yeah hopefully you can think of some good uses for it! (: On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 8:55 PM, eric drewes <figarus@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > this is really neat alan -- can't wait to play w./ it! > > > On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 8:24 PM, Apache User > <dhapache@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote: > >> User:atrix256 >> >> Message: 2 new features - Billboarding and model nick names >> >> ======================== >> Billboarding >> ======================== >> >> Billboarding is a technique where you can make something always face the >> camera no matter which angle you are looking at it from. This is used in >> lots of games both present and past. If you play WOW, this is the technique >> they use for the priest bubble for instance. It's just a 2d "halo image" >> that always faces you so it looks like a bubble encasing them but it's not. >> This technique is also used in games to give a halo effect around light >> sources. Old games used to use this technique for bushes and trees, and in >> wolfenstein 3d it happened as a side effect of how they rendered all the >> objects in the game :P >> >> You can turn billboarding on and off for a model by using the script >> function SetBillBoarding(). There isnt an interface in the editor for it >> yet but if you manually put the command into the _geometry file, that works >> fine (and when you save it will still be there). >> >> As an example of this, there are 3 flickering lights on the candles in the >> fortune teller's tent that use billboarding. >> >> ======================== >> Model Nick Names >> ======================== >> >> This is a feature where an object can be placed and manipulated in the >> editor, and then a nick name can be given to it so that Kent can call up >> that model from script by it's nick name to be able to manipulate it. >> Before this, all models manipulated in script had to be loaded and placed >> inside the script file which isn't editable in the editor. >> >> I put an example of this in the fortune teller's tent. The 3 flickering >> lights are each given a unique nick name, and in the script it calls them up >> by nick name and manipulates them, even though they were placed in the >> editor. >> >> There is no way currently to specify a nick name in the editor, but that >> will come later, and since Kent will be the one dealing with this mostly, he >> can manually give nicknames to objects for now by putting the command in the >> _geometry file (which will persist even after a save). >> >> The candles flickering is just crappy programmer art but it's just an >> example to show these 2 new features. >> >> Feedback welcome of course :P >> >> <Files Changed> >> U ARRelease.exe >> U AR_AnimModels.cpp >> U AR_AnimModels.h >> U AR_Editor.cpp >> U AR_LuaFuncs.cpp >> A Art/Models/tentmap/halo.ms3d >> A Art/Models/tentmap/halo.png >> A Docs/Script Help/Model_GetModelByNickName.html >> A Docs/Script Help/Model_SetBillBoarding.html >> A Docs/Script Help/Model_SetNickName.html >> U Docs/Script Help/toc.html >> U READMETODO.txt >> U Scripts/Maps/FortuneTellerTent.lua >> U Scripts/Maps/FortuneTellerTent_geometry.lua >> >> >> >