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Feature
Real-Time Mesh Deformation
Issue: 2.1 (August/September 2003)
Author: Joe Strout
Author Bio: Joe works on REALbasic by day, and works in REALbasic by night, mostly building games and 3D utilities. Both Joe and his 3D meshes have been occasionally described as a little warped.
Article Description: No description available.
Article Length (in bytes): 18,268
Starting Page Number: 13
RBD Number: 2110
Resource File(s):
2110.sit Updated: Friday, October 17, 2003 at 12:21 PM
Related Web Link(s):
http://www.strout.net/info/coding/rb/
Known Limitations: None
Excerpt of article text...
If your 3D graphics needs involve moving rigid, pre-determined models around in space, REALbasic's got you covered. That's easy. But what if your models need to change shape in ways that aren't defined until run-time? This might be the case, for example, if you're animating a mathematical function entered by the user. Or, as in the example we'll be using here, you're simulating a flag flapping chaotically in the wind. What then? Are you forced to abandon REALbasic or use an entirely different approach to 3D?
As usual, the answer is "No." REALbasic's design philosophy is to build the common functionality right into the product, but to provide all the hooks advanced users need to do advanced things. Deforming a mesh falls into the category of advanced things, but as you'll see here, you can do this in REALbasic while still working with standard RB classes and controls.
Raising the Flag
This article started out as a piece about physics simulation. Based on Chapter 17 of Physics for Game Developers (see the review in RBD issue 1.4), I was going to cover the basics of spring-and-particle systems and show how they can be used to simulate cloth deforming due to wind and gravity.
...End of Excerpt. Please purchase the magazine to read the full article.
Article copyrighted by REALbasic Developer magazine. All rights reserved.
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