Ricebug on 9/11/2013 at 21:00
I have a huge outside area where I've plugged in a lot of building objects to try and block the player's line of sight. Yet when I go into check stats mode, the polygon and cell count remain unchanged if I put a building object between myself and the scene. (Nothing but a close-up of the wall is in view.)
So, I placed a blockable brush INSIDE one of the building objects to see what effect that would have. Nothing changes.
I seem to remember R Soul advising the use of blockable brushes against the sky ceiling and certain buildings to cut down on rendering time.
Is there something else I can do, or is it even an issue?
FireMage on 9/11/2013 at 21:29
Hmmm... I never tried this.. How about adding a giant door with blockvision ticked true that you destroy at the beginning of the mission?
You will get a blockable brush equal to the door's dimension.
R Soul on 9/11/2013 at 22:04
Quote Posted by Ricebug
I seem to remember R Soul advising the use of blockable brushes against the sky ceiling and certain buildings to cut down on rendering time.
Wasn't me!
Blockable brushes force cells (polys) to split up. If you have an AI whose patrol route is disturbed by complex cells, you can use a blockable (touching the floor, ~8ft high) to try to create a less cluttered route.
Type
render_backward and the furthest polys will be rendered last, rather than the other way round. Sometimes polys are drawn even though it looks like they should be hidden. You can then think about which views to block. Sometimes it's not enough to just add a building. It might have to go all the way up to the sky. If I have to do that, I sometimes create a solid brush between the building's roof and the sky, and then give it the sky texture.
Quote Posted by FireMage
Hmmm... I never tried this.. How about adding a giant door with blockvision ticked true that you destroy at the beginning of the mission?
You will get a blockable brush equal to the door's dimension.
Those aren't blockable brushes. I'm not sure what their correct name is.
PinkDot on 9/11/2013 at 23:39
Quote Posted by "FireMage"
How about adding a giant door with blockvision ticked true that you destroy at the beginning of the mission?
You will get a blockable brush equal to the door's dimension.
That will create a black polygon, causing everything else behind not to be rendered.
Actually I don't know if the destroyed door can ever block vision. It's better to make them fully transparent instead.
I used fake door technique to block vision combined with fog, so we never see the black polygon. The door would open, when we were close enough though (via roomTrigPlayer or something along these lines).
Quote Posted by "Ricebug"
I have a huge outside area where I've plugged in a lot of building objects to try and block the player's line of sight.
Objects does not block line of sight. Only terrain brushes do. You can try placing a SOLID cube inside them to block the line of sight (but you would have to keep the center hollow, as object with the center in void won't render). Or just build actual buildings with brushes.
Quote Posted by Ricebug
So, I placed a blockable brush INSIDE one of the building objects to see what effect that would have. Nothing changes.
Name of this brush is at least confusing. The behavior I remember was that it splits the polygons of surface it touches and creates extra cell(s).
This might be used maybe to stop/reduce slicing the planes in CSG process. When we have another brushes inside the blockable brush, the splitting should stop at the borders of the blockable brush, instead of going across all the surrounding cells.
But I have never investigated that properly, so don't take it as a word of expert...
Ricebug on 10/11/2013 at 12:09
Quote Posted by R Soul
Wasn't me!...I sometimes create a solid brush between the building's roof and the sky, and then give it the sky texture.
That's what I remember you said about 50 years ago. But apparently this was regarding terrain-brushed buildings, not object buildings.
ZylonBane on 10/11/2013 at 14:59
Quote Posted by R Soul
Those aren't blockable brushes. I'm not sure what their correct name is.
Portals.
Yandros on 10/11/2013 at 15:44
I thought portals were only red or blue? :confused: