From bf198b1ef97e64ff6a2dd30ea2d9714e3b5fec73 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Stijn Buys Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2010 22:47:13 +0000 Subject: documentation updates --- doc/models.html | 234 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------------- 1 file changed, 145 insertions(+), 89 deletions(-) (limited to 'doc/models.html') diff --git a/doc/models.html b/doc/models.html index bd0565a..68351bf 100644 --- a/doc/models.html +++ b/doc/models.html @@ -2,16 +2,21 @@ - - The Osirion Project - Creating models + + Project::OSiRiON - Creating models + -

- The Osirion Project - Creating models -

+ + +

The engine supports two kind of models: The first one are - Quake 3 style .map files with custom osirion entities. The second + Quake 3 style .map files with custom entities. The second one are .ase models. Textures are supported, but no advanced features like normal mapping.

@@ -19,8 +24,8 @@ The .map format allows for a quick and easy way to create usable 3D models, while the .ase format allows importing more complex models made with modelling packages. The .map format is also used - as a container format to place tags on models, like lights, - smoke trails and weapon locations. + as a container format to place model tags like lights, + particle effects and weapon locations.

.ase models can be loaded as sub-models into a .map file, @@ -29,16 +34,20 @@

The rest of the document describes how to create models using - GtkRadiant and contains mostly information specific to creating - models for The Osirion Project. Even if you can handle GtkRadiant, + Radiant and contains mostly information specific to creating + models for Project::OSiRiON. Even if you can handle Radiant, it is still worth a read.

-

+

+ +
Content - +
+ +

+
-

- Creating models with GtkRadiant -

-

- All the models for the game were created with GtkRadiant 1.5, - in theory any editor capable of exporting Quake 2 .map files could - be used. Support for files for GtkRadiant 1.5 are included in the - data distribution. Refer to the file INSTALL on where to find them - and how to install them. No map compiler is necessary, the engine - reads the .map files directly. -

- If you are using a linux-based operating system, you can also use - the GtkRadiant distribution from http://ingar.satgnu.net/gtkradiant. + +

+ Creating models with Radiant +
+
+

+ All the models for the game were created with GtkRadiant 1.5 and NetRadiant, + in theory any editor capable of exporting Quake 3 .map files could + be used. Support for files which can be used with NetRadiant or GtkRadiant 1.5 + are included in the data distribution. Refer to the file INSTALL on where + to find them and how to install them. No map compiler is necessary, + the engine reads the .map files directly. +

+ You can also use the NetRadiant distribution from + http://ingar.satgnu.net/gtkradiant. Note that it does not include the Osirion support files by default. -

+

This document will not explain how to use the editor. Consult google for numerous tutorials on this subject. All basic brush editing techniques for any Quake-engine based game can be used. -

+

The main difference with other games is that you are not creating - a map for a 3d-shoot'em'up but, obviously, an object that has to be + a map for a 3d-shoot'em'up, but obviously, an object that has to be loaded into a space game. -

+

Because there is no map compile involved, and the engine is fundamentally different, some points should be take under consideration. +

+
-

+
Brushes and sizes -

+ +

- The engine supports brushes only. Patches will be ignored. A large number + The engine only supports brushes only, patches will be ignored. A large number of complex brushes is supported, but I advise not to go below grid size 1. As with any engine it is still possible to create brushwork that gets - messed up. -

+ messed up due to rounding errors. +

When the model is loaded, the bounding box is calculated. The model will be automaticly centered around the center of the geometry. All visible faces will be converted to triangles. At the moment the practical triangle count limit for a model is between 20,000 and 30,000 brushes. The engine is capable of handling a lot more, but think about the fact that a large station might be placed in a system filled with player ships and other objects. -

+

The limits of map coordinates are placed on +/-16384 map units. Placing brushes outside these bounds will have unpredictable results. The map will be scaled down to make 1024 units in radiant correspond to 1 game unit. One game unit corresponds to 100m in-game. 16 units in radiant will therefor correspond to 1.5625 meters in-game. -

+

The front of a model points along the positive X-axis, the positive - Z-axis is up, the positive Y-axis is left. In GtkRadiant, the nose of - the spacesip or the front of a spacestation should point to the right. + Z-axis is up, the positive Y-axis is left. In Radiant, the nose of + a spacesip or the front of a spacestation should point to the right. +

+
-

+ +
Caulk -

+ + +

Any brush face that has the common/caulk texture will be ignored on load. + Note that common/caulk is actually a special material with the ignore flag set. +

+

+ Like in Quake 3 maps, all invisible brushes faces should have the this material.

-

+

+ + +
Clip - +
+

Any brush face that has the common/clip texture will be ignored on load. + Note that common/clip is actually a special material with the ignore flag set. Clip is reserved for future use.

-

+

+ + +
Detail brushes - +
+

As with other engines, Osirion supports the use of detail brushes, but with a twist: detail brushes will only be rendered if the model is within detail range, close enough to the camera. When it is further away, only structural brushes will be rendered. The actual detail range depends on the size of the model. -

-

+

This means that any object that could only been seen from close by should be made from detail brushes. -

-

+

This has one improtant implication: if you show the structural brushes only (with the CTRL+D filter in Gtkradiant) there should be no obvious gaps of caulk that were previously hidden behind detail brushes. -

+

+
-

+ +
Textures and Materials -

+ +

- The engine can use tga, jpg and tng images as textures and uses a simple + The engine can use TGA, JPEG and PNG images as textures and uses a simple script based materials system similar to Quake 3 Arena shader files. Materials make it possible use special textures like player and engine color, or to apply certain effects to a texture. @@ -152,7 +186,7 @@

The default shaderlist.txt looks like this:

-
+
 common
 colors
 glass
@@ -186,20 +220,22 @@ glass
 	by the engine: as explained above, the common/caulk material can be used
 	on hidden faces. The common/clip	material is reserved for future use
 	brush faces using this texture will be ignored as well.
-

-

+

 	For .ase models, the material name inside the .ase file is interpreted as an osirion material.
 	If you'd use a material called  common/entity, those model faces will rendered using
 	the object's primary in-game color, regardless of the actual material settings in the .ase file.
 

-	
-

+
+ + +
Shader files - +
+

TODO: write a section on shader files.

-
+
 // material name
 textures/common/clip
 {
@@ -211,7 +247,7 @@ textures/common/clip
     ignore
 }
 

-
+
 // material name
 textures/common/entity_dark_bright
 {
@@ -225,58 +261,64 @@ textures/common/entity_dark_bright
     bright
 }
 

-
+
 // material name
-textures/ship/stripes
+textures/ship/plating_entity
 {
     // use entity color
     entity
     // use a texture, texture name and material name don't have to be the same
-    texture textures/ship/stripes
+    texture textures/ship/plating
 }
 

+
-

+ +
Lights -

+ +

Unlike quake, light entities are not used to add lighting information to the level but to add point lights to a model. Adding a light will render a light flare texture in the corresponding location. -

+

The flare value indicates what texture will be used to draw the light. The flare value is translated to a texture name, bitmaps/fx/flare??. The default flare texture is flare00. -

+

The light value is used to determine the size of the flare. The engine default is 100, resulting in rather large flares. -

+

The default _color is white, but the color can be set through radiant's color menu (K key). If the entity option (spawnflag 2) is set, the color value will be ignored and the light will be rendered with the color of the entity it is attached to. -

+

The strobe option (spawnflag 1) will create a blinking light. A number of options can be set to manipulate the flashing behaviour. By default a strobe light will be half a second on, half a second off. -

+

The frequency value changes the number of flashes per second. -

+

The offset value changes the moment the light will be on. Offset is measured in seconds. -

+

The time value sets the fraction of time the light will be on. The default is 0.5. -

+

Lights will only be rendered if the model is within detail range. -

+

I also came across this usefull information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starboard
- In short, the green light should be on the right side, the red light on the left side. +

+
-

+ +
Flares -

+ +

The default light entity creates omnidirectional lights. To create a directional flare, use the fx_flare entity. Values for a @@ -297,10 +339,13 @@ textures/ship/stripes

Flares will only be rendered if the entity is within detail range.

+
-

+ +
Particles -

+ +

Add a fx_particles entity to attach a particle system to the model. They can be used to add effects like trails and smoke. A particle system @@ -320,9 +365,13 @@ textures/ship/stripes

Particles will only be rendered if the entity is within detail range.

-

+

+ + +
Function groups - +
+

Brushes can be grouped together into funcion groups. These groups can be used to create moving parts in a model. @@ -338,15 +387,23 @@ textures/ship/stripes is automaticly calculated as the geometrical center of the group. The rotation axis can be set with the direction, pitch and roll keys. angle is an alias for direction.

-

+

+ + +
Submodels - +
+

misc_model can be used to add a submodel.

-

+

+ + +
Other entities - +
+

location_cockpit, location_dock, location_turret and location_cannon are reserved but have not yet been implemented.

@@ -360,9 +417,8 @@ textures/ship/stripes

location_turret will create an attachment point for turrets. Turrets point upwards or downwards.

-

- back -

+
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