MD2, CopyEntity, and Alpha trouble

Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Beginners Area/MD2, CopyEntity, and Alpha trouble

Mikorians

(Posted 2015) [#1]

Found a bit of a quirk!
Been using masked bmps for a long time.
No problem.
Went to use alpha and - whoa.
Here's what happens:
1. I have an animated grass md2 object.
2. I use copyentity to save on memory.
3. I use several animations picked at random for
each copy at different speeds, starting frame#.
AnimateMD2.
4. It works.

UNTIL I don't use a masked .bmp and/or use ALPHA at ALL.
Then suddenly every copy is running the same ANIMATION.
Huhhh... ? I can't do ghost grass?
Someone know the magic trick/combo?
EntityAlpha.
BrushAlpha.
TGA file with alpha flags.
Different brush and texture fx/blend modes
All no good.
Am I asking too much of it?

Rick Nasher

(Posted 2015) [#2]

Code example?

Mikorians

(Posted 2015) [#3]

Global A
Global C[49]
Graphics3D 800,600,0,0
Cam=CreateCamera()
Lgt=CreateLight(1)
MoveEntity Cam,0,0,-55
MoveEntity Lgt,50,50,0
A=LoadMD2("Plant.md2")
PointEntity Lgt,A
B=LoadTexture("Grass1.bmp",7)
EntityTexture(A,B)

br=GetEntityBrush(A)
BrushColor br,255,255,255
;BrushAlpha br, .7
PaintEntity A, br
FreeBrush br
;EntityAlpha A,.7

For t=0 to 49
C[t]=CopyEntity(A)
PositionEntity C[t],Rnd(-40,40),0,0
;EntityAlpha C[t],.7
s=Rand(0,13)*10
AnimateMD2 C[t],1,.2,s,s+9
Next

While Not KeyHit(1)
UpdateWorld
RenderWorld
Flip
Wend
End

WHERE Plant.md2 is 8 verts, 3 Quads,
containing normal data and 141 frames of vertex animation
AND Grass1.bmp is green grass on a black background.
Without any alphas uncommented, runs fine.
Desire- Alpha transLUCENCY AND masked.
I did TRY multitexturing also.

Mikorians

(Posted 2015) [#4]

Guess I'm asking too much. Sigh...
The MD2 method's very fast and I have other MD2's
To use with this method - like Ghost Monsters, etc...

Floyd

(Posted 2015) [#5]

No idea really, but you are treating the orginal and the copies differently. Original gets this:

br=GetEntityBrush(A)
BrushColor br,255,255,255
;BrushAlpha br, .7
PaintEntity A, br
FreeBrush br
;EntityAlpha A,.7

Perhaps try doing the same to all the copies:

For t=0 to 49
C[t]=CopyEntity(A)

br=GetEntityBrush(C[t])
BrushColor br,255,255,255
;BrushAlpha br, .7
PaintEntity C[t], br
FreeBrush br

PositionEntity C[t],Rnd(-40,40),0,0
;EntityAlpha C[t],.7
s=Rand(0,13)*10
AnimateMD2 C[t],1,.2,s,s+9
Next

Of course this is pure guesswork, completely untested. I'm just editing code in the reply box here on the forum, replacing A with C[t].

Mikorians

(Posted 2015) [#6]

You'd be amazed the permutations I tried.
Edit: VERIFIED total brush application redundancy to copied entities is a
NO GO also.

Mikorians

(Posted 2015) [#7]

Inconvenient quirk.
Anybody else NOT having this problem?

Rick Nasher

(Posted 2015) [#8]

Never used MD2's anymore since my first encounters with Blitz3d, as I got the impression they were for very low poly characters only, and the B3D format was more superior. Perhaps true for most people?

Mikorians

(Posted 2015) [#9]

I love blitz3d and it's format for maps and common objects!

But-
I observed (at least on my rig) that for monster onslaughts the md2 format and per-vertex animation (insane detail, I know) it provides for simple critters seemed to top out at about 10x faster than an articulated b3d character.
I had two-thousand md2 objects/instances in my test, and could only keep about 200 b3d objects working at the same frame rate. I save b3d for my most detailed and important characters!

BUT MY OLD TEST IS NOT what I need help with here.
Heh.