Character and Weapon Systems

[Marc]

Wobblegrid added.

Wobblegrid is an object similar to a regular grid with the difference that it has changing UV data which lets the texture look like it is "organic" or at least alive.

What I currently need to add is a billboard routine that works usefully (ie not vector hacking like the billboard class is doing it sadly)


Took more time than I originally planned to use due to some strange implementations in Orxonox (vertex_array_model for example where the vertex array etc are defined as const which seems like it defeats the point of having such a theoretically and normally dynamic structure) and due to a bug in the original grid creation function on vertex_array_model which miscalculated the UV it gave all vertices.

[bensch]

I can imagine, that the VA model is kind of creepy, and it is not at all tested thoroughly.
I would be glad if you could change the things that need some overhaul and make it more useable.

Up until now only MD2 and Static models were used, so it would be cool to have a better implementation of this

[Marc]

Billboard added to wobble grid. Done through simple calculations in a function that is called in ticked, which updates the PNode AbsDir, so it can easily be copied to other objects that are in need of it.

Next to add is a fluid projectile which uses this grid and the acid spitter.
The wobblegrid is already based on a function pointer approach so the "wobble function" can easily be replaced at runtime.

[nicolasc]

Long time no see, or no writing...

I had the crazy idea of creating a multi stage weapon, which would mean to use a weapon (launcher) on a projectile and this didn't work. For that reason I am creating a new class called projectile_weapon, which combines the projectile aspect with the launcher aspect.

I could have just hacked the single projectile I need, but I realized the need for this module... and I don't see the point in having unreadable code around.

Wish me luck; this baby needs to fly till Wednesday

cheers
nico

[patrick]

Cool! We already talked about it in the PPS and it sounds great.
As I guess from your last commit, you are on a good way

Still: Good luck!

[nicolasc]

Spikeball works finally... well it did on Wednesday already

Fixed the Wobblegrid (or its orientation), But we still have a problem with the transpararency... looking into it right now.

cheers
nico

[patrick]

Well done guys!

Chrigi did find the revision where the segfault has been introduced into playability (it's revision 10233 to 10234, a change from michel).

Transparency: I don't know your problem but you might want to look into the blending function and the transparency value. This is the most common cause of errors in transparency problems

[Marc]

It uses the material.
It looks like alpha is rendered first and the rendering of the underlying object is cut there due to depth buffer, which is normally caused by no alpha sorting implementation. Am I right with this assumption?

[patrick]

marc: You are right. The engine doesn't sort world entities according to their distance to the camera, which would be necessary in order to render overlapping transparent objects correctly.

Is there need for such a thing?
I could order the world entities in the right way, but this will _not_ help for objects that are built from multiple transparent faces.

[Marc]

It would prevent that the acid splash draws stuff, that is not visible, due to other objects.

Currently, the effect is normally only really noticeable if the acid splash is parented to a ship. If it is moving, the effect can normally not be seen, so it is not a critical problem.

Acid Splash is only a planar grid (5x5 quads, planar, square), so no problem with a transparent surface that overlaps with itself, if you meant that