Full GUI

Hi, I get your problem with sound with the render to texture option.

But I don't understand why you can't use the first setup ?
What do you mean "The interface overlap the main game screen so it's not good." ?

ok, I understand.

mathematically, with the first method, a larger FOV will produce the same result, even with a moving cam,
the only negative point is that a part of the drawing will be rendered for nothing.

about the sound problem with the render to texture, I don't have a solution that can be done in lua,
the only way I can see is to make a custom game class with a plugin. If you can manage to compile it yourself,
I can make you the code, it's not very complicated.

there is no reason I see that would make isActive not working, maybe you mean "isVisible" ?
because isVisible depends on the active view, in this case it tells you if the object is visible from Camera 2 and not camera 1 as expected.

By making a plugin, we can use a smaller sub-window (viewport) without using render to texture so the active camera will be camera 1.

ok

did you ever tried to compile this example ?
http://www.maratis3d.org/?p=563

because the code you need will be a minor modification of this.

tell me if something is not going well,
it should be ok, there is a visual studio project in the example

- install visual studio (version 2005 works, express edition is free, I'm not sure with the more recent versions)
- open the .sln file
- check the paths in the project properties
OR be sure the .sln file access maratis SDK folder this way : "..\..\..\..\SDK"
OR open the vcproj file with a text editor and replace "..\..\..\..\SDK" by your own path
- compile in "release" mode

"release" should be somewhere in the top bar,
usually a project is in "debug" mode by default, if you see "debug" somewhere, clic on it to change to release.

when you compile, the project should create a file named "Game.dll"
if it's not done by visual studio, copy it inside the maratis project folder

so the example run fine with the GUI and the rotating box and all ?

if yes, now you can replace the code of MGame.cpp by this :

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// SimpleGamePlugin
// MyGame.cpp
// 
// Code : Anael Seghezzi
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#include "MyGame.h"


// constructor
MyGame::MyGame(void):
MGame()
{}

// destructor
MyGame::~MyGame(void)
{}


// GUI scene and objects
MScene * GUIScene = NULL;


// custom begin scene
void MyGame::onBeginScene(void)
{
    MGame::onBeginScene(); // call the default MGame begin scene
    
    MEngine * engine = MEngine::getInstance(); // get the engine instance
    MLevel * level = engine->getLevel(); // get the current level
    
    // get GUI scene
    GUIScene = level->getSceneByName("GUIScene");
}

// custom update
void MyGame::update(void)
{
    // custom GUI
    if(GUIScene) // check if the scene exist
    {
        // update GUI scene
        GUIScene->update();
        GUIScene->updateObjectsMatrices();
    }
    
    MGame::update(); // call the default MGame update (update current scene physics, animations, script... as done by default)
}

// custom draw
void MyGame::draw(void)
{
    MEngine * engine = MEngine::getInstance(); // get the engine instance
    MRenderingContext * render = engine->getRenderingContext(); // get the rendering context
    
    // use a smaller viewport for the current scene
    int viewport[4];
    render->getViewport(viewport);
    
    int marginX = viewport[2]*0.1f; // create a 10% margin of the current screen width : change this for your game
    int marginY = viewport[3]*0.1f; // create a 10% margin of the current screen height : change this for your game
    render->setViewport(viewport[0]+marginX, viewport[1]+marginY, viewport[2]-marginX*2, viewport[3]-marginY*2);

    MGame::draw(); // call the default MGame draw (this will draw the current scene as done by default)
    
    // restore the viewport
    render->setViewport(viewport[0], viewport[1], viewport[2], viewport[3]);
    
    
    // custom GUI
    if(GUIScene) // check if the scene exist
    {
        if(GUIScene->getCamerasNumber() > 0) // check if there is a camera in the GUI scene
        {
            MOCamera * camera = GUIScene->getCameraByIndex(0); // get the first camera
            
            render->clear(M_BUFFER_DEPTH); // clear depth buffer (to not be affeted by the current scene)
            
            // draw GUI on top
            camera->enable();
            GUIScene->draw(camera);
        }
    }
}

- Then use your own game instead of the example or copy the dll in your game directory.
- name your GUI scene "GUIScene" or change the reference name in Game.cpp
- don't use render to texture or scene layer for the gui (it's all done by the cpp)

The code create a smaller viewport to render the current scene and draw the scene named "GUIScene" on top.

The part dealing with the viewport size is this :

Et voila, a custom game plugin, you'll see it's no so complicated once you understand c/c++ syntax.
In c++ you can access the engine directly, so anything can be done.

Sure, you can do this if you still use percents (if the screen need to adapt to the resolution) :

    int marginLeft = viewport[2]*0.1f;
    int marginRight = viewport[2]*0.1f;
    int marginTop = viewport[3]*0.1f;
    int marginBottom = viewport[3]*0.1f;

    render->setViewport(
           viewport[0]+marginLeft,
           viewport[1]+marginBottom,
           viewport[2]-marginRight-marginLeft,
           viewport[3]-marginBottom-marginTop
    );

or if you want to enter pixel coords direcly :

    int X = 10; // pos x
    int Y = 10; // pos y
    int W = 500; // width
    int H = 300; // height

    render->setViewport(
           X,
           viewport[3]-H-Y,
           W,
           H
    );

I am trying to do a GUI myself now, and I am running into all sorts of snags.

Hi Vegas. Trying to see how to go about making an easy to use GUI system for the starter pack.

Right now I just have an orthographic camera in a separate scene, and am using enableCamerLayer to display it over a camera. The main issue is positioning things over the camera at a precise point.

I figured I would have to use getWindowScale also so that things are positioned relative to the window size.

What does renderToTexture do for your GUI?

I want to make it easily editable for beginning Maratis users (no complicated setup).

Here's a project and it's dll, a blender file and a gimp file. containing all you need for an 1024x768 interface (but nothing else than THIS resolution) 

The pane on the GUIScene will totally fit what the camera sees but.. dont go full screen nor increase window size >.<

If you want to make your own interface with anael's method,

Let's say this is your interface (grey area for the UI, transparent area for the game) :

First move your cursor at the extreme left and top of the transparent area (the red pixel)
these are X and Y position of your game window

Then select the whole transparent area and take note of the width/height

put all the values in the code ;

    int X = 10; // pos x
    int Y = 10; // pos y
    int W = 500; // width
    int H = 300; // height

    render->setViewport(
           X,
           viewport[3]-H-Y,
           W,
           H
    );

compile, run game ; it's gg.

Hope it helps