Some TGB Questions...

#1 Take a 3D object and render it at 2D. That's what it does. That way you can create models with a number of animations and use them for your "sprites". You use them in 2D space. You can rotate and scale them to look correct in the game. Note that you do not have any lighting present since it is a 2D engine, so you will need to make sure to texture accordingly.

#2 Oh so there is no real time 3d meshes in TGB whatso ever? is this fact?

#3 David, while normally quite clear, didn't really phrase things to give the proper information--yes, they are 3-D objects, but they are in a 2-D space. In fact, the TGB 3D shapes are simply the TSSHape rendering code from TGE stripped down to make sense for TGB (no 3D position, for example, no shadows, etc.) but are fully 3-D in and of themselves.

Short Answer: they render in 3D but they exist in a 2D world space.

#4 Oh..
stephen.. did i mention im alittle slow... i need u to kindergarden it down for me.. :-) lol

so they are running 3d meshes that are like confined to axis for 2d views.. well i seen in a thread that u can rotate them for like say a top down view.. but its not like they are runnin all around like TGE i understand that.. i am just concerned about the creation process and how they run in game..

like say i model in max... animate.. export to dts (thats the file format right?) or whatever format thats supported by TGB .. and then load them in as a static object or character / enemy.. and the mesh performs in game.. ???

am i understanding right? or is it like what david said... u load the mesh into TGB then it makes sprites of each animation and thats what u see in game... ( or at least thats what my understanding of his post was ) .. i sure hope its u load animated mesh in.. and it loooks acts and runs like if i made a sprite character... i understand bout the lighting and what not .. to be expected.. i jsut wanna know if i can have 3d elements in there.. and not sprites..

sigh.. i am slow.. i know.. please bare with me lol :-D

#5 Also.. whats the status of TGB? i keep hearin about this new release along with the new price scale.. set for jun 7th.. but then in the blogs /plans the guys say it got pushed back... but shouldnt it have been out by now.. is it already? or is it not? and if it is .. why does the site still call it early adaptor and not release canidate ? and shouldnt it be called RC2 ? im just gonna confused.. which version is out now? i want this RC2 version.. is it out yet?

#6 I don't know much about the 3D pbjects so I can't help you there but we are up to RC3 now (release candidate 3, not quite the full release but getting close), so I expect the full release to be happening pretty soon. So that will mean a price increase pretty soon as well, so get it while you can!

#7 Okay, while I have used the 3D objects in-game, I often get confused in exactly how to explain how they are used. It's a constant problem that I have when answering posts like this one (which is why I should leave these to others). But against my better judgement, I will slog on and try to make a little sense out of what I posted and what Stephen clarified.

Yes, you do load in your 3D shapes, just like in TGE. It doesn't "make" sprites of them, but represents the 3D object in 2D space in much the same way that you would present a sprite. So, you can export a DTS character in Max, animate and blend the animations to create run, jump, attack, and die animations, rotate the model in TGB to be a side-view, and use it in a platformer which operates in 2D space using backgrounds and tilemaps in 2D but without having to work with frame-by-frame sprites.

I hope that is a bit more clear.

TGB is in RC3 and the last few issues are being pounded out rather hard. It has been extremely stable and usuable for quite some time, but everyone has been working to make sure that it is firmly tested all the way around. The "final" release with the price shift and such should be out pretty soon.

#8 www.rampantgames.com/blog/2006/06/torque-2d-game-builder-quick-review.html

The space ship at the bottom is a 3D object - it's actually the Osprey from Void War (a 3D custom-engine game). I just slapped it in. I had to do a little bit of custom code with the C++ source to get the level of control I wanted (I could have done it with an animation if I wanted, but coding it up was easier for me). You can't really tell it from the screen shot, but because it's a 3D object it banks REALLY smoothly to the left and right as you move the ship.

The other ships (the attacking ships) are 2D sprites.

So the two work together very nicely in the same scene - mix and match 3D elements and 2D elements to your heart's content. I think this is one of the greatest strengths of the engine.

Note that GarageGames has backed off on the price increase for the full source version of TGB because they want to make sure it's official release is as SOLID as possible. They have been steadily fixing bugs and even adding new documentation for two additional release candidates past their projected final release. From what I can tell (I haven't played with it much since RC1), it's a lot more solid now than it was 2 weeks ago.

#9 Awesome.. and thank u.. i just read that review... and its so awesome to have u posting here.. thank u .. u answered all my questions.. and i wanna jump on GTB as soon as i can.. thank u so much...

-mike carlyle

PS: awesome review.. u r great