Comments on: Behind Fez : Trixels (part two) http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200 Truevision3D 6.5, XNA, C# and HLSL tips & samples by Zaknafein/Renaud Bédard. Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:01:19 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Renaud Bédard http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200&cpage=1#comment-320 Renaud Bédard Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:34:34 +0000 http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200#comment-320 Actually, the 16^3 tiles are called Triles in the engine, and the individual atoms/voxels are the Trixels. What makes it all confusing is that the engine itself is also called "Trixels"... :P Polygonization of triles is independant from coloring/texturing, because it's done via a cubemap afterwards. So if a checkerboard trile has no extra geometrical detail, it'll be polygonized as a flat 6-face cube. Actually, the 16^3 tiles are called Triles in the engine, and the individual atoms/voxels are the Trixels. What makes it all confusing is that the engine itself is also called “Trixels”… :P

Polygonization of triles is independant from coloring/texturing, because it’s done via a cubemap afterwards. So if a checkerboard trile has no extra geometrical detail, it’ll be polygonized as a flat 6-face cube.

]]> By: Daniel http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200&cpage=1#comment-319 Daniel Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:25:53 +0000 http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200#comment-319 Very nice looking result you have there. Trixels seem to be 16^3 cuberilles, so it's actually more like the name for the tiles in the trixel engine, right? Perhaps polygonizing voxel data is not as bad as it seems, you make it look good. -How would your method treat a 3d-checkerboard patterned trixel? Would it triangulate just the outside surface? Keep it up! Looks great! Very nice looking result you have there. Trixels seem to be 16^3 cuberilles,
so it’s actually more like the name for the tiles in the trixel engine, right?
Perhaps polygonizing voxel data is not as bad as it seems, you make it look good.

-How would your method treat a 3d-checkerboard patterned trixel?
Would it triangulate just the outside surface?

Keep it up! Looks great!

]]> By: Salade http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200&cpage=1#comment-281 Salade Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:29:07 +0000 http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200#comment-281 Very informative, I was wondering how trixels weren't just some fancy name phil made for voxels. so, why would anyone ever use voxels again ever? Very informative, I was wondering how trixels weren’t just some fancy name phil made for voxels.

so, why would anyone ever use voxels again ever?

]]> By: Memory Leak: http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200&cpage=1#comment-227 Memory Leak: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:19:59 +0000 http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200#comment-227 [...] I just couldn’t help but giggle when I saw the above screenshot.  Trixels are the building blocks of Fez’s unique game world.  The game’s graphics are deceptively complex – while at most times it appears 2D, you can still interact in 3D, so to speak.  The trixels engine enables a minimum amount of rendering while still having many sides and layers to the game.  You can find a more in depth explanation of them here. [...] [...] I just couldn’t help but giggle when I saw the above screenshot.  Trixels are the building blocks of Fez’s unique game world.  The game’s graphics are deceptively complex – while at most times it appears 2D, you can still interact in 3D, so to speak.  The trixels engine enables a minimum amount of rendering while still having many sides and layers to the game.  You can find a more in depth explanation of them here. [...]

]]> By: jonof forum http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200&cpage=1#comment-177 jonof forum Sun, 10 May 2009 10:53:40 +0000 http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200#comment-177 Further discussion of this post on a voxel related forum: http://www.jonof.id.au/forum/index.php?topic=1683.0 Further discussion of this post on a voxel related forum: http://www.jonof.id.au/forum/index.php?topic=1683.0

]]> By: David Williams http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200&cpage=1#comment-176 David Williams Tue, 05 May 2009 19:09:34 +0000 http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200#comment-176 Yeah, I can see it wouldn't be trivial in 3DS Max. You'd probably still have to buld the Trile out of cubes, and then have 3DS Max handle the merging. I'm keeping an eye on your project anyway, you're doing good things for the name of voxels/trixels ;-) Yeah, I can see it wouldn’t be trivial in 3DS Max. You’d probably still have to buld the Trile out of cubes, and then have 3DS Max handle the merging.

I’m keeping an eye on your project anyway, you’re doing good things for the name of voxels/trixels ;-)

]]> By: Renaud Bédard http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200&cpage=1#comment-175 Renaud Bédard Tue, 05 May 2009 18:16:12 +0000 http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200#comment-175 Yes, we could've used an external editor, maybe even make extensions for Blender or another modeling package instead of building from scratch. Building the content in our own editor was a decision that was taken very early on, with the intent of making map edition as easy as possible, so we carried on with it... In retrospect it was a lot of work (and still is), but the modeler is truly made for trile edition and so it's very smooth to work with. Having complete control over the content, tools and geometry also feels like a plus. By the way, both of you work on really impressive stuff. I learned about the Thermite3D engine very recently, and it's amazing to see in action. A voxel engine on the DS is quite a feat too! Yes, we could’ve used an external editor, maybe even make extensions for Blender or another modeling package instead of building from scratch. Building the content in our own editor was a decision that was taken very early on, with the intent of making map edition as easy as possible, so we carried on with it…
In retrospect it was a lot of work (and still is), but the modeler is truly made for trile edition and so it’s very smooth to work with. Having complete control over the content, tools and geometry also feels like a plus.

By the way, both of you work on really impressive stuff. I learned about the Thermite3D engine very recently, and it’s amazing to see in action. A voxel engine on the DS is quite a feat too!

]]> By: David Williams http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200&cpage=1#comment-174 David Williams Tue, 05 May 2009 17:54:24 +0000 http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200#comment-174 So the trixels are only used during the modelling of each Trile, and all the engine sees is a set of triangles for each Trile? Does this mean that in theory it would have been possible to model and texture the Triles in an existing modeller, such as 3DS Max? Surely that would have been les work than creating the voxel modeller and coming up with the triangulation algorithm? So the trixels are only used during the modelling of each Trile, and all the engine sees is a set of triangles for each Trile? Does this mean that in theory it would have been possible to model and texture the Triles in an existing modeller, such as 3DS Max?

Surely that would have been les work than creating the voxel modeller and coming up with the triangulation algorithm?

]]> By: Hugo Smits http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200&cpage=1#comment-173 Hugo Smits Tue, 05 May 2009 16:04:36 +0000 http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200#comment-173 Well, I think it wouldn’t be too hard. And it would suit all your needs (be readable and small). And it adds the benefit of being able to use the same data in the editor and game. I’m not claiming that what I propose is a best/better way. Your approach seems to work just fine. I just recently finished work on my own voxel engine for NDS (you can see more about it on my website). And because of the limitation of the DS I had to think hard about subjects like data storage. Because of this I’m quite curious to see how others solved their problems :) Well, I think it wouldn’t be too hard. And it would suit all your needs (be readable and small). And it adds the benefit of being able to use the same data in the editor and game.

I’m not claiming that what I propose is a best/better way. Your approach seems to work just fine.

I just recently finished work on my own voxel engine for NDS (you can see more about it on my website). And because of the limitation of the DS I had to think hard about subjects like data storage. Because of this I’m quite curious to see how others solved their problems :)

]]> By: Renaud Bédard http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200&cpage=1#comment-172 Renaud Bédard Tue, 05 May 2009 13:31:47 +0000 http://theinstructionlimit.com/?p=200#comment-172 @Hugo I never really had to edit the voxel data by hand in the files. I mostly want to keep the files to a manageable size so that I can edit the other trile metadata like collision, and actor/event stuff. Reconstructing the voxel data from a list of quads that doesn't necessarily form a convex hull sounds really complicated to me. The boxes were just a simplification of storing the voxels as an array, and it works on top of the existing code without too much effort... Also I should mention that the game and the editor don't access the same content files. The editor compiles game-format content that does not contain voxel information, only polygons. @Hugo

I never really had to edit the voxel data by hand in the files. I mostly want to keep the files to a manageable size so that I can edit the other trile metadata like collision, and actor/event stuff.

Reconstructing the voxel data from a list of quads that doesn’t necessarily form a convex hull sounds really complicated to me. The boxes were just a simplification of storing the voxels as an array, and it works on top of the existing code without too much effort…
Also I should mention that the game and the editor don’t access the same content files. The editor compiles game-format content that does not contain voxel information, only polygons.

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