Terrain Rendering and Camera Problem

[joaorj]

Hello!
My name is João i'm from Portugal and i'm learning how to use irrlicht for 5 days. I can code for 6 years but i'm nly getting realy into 3D right now.I learned a lot with this foruns since the wiki is down..
Now i have some questions.. (sorry if they are too many)
What is the best way to draw an all plane terrain (no deformation) and be able to know the 3D cordenate where the user clicked?
What is the best way to apply a texture that look good on an fps camera? (do you know any place where can get free textures and skyboxes?)
What is the best way to draw a fairly realistic skybox?

Now i'll show u what i have. It is in vb.net i hope you can understand. Feel free to help me in any other language.. The most i learned was looking at c++.

Code: Select all

Sub draw_terrain()
        terrain.SetMaterialType(MaterialType.SOLID)
        terrain.SetMaterialFlag(MaterialFlag.LIGHTING, False)
        terrain.SetMaterialTexture(0, device.VideoDriver.GetTexture(path1 & "terrain-texture.jpg"))

        terrain.SetMaterialTexture(1, device.VideoDriver.GetTexture(path1 & "detailmap3.jpg"))
        terrain.SetMaterialType(MaterialType.DETAIL_MAP)

End Sub

Code: Select all

Public Sub set_camera(ByVal tipo As Integer)
        CameraNode = device.SceneManager.AddCameraSceneNodeFPS(Nothing, 120, 90, 0)
        CameraNode.Position = New Vector3D(0, 26, 0)
        CameraNode.FarValue = 12000
        CameraNode.InputReceiverEnabled = False
    End Sub
    Public Sub walk(ByVal speed As Integer, ByVal direction As Integer)
        Dim vec As Vector3D = CameraNode.Target - CameraNode.Position
        If direction = 1 Then
            vec.Y = 0
        Else
            vec.X = 1
            vec.Z = 0
        End If
        vec.Normalize()
        CameraNode.Position += vec * speed
        CameraNode.UpdateAbsolutePosition()
        CameraNode.Render()
    End Sub
    Public Sub Rotate(ByVal speed As Integer)
        Dim mat As Matrix4
        mat.SetRotationDegrees(CameraNode.Rotation - New Vector3D(0, speed, 0))
        Dim camUpVector As Vector3D = New Vector3D(0, 1, 0)
        mat.TransformVect(camUpVector)
        Dim targetvector As Vector3D = New Vector3D(0, 0, 1)
        mat.TransformVect(targetvector)
        Dim camTarget As Vector3D = CameraNode.Position + targetvector
        Dim offset As Vector3D = New Vector3D(0, 0, 0)

        CameraNode.Position += offset
        CameraNode.UpVector = camUpVector
        CameraNode.Target = camTarget + offset
        CameraNode.UpdateAbsolutePosition()
    End Sub

Code: Select all

Sub draw_skybox()
        Dim driver As Video.IVideoDriver
        driver = device.VideoDriver
                                        device.VideoDriver.SetTextureCreationFlag(TextureCreationFlag.CREATE_MIP_MAPS, False)
        
device.SceneManager.AddSkyBoxSceneNode(driver.GetTexture(path1 & "irrlicht2_up.jpg"), driver.GetTexture(path1 & "irrlicht2_dn.jpg"), driver.GetTexture(path1 & "irrlicht2_lf.jpg"), driver.GetTexture(path1 & "irrlicht2_rt.jpg"), driver.GetTexture(path1 & "irrlicht2_ft.jpg"), driver.GetTexture(path1 & "irrlicht2_bk.jpg"), Nothing, 0)

device.VideoDriver.SetTextureCreationFlag(TextureCreationFlag.CREATE_MIP_MAPS, False)
End Sub

I'm showing you the code not because it don't work... It works but it don't looks good and i think there are better ways to do it.
Thank very much in advance.