Particle Systems API

RapchikProgrammer · Post by **RapchikProgrammer** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 12:15 pm

Why doesnt irrlicht use the particle systems API? It is under the gnu license and has some very cool particles with great affectors!

http://www.cs.unc.edu/~davemc/Particle/

sRc · Post by **sRc** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 2:59 pm

first of all, it uses STL...

second its under a GPL license (LGPL) that would not work with the zlib license that Niko wants for this engine

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 4:41 pm

There are different ways to use this API, and some could work very well. One could provide a generic paritcle node in Irrlicht which is just a wrapper for the pAPI. Would only work with OpenGL, though.
Another thing is to adapt parts or the complete API (with or without implementations). I don't know what the legal issues would be (LGPL is not infectious, and just using the API could even require less), but I don't think that it would be useful. The Irrlicht API for particles seems to be more high-level than the pAPI.
So yes, write a wrapper and show us some interesting results!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:35 am

Ok, then we dont have to take the particles but wouldnt it be useful to take something from their affectors! They have storm, wind and several others! It would be pretty useful and legal as its under lgpl!

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 1:13 pm

No, it's not legal to take parts of the code and further distribute it under zlib. But yes, it could be useful to have some mroe affectors, though spintz also provides some new ones. And some things are easily achievable by decent parameter choices.
Anyway, step right in and post some interesting screen shots.