Dirext x 8 , moving the camera (z might know the answer)

[Ultimasnake]

Ok i know how to do loads of things with direct graphics in Dx 8 but how can i make my camera move.. i know how to rotate it but moving it is not known to me :S can anybody help me with that?

[Zaei]

How are you creating your camera in the first place? D3DX functions?

The D3DXMatrixLookAt*H functions are the easiest to use (use the LH version if you are using a left handed coordinate system, RH if right handed, I use LH, personally). The pEye parameter is a vector containing the position of the camera, the pAt parameter contains the point the camera should be looking at. To move the camera, simply recalculate the view matrix with the new data, and re set it, D3DDevice.SetTransform(...).

Z.

[Ultimasnake]

aha yeah just found it out hehe but now i get it much better can you also help me with how to position object? like moving them? only got them on the 0 , 0 , 0 standard place yet :S

[Zaei]

D3DXMatrixTranslation() to generate a translation (position) matrix, then SetTransform to change the world matrix, then render the object. You do that for each object you want to move.

Z.

[Ultimasnake]

D3DXMatrixTranslation() to generate a translation (position) matrix, and use the object or something ? :S can you provide a little code example? only the d3dxmatrixtranslation should be fine

[Ultimasnake]

this doesnt seem to work


Public Sub model_move(index As Integer, x As Single, y As Single, z As Single)
D3DXMatrixTranslation objectmodel(index), x, y, z
End Sub


but what should the MOUT be :S

[Zaei]

D3DMATRIX m
Dim i as long
For i = 0 to numObjects - 1
  D3DXMatrixTranslation m, Objects(i).pos.x, Objects(i).pos.y, Objects(i).pos.z
  D3DDevice.SetTransform D3DTS_WORLD, m
  Draw Object(i)
Next i

Simple enough...

Z.

[Ultimasnake]

ok help me out here plz

---------------------------
Microsoft Visual Basic
---------------------------
Compile error:

Variable not defined
---------------------------
OK Help
---------------------------
\/
D3DMATRIX m

as what should i define that and numObjects should be? :S trying to figure it out but need some help though :S

this is what i have up to now

Public Sub model_move(index As Integer, x As Single, y As Single, z As Single)
D3DMATRIX m
Dim i As Long


For i = 0 To numObjects - 1
D3DXMatrixTranslation m, x, y, z
D3DDevice.SetTransform matWorld, m
Next i

End Sub

i hope matworld is correct that declared as

Private matWorld As D3DMATRIX

[Zaei]

Whoops... C++ style variable declarations =).

should have been

Dim m as D3DMATRIX

You function should look like this:

Public Sub model_move(x As Single, y As Single, z As Single)
  D3DMATRIX m
  D3DXMatrixTranslation m, x, y, z
  D3DDevice.SetTransform matWorld, m
End Sub

And you would call it for each object you have, and render that object after calling it.

Z.

[Ultimasnake]

Public Sub model_move(index As Integer, x As Single, y As Single, z As Single)
 
  D3DXMatrixTranslation objectmodel(index).matpos, x, y, z
  D3DDevice.SetTransform matWorld, objectmodel(index).matpos
 
 
End Sub

is what i have now.. the first line works perfectly though the second one fails at the matworld

this is how i declared it all

Private matWorld As D3DMATRIX '//How the vertices are positioned
Private matView As D3DMATRIX '//Where the camera is/where it's looking
Private matProj As D3DMATRIX '//How the camera projects the 3D world onto the 2D screen
Private matTemp As D3DMATRIX
 
Private screenwidth As Long
Private screenheight As Long
'////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////MODELING
Private Type smodel
 Mesh As D3DXMesh
 MeshMaterials(100) As D3DMATERIAL8   ' Mesh Material data
 MeshTextures(100) As Direct3DTexture8 ' Mesh Textures
 nMaterials As Long 'How may materials/textures we have....
 used As Boolean
 
 matpos As D3DMATRIX
End Type

[Zaei]

Public Sub model_move(index As Integer, x As Single, y As Single, z As Single)

  D3DXMatrixTranslation objectmodel(index).matpos, x, y, z
  D3DDevice.SetTransform D3DTS_WORLD, objectmodel(index).matpos
End Sub

Though if you are going to store the matrix in the object itself, you can just use that second line right before you draw the object.

Z.

[Ultimasnake]

WOOHOO GOT IT WORKING

any idea why i get this error?
---------------------------
Microsoft Visual Basic
---------------------------
Compile error:

Forward reference to user-defined type
---------------------------
OK Help
---------------------------

with this code?

Private Type smodel
 Mesh As D3DXMesh
 MeshMaterials(100) As D3DMATERIAL8   ' Mesh Material data
 MeshTextures(100) As Direct3DTexture8 ' Mesh Textures
 nMaterials As Long 'How may materials/textures we have....
 used As Boolean
 position As poss ' right here (Seems to work normally)
 matpos As D3DMATRIX
End Type
 
Private Type poss
 x As Single
 y As Single
 z As Single
End Type

never had problems with a type in a type

[Ultimasnake]

oh well nevermind that i got it all working.. but now i am working on camera movement.. but it keeps looking at a certain point how do i make my camera like a first person shooter has? looking up down etc etc and not looking at a certain object or something

[Zaei]

Store the angles that the camera is looking, and use those to convert to lookat vector (look up spherical coordinates on google, use 1.0 for r).

Z.

[Ultimasnake]

ok will look for that tommorow right now i am tired as hell :P thanks zaei , you always seemed to help me out

oh 1 other thing the fps is always at 60 fps no matter windowed fullscreen nor the resolution (1600x1200x32) i have a ati radeon 9700 pro. is it the fact that it is limited or something? tried changing this but that doesnt seem to work

D3DWindow.SwapEffect = D3DSWAPEFFECT_COPY_VSYNC '//We'll refresh when the monitor does