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|  [[Zone]]  ||  Zone is a rectangular BZW map structure for spawn or flag zones.
 
|  [[Zone]]  ||  Zone is a rectangular BZW map structure for spawn or flag zones.
 
|}
 
|}
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== More Complex World Objects ==
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===The Arc===
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An arc is basically a cylinder. However it doesn’t have to be a perfect cylinder depending on certain options you select. For an arc the only required options are divisions, position and size. Just like the cone divisions have the same effect, position and size are all the same. Once again you can have an oval shaped cylinder type thing. Now, you WILL find more options to an arc than to a cone, for example the ratio option. The ratio options let you basically put a hole in the cylinder. So if you have the option: ratio 1 you would have a full cylinder. If you say for example ratio .3 or any number less than 1 you will get a hole in the cylinder. The bigger the number, the smaller the hole. Angle allows you to do a semicircle. Rotation, once again, isn't really needed, unless you need a semicircle that has a certain specific orientation in your map. all the options like spin and shear are the same for this object too! phydrv and matref I’ll show later.
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The screenshot below shows three arcs.  The only difference between them is the inner radius number.  The first is set to 1, the second to .5, and the third to .1.  Notice how the texture on the top surface of the arc becomes "stretched" when the radius is less than one.
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[[Image:Bzfi0015.png]]
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Here is the code for the arc with the .1 ratio:
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<pre>
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arc
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divisions 16 # number of subdivisions
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angle 360 # the sweep angle
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ratio .1 # (outrad - inrad) / outrad
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position 0.0 -42 0.0
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size 10 10 1
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rotation 0.0
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shift 0 0 0 # (repeatable)
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scale 1 1 1 # (repeatable)
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shear 0 0 0 # (repeatable)
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smoothbounce # ricochets use normals
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end
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</pre>
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Now lets see what happens if we change the angle value.  The ones below use 60, 120, and 240.  This is where you would need to use rotate to get the arc oriented the way you want.
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[[Image:Arcs.jpg]]
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Here is the code for the 60 degree arc:
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<pre>
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arc
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divisions 16 # number of subdivisions
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angle 60 # the sweep angle
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ratio .5 # (outrad - inrad) / outrad
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position 0.0 0.0 0.0
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size 10 10 1
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rotation 0.0
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shift 0 0 0 # (repeatable)
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scale 1 1 1 # (repeatable)
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shear 0 0 0 # (repeatable)
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smoothbounce # ricochets use normals
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end
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</pre>
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Let’s move to the sphere:
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===The Sphere===
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The only options required to make a sphere are position, size, and divisions.
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All these options do the same thing as they did in the objects above.  You may also have an oval like sphere.  You make an oval like sphere simply by making the x and y's different sizes just like in the cone and arc.  The radius option is just a substitute for size.  You can write size 10 10 10 or radius 10.  Both do the same thing. However if you want an oval shaped sphere you have to use size.  Rotation wouldn't really have an effect and the shear and spin works the same for this object.
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==Getting more help==
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*The links at the bottom of the [[:Category:Map Making|Map Making]] page.
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*The original creator of this page is flight, you can email him at dirtbikerdude_91@yahoo.com and he will be happy to answer any questions that he is capable of answering.
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==Special Objects==
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There are certain objects that are often coded by hand because it is simpler or it is impossible to do with graphical map creation tools. 
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===Materials ===
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Example:
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material
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  name mat1
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  addtexture blue_bolt.png
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end
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meshbox
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  position 0 0 0
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  size 10 10 10
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  rotation 0
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  matref mat1
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end
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Material is letting the computer know that a material is about to be explained to it.  You name it so that way you can reference it with the matref.  The name can be any thing you want as long as it does not have any spaces.  You type in <tt>addtexture</tt> and you state a texture name.  Now, how do you know what texture names there are to use?
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'''On Linux''': Running <tt>ls /usr/share/bzflag/*.png</tt> in a terminal will show the list of pictures.
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'''On Mac''': If you control click (right click) on the bzflag icon, click show package contents, click contents, and click resources, those are the pictures you may use.
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'''On Windows''': The default path is <tt>C:\Program Files\BZFlag\data\*.png</tt>
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What you will find are images that are used in every day games.  The top of a base, the wall of a base. A bullet which is blue_bolt.png (as was used above).  The full path to the texture needs to be used if the texture is not found in that directory.  Any customized textures should be uploaded to the [http://images.bzflag.org/submitimages/ BZFlag Image Submission System] before the map is hosted publicly.
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Servers running bzfs 2.0.8 and earlier will require "meshbox" and "meshpyr" in order to apply textures and physics to these objects.
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Instead of creating a new texture, many interesting and creative things can be done with the "diffuse" parameter in the material object.  You can add the diffuse command and it will look like this diffuse 1 1 1 1.  The first number is the amount of red that will be in the meshobject.  The second number is the amount of green, the third is the amount of blue.  So you can mix those colors to make more colors.  You may use a range from 0-1.  For example diffuse .3 .5 .26 1.  The fourth number determines the opacity or transparency (the see-throughability).  0 is invisible, .5 is half invisible, and 1 is normal.
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material
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  name mat1
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  diffuse .5 .25 .1 .6
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  addtexture mesh.png
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end
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===Physics===
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The format of the physics driver is like this:
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(note that not all the commands are used concurrently, there is no point in using a death driver with a linear driver, etc.)
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<pre>
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physics
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  name example_phydrv
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  linear 0.0 0.0 0.0 # x/y/z linear velocities
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  angular 0.0 0.0 0.0 # rotation freq, x/y coordinates
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  slide 0.0 # time until max velocity (> 0.0 enables)
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  death Message goes here.
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  # the 'death' property requires a non-blank message
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end
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</pre>
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Physics drivers subject your tank to external forces.  If you have ever played laser mania by Louman then you may have encountered on the outskirts of the map an object that you can jump on and you go really fast, that is a physics driver. Physics and materials are both similar in that you must first define them, and then apply them to an object.  When you define a mesh object (regular BXFlag objects, such as boxes can't use physics drivers) you can reference that physics driver by using the phydrv command just like you would use the matref command for materials.  There are different physics commands: Linear, Angular, Slide and Death.  The physics driver used in the Louman map mentioned above is a linear driver.  Linear physics makes your tank move in a line.  The numbers after a linear command are how much "force" is applied in a given axis x y z, and you can have force applied in more than one axis. The direction is NOT along the axis of the object you apply the physics driver to, but along the major world axis, so if your object is rotated 45 degrees, you would need to put values for both x and y in your physics driver.  45 degrees is fairly easy, but other angles would require figuring out the proportions needed to move the tank along an object rotated to a given angle, it can get a bit tricky.
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Example:
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physics
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  name phy1
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  linear 50 0 0
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end
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This will make your tank move at a speed of 50 in a positive x direction you may use -50 and it will make it go the other way.
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physics
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  name phy2
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  linear 0 50 0
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end
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This will make your tank move at a speed of 50 in a positive y direction:
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physics
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  name phy3
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  linear 0 0 50
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end
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This will make your tank jump (bounce) at a speed of 50:
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physics
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  name phy4
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  slide 5 0
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end
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This will make your tank basically feel like it's on ice.  Whichever way the tank is moving it will keep moving that way.
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physics
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  name phy5
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  death haha! you died
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end
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This will make the tank die when it touches the object that refers to this and the message haha! you died will be displayed to that person.
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example:
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<pre>
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physics
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  name phy1
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  death I like you better dead!
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end
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meshbox
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  position 0 0 0
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  size 10 10 10
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  rotation 0
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  phydrv phy1                      # Or what ever you named the physics.
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end
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</pre>
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This is applied to an object in a manner similar to that of a material.  Both physics and materials must be created in the map file before they are referenced.  The example below illustrates incorrectly placing a material definition after it is referenced by the meshbox:
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<pre>
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meshbox
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  position 0 0 0
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  size 10 10 10
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  rotation 0
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  matref mat1
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end
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material
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  name mat1
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  addtexture blue_team.png
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end
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</pre>
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===Groups===
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A group is cluster of objects that can be "gathered together" and treated as if they were a single object.  Certain things cannot be included in groups:
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*textureMatrix
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*dynamicColor
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*material
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*physics
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*links
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*weapon
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*zone
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Notice that while teleporters aren't excluded from groups, you can't create links to teleporters within a group, except for purely random ones using "*"(asterisk) for the link. (this may not be entirely accurate, Trepan at one point hinted that there is a way around this...)
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Groups can be nested (you can have a group that is included in another group).
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For example if a map editor is making a forest, and each tree contains 2 objects, the editor doesn't want to type up the code for each tree over and over again. What he can do is tell BZFS that these objects = tree. And then whenever he wants to make a tree he just calls that group, as shown below.
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Example:
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First define a group of obects as a tree...
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<pre>
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  define tree
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  box
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  position 0 0 0
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  size 2 2 4
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  end
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  pyramid
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  position 0 0 3
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  size 5 5 10
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  end
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  enddef
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</pre>
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...then, to call the "tree" group, just:
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<pre>
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  group tree
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  position 0 0 0
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  end
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</pre>
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==Transformations==
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[[Category:Map Making]]
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Transformations are simple ways of modifying objects so that maps have some variety. These can get complicated so I will only give you a sample of what they can do. There are 3 transformations shift, spin, and shear. You can find a more in depth page here:
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[[3d Transformations]]
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====Shift====
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'''Shift''' moves an object by the amount of units that you specify from its present position.
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the object..
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  box
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  position 10 10 0
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  end
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is at place 10 10 0
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while the object..
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  box
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  position 10 10 0
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  shift 0 0 10
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  end
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is at position 10 10 10.
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====Spin====
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Spinning an object is just like rotating an object but can be on a different axis. (y and x)
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When you rotate it is around the center of the object.
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Remember: Only spin-able objects can be spun.
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Here is what the code looks like:
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meshbox
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  position 0 0 0
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  rotation 0
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  size 10 10 10
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  spin 45 0 1 0
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end
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The meshbox will now be tilted 45 degrees on its y axis.
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Spin code has four numbers, the first one is how many degrees to spin.
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The last three are for which axis's to spin, by placing a value of more than 0.
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Spin can be a bit tricky and unintuitive to use.  It is not exactly like rotate, because it is possible to "spin" something so that it ends up "underneath" the BZFlag playing field.
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Spin is often best used with shift.  Think of the center of your map as a sort of "construction yard".  You position objects at location 0 0 0, then spin and shift them to the location you want.
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Here is what you get if you use the above code in a map:
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[[Image:Bzfi0012.png]]
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Looks fairly normal in this screenshot, doesn't it.  But if you drive around, the box will behave oddly, and appear to "float" in front of your HUD.  What has happened is that the box hasn't rotated around it's own axis, but around the world axis for the whole BZFlag arena!  But if we add some code to shift the box up above the z plane, it will look normal in-game.
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So if we make a simple change to the above code and add a shift statement and shift the box up in z (this is not the z axis of the box, but the world axis of our game arena):
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meshbox
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  position 0 0 0
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  rotation 0
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  size 10 10 10
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  spin 45 0 1 0
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  shift 0 0 10
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end
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...we get this:
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[[Image:Bzfi0013.png]]
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... and the box doesn't do the weird "float" thing any more.  This "construction yard" technique is really handy, you just "build" your stuff smack in the middle of your map, then spin and shift it to where you want it (in the example above, it could have been shifted in x and y as well.  Just don't shift and then spin, or you will be back to having things "float" again.
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With shift and spin you can also work with groups and make a "master" group in the middle of your map, then shift and spin multiple copies to other locations on your map.
  
 
==See also==
 
==See also==
Line 211: Line 509:
 
* [[Comparison of map objects]]
 
* [[Comparison of map objects]]
 
* [[Map FAQ]]
 
* [[Map FAQ]]
−
* [[Map making]]
 
 
* [[Texturing how to]]
 
* [[Texturing how to]]
 
* [[World units]]
 
* [[World units]]

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