Model system
Contents
Overview
Importing models
Materials
Detail levels
Animations
Attachments
Models may have special "tag point" Group nodes where other models may be attached. You may define a tag point in Blender by placing an Empty object and giving it one of the predefined names.
The system is meant for attaching equipment: guns, cargo pods, turrets...
Example: A generic gun model attached to a point "tag_gun_right":
The actual list of available names has not been determined yet.
Collisions
By default, the collision mesh of a model is the bounding box of all the meshes. For more control, you can import a custom mesh using the collision directive in the model definition:
collision collision.obj
Decals
Decals are meant for customizable insignia on spaceships and changing advertisements on space stations. Up to four unique decals are available for a model (multiple identical decals are allowed). Place a piece of geometry, usually a flat quad, with proper UV coordinates and name it decal_01, 02, 03 or 04. The game will then use a special material on the geometry.
Other special nodes
- Labels
- Thrusters
- Billboard lights
New systems that need to be developed
Lots of them :)
- System to handle attachments
- Tag points may be rotated in code to implement target tracking guns
- System to handle spaceship logos, station advertisements and shipyard UI to customize your ship
- UI to paint your ship and a system to give faction-appropriate colour schemes to NPC ships
- etc
