6 replies to this topic

[SimanQzia]

Greetings Forum,

To begin with, recently I decided to work on Isometric engine. However, it was simply too boring.

So, I came up with an idea to make Voxel based isometric terrain for the game.

Before the main post, the programming language I use is BlitzMax which is rather slow.
However the code I have written can be simply rewritten in C++, since the syntax is only thing that differs.
I have attached the files to the thread, Terrain demo's works on OpenGL, in case you have some problems, tell me. Tile system demo works on DirectX.
I may compile it for DirectX or vise versa in a minute.

1. Voxel Based Terrain

Note: Demo Applications Are Attached To The Post

At first, I made isometric tile based terrain which supported some height values (1st part).

Secondly, I used Cubic Spline Interpolation for both, X and Z axis to create smooth edges for the terrain.
That way I created prime voxels. (2st part)

Later, I found a solution to draw voxels properly (3rd part), though the method is rather too slow for real time rendering.

4th part shows how I implemented texture displaying on the terrain.

Terrain collisions already have been implemented.
In the end of terrain development I also implemented lighting + map bumping.

The practical use of engine's terrain would have been: export the voxel terrain as image tiles and use it in the game.
That was the progress with voxel terrain:


Real-Time Lighting Implementation:

2. Voxel Based 3D Tile System + Destructible Terrain
Note: Demo Applications Are Attached To The Post.

Well, to play with voxel engine was quite fun!
I have accomplished terrain system in just couple of hours and wanted to try something more complex.
The next step was to create 3D tile system. I did it and implemented Destructible Environment as well.
I found a lot of optimization methods, but I had one simple problem to which I still do not have a solution.
Unfortunately, I didn't found any proper way to create fast real time 3D voxel bumping/day lighting.

My results so far

3. Voxel Engine Basic Platform & Physics (OpenGL)
I've also attached demo file so you can check it out :}
Controls: Space and Arrow keys.

My achievements:

• Fast voxels drawing with depth
• Simple and basic lighting
• 256 colors for voxels
• Create or move loaded voxel objects

Screenshot


Enjoy, I hope you find this interesting!
Waiting for feedback :}

Attached Files

•  Iso-Voxels Terrain Part 2.rar   82.99KB   124 downloads
•  Iso-Voxels Terrain Part 3.rar   82.82KB   115 downloads
•  Voxel Destructible Tile Engine Demo V1.rar   169.06KB   127 downloads
•  Voxel Destructible Tile Engine Demo V2.rar   170.85KB   259 downloads
•  Real Time Voxel Platform Demo.rar   46.12KB   81 downloads

Edited by SimanQzia, 23 May 2012 - 05:26 AM.

[rouncer]

looking good! would like to see something more than just a small section, like a whole area would be nice.

[SimanQzia]

Yeah, sure.

I've just attached Voxel Destructible Tile Engine Demo V2.rar

It has voxel map of the size 1024*224*1024 and needs about 235MB Ram.

You can notice that there is no initialization time.

Probably that's where my journey with engine development ends.
I have no further ideas to implement, except to rewrite it in C++ and improve speed like 2-3x times.

PS: If there will be requests, I might share some of the source or make a tutorial ;}

[The Great Radio]

A tutorial would be great!

[SimanQzia]

A tutorial would be great!

Thank you for the interest. However, in my opinion that would be quite much of work for nothing :}
I don't really wanna spend a few days on article/tutorial which won't be read.

Edited by SimanQzia, 22 May 2012 - 07:55 AM.

[McGrane]

I would also like too see this tutorial, and im sure there are many more, but if you dont want too its very understanable It would probably be a lot of work.

[SimanQzia]

***UPDATE*** Voxel Engine Basic Platform & Physics (OpenGL)
I forgot to mention that I was working on Voxel Based Real-Time Platform Engine.
I've also attached demo file so you can check it out :}
Controls: Space and Arrow keys.
 Real Time Voxel Platform Demo.rar   46.12KB   86 downloads

My achievements:

• Fast voxels drawing with depth
• Simple and basic lighting
• 256 colors for voxels
• Create or move loaded voxel objects

Screenshot

Edited by SimanQzia, 23 May 2012 - 05:25 AM.