Moving Right Along!

So, last week, I released the Multiplayer Assembly Package for Torque 3D, and I have to say, the first impressions were just outstanding. There were a few system hiccups to get through, but after getting past those, I was firing on all cylinders. I couldn't be more happy with the six people who jumped right on board either and grabbed the pack, while there were some bugs and glitches to get through, the awesome community here once again showed that it is indeed... awesome, not only were they patient with the problem, they even helped me figure out what was going on to fix the problem and get the solution out and running.

So now that I'm done with the MAP discussion, we can talk about some more fun things. Where do I go from here? Well, I get to move on to the next line of work. With pack #1 now released, and proper bug-fixing methods now in place, I can start work on my second pack planned for later on this year, the Dynamic Weather Pack. While I only briefly introduced this pack in my last blog, I'd like to bring a little more information to you now regarding this pack.

First off, is the new class, HazardPrecipitation, which does exactly as the name suggests, it functions as a specialized precipitation to which when the drops collide with objects, you will be able to damage them accordingly. Now, implementing this is going to be a bit of a challenge, as the default precipitation serves on the client side. This new class must function on the server side, so a new layer of challenge will present itself to me, but I'm sure I'll figure that one out. :)

Next, this pack will be adding some "fun" stuff, tornadoes yes, well, proper terminology must interfere now. To generate a tornado like flow field, I have to dive into my mathemagic and to the wonderful world of Rankine Vortex fields. I was able to accomplish this for a class project last year, so converting the flow to C++ shouldn't be too difficult to complete. What these tornadoes will be able to do, well I'll let you decide on that one. The Rankine Vortex function has a power term in which you will be able to control flow directed into the center, or flow being repelled out from the center. I will probably make this epic streamline render video at some point to demonstrate this effect, but that comes later on.

Lastly, this pack will add some precipitation types (snow, rain, others) to select from. A class experiment in atmospheric sciences last semester has provided me with some very cool image samples from actual precipitation events. Combine enough of these, and you can create some near-realistic rain and snow events similar to this:


All in all, I'm looking forward to what lies ahead, and I can't wait to play around with some more fun stuff!