more IP free content in r2189

[zuzuf]

I've made a build picture renderer which is built-in TA3D and can be used from the command line. I used it to quickly produce unit pictures and build pictures for all units.

See the logs for more details :
http://trac.ta3d.org/changeset/2189

Only build menus structure is lacking now in order to have fully free menus.

[xpoy]

/:^}~~~

It work fine! How about new F1 help style? It also just need used OTA's pictures.

[zuzuf]

it's on the TODO list

[Balthazar]

Very good

Where did you get the backgrounds? If we change them a little - better water quality and more shiny terrain they`ll become perfect

[zuzuf]

I got them from Files Universe : http://files.tauniverse.com/library/ta/ ... ckgrounds/

[Balthazar]

Also there`s an idea to make buildpics with script settings "on" like for Solar Collectors, Radar Towers and so on, cause they appearing in closed stage on buildpics.

Also there is a suggestion - to change the background for Hover tanks, since they are both naval-land units. I can try to create more detailed backgrounds for buildpics, just ask (especially with the water )

[zuzuf]

Feel free to improve everything you want .

Concerning scripting, scaling and real map background this will require a little more work (since TA3D has to load parts of the corresponding data (COB/Lua and FBI should not be very difficult but loading the map will require much more data).

[Balthazar]

Loading map is not neccesary - we can use backgrounds. The only thing that may be improved - is making buildpics with script active. So the buildings could build, Solar Collectors - could open and tanks could shoot during buildics creation process

[zuzuf]

We'll need a convenient way to pass arguments to scripts if you want to aim ...

[Balthazar]

Ok. Then maybe just the model of explosion from the barrels (or lasers) should be visible?

About Icons - what if we create a 3-4 small maps (0,5x0,5) for each type of unit (naval, land, air, hover) for buildpic creation process? We`ll get the shadows and reflections correctly on buildpics

[zuzuf]

The map should not be too small otherwise you won't see any landscape at the horizon . I think the best way to do it is to load a given map (passed as command line argument) load a basic battle then for each unit render a build pic based on the unit characteristics. This could be done with a Lua script using some off-screen rendering functions which are not implemented yet (but it should not be too difficult to implement since the renderer is isolated/split ).

[Balthazar]

Sound cool but it seems to be too difficult to implement. Maybe we should start with a PRE-DEFINED (so we can specify units position for land/air/sea type) map and render buildpics? This shouldn`t be too hard to do, since no scripting here

[zuzuf]

Well we can make a sample script that people can edit (they'll probably change only the units to render) or we could even use some LUA<->GUI interface to control it (some Lua-generated GUI could be great for this ).

The way I see it:

• * command line renderer is for quick rendering (let's say you just want to test your new unit and don't want to bother with the buildpic yet)
  * game script renderer is for polished build pics with more control over the rendering process

[Balthazar]

Yeah, this would be better. Moders will be able to create different buildpics for different tasks.

[xpoy]

haha, really cool stuff.
For lua, maybe a common set script builder? I mean a little things(like camera angle/ height) for set, then build script out, then just watch command-line power.

[zuzuf]

A script builder would be an external tool. There are lots of things to do right now (pathfinder) so I won't write it but feel free to make it if you want.

[xpoy]

No problem
I will write these things:
a lua AI, build pics script builder, lua-loaded file list, (maybe will...) replay TAdemo's file...