Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 18.8.
A sampling of dozens of light ring variations created for
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(See Color
Plate XVI.)
18.3.2 Reuse Components
Node groups can be thought of as the subroutines of a programming language,
and as such, can be constructed to perform arbitrarily complex tasks. Similar to
how subroutines can be called from multiple places, groups can be reused for the
creation of multiple assets, or even as part of a batch processing operation.
Spending time during the early stages of a project to properly group nodes into
discrete functions allows significant time savings later due to the reusability that
is gained. For
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, preparing and reusing groups enabled the rapid creation of
severallargesetsofrelatedassets,suchasthelightringsshownin
Figure18.8
.
Figure18.9
providesacloserlookatoneoftheserings.Atthetopofthetree
are nodes responsible for generating the base pattern, followed by a group that
colors the pattern and brightens its edges, and ending with a group that adds a
glowing halo to the image. These latter effects were created once and then reused
for the majority of the light rings, providing immediate visual continuity between
the variations. Different versions of the base pattern were constructed with similar
rapidity by mixing and matching several pattern-generating components. In this
manner, hundreds of bitmaps were created with relative ease. For a more detailed
look at one of these groups, refer to Section 18.2.2, which explains the construction
of the glow group.
Although the stylized world of
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required predominantly abstract tex-
turing work, node groups can also be created to perform organic tasks such as the
surfaceweatheringshownin
Figure18.10
.
Othertasksmayincludeartisticfiltering,
bump- and specular-map generation, placing grati on walls, adding burn marks
to paper, making a design appear as if printed on cloth, and so on.
