Thanks for your patience JCL.
When the view.bmap is used in a panel, the view entity is indeed visible. However if the view.bmap is used as a skin in a view material for an PP effect, it is not.
This sample illustrates the problem myself and the others are having. Here I render the view with the view entity to a bitmap and pass the bitmap to the second view material as skin1. All the effect does is return skin1 to the screen. I expect the original view with the view entity to be displayed (two blobs), however the view entity is not visible (only one blob).
BMAP* camera_scene = "#1024x768x32";
ENTITY* blob = { type = "blob.mdl"; flags2 = SHOW; x = 150; y = 35; }
MATERIAL* mtl_ShowRt =
{
skin1 = camera_scene;
effect = "
Texture mtlSkin1;
sampler OrgSampler = sampler_state { texture = <mtlSkin1>;};
float4 main_PS(float2 Tex: TEXCOORD0) : COLOR { return tex2D(OrgSampler, Tex); }
technique one { pass P1 { PixelShader = compile ps_2_0 main_PS(); } }";
}
VIEW* SecondView = { material = mtl_ShowRt; flags = PROCESS_TARGET;}
function main()
{
video_set(1024,768,0,1);
camera.bmap = camera_scene;
camera.stage = SecondView;
level_load("");
ent_create("blob.mdl",vector(150,0,0),NULL);
}
In the above example, if I use a predefined bitmap for skin1 (such as "logo_800.jpg" from the GS folder), it is rendered to the screen as expected, however if I use the view.bmap, the view.bmap is not rendered to the screen.
This example is the same as above, except the view.bmp is rendered in a panel, correctly. Since the effect only renders the view.bmap to the screen, the screen should be a duplicate of the panels bitmap, but it is not!
BMAP* camera_scene = "#1024x768x32";
ENTITY* blob = { type = "blob.mdl"; flags2 = SHOW; x = 150; y = 35; }
PANEL * RT_Panel = {pos_x = 0; pos_y = 0; scale_x = 0.25; scale_y = 0.25; flags = SHOW;}
MATERIAL* mtl_ShowRt =
{
skin1 = camera_scene;
effect = "
Texture mtlSkin1;
sampler OrgSampler = sampler_state { texture = <mtlSkin1>;};
float4 main_PS(float2 Tex: TEXCOORD0) : COLOR { return tex2D(OrgSampler, Tex); }
technique one { pass P1 { PixelShader = compile ps_2_0 main_PS(); } }";
}
VIEW* SecondView = { material = mtl_ShowRt; flags = PROCESS_TARGET;}
function main()
{
video_set(1024,768,0,1);
camera.bmap = camera_scene;
RT_Panel.bmap = camera_scene;
camera.stage = SecondView;
level_load("");
ent_create("blob.mdl",vector(150,0,0),NULL);
}
It makes only sense to give a view entity a render target when you want to view it in a panel or something like that. Otherwise, just render it straight on the screen.
Simple example; say I have weapon as a view entity, and I have a PP view chain (which passes the original view to the effect chain for blending). I want the PP effects to include the weapon or at least for the weapon to be visible. This does not seem possible.
If I (and the others) can not do this, then beginners will never "get it" either. If it is possible, then please provide an example.
Thanks.
