In Panda (and I guess 3d engines in general) how are rooms and seperate areas handled?
In 2d programming I would move to a different screen and freeze the first screen- although the user only perceived it was one screen.
So if say I was standing outside a post office and went inside: Do I just model the inside as part of the 3d model? Or should I jump to a new screen?
I saw a torque example where they just modeled the inside of the building as part of the outside world- BUt that seemes like inefficient to have an entire world calling events while you are inside?
I was planning on using battle rooms (ffx style fight rooms), but not if its impractical. My idea is that having a small battle room would free up more memory for special effects etc.
Usually you would model the inside of the building as well as the outside. You could make it two parts and hide() the insides when you’re outside as some sort of primitive occlusion culling.
However, if your world is large and you run into problems with having the entire level loaded at once, you should use a portal system. This means that when you go into another area, that part of the level is loaded.
Also see: panda3d.org/apiref.php?page=PortalNode
so for example, as the you enter the room and the door shuts behind you, you would hide the node branch that contained all the models for ‘outside’? is that effective? and youll still get a moment where you’d see both outside and inside. if there is no stress on the system here, why hide it at all? if there is a stress on the system, you’d need a better solution, and i guess thats where the portal system comes into play hey?
sorry if i sound like i dont know what im talking about. im fairly new and im only up to the the basics of loading models in the manual. im just seeing if i got the concepts right
