Render Library References

These pages seek to provide helpful insight into the groups of functions provided by the Render Library.

The major function groups are:

• Beams
• Minification and Magnification Texture Filters
• Render Targets
  • Stencils

What are Beams?

The Beam functions make it easy to draw continuous lines in 3D space out of multiple connected Beam Segments.
Beam Segments are drawn out of textured quads that rotate to try to always face the camera (Billboards) in order to hide their flatness. They're used for things like the flame on thrusters, ropes, lightning effects, and more.

There are two approaches for drawing Beams:

• Straight-line Beams that only require a single Beam Segment can be easily drawn using:
  • render.DrawBeam()
• Continuous Beams that bend, curve, or otherwise require multiple Beam Segments can be drawn using:
  • render.StartBeam()
  • render.AddBeam()
  • render.EndBeam()

Examples

Example: Multi-Segment

Notice that where the Beam starts and ends (The bottom-left corner of the star) the Beam is the width specified in the calls to render.AddBeam. In the other corners of the star, the Beam appears thinner due to the end of the Beam being rotated to accomodate the next Beam Segment's direction. This is more easily seen in the wireframe view seen in the second screenshot below.

Example: Single-Segment