Some WIP, some questions

[afecelis]

Hi guys,

 

I'm retaking LE and testing all the new features in the editor.

I am working on these renders in blender:

 

And I decided to give the model a try in LE. From the last experience I had trying to load a medieval level I remembered the issues I went through, so I had to optimize all the meshes to make them load fine in LE. Here's the result so far:

 

I'm very impressed by the dynamic lighting and the performance of the level loaded in the editor. I'll try to upload a video of the scene later.

 

I had to replace many models that had a high polycount for lower-count versions of them, and definitely it's not a good idea to try and load everything at once but split the level into separate models, keeping the same origin and then insert one by one in LE's editor. It's also important to apply an "edge split" modifier in blender in any smooth surfaces you're using prior to the exportation process.

 

Now my questions:

1. Is there a way to "unsnap" the objects from the grid? I want to place the trees inside the circular grass areas but the snap doesn't allow me (check editor's 2nd pic).

2. How do you make a glass material in the material editor? I need a greenish transparent material for the windows

3. Is there a way to make the camera move slower in the editor?

 

I'll post any other question that pops up in the process here

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

regards,

Alvaro

 

ps. This project is already being built, you can watch some pics of the site here:

http://www.telardigital.com/blender/niel/obra_01.jpg

http://www.telardigital.com/blender/niel/obra_02.jpg

[Jordan]

Nice model. To turn snap to grid off: tools > options > display > untick Grid Snap.

To change the camera movement speed: tools > options > controls > move speed

[afecelis]

Thanks a lot JC I was able to reposition my trees.

It's very cool to see all the options are there right in the editor. I need to dig the tools I use more,hehehe.

 

I'll look for info on material creation now, to see if I can get that glass I need.

 

Also, can skyboxes be added directly in the editor or are they loaded only in your code?

[Niosop]

You can add them in the editor. Add an Atmosphere object then double click on the instance and choose the skybox material you want to use in the properties.

[Pixel Perfect]

Looking nice afecelis

[afecelis]

Thanks for the comments and help guys. You're most kind.

I'm trying to create my atmosphere object for the skybox, I'll tell you how it goes.

I captured a short video that's uploading to youtube now. Working in the editor is great. I'm about to start a template project in C++ to load the level. Fun fun!

 

cheers,

Alvaro

[afecelis]

Here's the vid, I wish the camera speed could be even slower (it's already at 1.0, the minimum):

 

The level with atmosphere (thx for the tip Niosop):

Now I'm playing around with the material editor to see if I can make the glass transparent

Could I add a water material to the glasses? Without bumps that is. Is there an example of a water or glass material included?

[TylerH]

There is a refraction shader, except it causes your model to not be affected by light and must be rendered in the foreground world.

[afecelis]

Thanks Tyler, sounds pretty much like what I need. It's similar to an architectural glass material with "cast shadows" set to off, as in some 3d applications. Could you please tell me where I can read further about this shader?

regards,

 

Alvaro

 

EDITED: I already found it among the shader options, but I still can't get it to be transparent, lol! Darn! is it hard to get a nice-looking glass material

[afecelis]

I just watched the c++ "loading a scene" tutorial and used the sample files an here's what I'm getting till now:

So I still got a long way to go (time to check that console log) But I'm happy with the results and with everything I've learned so far. I guess that's the fun part, learning to make things work as you want them to with the support of people that share the same passion/interest as you.

 

BTW, have you guys tried loading the "hydro.sbx" file in the new 2.3 editor? It all falls down! It doesn't work anymore Does anyone know if Josh (or someone helping him) is working in updating these files that have become outdated? (besides all the other bunch of stuff he's updating for Lua, which must already keep him quite busy).

[afecelis]

OK, from reading the console log I noticed it was trying to load stuff like the trees and the environment which my data.pak file didn't have, so I opted to zip the whole "Maps/Materials/Folders" into a single data.pak file to ensure everything loaded fine. I now got the trees:

But none of the lighting effects.

I get some warnings in the log about not finding the corresponding lod1 gmf files, but it's ok as I don't have them and it loads the gmfs ok after that, but I get the following Lua error:

Lua error: cannot open zip::f:/exer/projects/plazoleta/data.pak//models/entities
/environment/atmosphere/environment_atmosphere.lua: Invalid argument

I thought it had problems reading from within a zip file so I unzipped everything in my application folder and yet I still got the same error.

 

Any ideas on what's going on here with the invalid argument in the lua file?

 

cheers

 

Alvaro

[afecelis]

glass! yay!

Josh's video tuts on materials/shaders and transparency are great! I apologize for bothering you guys with questions that were already solved in the video tutorials.

I'm now going through all the c++ series carefully

 

I still got the Lua error issue though

[TylerH]

I am curious how exactly you got the glass to work?

 

My attempts using my own explained method had no luck...

[afecelis]

Well, I modified it in the material editor from a regular diffuse material I had for my glass. I grabbed the setup from the "transparency and refraction" tutorial, but just the basic creation part, I didn't touch anything in my code about "rendering in a second pass". Nothing fancy about reflection/refraction, just a transparent material that grabs the "greenish" tone in my dds texture.

This is the tut:

http://www.leadwerks.com/files/Tutorials/CPP/Transparency_And_Refraction.pdf

http://www.leadwerks.com/files/Tutorials/CPP/Transparency_And_Refraction.wmv

 

and here's my material setup:

and here's the code, just in case:

texture0="abstract::green.dds"
clamp0=0,0,0
blend=3
depthmask=0
depthtest=1
overlay=0
zsort=1
cullface=1
castshadows=1
specular=1.00000000
bumpscale=1.00000000
gloss=0.500000000
shader="abstract::mesh_diffuse.vert","abstract::mesh_diffuse.frag"
shadowshader="abstract::refraction.vert",""

 

hope it helps

regards,

Alvaro

[afecelis]

point light video:

[afecelis]

Interior lights + exterior umbrellas (Josh please enable decimals for movement speed in the editor)

[Marleys Ghost]

Its looking very good afecelis

[TylerH]

I didn't know refraction could be used as the shadowshader. Does it even have an effect?

[Pixel Perfect]

That really does look nice and the glass is really quite effective ... excellent!

[afecelis]

Thanks a lot guys! Yor comments are very motivating.

I got BADLY hooked up by LE and I've been working as much as I can testing stuff in it, lol.

It looks that way in the editor, which is pretty nice (the engine's integration in it is superb) but in my C++ application I'm not getting any of the lighting/environment effects Just the sbx file with all the meshes but totally plain and dull. I think something must have changed in LE 2.3 that doesn't work with the existing "loading a scene" tutorial. I hope Josh finds the time to update it sometime soon Meanwhile I'll keep testing my level in the editor.

 

@Tyler: It doesn't do any effect, visually speaking; I just selected it because if you left it at "none" the shader would fail to compile, so after your previous "refraction" tip it seemed to be the only one close to that, lol Setting it to "mesh_diffuse.vert" seems to output the same result.

 

cheers, and thanks for commenting.

Alvaro

[Marleys Ghost]

Thanks a lot guys! Yor comments are very motivating.

I got BADLY hooked up by LE and I've been working as much as I can testing stuff in it, lol.

It looks that way in the editor, which is pretty nice (the engine's integration in it is superb) but in my C++ application I'm not getting any of the lighting/environment effects Just the sbx file with all the meshes but totally plain and dull. I think something must have changed in LE 2.3 that doesn't work with the existing "loading a scene" tutorial. I hope Josh finds the time to update it sometime soon Meanwhile I'll keep testing my level in the editor.

 

 

 

Have a look through this thread and threads linked from it. Might be of some help.

[afecelis]

Excellent info MG Thanks for the links. I'll start reading them immediately.

 

ps. Friggin' cool youtube channel! Just subscribed.

[afecelis]

a quick update: nightshot+ wooden floor in interiors (thanks to Gordonramp for his marvelous skies):

[afecelis]

god rays rule! (thanks to Marleys Ghost for his help -and patience- on how to load a scene properly and introducing me to framewerk)

[Niosop]

Wow, looking really good!