Triangle mesh voxelization
November 23rd, 2009
In my recent post on automatic skinning, one of the steps involved creating a voxel representation of the character. I couldn't find any explanations of how to do this on the Internet, so I decided to write my own! What is a voxel? "Voxel" is short for "volume pixel". A pixel is a single square in a 2D image ...
Overgrowth auto-updater UI
October 3rd, 2009
One feature that I really want to see in Overgrowth is an auto-update system. Each week we release a new Overgrowth alpha. Since there is no incremental update system in place, those ~500 megabyte zip files really add up. We use a content distribution network, so the download speeds are always super fast around the world, but still, this is ...
Resolution-Independent UI
September 20th, 2009
Most UI is designed in terms of pixels, with the assumption that a pixel is a constant unit of measurement. This is troubling because, depending on the user's resolution and quality of their display, a pixel can vary dramatically in size. This is especially a concern in full screen video games, where no matter what the size of your ...
Leaf translucency
August 18th, 2009
I was pretty happy with how the Overgrowth trees look when lit from the front, as shown in this shot: But what about when lit from the back? This didn't look quite right to me because leaves are translucent; and here we should be seeing light coming through the leaves. I went out to a park to take some ...
Multiplayer Server Browser
August 16th, 2009
I recently finished the UI for the server browser in Overgrowth. This will let you browse all of the multiplayer Overgrowth servers and easily choose the one you want from within the game. Check it out! (Note that the server names and such are just random Quake servers I found for testing.) Click for the full version It's pretty ...
Map editor toolbar UI
July 26th, 2009
One thing that has been bothering me about the Overgrowth alphas is that the map editor requires a manual. It has a ton of awesome features, but the only way to access many of them is with keyboard commands. While this works for Wolfire veterans who have been slowly introduced to feature after feature as we add them, new alpha ...
Blending land and sky
July 22nd, 2009
Since Overgrowth mostly takes place outdoors, we put a lot of effort into making the sky look nice. We've already talked about the sun placement tools and atmospheric haze, but now I would like to talk about how we achieve smooth transitions between the land and the sky. Let's start at the beginning, with the panoramic sky texture ...