Post Your Irrlicht Screenshots / Render Here.

[Vectrotek]

ZX SPECTRUM Post processing shader..

[sunnystormy]

Awesome!

Could you talk about how you achieve these effects? I'm currently going through the tutorials and would love to learn more about achieving these kind of results.

Thanks, man!

[Vectrotek]

It's all elaborated on in here:

THE PROJECT (everything): It uses the DLL and LIB from the very latest posted Irrlicht Download..

http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=008 ... 6557408774

(you may want to make sure about where you include the audierre lib etc..)
The project Its a bit big, but maybe I'll post a version that renders something smaller..
If you've got Open Office you could look at the "*.odt" files which is exact copies (syntaxed) of the CPP and H files..

More on the project here:
http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/forum/v ... 7&start=30

[sunnystormy]

@Vectrotek

Cool! I will check out the project later on.

Are you utilizing the B3D format for any of your models? OBJ? If so, what's been your experience with them?

[CuteAlien]

Hehe, looks great :-) Nice shader Vectrotek.

[Vectrotek]

Thanks CuteAlien!..

@ sunnystormy: Right.. The animated character is B3D which really has no shortcomings as far as I'm concerned.
The Island was in "*.OBJ" which is my favorite format, but it gets quite large because it is ASCII based..
The version in the project is in "*.3DS" format which is much smaller and yet Irrlicht friendly..

In a nutshell, the formats I like to use is..
"*.DAE" Collada's format is well documented but not all importers use all of its functionality.
"*.X" Microsoft's animated / skinned models for characters.. (ASCII based)
"*.B3D" From Blitz Basic. This format (not ASCII, thus much smaller) is an ideal format for characters.
"*.OBJ" Originally from Alias and taken over by Autodesk. (interesting bit of history you could look up)
This format is very common and has many flavors (including a flavor that supports vertex colors.. see Meshlab).
It can be exported by almost all 3D Apps, so is useful for editing in different Apps.
"*.3DS" from 3D Studio (even before Max) is useful for when you need a static objects for levels taking up a bit less
file space than Alias's OBJ..


Obviously different people have different workflows and favorite 3D Apps but for me it's like this:

For Animated Characters I use Blender (I always have the latest version) in which I can create
my own animated characters or learn from others by importing "*.dae" of which there are some cool
ones already skinned and weighted (not animated)..
Check out the TF3DM page.. Its great for learning how the pros do Creative Content..

Once the character has its sequences animated in blender I save the scene (with LEGACY option on)..
Now, I re-open this scene in BLENDER 2.49..
Why Blender 2,49? You see, at Blender 2.5, the Blender Core System Python Implementation was updated so some cool
plugins written for blender did not survive this transition.
One such plugin is the "*.X" exporter..
Now there are many X exporters for blender but there is only one that really works. Get this from "katsbits" if
it is still available or I'll post it.
Now I export the character from blender to X and from there the work continues.

Your "*.X" character may need to pass through "Deep Exploration" (I have a very old version)
if you start playing with normal maps which depends on very clean normals (long discussion)..

Now, you can keep your character is X format but if you want them smaller (file size) then you
need to export them to B3D.
This I do with "Frag Motion" which is free for as long as you are willing to recite the "Our Father.." once a week..
(you'll see what I mean and if you miss it once.. well.. no more free, until your next system re-format) ugh..
Frag Motion can also fix normals and duplicate vertices for advanced normal mapped rendering..

That is basically it for character animation and you need to know about managing this character with functions like
"Set Animation Sequence" or "Set Speed" (see the function exact names)

"Static" objects like "Levels" or the "World" in which these characters live has its own slightly
different workflow..
"*.OBJ" can be created or imported into Blender and opened in Irrlicht (even as OCTREES).
It is as simple as that, but.. Read on..

There is a popular trick, which no self respecting video game will do without and
it's called "Light Mapping".
Light mapping depends on one thing.. "TWO SETS OF UV COORDS".
This simply means that one set of UV coords is set aside for your "Seamless" or "Tiled" textures
like "Bricks for instance". These kinds of UVs may EXIT THE BOUNDS of the 1.0 x 1.0 normalised square
onto which UVs traditionally fit.. Irrlicht handles this no problemo..

Second UV set:
These "LIGHTMAP UV Coordinates" however may NEVER EXEED this 1.0 x 1.0 normalized square.
Why? If every polygon in your level or world is going to somehow have its own very unique piece
of "SHADOW" then none of the UV's representing these "shadowed or lit" polygons should OVERLAP
each other (as can happen with TILED UVs).

O.K. So which formats support this "Second set of UV Coords"?
Mmm.. It is almost 2017 and somehow this concept has eluded the attention it deserves in terms of supporting formats!
But.. Irrlicht supports a format called "*.irrmesh" (etc) which is supported by another cool Blender Plugin from a guy
called "Tubras" (who seems to have disappeared into the nether lore of 3D graphics)..
This really is quite a brilliant little format which handles Two sets of UV coords i.e. Lightmapping quite nicely.
The fact that this is a ASCII based format does however mean that the files are massive!
And that's how far I got with this..

Now I've heard that some flavors of B3D can support this "TWIN UVS" thing, but I've found nothing..
(Max exporters etc)

Another way to deal with the second set of UV Coords is to load TWO versions of the SAME object but different UVS
into Irrlicht and then go deeper into the memory system that holds these and somehow transplant the second set into the
data for the first object..
I tried this but it is incredibly difficult to get the Face vs UV data indices to match up perfectly..
I dropped that for later..

That's basically it for the Data side..

You might want to read some of my earlier posts..

Lastly.. Did you read my "Real time Graphics Rant"? (I'm busy with Version II)

I hope this was useful.. Cheers.

[sunnystormy]

*brain explodes*

So.. umm... formats do things... use B3D for characters... OBJ is obese, use 3DS (the non-Nintendo one) if I can for static models...

Got it.

[christianclavet]

I would not recommend 3DS as they don't retain the "smoothing" flag for material. (Ex: A dome saved in .3DS will have faceted faces). B3D is the best with Irrlicht and you can use .X that is good too, but as a different values for animated models speed. Since Irrlicht has a .B3D saver now, if you can load it (if you have only access to .OBJ that is good for static model) in Irrlicht and look nice, you could use the saver and have the same model with a smaller file size...

[sunnystormy]

@ChristianClavet

So you recommend B3D for both static and animated meshes?

[christianclavet]

Yes. That the format that work the best with Irrlicht, is binary and small. If you can try to keep a backup in FBX(Best interchange format in my opinion), and your a model software (Blender, 3DS Max, Maya ,etc). So if something happen and you need to tweak the model, you still have tons of options.

[Vectrotek]

@christianclavet..
Thanks for pointing out that 3DS do not retain "Smoothing Groups".
Looks like it's B3D after all.

ASSIMP (3DS as I modeled it)


3DS in my app..


But.. I'm having problems using B3D as static (un-boned) objects like Levels.
Is this because B3D "must always have bones"?

Bottom line.. How do I get B3D as a non skinned object into my app..
Also, has anyone found anything on "binary" IRRB?
Another thing.. I read somewhere that B3D can also support multiple sets of UV Coords..
Is this a myth?

[Mel]

B3D unbonned should be no problem, as it is one of the few formats that Irr is able to read that supports 2 sets of mapping coordinates (i.e. immediate support for lightmaps, that's a feature usually meant for stage conforming meshes)

[Vectrotek]

Mmm.. It might be that FragMotion exports funny B3Ds..
I know there is a Blender version somewhere..

[christianclavet]

Save your model in .OBJ (It maintain everything on the mesh, but doesn't support skinning and bones.), then convert it using Irrlicht or IRB... A b3d model should load faster... (in theory). BTW, I just loaded an OBJ in Fragmotion and it saved in .B3D without an issue. Loaded back the model in Fragmotion and it seemed ok. What is the issue?

[Vectrotek]

You are saying that you have an "*.obj" with TWO sets of UVs? (Diff and Lightmap) ?
Which 3d App do you use to get an OBJ with TWO sets ov UV's?

I use Blender where the model, while in Blender format has TWO sets of UVs,
but the minute I export it as OBJ it loses that second set of UVs..