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downloading polyvox technology
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Author:  mickey [ Sun Dec 07, 2008 6:07 am ]
Post subject:  downloading polyvox technology
Hi

I was looking to download your PolyVox Technology but when I went to the Download page, it seems there's only download option for your Thermite 3D engine.

I'm creating a missile command clone and I would love to have a destructible terrain so I'm hoping I can use your technology.

Thanks and looking forward to your reply.

Cheers,

David
Author:  mickey [ Sun Dec 07, 2008 6:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: downloading polyvox technology
David Williams:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Hi,

Sorry I was slow to reply, I've been travelling for a couple of days and am just catching up.

Actually I don't think there are any prebuilt binaries of PolyVox, you will have to get the source code from Subversion. This includes both PolyVox and currently two versions of Thermite (it's currently being ported to Qt). You can get instructions on accessing the Subversion code here:

http://sourceforge.net/svn/?group_id=44243

The good news is that PolyVox should be easy to build as I don't think it has any dependancies anymore. It's also in a reasonably stable and useable state, and there is an (extreamly basic) example of using it with OpenGL.

What will you be combining it with in terms of rendering API/engine and physics?

I must say, I'm actaully just comencing on a similar project with an artist I met online. This means PolyVox/Thermite will definatly be approapriate for the kind of game you are trying to create and hopefully we can bounce ideas around. Maybe we can share some other technology - for example I will have to write a tool to convert heightmaps to volumes which you might also find useful.

Anyway, let me know if you have any more questions,

David
Author:  mickey [ Sun Dec 07, 2008 6:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: downloading polyvox technology
Hi David,

Thanks for your reply. I'm creating the demo with Bullet and DirectX.

But I'm a little bit undecided now. Since my terrain is just a 2d mesh, it seems a simple mesh deformation (ie, lowering the height map table where the missile hits) may be sufficient, coupled with texture splatting.

Image
(3 square craters in the image, I have yet to make a circular crater, and apply smoothing)

And depending the current height of my terrain, i use a different texture blended with the rest.

I just thought using voxel maybe extreme for a missile command clone if I want the terrain to just deform and not really destruct.

By the way, I just thought of, if something destructs using your technology, the debris should fly around/chip off and seen by the users no?
Author:  David Williams [ Sun Dec 07, 2008 10:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: downloading polyvox technology
Well using PolyVox will be more complex than just raising or lowering the mesh, so I guess it depends whether that is sufficient for your needs. It will probably look ok the first time a missile hits a horizontal surface, but it might look strange after multiple explosions occur in the same area. Also if you have a hill side or cliff it might look odd. Generally you would expect the hole to go into the surface (which ever way it is pointing) rather than going straight down.

On the plus side, just using a mesh will probably allow you to have higher resolution maps. I'm intending to use 512x512 for our game, and although I will try to push it further I can't guarantee that yet.

You should also think carefully about how materials and textures will work - just using the height to choose one won't be sufficient. For example, an explosion at the top of a hill should reveal some kind of rock/earth texture, even though it is still high up. There's probably a bunch of ways you can overcome this though.

Depending on your time scale, you might want to wait and see what I come up with for my own project. I could give you a preview of the tech in a month or so.

mickey wrote:
By the way, I just thought of, if something destructs using your technology, the debris should fly around/chip off and seen by the users no?


Agreed, but the same applies if you are just raising/lowering the mesh. In both cases you would just spawn small pieces of debris along with the smoke and fireball as you modify the terrain.
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