ugly text at a 3d point hack

BlitzMax Forums/MiniB3D Module/ugly text at a 3d point hack

Chris C(Posted 2007) [#1]
I wanted to be able to have some text (always facing the camera) at a specific 3d point

I also didn't want to modify minib3d

I couldnt get parenting to work like I wanted so you'll have to reposition the text entity above the entity its labeling but hey its a quick dirty hack!

use like this
Local label:TTextEnt = TTextEnt.CreateTextEnt()
label.text="Entity One"
EntityColor label,255,0,0
PositionEntity label,10,4,0


and here's the ugliest hack you've seen in ages....
just slap this type in your code where you are not too likely to see it too often


apologies to everyone who's code I've abused


bradford6(Posted 2007) [#2]
hey. That's Pretty Cool. I got it working in my game. You are now officially in the opening credits

question: I have a 'label' on several entities. Only one label will display at a time. (i.e the one the camera is closest to) the other labels disappear. is there a way to have multiple sprites show at once?


Chris C(Posted 2007) [#3]
I've since added background speech bubbles in my own code, not too sure what you mean by one label at a time, basically make one TTextEnt for *each* entity you wish to "label"

Feel free to mail me via the address in my profile if you have any further problems with it

Its only so "hacky" cause I wanted to keep it separate from the minib3d code.

You are now officially in the opening credits

Oh the fame...! (thanks ;) )


bradford6(Posted 2007) [#4]
Thanks. I'll keep playing with it and post some code here if I get stuck.

I'll be sure to contact you before release so you don't get blindsided by the media attention.


Chris C(Posted 2007) [#5]
did he say freebie :D lol


*(Posted 2007) [#6]
This text is great, the only problem I have with it is that you have to create it on startup. You cant create it on the fly when and where you need it otherwise you just get a white box :\.

Also sometimes the bottoms of the g and y are missed out.

Any chance of fixing that? :)


Chris C(Posted 2007) [#7]
> Any chance of fixing that?

Unlikely I was going to look at the update for max but theres still bugs that are more than 8 months old and a cant bare the Linux ide (I no longer own windows)

Maybe once some of the bugs have have been sorted I may look at max again