Retextured and rejigged the model one more time, it is now more compact with nicer textures. I would really like a brushed metal type effect for the craft but I can't seem to get the textures to do what I want. Got proper lighting to work in the engine, rather than the smeg that I had before - I still don't know why it looked so bad last time I tried. I also fixed a rather nasty bug that I had introduced by accidentally removing the line of code that frees the critical section in the input thread.

I am off for a holiday for two weeks shortly but when I get back I am going to start on the render to texture using the heightmap algorithms presented in Game Programming Gems 1. What a great book that is, full of fantastic ideas.

posted by at 12:43 AM

 
Got the model loading and rendering done, my model looked a bit crapola though so I spent some time creating new textures for it. Still not completely happy with it though.

posted by at 10:07 PM

 
Lots of fun with models last night, or rather not. Looks like my model might be slightly smegged :)

posted by at 6:45 PM

 
I have added support for Milkshape 3d model loading and preliminary rendering to the engine.

posted by at 4:31 PM

 
I fixed the logos on the pages. For some reason neither paint shop pro 7 or photoshop 5 generated a png file with the same gamma level as the same imaged saved as a tga, so I have had to use an inferior format for the web images rather than spend all day getting it right. Luckily I have included support for tga files in the engine so I guess I might as well just use them for all textures now.

posted by at 10:13 PM

 
No much progress, I am still working on finalising the engine base. I have thought about controls and representing the craft in the world - more later.

Looks like the logo on this page might be a bit stuffed for some reason. I will have to check it later.

posted by at 5:43 PM

 
I put a little research into loading a Milkshape object. It seems relatively straightforward so perhaps the engines resource loader will have 3D model abilities soon!

posted by at 6:05 PM

 
Lander is going to be bascially a 3D version of lunar lander using OpenGL with runtime-generated heightmaps and elements of scramble thrown in to give some gameplay. Initially I am writing it as a "'cause I can" project but eventually it might form the basis of a proper game.

While I am finishing the basic game engine (see "Coding Paradroid") I have designed a craft using Milkshape 3D for the player. I will post a screenshot later.

posted by at 4:49 PM