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DTS Object Manipulation in Code

by J · in Torque Game Engine · 01/30/2009 (2:27 pm) · 4 replies

I was wondering if there was a way to manipulate a DTS object, either in code or script...I have a few ideas, I'm a 3D artist, not a good programmer...I want to make random tree roots/vines on the ground by just distorting one dts shape and replicating it.

I did findthis, and cloth physics but I assume I need to know more about shapebase objects and how they are constructed...any ideas or help?
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Torque Owner J
Act 7

About the author

I used to be obsessed with building my own open-ended RPG and a 3D Side Scroller RPG. But the job/house/girlfriend got in the way. I know, I know. Now I concentrate on doing architectural renderings (with the help of T3D of course) and VBA programming.

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    Associate Michael Hall
    Distracted...
    #1
    01/30/2009 (3:18 pm)
    From a purely artist's side you would have to make each distortion as a separate mesh (or use mesh hiding) and then place them individually in the mission -- that's the easy way.

    I never saw that forum thread that you linked to before. That seems interesting but I can't comment about the feasibility of it.

    There is also this: sgTree L-system Tree generator object - it's about 5-6 years old and will probably take some programming skill to make it work.

    Torque Owner J
    Act 7
    #2
    01/31/2009 (2:40 pm)
    Thank you Michael! That might be just what I'm looking for...thought I'd seen that resource around, but in all my searching I couldn't ever find it again.

    I was also planning on implementing my own tree idea, which is looking to be a pretty heavy feat. I didn't know if you could build an object in openGL and then randomly manipulate it with different parameters...or load a DTS mesh and manipulate it.
    But, once you get to making sure its lighting correctly with the light manager, fogging, billboarding and everything else you have to implement into it...its getting way over my head at that point. Also..making it really efficient...that's a feat in its own!

    Torque Owner Raimonds Zigurs
    #3
    02/02/2009 (12:26 pm)
    use weapon wield script. for example make 3 trees and 5 roots. Add mount points and tell engine to randomize shape on load

    simple. I am artist also, but pretty sure just copying and pasting code with some knowledge of programming, shouldn't have much trouble with it

    Torque Owner J
    Act 7
    #4
    02/02/2009 (1:59 pm)
    Yeah, I've already done that, but what I'm looking to achieve would be more like speedTree. I want randomization in the trunks, branch amounts and such...dynamic lod (like your Mesh tool in Milkshape3D)...I have a lot of leads and you can see different things people are doing...It is very possible to do...I've taught myself Qbasic and Visual Basic, just have to stick to learning C++/openGL and I'll get it working ...eventually... Could be a really great addition to Torque.

    Like the L-system Micheal was refering too, there are a lot of similar ideas people are building on. Do some googling and you can find a ton of reading and some already built tree systems that make for good learning examples. Nothing exactly like I want though...I want speedTree :) MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!