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You're reading from CryENGINE 3 CookbookOver 90 recipes written by Crytek developers for creating third-generation real-time games
Product typeBook
Published inJun 2011
PublisherPackt
ISBN-139781849691062
Pages324 pages
Edition1st Edition
Languages
C++
Concepts
3D Game Development
Authors (2):
Sean P Tracy
Sean P Tracy
Sean P Tracy
Sean Tracy is Crytek’s Senior Field Application Engineer for the award-wining CryENGINE. He is responsible for adapting the engine and its features to individual licensees, as well as developing full technical and ‘vertical slice’ demos for prospective and existing clients. Describing himself as a ‘generalizing specialist’, he also gives support directly to CryENGINE licensees, while designing and maintaining their workflows, pipelines and development techniques. Sean was recruited by Crytek in 2008 after working as an electronics technician for the Canadian Military. He was recruited due to his role in founding and leading development on the award winning total conversion project ‘MechWarrior:Living Legends’. Since then, he has been featured in numerous gaming magazines and has been invited to speak at many game related trade shows, conferences and seminars. He is an avid gamer with extensive modding experience on titles including Never Winter Nights, Battlefield, Doom and Quake.
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Dan Tracy
Dan Tracy
Dan Tracy
Dan Tracy is Cryteks Technical Level Designer for the award-winning CryENGINE and Crysis 2. He is responsible for the creation and maintenance of numerous technical features and external applications used for telemetry and optimization. Viewed as more than a level designer, Dan prides himself on pushing the envelope when it comes to improving both technical and game related designs across multiple production disciplines. Dan was recruited by Crytek in 2009 after the previous year working as a Quality Assurance Technician for BioWare. He was recruited due to his pivotal role in co-founding and leading development on the award winning total conversion project MechWarrior:Living Legends. Since then, he has been featured in numerous gaming magazines and has been interviewed by multiple media outlets. Dan is a passionate gamer, but an even more passionate modder and game designer with vast knowledge and experience with multiple engines and titles including Never Winter Nights Aurora, Battlefields engine Frostbite, Unreal 3, and CryENGINE.
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Table of Contents (18) Chapters
CryENGINE 3 Cookbook
Credits
About the Authors
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
1. CryENGINE 3: Getting StartedFREE CHAPTER
- Introduction
- Opening a level in the CryENGINE 3 Sandbox
- Navigating a level with the Sandbox Camera
- Setting up a personalized toolset layout
- How to customize toolbars and menus
- Using the Rollup Bar
- Selecting and browsing level objects
- Restoring the CryENGINE 3 default settings
2. Sandbox Basics
- Introduction
- Creating a new level
- Generating a procedural terrain
- Terrain sculpting
- Setting up the terrain texture
- Placing the objects in the world
- Refining the object placement
- Utilizing the layers for multiple developer collaboration
- Switching to game mode
- Saving your level
- Exporting to an engine
- Essential game objects
- Running a map from the Launcher
3. Basic Level Layout
- Introduction
- Making basic shapes with the Solids tool
- Editing and merging solids
- Grouping the objects
- Utilizing the Geom entities instead of brushes
- Road construction
- Painting vegetation
- Breaking up tiling with Decals
- Making caves with Voxels
- Creating Prefabs to store in external libraries
4. Environment Creation
- Introduction
- Creating your first time of day using the basic parameters
- Adjusting the terrain lighting
- Using the real-time Global Illumination
- Editing HDR lighting and the effects for flares
- Creating a global volumetric fog
- Creating a night scene with time of day parameters
- Color grading your level
- Creating a photo realistic ocean
- Improving your sky with clouds
- Making it rain in your level
5. Basic Artificial Intelligence
- Introduction
- Placing the enemy AI
- Generating the AI navigation
- Forbidden boundaries
- Forbidden areas
- Setting up the interior navigation
- Debugging the AI triangulation
- Narrowing the AI's FOV to allow attacks from behind
- Respawning AI
6. Asset Creation
- Introduction
- Installing the CryENGINE 3 plugin for 3D Studio Max
- Creating textures using CryTIF
- Setting up units to match CryENGINE in 3ds
- Basic material setup in 3ds
- Creating and exporting static objects
- Creating and exporting destroyable objects
- Using advanced material editor parameters to create animation
- Creating new material effects
- Creating image-based lighting
7. Characters and Animation
- Introduction
- Creating skinned characters for the CryENGINE
- Ragdoll and physics for characters
- Creating animation for your character
- Previewing animations and characters for Sandbox
- Creating upper body only animations
- Creating locomotion animations
- Animating rigid body geometry data
8. Creating Vehicles
- Introduction
- Creating a new car mesh (CGA)
- Creating a new car XML
- Giving more speed to the car
- Increasing the mass to push objects with the car
- Defining a sitting location
- Setting up multiple cameras for the car
- Need for a machine gun
- Giving the car a weak spot
9. Game Logic
- Introduction
- How to beam the player to a tag point from a trigger
- Making the AI go to a location when the player enters a proximity trigger
- Debugging the Flow Graph
- Creating a kill counter
- Rewarding the player for reaching a kill goal
- Displaying the player's health through a Flow Graph
- Changing the player camera through key input
- Creating a countdown timer
10. Track View and Cut-Scenes
- Introduction
- Creating a new Track View sequence
- Animating a camera in the Track View
- Triggering a sequence using the Flow Graph
- Animating entities in the Track View
- Playing animations on entities in the Track View
- Using console variables (CVars) in the Track View
- Using track events
11. Fun Physics
- Introduction
- Low gravity
- Hangman on a rope
- Tornadoes
- Constraints
- Wrecking ball
- Rock slide
12. Profiling and Improving Performance
- Introduction
- Profiling performance in the Sandbox
- Saving level statics
- Enabling the debug draw modes
- Optimizing the levels with VisAreas and portals
- Using light boxes and light areas
- Activating and deactivating the layers
Index
Optimizing the levels with VisAreas and portals
A VisArea is used to define indoor areas that have their own ambient color. You can also create indoor areas without this entity; however you will not be able to achieve totally dark lighting conditions as the bright outdoor ambient lighting also affects indoor areas.
Objects inside a VisArea won't be rendered from outside
Helps to set up lighting inside rooms
With portals you can cut holes inside the VisAreas
Portals have to be smaller than the VisArea shape
You can enable/disable portals via FG
You can have multiple portals in one VisArea
Getting ready
Open any level and set up a small structure similar to the screenshot as shown next.
How to do it...
Lets create our own VisArea:
On theRollupBar, go to Area | VisArea.
Place the VisArea shape around your room.
Set the height.
Be sure everything related is inside the VisArea. Try to stay on the grid. Keep the shape of the VisArea as simple as possible.
Next we must create a portal for our room. Portals...
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