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Re: RB3D is Broken

To: REALbasic Games <realbasic-games at lists dot realsoftware dot com>
Subject: Re: RB3D is Broken
From: Asher Dunn <asher at fireyesoftware dot com>
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2007 11:02:56 -0500
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References: <20070202220357 dot A59A86E483C at mail dot verex dot com> <BF3D81DF-F392-4B90-86BD-87F3919137C0 at chaoticbox dot com> <6EC4D961-56BF-4B75-AF4A-AD04D859009C at mindspring dot com> <9F0DAA28-B8A0-4EAC-A88B-F05F939267EF at chaoticbox dot com>

On Feb 2, 2007, at 11:46 PM, Frank Condello wrote:

I know there are a few listers who are working on 3D alternatives (Asher had one; Frank's Oxide demo; another escapes my memory), but are any complete enough to be able to show the good folks at RS and say "THIS is what Rb3D should be like?"

I don't know where Asher's at with his classes and although my 3D stuff is certainly "complete enough" it isn't really suitable as a standalone 3D graphics layer.

I keep rewriting mine because I'm not satisfied with the code. I just can't quite get the structure to be as nice as I'd like it, and then it becomes a mess to extend it. My current implementation is pretty good — it can read .obj and .mtl files, supports arbitrary GLSL shaders, and it has a nice realtime glow effect — but there are a few important things like collision detection that I haven't bothered to implement yet.

The renderer autonomously creates it's own window/fullscreen display, and is interconnected with other sub-sytems - 3D nodes have slots for audio and physics controllers for example, though that's not something one could glean from that ancient shader demo ;)

Nice. I haven't really done much beyond the straight 3D rendering yet.

Rb3D started life as a plug-in. And while I'm aware that community projects can easily run out of steam, Is there something that we as a community can nurture to plug-in life? What would the next- gen Rb3D API look like?

You don't necessarily need a plugin. I use a plugin to load texture data but that's it as far as the renderer is concerned - declares are your friend. I considered reusing/repurposing my existing classes to create a separate, more "standard" 3D control but I just don't think it's worth the time and effort - well, my time and effort at least :p

I'm aiming mine to be a little more "standard" and generic than it sounds like Frank's are. I don't use any plugins (if you want fast textures, use uncompressed TGAs - then loading is just a disk -> app memory -> OpenGL operation with absolutely no processing or looping involved whatsoever). I'm also going out of my way to wrap up ugly bits — I want to use this thing, and I want it to be easy!

I'm working on spatial partitioning right now. I want the engine to be able to render large contiguous worlds with no direct meddling by the individual game programmer.

I'll try to whip up a simple demo this afternoon.

Asher

-------------------------
Asher Dunn
Head Developer, Fireye Software
http://www.fireyesoftware.com/
AIM, Yahoo, MSN: crazedglkid


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