Nitrogen
27-08-2006, 01:18 AM
I've just revamped and completed an old project of mine. It's a lightmap generator.
Why lightmaps you say? well, they're fast in-game and very easy to implement and you get automatic soft shadows!
The old lightmap generator wasnt complete so it only had one type of light, was slow and didnt have a way to export the lightmaps. Well, that's all changed with this version which can 'conceivably' handle some real-world applications. It has two types of light (Omni and Spotlight) and can load 3DS files or it's own projects, it now includes unwrapping and lighting options such as lightmap padding, antialiasing and draft mode.
http://www.sulaco.co.za/nitrogen/gallery/thumbs/Lightmapper%20(3).jpg
http://www.sulaco.co.za/nitrogen/gallery/thumbs/Lightmapper%20(4).jpg
Get it here: (or just look at the pics) http://www.sulaco.co.za/nitrogen/projectinfo.asp?id=31
It's free, includes source code and instruction manual, and you'll find a tutorial on the file format here: http://www.sulaco.co.za/nitrogen/viewtutorial.asp?id=15
On the technical side, it uses shadow volumes to test if a point is in shadow, and an octtree structure to accelerate ray-shadow tests. It also uses a 2D binary tree structure to pack triangles into the lightmaps.
Why lightmaps you say? well, they're fast in-game and very easy to implement and you get automatic soft shadows!
The old lightmap generator wasnt complete so it only had one type of light, was slow and didnt have a way to export the lightmaps. Well, that's all changed with this version which can 'conceivably' handle some real-world applications. It has two types of light (Omni and Spotlight) and can load 3DS files or it's own projects, it now includes unwrapping and lighting options such as lightmap padding, antialiasing and draft mode.
http://www.sulaco.co.za/nitrogen/gallery/thumbs/Lightmapper%20(3).jpg
http://www.sulaco.co.za/nitrogen/gallery/thumbs/Lightmapper%20(4).jpg
Get it here: (or just look at the pics) http://www.sulaco.co.za/nitrogen/projectinfo.asp?id=31
It's free, includes source code and instruction manual, and you'll find a tutorial on the file format here: http://www.sulaco.co.za/nitrogen/viewtutorial.asp?id=15
On the technical side, it uses shadow volumes to test if a point is in shadow, and an octtree structure to accelerate ray-shadow tests. It also uses a 2D binary tree structure to pack triangles into the lightmaps.