight problem that I can't seem to figure out. I've created a model in blender and hollowed it out so
that my man can walk into it. Now when I put it into the world and look at it Torque seems to slow right down
and jutter a little.
1: I thought that there might have been a problem with the collisions so I took them off however still slows
down Torque when I look at the object. It is a considerable difference to just wondering around the terrain.
2: I also took the textures off too because I thought that I might not have done the mapping properly however
to no avail. I have a grey model now with no texture or collisions defined and it still slows Torque down when
I look at it.
3: I've installed the tweak now to the Torque engine that increases the rendering time by 5% that was used in
the think tanks game which has improved it slightly however still the same issue. The Performance is really bad
when I use my object in the scene.
In blender I hollowed out the object by using boolean differences on a scaled down version of model I was creating
so that the model had walls. To create an opening I did a boolean from a box the size of the door on the object
which looked good and seemed fine right up until I use it. I'm thinking that maybe I need to be using blender
differently or something.
Any ideas would be appreciated?
Cheers
Mal
About the author
Game building is my hobby, I would love to make it my career one day with Torque.
#2
Basically, if you have a complex collision shape, you can really kill the performance as Torque expects clean, simple collision geometry.
If you're building something like a tunnel (that can be entered) I'd suggest breaking it down into individual surfaces and wrapping each piece in a simple collision box.
Ideally though, if this is static geometry, you might be better off just building it in Quark or Hammer and exporting to *.dif
~Hope this helps
12/08/2004 (4:50 am)
Is your collision mesh convex?Basically, if you have a complex collision shape, you can really kill the performance as Torque expects clean, simple collision geometry.
If you're building something like a tunnel (that can be entered) I'd suggest breaking it down into individual surfaces and wrapping each piece in a simple collision box.
Ideally though, if this is static geometry, you might be better off just building it in Quark or Hammer and exporting to *.dif
~Hope this helps
#3
Peter;
When I was building my model I started with a box then duplicated it. I then made one box smaller and put it inside the bigger box. I then used the boolean operation "difference" to cut the middle out of the big box so it was hollow. Next I joined the meshes (is that wrong?) It sounds like your saying that I should keep the meshes separate and then link them to the Detail32 object. Would that be right?
Kirby;
I took out the collision mesh to ensure that it wasn't the reason for the slow down but still the same. The problem is definately to do with the model itself.
Thanks for your help here guys.
12/08/2004 (7:36 am)
Thanks guys, I think Peter has something here.Peter;
When I was building my model I started with a box then duplicated it. I then made one box smaller and put it inside the bigger box. I then used the boolean operation "difference" to cut the middle out of the big box so it was hollow. Next I joined the meshes (is that wrong?) It sounds like your saying that I should keep the meshes separate and then link them to the Detail32 object. Would that be right?
Kirby;
I took out the collision mesh to ensure that it wasn't the reason for the slow down but still the same. The problem is definately to do with the model itself.
Thanks for your help here guys.
#4
12/08/2004 (7:39 am)
Btw: Peter how do you link your box to the car?
#5
12/08/2004 (8:10 am)
Malcom, can you post a wireframe of the mesh? Using Boolean operations can sometimes result in some really ugly geometry (and huge polycounts) unless they are cleaned up.
#6
Thanks for your input, I can't seem to paste any pictures into this post. Is there something special you have to
do to post them in? I don't host a site so I can't create an image link to it or anything like that. Sorry.
Would you have any tips on building hollow models without boolean operations? Maybe I should redo it another
way.
Cheers
Mal
12/09/2004 (3:36 am)
Hi Joe,Thanks for your input, I can't seem to paste any pictures into this post. Is there something special you have to
do to post them in? I don't host a site so I can't create an image link to it or anything like that. Sorry.
Would you have any tips on building hollow models without boolean operations? Maybe I should redo it another
way.
Cheers
Mal
#7
As far as booleans, That's not what I was talking about. I was saying that if you have 1 object that is composed of many sub-objects (all attached) it will slow the engine/game down. This does not apply if you used a boolean operation on a model. I think you should post a model like joe suggested, its possible the boolean may have gone awry.
Also, I would suggest making "room" environments with something like "quark". you only really get 1 collision box with torque (for object to object collision), so its not suitable for rooms. There is also the concavity issue you should consider. The 9 collision boxes are used for seperate things (to a degree).
12/09/2004 (3:59 am)
Malcolm: 3dsmax has a "link" button :) As far as booleans, That's not what I was talking about. I was saying that if you have 1 object that is composed of many sub-objects (all attached) it will slow the engine/game down. This does not apply if you used a boolean operation on a model. I think you should post a model like joe suggested, its possible the boolean may have gone awry.
Also, I would suggest making "room" environments with something like "quark". you only really get 1 collision box with torque (for object to object collision), so its not suitable for rooms. There is also the concavity issue you should consider. The 9 collision boxes are used for seperate things (to a degree).
#8
I did have many objects that I joined with blender through the join meshes option. It looks like it slowed down
the engine because of that. I have since tried remaking the vehicle front model this time starting with a square and
splitting the vertices and doing a bit of hands on manipulation. This doesn't seem to affect the torque engine
speed sofar. Any objects I attach I will do through 3DSmax link button I have max4.1, "just gotten used to blender".
Thanks for all your patience and help, as you notice I'm new at this modelling stuff.
I'm going with the possibility that using the join meshes button, half a million times, to shape the object isn't such a
good idea after all. Manually moving vertices takes longer but seems to be working for me.
Thanks again for all your help everyone, I hope one day I can help newbies as much as you guys have helped me.
btw: how do you post pictures onto the posts?
Cheers
Mal
12/09/2004 (4:59 am)
Thanks Peter,I did have many objects that I joined with blender through the join meshes option. It looks like it slowed down
the engine because of that. I have since tried remaking the vehicle front model this time starting with a square and
splitting the vertices and doing a bit of hands on manipulation. This doesn't seem to affect the torque engine
speed sofar. Any objects I attach I will do through 3DSmax link button I have max4.1, "just gotten used to blender".
Thanks for all your patience and help, as you notice I'm new at this modelling stuff.
I'm going with the possibility that using the join meshes button, half a million times, to shape the object isn't such a
good idea after all. Manually moving vertices takes longer but seems to be working for me.
Thanks again for all your help everyone, I hope one day I can help newbies as much as you guys have helped me.
btw: how do you post pictures onto the posts?
Cheers
Mal
#9
If you look at the bottom of this page, you'll see a caption that reads,
"(Want to use bold, italics and add links to your text? Click here to learn how)".
Click that open and see the instructions for image. Basically, you just provide an image URL.
12/09/2004 (6:23 am)
You can't upload an image on the forums, but there is a way to provide a link to the image.If you look at the bottom of this page, you'll see a caption that reads,
"(Want to use bold, italics and add links to your text? Click here to learn how)".
Click that open and see the instructions for image. Basically, you just provide an image URL.
#11
If you don't have a hosting server, there are free image hosts around. Just do a Google search for free image hosting.
12/12/2004 (1:28 pm)
@Malcolm,If you don't have a hosting server, there are free image hosts around. Just do a Google search for free image hosting.
#13
12/19/2004 (8:40 am)
@Malcom: If you need to TEMPORARILY put an image up for forums, just email it to me and I'll put it on my server and mail the URL back to you. I'd be happy to do this for any member with a SERIOUS issue here on GG.
Torque Owner Peter Kojesta
If your model is not "air tight" , meaning its a bunch of individual parts attached into a whole, this can slow down your rendering. I suggest you seperate all individual peices and link them to one main peice.
Air tight models are a single mesh for the entire object, they tend to work well. In instances where my models are not air tight, I simply make each object its own entity in the scene and then link them to the main object. For example, if I have a car with a box on top (both in the same scene) the box will not be attached to the car, it will be linked.