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Jun 29, 2003, 5:25am

I'd like to see an additional "cloud layer" that would be rendered before
the light source. When you use the current cloud layer for stars they
render on top of your light source. A moon should block out stars.

Jun 29, 2003, 5:40am

[View Quote] I believe drawing the light source in front of fixes this... but also
draws it in front of clouds. :-\

--
--Bowen--

Jun 29, 2003, 7:01am

That is already working this way, use cloud layer 1 for the starfield.
You probably checked 'Draw light source in front' or 'Light texture glow' ,
that 's why it seems to not work for you. Read the help files (
http://www.activeworlds.com/help/aw34/world_features_dialog.html#LIGHT_SOURC
E ) concerning these fields and you will understand why you can see the
stars throught your moon. So for what you want, you need to uncheck these
two fields.

I hope this helps.

Regards
MilesTeg

"thenorm" <n at sagatech.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
3efe9480 at server1.Activeworlds.com...
> I'd like to see an additional "cloud layer" that would be rendered before
> the light source. When you use the current cloud layer for stars they
> render on top of your light source. A moon should block out stars.
>
>

Jun 30, 2003, 5:19pm

Exactly

That's why we need something that works like a cloud layer but is drawn
before the light source.

Norm

[View Quote]

Jun 30, 2003, 5:30pm

Thanks for thinking this over but you're mistaken. The light source is
always drawn before the cloud layers, unless you check 'Draw light source in
front'. This makes perfect sense if you *are* using them for clouds. You
don't want the sun or moon to appear to be closer to you than the clouds.

The nessesary default drawing order is...
1 starfield (the thing I'm asking for, works like a cloud layer)
2 light source
3,4,5 cloud layers 1,2,3

Perhaps the *most* useful solution would be to let the caretaker specify the
drawing order of the current layers.

Norm

[View Quote]

Jun 30, 2003, 6:50pm

hmm did you try what i said?
I am not mistaken at all, this is exactly how it works, come in Mutation
during its night time and you will see.

in order from top to bottom:
Stars (wich is cloud layer1)
Moon
clouds2
clouds3

you won't see the stars behind the moon
and you see the moon through the clouds ( clouds being drawn in front of the
moon)
'Draw light source in front' and 'Light texture glow' must be uncheck in
order to work

what is your world name so i could check your setting?


Regards
MilesTeg



"thenorm" <n at sagatech.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
3f008ff3 at server1.Activeworlds.com...
> Thanks for thinking this over but you're mistaken. The light source is
> always drawn before the cloud layers, unless you check 'Draw light source
in
> front'. This makes perfect sense if you *are* using them for clouds. You
> don't want the sun or moon to appear to be closer to you than the clouds.
>
> The nessesary default drawing order is...
> 1 starfield (the thing I'm asking for, works like a cloud layer)
> 2 light source
> 3,4,5 cloud layers 1,2,3
>
> Perhaps the *most* useful solution would be to let the caretaker specify
the
> drawing order of the current layers.
>
> Norm
>
[View Quote]

Jun 30, 2003, 8:10pm

If this were true it would be a bug as it would cause cloud layer 1 to work
incorrectly.

Try turning off your light source and seeing if it really is hiding any
stars.

My world is under construction and all the objects are sitting on my
computer. You wouldn't see anything.

Norm

[View Quote]

Jun 30, 2003, 8:20pm

Correction, I've got enough stuff on the server to illustrate my point.

The world is "T-1"

Norm

[View Quote]

Jun 30, 2003, 8:28pm

Ok, I've got it. It depends on whether you use a mask or not. If I delete
the entry in the mask field it behaves as you described.

Norm


[View Quote]

Jun 30, 2003, 8:58pm

The problem is using the picture itself as a mask. It gives you translucent
areas where the stars show through. I've uploaded a real mask and
everything seems to be working.

However, I still don't understand why a cloud layer should be behind the
moon.

Thanks for helping me nail this down. I can get exactly the effect I'm
after. Who needs three layers of clouds anyway?

Norm


[View Quote]

Jul 1, 2003, 11:06am

Because Cloud layer 1 is intended for stars.
They could as well rename it to Star Layer since it's useless for clouds if you use a
light source.

[View Quote]

Jul 2, 2003, 2:30am

No, it's not a bug. Durring the AW 3.4 beta, it was decided that a starfield layer was needed, just as you have suggested in this thread. The solution chosen was to use the first cloud layer as the starfield layer and draw the directional light source texture in front of it. The other two cloud layers are drawn in front of the directional light source texture.
The order is:
· Gradient sky
· Backdrop
· Skybox
· Cloud Layer 1
· Directional Light Source Texture
· Cloud Layer 2
· Cloud Layer 3
· 3D Scene
· Light source glow and coronas.

I wrote that from memory, so someone feel free to correct me if I left anything out.

If you mask your directional light source texture, then you will see those items rendered behind it through any parts where the mask is not completely white.

TechnoZeus


[View Quote]

Jul 2, 2003, 2:38am

Not really useless. You can still see the clouds through parts of a masked directional light source texture, and even if you couldn't, it would still be possible to add more depth to your clouds by making use of the extra layer. I do hope in some future version we will have more layers available and more control over the, including the ability to decide what order they will render in, but this is much better than what we had to work with in earlier versions of Active Worlds... and the name of the layer is really unimportant except to have something to call it. There's a lot more that can be done with the sky besides stars, clouds, and a single moon or sun.

TechnoZeus

[View Quote]

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