VertexColour limits?

Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Beginners Area/VertexColour limits?

_PJ_	(Posted 2010) [#1]

Are there limits to the use of VertexColor? As in, number of verts that may be coloured?

Maybe I've done something wrong elsewhere, but I've not been able to find it at all. . .
The code below shows the mesh being generated and only half of it gets coloured...

Graphics3D 1024,768,32,6
SetBuffer BackBuffer()

MoveMouse GraphicsWidth()Shr 1,GraphicsHeight() Shr 1

Global Camera
Global START_TIME
Global Sun
Global FRAME_TIME#
Global FRAME_COUNT#=0
Global FPS#=0

Const SCALE#=0.1
Global Points[21900]

Global Well

Initialise

Main

Function Initialise()
	AmbientLight 160,160,192
	Camera=CreateViewCamera()
	Sun=CreateSun()
	BuildGraph()
End Function

Function BuildGraph()
	Local Cubes=0
	Local X#
	Local Y#
	Local Z#
	Local Max#=SCALE*360
	Local Min#=SCALE*(0-360)
	Local n,T#
	Local Build#
	
	For T#=0 To 360 Step 3
		For n=0 To 360 Step 2
			X=Sin(n)
			Y=Sin(T)
			Z=Cos(n)
			Points[Cubes]=CreatePivot()
			PositionEntity Points[Cubes],X*T*SCALE#,Y*SCALE*T,Z*T*SCALE#,1
			;RainbowColour(Points[Cubes],(EntityY(Points[Cubes],True)-Min)/(Max-Min)*(Sqr((X*X)+(Z*Z)+(Y*Y))))
			;ScaleMesh Points[Cubes],SCALE,SCALE,SCALE
			Cubes=Cubes+1
		Next
	Next
	Well=BuildGeom(Cubes)
	PointEntity Sun,Well
End Function	

Function BuildGeom(Vertices)
	Local Mesh=CreateMesh()
	Local Surface=CreateSurface(Mesh)
	Local n
	Local v0,v1,v2
	Local v3,v4,v5
	EntityFX Mesh,2
	For n=0 To Vertices-5 Step  3
		v0=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n],True),EntityY(Points[n],True),EntityZ(Points[n],True))
		v1=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n+1],True),EntityY(Points[n+1],True),EntityZ(Points[n+5],True))
		v2=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n+2],True),EntityY(Points[n+2],True),EntityZ(Points[n],True))
		
		v3=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n+3],True),EntityY(Points[n+3],True),EntityZ(Points[n+5],True))
		v4=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n+4],True),EntityY(Points[n+4],True),EntityZ(Points[n+5],True))
		v5=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n+5],True),EntityY(Points[n+5],True),EntityZ(Points[n+5],True))
		
		AddTriangle(Surface,v0,v1,v2)
		AddTriangle(Surface,v3,v1,v2)
		AddTriangle(Surface,v3,v4,v5)
		AddTriangle(Surface,v3,v1,v2)
		
		VertexTexCoords(Surface,n,0,0)
		VertexTexCoords(Surface,n+1,1,0)
		VertexTexCoords(Surface,n+2,0,0)
		;VertexTexCoords(Surface,n+3,0,1)
		;VertexTexCoords(Surface,n+4,1,1)
		;VertexTexCoords(Surface,n+5,0,0)
		
		VertexRainbowColour(Surface,n,Sqr(VertexX(Surface,n)*VertexX(Surface,n)+VertexY(Surface,n)*VertexY(Surface,n)+VertexZ(Surface,n)*VertexZ(Surface,n)))
		VertexRainbowColour(Surface,n+1,Sqr(VertexX(Surface,n+1)*VertexX(Surface,n+1)+VertexY(Surface,n+1)*VertexY(Surface,n+1)+VertexZ(Surface,n)*VertexZ(Surface,n)))
		VertexRainbowColour(Surface,n+2,Sqr(VertexX(Surface,n+2)*VertexX(Surface,n+2)+VertexY(Surface,n+2)*VertexY(Surface,n+2)+VertexZ(Surface,n)*VertexZ(Surface,n)))
		
		VertexColor Surface,n,VertexX(Surface,n)*8,VertexY(Surface,n)*8,VertexZ(Surface,n)*8
		VertexColor Surface,n+1,VertexX(Surface,n+1)*8,VertexY(Surface,n+1)*8,VertexZ(Surface,n+1)*8
		VertexColor Surface,n+2,VertexX(Surface,n+2)*8,VertexY(Surface,n+2)*8,VertexZ(Surface,n+2)*8
		
		;VertexColor Surface,n+3,VertexX(Surface,n+3),VertexY(Surface,n+3),VertexZ(Surface,n+3)
		;VertexColor Surface,n+4,VertexX(Surface,n+4),VertexY(Surface,n+4),VertexZ(Surface,n+4)
		;VertexColor Surface,n+5,VertexX(Surface,n+5),VertexY(Surface,n+5),VertexZ(Surface,n+5)
		
		
		FreeEntity Points[n]
		FreeEntity Points[n+1]
		FreeEntity Points[n+2]
		
	Next
	
	EntityShininess	Mesh,0.8
	;ScaleMesh Mesh,SCALE,SCALE,SCALE
	Return Mesh
End Function

Function VertexRainbowColour(Surface,Vertex,Ratio#)
	Local R%
	Local G%
	Local B%
	
	R=((Ratio-0.5)*255)+128
	
	If (Ratio>0.25) Then G=(Ratio*255)+64
	If (Ratio>0.75) Then G=255-(Ratio*255)
	If (Ratio<0.26) Then G=(Ratio*255)
	
	B=255-(((Ratio-0.5)*255)+128)
	
	VertexColor Surface,Vertex,R,G,B
	VertexColor Surface,Vertex+1,R,G,B
	VertexColor Surface,Vertex+2,R,G,B
End Function	
Function RainbowColour(Entity,Ratio#)
	
	Local R%
	Local G%
	Local B%
	
	R=((Ratio-0.5)*255)+128
	
	If (Ratio>0.25) Then G=(Ratio*255)+64
	If (Ratio>0.75) Then G=255-(Ratio*255)
	If (Ratio<0.26) Then G=(Ratio*255)
	
	B=255-(((Ratio-0.5)*255)+128)
	
	EntityColor Entity,R,G,B
	
End Function

Function CreateViewCamera(Parent=0)
	Local Cam=CreateCamera(Parent)
	CameraRange Cam,0.01,1000
	CameraFogRange Cam,0-1,99.9
	CameraFogColor Cam,32,32,64
	CameraClsColor Cam,32,32,64
	MoveEntity Cam,0,0,(0-(SCALE*10))
	Return Cam
End Function

Function CreateSun()
	Local Light=CreateLight()
	LightColor Light,192,255,168
	PositionEntity Light,-2,2,0,True
	Return Light
End Function

Function Distance#(SourceEntity,TargetEntity)
	Local X#=EntityX(TargetEntity,True)-EntityX(SourceEntity,True)
	Local Y#=EntityY(TargetEntity,True)-EntityY(SourceEntity,True)
	Local Z#=EntityZ(TargetEntity,True)-EntityZ(SourceEntity,True)
	
	Return Sqr(X*X+Y*Y+Z*Z)
End Function

Function Main()
	START_TIME=MilliSecs()
	While Not KeyHit(1)
		Loop
	Wend
End Function

Function MoveCamera()
	MoveEntity Camera,KeyDown(205)-KeyDown(203),MouseZSpeed(),KeyDown(200)-KeyDown(208)
	TurnEntity Camera,MouseYSpeed(),0-MouseXSpeed(),0,False
	MoveMouse GraphicsWidth()Shr 1,GraphicsHeight() Shr 1
End Function

Function UpdateWell()
	TurnEntity Well,0,0.1,0,True
End Function

Function EntityPosition(SourceEntity,TargetEntity,Orientation=False)
	PositionEntity SourceEntity,EntityX(TargetEntity,True),EntityY(TargetEntity,True),EntityZ(TargetEntity,True),True
	If (Orientation) Then RotateEntity SourceEntity,EntityYaw(TargetEntity,True),EntityYaw(TargetEntity,True),(EntityRoll(TargetEntity,True)),True
End Function	

Function Loop()
	UpdateGame()
	Render()
	UpdateStats()
	Display()
End Function

Function Render()
	UpdateWorld
	RenderWorld
End Function

Function Display()
	ShowFPS()
	Flip
End Function	

Function UpdateStats()
	FRAME_TIME=(MilliSecs()-START_TIME)*0.001
	FRAME_COUNT=FRAME_COUNT+1
	If (FRAME_TIME>1.0)
		START_TIME=MilliSecs()
		FPS=FRAME_COUNT
		FRAME_COUNT=0
	End If
End Function

Function ShowFPS()
	Text 1000,0,Str(Int(FPS))
End Function

Function UpdateGame()
	; ...
	MoveCamera()
	UpdateWell()
End Function

jfk EO-11110

(Posted 2010) [#2]

I didn't even know that you can do this:

Global Points[21900]

shouldn't this be
Dim Points(21900)

A simple integer array that is global by default?

BTW. I don't think there is such a limit as you described, because I remember some people used Alpha-Splatting with mesh terrains often up to the max number of vertices, that may be a signed or unsigned 16 Bit number (32K or 64K).

Floyd

(Posted 2010) [#3]

There must be some flaw in the code. The problem is not the number of vertices.

BuildGraph() uses two loops, with Step 3 and Step 2. Change those to 30 and 20. Now there about a hundredth as many vertices, yet the behavior is the same: Bottom half is uncolored.

Last edited 2010

_PJ_	(Posted 2010) [#4]

Global Points[21900]

shouldn't this be
Dim Points(21900)

Essentially, it's the same thing, but since the array is 1 dimensional, the Blitz Arrays ( [] type) work fine, with the advantage that they can be passed as arguments to a function.
Just personal preference I guess ;)

Yeah, as you can see with the various commented out lines, I tried a few different methods of colouring but each to no avail...
All I can think is that I'm not iterating through the entirety of all the verts/triangles, but I just can't find out why or where that is :S
I'll keep playing around, at least it's good to know it's not a blitz, DX limit... unless perhaps it's a problem wioth my graphics card/memory? But then, others wouldn't necessarily have the issue, right?

All I can think of,m

jfk EO-11110

(Posted 2010) [#5]

I don't see why you remarked those lines:

;VertexColor Surface,n+3,VertexX(Surface,n+3),VertexY(Surface,n+3),VertexZ(Surface,n+3)
;VertexColor Surface,n+4,VertexX(Surface,n+4),VertexY(Surface,n+4),VertexZ(Surface,n+4)
;VertexColor Surface,n+5,VertexX(Surface,n+5),VertexY(Surface,n+5),VertexZ(Surface,n+5)

although you created these:

v3=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n+3],True),EntityY(Points[n+3],True),EntityZ(Points[n+5],True))
v4=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n+4],True),EntityY(Points[n+4],True),EntityZ(Points[n+5],True))
v5=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n+5],True),EntityY(Points[n+5],True),EntityZ(Points[n+5],True))

and then expect them to be colored ?

And an other thing that might be important:

I see you are creating two Triangles at absolutely the same position:
AddTriangle(Surface,v3,v1,v2)
...
AddTriangle(Surface,v3,v1,v2)

I cannot imagine why you want to do that. Even for Alpha splatting you should not use the same locations AFAIK. But beside waste of Tris and Z-Fighting issues with alpha splatting, there's a much more significant problem with such Clone Triangles: on some Cards they cause massive, bugous slowdowns in the rendering pipeline, a problem with Z-sorting.

Last edited 2010

jfk EO-11110

(Posted 2010) [#6]

Howdy Malice, let me know what it was :)

_PJ_	(Posted 2010) [#7]

Oops, couldn't find this thread again, It ought to be in the 3D section really...

Anyway, it's pretty clear that although I understand the concept of vertixces, surfaces and triangles etc. I need to think a bit more on the 3D geometry side.

The creation of the actual points (based on setting pivots to mark the vert positions) is pretty poor, since it's hard to then identify which verts should be linked for triangles.

Thanks for spotting the mistakes there, jfk, though uncommenting the colouring lines for v3,4,5 etc. doesn't make a difffference, alluding, perhaps, to even more triangles overlapping and "hiding" the coloured ones?

Seems the whole thing is a mess and really could do with a clean, fresh start, possibly with a more methodical approach...

jfk EO-11110

(Posted 2010) [#8]

As far as I see it was only a little further bug, step 6, not step 3:

Graphics3D 1024,768,32,6
SetBuffer BackBuffer()

MoveMouse GraphicsWidth()Shr 1,GraphicsHeight() Shr 1

Global Camera
Global START_TIME
Global Sun
Global FRAME_TIME#
Global FRAME_COUNT#=0
Global FPS#=0

Const SCALE#=0.1
Global Points[21900]

Global Well

Initialise

Main

Function Initialise()
	AmbientLight 160,160,192
	Camera=CreateViewCamera()
	Sun=CreateSun()
	BuildGraph()
End Function

Function BuildGraph()
	Local Cubes=0
	Local X#
	Local Y#
	Local Z#
	Local Max#=SCALE*360
	Local Min#=SCALE*(0-360)
	Local n,T#
	Local Build#
	
	For T#=0 To 360 Step 3
		For n=0 To 360 Step 2
			X=Sin(n)
			Y=Sin(T)
			Z=Cos(n)
			Points[Cubes]=CreatePivot()
			PositionEntity Points[Cubes],X*T*SCALE#,Y*SCALE*T,Z*T*SCALE#,1
			;RainbowColour(Points[Cubes],(EntityY(Points[Cubes],True)-Min)/(Max-Min)*(Sqr((X*X)+(Z*Z)+(Y*Y))))
			;ScaleMesh Points[Cubes],SCALE,SCALE,SCALE
			Cubes=Cubes+1
		Next
	Next
	Well=BuildGeom(Cubes)
	PointEntity Sun,Well
End Function	

Function BuildGeom(Vertices)
	Local Mesh=CreateMesh()
	Local Surface=CreateSurface(Mesh)
	Local n
	Local v0,v1,v2
	Local v3,v4,v5
	EntityFX Mesh,2
	For n=0 To Vertices-5 Step  6
		v0=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n],True),EntityY(Points[n],True),EntityZ(Points[n],True))
		v1=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n+1],True),EntityY(Points[n+1],True),EntityZ(Points[n+5],True))
		v2=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n+2],True),EntityY(Points[n+2],True),EntityZ(Points[n],True))
		
		v3=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n+3],True),EntityY(Points[n+3],True),EntityZ(Points[n+5],True))
		v4=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n+4],True),EntityY(Points[n+4],True),EntityZ(Points[n+5],True))
		v5=AddVertex(Surface,EntityX(Points[n+5],True),EntityY(Points[n+5],True),EntityZ(Points[n+5],True))
		
		AddTriangle(Surface,v0,v1,v2)
		AddTriangle(Surface,v3,v1,v2)
		AddTriangle(Surface,v3,v4,v5)
		;AddTriangle(Surface,v3,v1,v2)
		
		VertexTexCoords(Surface,n,0,0)
		VertexTexCoords(Surface,n+1,1,0)
		VertexTexCoords(Surface,n+2,0,0)
		VertexTexCoords(Surface,n+3,0,1)
		VertexTexCoords(Surface,n+4,1,1)
		VertexTexCoords(Surface,n+5,0,0)
		
		VertexRainbowColour(Surface,n,Sqr(VertexX(Surface,n)*VertexX(Surface,n)+VertexY(Surface,n)*VertexY(Surface,n)+VertexZ(Surface,n)*VertexZ(Surface,n)))
		VertexRainbowColour(Surface,n+1,Sqr(VertexX(Surface,n+1)*VertexX(Surface,n+1)+VertexY(Surface,n+1)*VertexY(Surface,n+1)+VertexZ(Surface,n)*VertexZ(Surface,n)))
		VertexRainbowColour(Surface,n+2,Sqr(VertexX(Surface,n+2)*VertexX(Surface,n+2)+VertexY(Surface,n+2)*VertexY(Surface,n+2)+VertexZ(Surface,n)*VertexZ(Surface,n)))
		
		VertexColor Surface,n,VertexX(Surface,n)*8,VertexY(Surface,n)*8,VertexZ(Surface,n)*8
		VertexColor Surface,n+1,VertexX(Surface,n+1)*8,VertexY(Surface,n+1)*8,VertexZ(Surface,n+1)*8
		VertexColor Surface,n+2,VertexX(Surface,n+2)*8,VertexY(Surface,n+2)*8,VertexZ(Surface,n+2)*8
		
		VertexColor Surface,n+3,VertexX(Surface,n+3),VertexY(Surface,n+3),VertexZ(Surface,n+3)
		VertexColor Surface,n+4,VertexX(Surface,n+4),VertexY(Surface,n+4),VertexZ(Surface,n+4)
		VertexColor Surface,n+5,VertexX(Surface,n+5),VertexY(Surface,n+5),VertexZ(Surface,n+5)
		
		
		FreeEntity Points[n]
		FreeEntity Points[n+1]
		FreeEntity Points[n+2]
		
	Next
	
	EntityShininess	Mesh,0.8
	;ScaleMesh Mesh,SCALE,SCALE,SCALE
	Return Mesh
End Function

Function VertexRainbowColour(Surface,Vertex,Ratio#)
	Local R%
	Local G%
	Local B%
	
	R=((Ratio-0.5)*255)+128
	
	If (Ratio>0.25) Then G=(Ratio*255)+64
	If (Ratio>0.75) Then G=255-(Ratio*255)
	If (Ratio<0.26) Then G=(Ratio*255)
	
	B=255-(((Ratio-0.5)*255)+128)
	
	VertexColor Surface,Vertex,R,G,B
	VertexColor Surface,Vertex+1,R,G,B
	VertexColor Surface,Vertex+2,R,G,B
End Function	
Function RainbowColour(Entity,Ratio#)
	
	Local R%
	Local G%
	Local B%
	
	R=((Ratio-0.5)*255)+128
	
	If (Ratio>0.25) Then G=(Ratio*255)+64
	If (Ratio>0.75) Then G=255-(Ratio*255)
	If (Ratio<0.26) Then G=(Ratio*255)
	
	B=255-(((Ratio-0.5)*255)+128)
	
	EntityColor Entity,R,G,B
	
End Function

Function CreateViewCamera(Parent=0)
	Local Cam=CreateCamera(Parent)
	CameraRange Cam,0.01,1000
	CameraFogRange Cam,0-1,99.9
	CameraFogColor Cam,32,32,64
	CameraClsColor Cam,32,32,64
	MoveEntity Cam,0,0,(0-(SCALE*10))
	Return Cam
End Function

Function CreateSun()
	Local Light=CreateLight()
	LightColor Light,192,255,168
	PositionEntity Light,-2,2,0,True
	Return Light
End Function

Function Distance#(SourceEntity,TargetEntity)
	Local X#=EntityX(TargetEntity,True)-EntityX(SourceEntity,True)
	Local Y#=EntityY(TargetEntity,True)-EntityY(SourceEntity,True)
	Local Z#=EntityZ(TargetEntity,True)-EntityZ(SourceEntity,True)
	
	Return Sqr(X*X+Y*Y+Z*Z)
End Function

Function Main()
	START_TIME=MilliSecs()
	While Not KeyHit(1)
		Loop
	Wend
End Function

Function MoveCamera()
	MoveEntity Camera,KeyDown(205)-KeyDown(203),MouseZSpeed(),KeyDown(200)-KeyDown(208)
	TurnEntity Camera,MouseYSpeed(),0-MouseXSpeed(),0,False
	MoveMouse GraphicsWidth()Shr 1,GraphicsHeight() Shr 1
End Function

Function UpdateWell()
	TurnEntity Well,0,0.1,0,True
End Function

Function EntityPosition(SourceEntity,TargetEntity,Orientation=False)
	PositionEntity SourceEntity,EntityX(TargetEntity,True),EntityY(TargetEntity,True),EntityZ(TargetEntity,True),True
	If (Orientation) Then RotateEntity SourceEntity,EntityYaw(TargetEntity,True),EntityYaw(TargetEntity,True),(EntityRoll(TargetEntity,True)),True
End Function	

Function Loop()
	UpdateGame()
	Render()
	UpdateStats()
	Display()
End Function

Function Render()
	UpdateWorld
	RenderWorld
End Function

Function Display()
	ShowFPS()
	Flip
End Function	

Function UpdateStats()
	FRAME_TIME=(MilliSecs()-START_TIME)*0.001
	FRAME_COUNT=FRAME_COUNT+1
	If (FRAME_TIME>1.0)
		START_TIME=MilliSecs()
		FPS=FRAME_COUNT
		FRAME_COUNT=0
	End If
End Function

Function ShowFPS()
	Text 1000,0,Str(Int(FPS))
End Function

Function UpdateGame()
	; ...
	MoveCamera()
	UpdateWell()
End Function

_PJ_	(Posted 2010) [#9]

HAH!

That's brilliant! Perfect! Thanks so much, jfk... I think ater a while of looking through the same code, one gets blind to the obvious!

That seems to be working just as it should do. That's really made a huge difference, thank you!