The first public Ca3DE "New Material Development Kit" (MDK) is available now!
It includes all the tools and information you need to make new worlds, new
textures, new models (like players, weapons, or items),
and even new
MODs. Moreover, also the latest
Ca3DE DeathMatch MOD source codes
are included! Many have asked for it, and I'm happy that I don't have to let
you wait any longer. Have fun!
The new November demo release is ready, too, and I have put a lot of effort
into it. Initially, I intended to list all the technical improvements and
changes here, but the list was huge. You find all the technical details in the
"Change Log" section of the Ca3DE user manual, if you are interested in them
anyway.
Here is a summary about the most important news:
- The engine entity handling has much improved. It's more flexible and
better designed now, and there are also a lot of new entities, like
translucent walls, detail objects, water, clip brushes, ladders, and so on.
- The development of the Ca3DE DeathMatch MOD made some real progress,
too. It is still far from complete, but I considered all the other points
on this list as more important. Although the DeathMatch source codes are
now part of the MDK, the continued development of this MOD is one of my
highest priority goals for the near future.
- Worlds load generally faster now, and the frame-rate is higher. This is
a result of exhaustive improvements to the renderer as well as the player
movement and clipping code. In some places, the frame-rate raised by a
factor of ten!
- The new demo release includes some new, very famous worlds:
Elixir from ReNo (Duncan Blair), Kidney from Dave
Johnston, and Gotham from Robert L. Miles. These are some of
the best and most famous worlds ever, and I am proud to present them with
Ca3DE! All worlds of the current demo release (also the ones of
previous releases) were augmented with the latest engine capabilities.
- The model renderer is now able to hierarchically combine sub- and
super-models. That enables players to hold weapons in their hands, and it
works even when they move their arms.
- As a part of the summer semester 2002, we completed the task to develop
a real-time renderer for large eco-systems. The result was an astonishing
well-working renderer for the components "terrain", "grass vegetation", and
"trees". I hope that I will soon be able to integrate these parts into
Ca3DE, as even the sheer imagination of combining such nature and outdoor
scenes with Ca3DE seems to promise very interesting results. Don't miss the
sample
screen-shots to get a first impression of our project results!
- Another university project I am currently working on involves point
based rendering. That's a very interesting and powerful rendering
paradigm. For example, it allows easy speed/quality trade-offs and
level-of-detail control, and is theoretically applicable to nearly
everything - from tiny detail objects over highly complex player models to
large outdoor terrains. The project is more in the research field, and has
nothing to do with Ca3DE. However, when it is finished it might become
possible to exploit its results in Ca3DE.
- As you can see, Ca3DE also got a new webite. It it techically more
robust (no frames anymore, other improvements), and looks more modern. Hope
you like it.
- For further details, please refer to the "Change Log" section of the
Ca3DE user manual. The information there is more extensive and more
detailed.
I hope you enjoy the MDK and the current demo with all the new stuff. Please
let me know what you think about it, feed-back helps me to get Ca3DE better.