Say Hello To My Little Friends a.k.a Lasers For Blaze : PG

mohaps · Post by **mohaps** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 8:35 pm

first cut of the laser system... experimenting and still tons of bugs to shift through but basics are working..

jox · Post by **jox** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 8:48 pm

Looks more like throwing sparklers

mohaps · Post by **mohaps** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 8:58 pm

yeah..i simulated the lasers more like a machinegun than the beam weapons... so each bolt is like a bullet

i shall be adding particle systems and all later.. once i iron out the collision and entity update bugs...

then it shall look like a solid beam...

jox · Post by **jox** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 9:01 pm

How bout something like this:

mohaps · Post by **mohaps** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 2:05 pm

getting inspired from jox's image

jox · Post by **jox** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 11:00 pm

A little bit better

The regular billboards are not so much suitable for laser beams, are they?

You'll probably need to create some special laser beam scene nodes...

TheRLG · Post by **TheRLG** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 11:27 pm

I agree, a new laser particle system would probly benefit ya more than billboards. Just create some kind tiny particle flow that oscillates over a given vector.... lmfao i have no idea what im talking about but those are fun words!

jox · Post by **jox** » Mon Mar 21, 2005 11:37 pm

A start would maybe be a billboard scene node that aligns its length to the laser ray and the face to the camera center.

edit: the disadvantage of this is, the closer the direction of the laser ray to the viewing direction of the camera is, the less will be visible from the laser texture...

mohaps · Post by **mohaps** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:22 am

I am experimenting with what i call "squiggly lines" (hat is a technical term

)

basically...it is sort of particle system... which is in effect a line segment...

so every cycle... depending on the length of the line segment points are generated from the beginning to the end... and randomized a little to give a electric discharge feel...

five or six of these together can create an electric arc like effect...

this can work for beam weapon discharges / tractor beams also...

jox · Post by **jox** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:31 am

Curious to see this in action

mohaps · Post by **mohaps** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 3:14 pm

okay jox..this is the first shot of the "SqugglyLines" framework..

Code: Select all


class SquigglyLine
{
public:
	SquigglyLine();
	virtual ~SquigglyLine();
	void draw(const u32 deltaMillis, IrrlichtDevice* device);
	void setStartPoint(const vector3df& v){ startPoint = v; }
	void setEndPoint(const vector3df& v){ endPoint = v; }
	void setSegmentCount(const u32 count){ if(count == 0){ segmentCount = 1; } else { segmentCount = count;}}
	void setLineColor(const SColor& c){ lineColor = c; }
	void setAmplitude(const f32 v){ amplitude = v; }
	void setThickness(const u32 v){ thickness = (thickness==0)?1:v; }
	const f32 getLength() const;
	const f32 getLengthSquared() const;
	const vector3df& getStartPoint() const{ return startPoint; }
	const vector3df& getEndPoint() const{ return endPoint; }
	const u32 getSegmentCount() const{ return segmentCount; }
	const SColor getLineColor() const{ return lineColor; }
	const f32 getAmplitude() const{ return amplitude; }
	const u32 getThickness() const{ return thickness; }
private:
	void generateLine(array<vector3df>& points);
	vector3df startPoint;
	vector3df endPoint;
	u32 segmentCount;
	SColor lineColor;
	f32 amplitude;
	u32 thickness;
};

and this the public interface of the squiggly line

initialize using the sets and
just call draw() in your thingie...

this class can be used for

beam weapons

arc discharges

special f/x

I am working on some advanced versions of th eSquiggly Line framework for supporting particle system semantics and making this a full fledged scene node
[/list]

rabidlockergnome unlogged · Tue Mar 22, 2005 3:15 pm

ooooooh purrty!!! u da man!

mohaps · Post by **mohaps** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 4:14 pm

I added billboard support to squiggly lines and now it looks like

Click on the image to download a mpeg video of the system in action

In theory it is a particle system with fixed particles which oscillate about a mean position as suggested by Rabid Locker Gnome...

The amplitude determines just how much the particles oscillate and the thickness determines how many lines are to be drawn...

mohaps · Post by **mohaps** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 4:27 pm

I have uploaded a Demo Executable and MPEG Video of the Squiggly Line System in action

at http://www.etvig.com/istuff/blaze/squiggly.html

enjoy

working on making it a scene node...

mohaps · Post by **mohaps** » Tue Mar 22, 2005 5:26 pm

the site http://www.etvig.com/istuff/blaze/squiggly.html now contains a demo executable with data showcasing the system...

'njoy