Irrlicht Engine

Hi guys.

I think the engine could include a brief "Using Irrlicht" type animated logo screen that people can include at the start of their projects. Like in commercial games when you run them and it has a 5-second "Published by Publisher X" type thing and then another 5-second "Created by Company Y", and so on. Of course, since this is Irrlicht, it wouldn't be an mpg movie - it would use the engine to draw everything, like an old-school realtime demo. You could set this up as a competition and either Niko and his staff could decide who the winner is, or they could run a poll vote on this forum. Here would be my suggestions for the rules:

1. The code should be limited to a single file that people could include in their project (that is - until it becomes incorporated into the engine itself, at which point it should be a single function call within the engine).
2. The duration shouldn't be more than about 5 seconds, and a mouse click or any keypress should immediately stop it.
3. I guess if there is a sound to accompany the animation then it should use IrrKlang, but I don't know whether it is possible to auto-detect whether IrrKlang is available from within the splash screen code itself. I haven't used IrrKlang yet - could someone else clarify this?
4. The graphics/mesh/sound data files should have a combined total size limit - like 512K. The reason is because you don't want the Irrlicht DLLs to get too big, but this also makes it more of a challenge to design a compelling splash sequence...
5. It should run with all the existing renderers and on any resolution, since the application could have set things up any possible way.
6. It should feature the Irrlicht logo. (Or not? Maybe Niko has a view on this. Maybe he would want to first run a "design a new logo" competition... )

If this is going to be part of the engine, you could possibly have two splash screens - a really short one with no sound and a smaller file size limit, and a longer, more elaborate one with bells and whistles. Then the application can choose to display the one that is most appropriate for it. Of course - displaying any splash screen would be optional anyway.

What does everyone think?

Oh come on, guys.

Aren't you even going to take the trouble to tell me why the idea sucks?

For me, it's to much to read and i can only do ascii/mspaint-art.

This isn't about art, it's about coding. That is, coding as art. What I mean is, it doesn't require drawing skills - it requires 3D coding skills, and if you can't do that then what are you doing on the Irrlicht forum?

Actually, I dont think its such a bad idea

Too much to read to get to the point, so i though it was an mpeg you wanted

It sounds like a nice idea.

Though a little more backbone to the specification would probably result in some more activity.

I might have a go at this. That is providing others are also so we can share ideas and compare final products. So anyone else atempting this?

I didn't want to go into too much detail before I got the nod from those in charge - there's no point in my creating a detailed specification if Niko et al don't want this in the first place.

Though it looks like I already went into too much detail for Luben.

i'm game. lets play

This sounds like a great idea, I like it.

1. The code should be limited to a single file that people could include in their project (that is - until it becomes incorporated into the engine itself, at which point it should be a single function call within the engine).

I don't think compiling 512k of media into the DLL is a good idea, but how about having the best entry added to the tech demo? This way people can use the code if they like, but they don't have to carry it around with them.
Also, I wouldn't restrict people to a single file. It would be awkward for people including their own scene nodes and stuff.

3. I guess if there is a sound to accompany the animation then it should use IrrKlang, but I don't know whether it is possible to auto-detect whether IrrKlang is available from within the splash screen code itself. I haven't used IrrKlang yet - could someone else clarify this?

I'd be against the idea of using audio, for the simple fact that the library might not match that of the user.

4. The graphics/mesh/sound data files should have a combined total size limit - like 512K.

Yes, I think having everything should have to be contained in a reasonably small zip file. That way it doesnt clutter up the media directory.

6. It should feature the Irrlicht logo...

The new one of course

that logo kinda sucks. it is like a cheap nvidia/vista rip.

I think a new logo should be fully 3d and rendered inside irrlicht - and it should be a scene node. It would not be too hard to make it a single file if any object geometry was hard coded.

then an irr splash could be built like this :

C = new Camera (0, 0)
L = new LogoSceneNode(5, 5)
-- maybe add some animators and stuff here
wait (5)
destroy C, L

Yes, CIrrLogoSceneNode would definitely be in the spirit of Irrlicht.

Another idea is that we have CAnimatedIrrLogoSceneNode which would contain some animation of Irrlicht logo geometry as well as camera(*) attached to itself. Then, if you want animated Irrlicht logo, you will simply render your scene from that camera(*). What do you think about that?

alexionne wrote:Another idea is that we have CAnimatedIrrLogoSceneNode which would contain some animation of Irrlicht logo geometry as well as camera(*) attached to itself. Then, if you want animated Irrlicht logo, you will simply render your scene from that camera(*). What do you think about that?

Animation, maybe. Camera, no. It is trivial to attach a cam to an object - but wastes resources if you attach a cam that you have no intent ov using to an object. With just a logoSceneNode, developers can use it as both a splash screen and an easter egg in their games; holographic displays in a futuristic settings, power ups/ tokens for platformers, etc, etc.

Animation should only be offered if the logo itself is an animated mesh - if it is just animators added, the developers can add them themselves easily enough.

The major problem with your idea is that it is not directly related to the irrlicht engine. You actually need to use another engine to make the video display which is a big hassle. Maybe a video would be possible or a rotating banner in 3d real time with a timer but a actual video display is not possible with the irrlicht engine. You need a video texture engine such as magic library.

alexionne wrote:Yes, CIrrLogoSceneNode would definitely be in the spirit of Irrlicht.

Another idea is that we have CAnimatedIrrLogoSceneNode which would contain some animation of Irrlicht logo geometry as well as camera(*) attached to itself. Then, if you want animated Irrlicht logo, you will simply render your scene from that camera(*). What do you think about that?

And we can have CSkinnedAnimatedMeshIrrLogoSceneNode and have lots of fun