Instance Materials

[SpiderPig]

Can each instance have it's own material?  I know we can edit vertex data with out it showing across all instances.

[gamecreator]

I got help with that here: https://www.leadwerks.com/community/topic/12249-model-copy/

 

[SpiderPig]

Thanks.  It seems that an instance can't have a separate material from the original.  I guess it's kinda like not being able to alter the surface of an instance since technically the material is applied to the surface.

[gamecreator]

Can I ask what you're doing that you can't load the model as a copy?

[SpiderPig]

I'm creating instances of a lot of vegetation.  When the player harvests a plant I wanted the material / texture to change to show it had been harvested.

Model* plant = Model::Load("plant.mdl");
Material* harvested = Material::Load("Harvested.mat");

Entity* instances[100];

//Load
for(int id=0;id<100;id++) {
	Instances[id] = plant->Instance();                  
}

//InGame
int closestIndex = 25;
if(window->keyHit(Key::E) == true){
	instance[closestIndex]->SetMaterial(harvested);
}

This is essentially what I'm doing except setting the material of one changes all the instances.

I can't use a copy because it can't be used in real-time.  As the player moves I create the foliage around them as required.

[SpiderPig]

I think what I'll end up doing is releasing the instance and creating a new instance of a harvested plant.

int closestIndex = 25;
if(window->keyHit(Key::E) == true){
	instance[closestIndex]->Release();
	instance[closestIndex] = harvestedPlant->Instance();
}

This means I could add different geometry in as well, like broken branches or something.