extending the camera classes/cameramanager

[Mikeske]

HI Folks,

How could multi-viewports been build in quickly? I want to keep it kinda object-like...
If ppl would add 2 viewports (cameras), then 2 viewports would be visible and so on and so on...

I know that the logic would be something like

Code:

Viewport original = graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport;
 
graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport = topViewport;
GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.Black);
DrawModel(model, world, topView, projection);
 
graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport = sideViewport;
GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.Black);
DrawModel(model, world, sideView, projection);
 
graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport = frontViewport;
GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.Black);
DrawModel(model, world, frontView, projection);
 
graphics.GraphicsDevice.Viewport = perspectiveViewport;
GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.Black);
DrawModel(model, world, perspectiveView, projection);
 
GraphicsDevice.Viewport = original;

But how could this be implemented in the hazymind engine?

[mikeschuld]

Essentially you just create the multiple cameras that you want to use and set them as the "Active" camera (there is already a method in the manager for doing so) before rendering whatever you want to use that camera's viewport. Everything else should be handled for you after that.

Let me know if you need more specifics and I'll try to work up a simple example.

[Mikeske]

Hi Mike,

So far so good, same info I tried to explain but it came more intelligent from your side
The thing is, how can I tell XNA to redraw everything again (in the same draw cycle) as the component manager is drawing every "renderable" item... thought of something like

Code:

        public override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
        {
            foreach (IIcRenderable render in renderable.Values)
            {
                GraphicsDevice.VertexDeclaration = render.VertexDeclaration;

                IcCameraManager.SetActiveCamera("viewport1");

                IcEffectManager.SetActiveShader(render.Shader);
                IcEffectManager.ActiveShader.SetParameters(render);

                IcEffectManager.ActiveShader.Effect.Begin();
                foreach (EffectPass pass in IcEffectManager.ActiveShader.Effect.CurrentTechnique.Passes)
                {
                    pass.Begin();
                    render.Render(GraphicsDevice);
                    pass.End();
                }
                IcEffectManager.ActiveShader.Effect.End();
            }
            base.Draw(gameTime);
        }

but with an extra for loop whcih goes through every viewport...
But how could I keep it managable to be able to set for example...

Editor:
4-viewport
Game:
1-viewport

without having to rewrite the compomentmanager ...
Do you get my point where I'm going at, or is it totally insane to do it like this?

greetz

[mikeschuld]

How about switching the camera and then just calling the Render on the ObjectManager again? That shouls go down the whole tree and do everything it needs to.

[Mikeske]

Hi there,

It was exactly what I meant... another for-loop, looping through each viewport...
But the question was more like, how could I keep it simple? in an editor you would need, 1..2...3...4...n - viewports, but for a game (single player-like) just 1 viewport for example... this would mean I would need something to designate as a Viewport in the for-loop...

I can add like 10 cameras (10 viewports if you like) but only 1...2...3 are viewports how can I designate the camera as being a viewport to be rendered, the other cameras could just be a first-person like camera, another could be an image of a surveillance camera that would be rendered on a tv-screen in-game... you catch my drift?

greetz

[Mikeske]

just to be clear... didn't you mean the "render"-function of the component manager... as it calls every object or items which are "renderable"...

[mikeschuld]

That's what I meant I'm at the office so wasn't looking at my code at the time.

I would probably either use a Dictionary of cameras (which is already there in the camera manager) or just a List<> ArrayList<> etc. and use a foreach to set the active camera and then call the code like this:

Code:

foreach(HMCamera in WhateverCameraListYouUse) {
    HMComponentMananger.Draw(gameTime)
}

You'd probably want to do that in the Game class. This may be the method I use later on to implement multiple viewports for multiplayer on one screen setups, but we'll get to that when we get to that

[Mikeske]

Wouldn't it be easier to call it in the draw override in the componentmanager itself?

Code:

        public override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)
        {
            foreach(HMCamera Viewportcamera in HMCameraManager.WhateverCameraListYouUse)
            {
            foreach (IIcRenderable render in renderable.Values)
            {
                GraphicsDevice.VertexDeclaration = render.VertexDeclaration;

                IcCameraManager.SetActiveCamera(Viewportcamera.name);

                IcEffectManager.SetActiveShader(render.Shader);
                IcEffectManager.ActiveShader.SetParameters(render);

                IcEffectManager.ActiveShader.Effect.Begin();
                foreach (EffectPass pass in IcEffectManager.ActiveShader.Effect.CurrentTechnique.Passes)
                {
                    pass.Begin();
                    render.Render(GraphicsDevice);
                    pass.End();
                }
                IcEffectManager.ActiveShader.Effect.End();
            }
            }
            base.Draw(gameTime);
        }

And an extention of the cameramanager class with your "WhateverCameraListYouUse"-idea?
and an extra bool "enabled" with it would solve my problem.
Going to try this one out tonight when I get home, will post the extended code for it if wanted
Thankx for the patience with my idiotic reasoning 

greetz,