Hi guys,
This is a bit old for some of you, but now you all can try it out... A preview demo of the Active Voxel extension:
It's an idea I've had for almost 10 years and finally I'm getting close to the level I need to start making extensions.
The voxel renderer inside is NOT my idea of implementation! It's a person named Judaeu from the Command&Conquer mod scene who made it in C for SDL.
(Actually, I rewrote it when he said "Er, please god no?" when I asked if it'd be a good idea to use it)
I plan on experimenting with some small features that the engine never had, though. Give suggestions.
While rendering the first model which is the heaviest on the processor, it does not affect the MMF FPS on my old 1.5ghz machine. It's stable at 60.
Everything is software rendered as voxels are not HW accelerated.
Here are some screenshots from the demo as of now: (the model has race car movement)
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This is animated, but of course it doesn't show since it's a PNG 
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APC
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Actually, my son textured this ambulance
PROS on using voxels:
* They're easy to make Please login to see this link.
* There are tons of voxels to download and use in your game, on crediting their makers Please login to see this link. Please login to see this link.
* They are "retro" because they're closer to sprites, allows sprite artists to work in a fashion which is more familiar to them than polygon+textures.
* It allows for artistic impression even though you know nothing about 3d-modelling. Start making 3d-versions of ZEB, anyone?
* There's an extension for MMF2 coming up.. .This one
CONS... well let's all be positive, people
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Some background:
Well voxels are most basically an array with three dimensions of pixels:
boolean pixels[x][y][z]
Westwood uses voxels for some units in Tiberian Sun, amongst other games (the games are few, though). They invented the file format that these voxels use. Its extension is .VXL and a bit blurry spec is found here: Please login to see this link.
This format splits a model into PARTS which are later positioned in an animation file...
The animations are stored in .HVA files, which has its own format. It's pretty basic but does about what you would want with it.
Models with just one part (like a bus) don't need an HVA. Tiberian Sun automatically constructs tanks of voxel models with two parts and no HVa (body, turret), and the same goes for models with three parts (body, turret, barrel).
I feel the tank-construction bit should not be a part of the Active Voxel extension, it's too specific.
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Planned features
I plan on introducing hotspot and action point to it, to make it more similar to how you program for an AO.
I would also like to see if I can add the possibility of adding/removing/moving lights for the model. Just think of the feeling to have a by-night scene where your vehicle shines upon coming close to lightposts!
Please give suggestions or ideas, or just wait a couple of days for the alpha...
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Some tools:
For making voxels:
* Open Source Section Editor (don't forget to look at the help file) (Please login to see this link.)
Animating voxels:
* Open Source HVA Builder (Please login to see this link.)
Viewing voxels:
* Open Source Voxel Viewer (Please login to see this link.)
