meshes

[Ratatosk]

i dont understand these much.. could any 1 explain?

[CannonBallGuy]

Please see http://my.bzflag.org/w/Mesh

[Grace F]

I think he has already read them. Just doesn't understand what tristrip, trifan, quads, quadstrip etc are.

[CannonBallGuy]

I don't fully understand those either, but I can still make mesh objects such as those in the Battle of Normandy map.

[Ratatosk]

well i dont understand the face stuff...well idk its all real confusing

[CannonBallGuy]

Imagine you have a box.
Each "side" - each "surface" is a "face".
Each "corner" is a vertex.

Imagine a big open 3D space, you come along and mark a little dot in mid air - you have made a vertex, a point in space.
Now make two more of those too, anywhere in the space.
Now, to make a "face", something you can touch, join up the three dots, the three vertices.
Now you have a face, but only on one side. To make the face exist on both sides, you have to make another face for the other side. This is easy, just join up the dots in the reverse order.

That explains this code:

Code: Select all

mesh
 vertex 0 0 0 # add a vertex (repeatable) - This is vertex number 0
 vertex 10 10 0 # add a vertex (repeatable) - This is vertex number 1
 vertex 10 20 10 # add a vertex (repeatable) - This is vertex number 2
 vertex 0 0 10 # add a vertex (repeatable) - This is vertex number 3

 face # start a face (repeatable) 
  vertices 0 1 2 3 # list of vertices (requires at least three)
 end
 face # start a face (repeatable) 
  vertices 3 2 1 0 # this is the back to the previous face
 end
end

[Grace F]

Finally, some light! Ty CBG

[Ratatosk]

uhh huh.. so basicly you make new faces every time you want to add to it?

[CannonBallGuy]

A face is a "side". Vertices do not mean anything if you do not use them to construct a face.

[Legolas_]

a cd case. Each sharp corner equals a vertex. Now, with just those 8 vertices you would have just 8 little dots in space.

Now, when you make a face, and apply vertices to it, you have a solid 2 dimensional figure. When you connect the 4 faces together, you have the entire solid 3 dimensional figure.

Just trying to expand on CBG's advice a little by adding something most can relate to.

Read up some on 3 dimensional figures.