Is Torque Graphics Pipe Customizable?
by Jeff Knecht · in Technical Issues · 11/09/2006 (11:07 pm) · 5 replies
Greetings :)
It appears our team is jumping on the bandwagon and getting Torque. I had a question about the graphics pipeline and how much it can be changed to suit our needs.
We have some effects in our game that require dynamic textures. How does Torque handle this? Will we have to hard-code everything inside Torque's graphics code?
For example, normal maps are rendered to an off-line texture using additive blending. Then this texture is rendered to a full-screen quad with a pixel shader that correctly maps the blended normals. How hard is it going to be to get this to work within Torque? The effect I just described is for our metaballs / blobbies. You can find screenshots at www.harmotion.com.
Thanks for any help,
Jeff
It appears our team is jumping on the bandwagon and getting Torque. I had a question about the graphics pipeline and how much it can be changed to suit our needs.
We have some effects in our game that require dynamic textures. How does Torque handle this? Will we have to hard-code everything inside Torque's graphics code?
For example, normal maps are rendered to an off-line texture using additive blending. Then this texture is rendered to a full-screen quad with a pixel shader that correctly maps the blended normals. How hard is it going to be to get this to work within Torque? The effect I just described is for our metaballs / blobbies. You can find screenshots at www.harmotion.com.
Thanks for any help,
Jeff
#2
Also, why would I not be able to use shaders in the default Torque Game Engine? Is it not possible to change the rendering code to allow for shaders?
11/10/2006 (11:06 am)
I will get whatever Torque engine is necessary to complete the task. Given your explanation, I'm assuming Marble Blast Ultra used the advanced engine, because I'm pretty sure they used shaders. So is the effect above possible within Torque's advanced engine?Also, why would I not be able to use shaders in the default Torque Game Engine? Is it not possible to change the rendering code to allow for shaders?
#3
EDIT:
And, yes, Marble Blast Ultra was created in TSE 360.
11/10/2006 (11:40 am)
You would have to change a significant portion of the underlying renderer code. It can be done, but you would have to do a lot of legwork.EDIT:
And, yes, Marble Blast Ultra was created in TSE 360.
#4
11/10/2006 (12:45 pm)
Alright, cool. I guess it would be a lot of legwork to add shaders change the rendering engine. If it were just using DirectX, I can't imagine it being too hard. Its basically like setting a texture. 
Torque 3D Owner Stephen Zepp
Torque Game Engine does not support shaders.
Torque Game Builder does not support shaders.
Torque Game Engine-Advanced is based on shaders (rendering systems obviously).
Torque X, when it is released, supports shaders as well.