Editing Mesh

A mesh is a [[BZW]] map object that defines an arbitrary three dimensional shape. A mesh is defined as a series of faces containing 3 or more points(vertices) in three dimensional space.

==Code==
The code for a mesh object is as follows, this is only an example
{|
|
 mesh
  name example_mesh
    #
    # Material properties and physics applied to a mesh apply to all faces
    # that follow the setting. Mesh faces will alter their own
    # properties without affecting the state of the mesh properties.
    #
  inside 5.5 4.5 1.2 # add an inside point (repeatable) 
  outside 0 0 1000 # add an outside point (repeatable) 
  vertex 100 200 300 # add a vertex (repeatable) 
  normal 1.0 0 0 # add a normal (repeatable) 
  texcoord 0.1 0.75 # add a texture coordinate (repeatable) 
  shift 0 0 0 # (repeatable) 
  scale 1 1 1 # (repeatable) 
  shear 0 0 0 # (repeatable) 
  spin angle nx ny nz # (repeatable) 
  phydrv example_phydrv # assign a physics driver 
  smoothbounce # ricochets use normals 
  noclusters # render each mesh face individually 
             # (this can be useful for occluders) 
  face # start a face (repeatable) 
       # faces must be convex polygons 
    vertices 1 4 0 3 5 # list of vertices (requires at least three) 
    normals 2 6 0 4 7 # list of normals (optional) 
    texcoords 0 3 2 4 9 # list of texture coordinates (optional) 
    phydrv example_phydrv # assign a physics driver 
    smoothbounce 
    noclusters 
    drivethrough 
    shootthrough 
    passable 
    matref 
  endface # end the face 
   #
   #  The drawInfo element can be added to increase the rendering speed
   #  of the mesh object. If the client is capable of using this data,
   #  then it is used to draw the mesh instead of the face  information.
   #
 end	  # mesh
|}

Valid parameters for a mesh are
<properties>
name=The name of the mesh
vertex= this is a 'corner' of your mesh - a point where faces connect. (at least 3 are required)
normal= a unit vector describing the direction light will reflect off the object
texcoord= this is used for mapping textures onto the mesh.  This will link a point of the 2-Dimensional texture to a vertex on the 3-Dimensional object.  (0,0) refers to the lower left corner of the texture, (1,1) refers to the top right.  Textures are defined in the [[material]] object.
inside= an arbitrary vertex placed on the inside of the mesh object.  This keeps tanks from driving or spawning inside the object.
phydrv=Assign a physics driver as defined in the [[physics]] object.
smoothbounce=shot will ricochet from the face in the same direction as the defined normal.
noclusters=Render each face individually.
shift=places the mesh using <x y z> coordinates
scale=resizes the mesh along the x, y, or z axis
shear=repeatable
spin=spins the mesh <angle> number of degrees, <n> number of rotations along one or more of the x, y, or z axis
drivethrough=Tanks can drive through this mesh.
shootthrough=Tanks can shoot through this mesh.
passable=Tanks can both shoot and drive through this mesh
matref=Assign a [[material]] to all below faces.
face=Start a face (required), see below:
</properties>
Valid parameters within the face sub-object:
<properties>
vertices=Numbered list of vertices for this face. (requires at least three)
normals=Numbered list of normals for this face.
texcoords=Numbered list of texture coordinates for this face.
phydrv=Assign a [[Physics|physics driver]] to this face only.
smoothbounce=use normals to determine shot ricochets for this face.
noclusters'''
drivethrough=Tanks can drive through this face.
shootthrough=Tanks can shoot through this face.
passable=Tanks can both shoot and drive through this face
matref=Assign a [[material]] to this face.
</properties>
Meshes have full support for [[Material]] (wherein custom textures can be defined) and [[Physics Drivers]].

==DrawInfo==
[[DrawInfo]] can be added to the mesh object to increase rendering efficiency, allowing the designer to specify which details will be seen from certain distances.  It can also be used to rotate a mesh object, though tanks can not interact with the moving object.

==Appearance==
The shape of a mesh will vary greatly as by its very nature it can be defined to look like anything.  Unless a material is defined and applied, the default "mesh.png" texture will be applied to all faces of the mesh.

==Simplified Examples==
{|
|Simple Cube
 mesh
    vertex -10 -10  0
    vertex  10 -10  0
    vertex  10  10  0
    vertex -10  10  0
    vertex -10 -10 10
    vertex  10 -10 10
    vertex  10  10 10
    vertex -10  10 10
    face #south
        vertices 0 1 5 4
    endface
    face #east
        vertices 1 2 6 5
    endface
    face #north
        vertices 2 3 7 6
    endface
    face #west
        vertices 3 0 4 7 
    endface
    face #bottom
        vertices 0 1 2 3
    endface
    face #top
        vertices 4 5 6 7
    endface
 end #mesh
|Simple billboard with texcoords
 mesh 
    vertex -10 0  0
    vertex  10 0  0
    vertex  10 0 10
    vertex -10 0 10
    texcoord 0 0
    texcoord 1 0
    texcoord 1 1
    texcoord 0 1
    matref myBillboard
    face
        vertices 0 1 2 3
        texcoords 0 1 2 3
    endface
    face #backside
        vertices 1 0 3 2
        texcoords 1 0 3 2
    endface
 end #mesh
|Simple Jump-through floor
 mesh
    vertex  0  0  9
    vertex 10  0  9
    vertex 10 10  9
    vertex  0 10  9
    vertex  0  0 10
    vertex 10  0 10
    vertex 10 10 10
    vertex  0 10 10
    face #south
        vertices 0 1 5 4
        drivethrough
    endface
    face #east
        vertices 1 2 6 5
        drivethrough
    endface
    face #north
        vertices 2 3 7 6
        drivethrough
    endface
    face #west
        vertices 3 0 4 7 
        drivethrough
    endface
    face #bottom
        vertices 0 1 2 3
        drivethrough
    endface
    face #top
        vertices 4 5 6 7
    endface
 end #mesh
|}

==Inside Points==
An inside point allows the mapper to make a mesh solid. This means that regardless of what the player tries to do, they will not be able to go through the object, or end up spawning inside a mesh unintentionally. When you drive through a box, especially with the Oscillation Overthruster flag, you will be inside of a building and sealed to it. Without inside points, especially to larger meshes, you will just end up on the inside of it and be able to shoot and drive normally. This is sometimes intentional, but usually not wanted. Inside points remedy this.

In order to have successful inside point coverage, you need to make sure all faces of your mesh are in "line of sight" to the point you specify. This means that all faces have direct vision to that point, just as if that point was a point of light and all the faces were eyes. Only what can be seen through a straight line will be considered the inside for that face.

Illustration is better than words, here is an image drawn up by '''Spazzy McGee''' from the forums.

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/2140/insides.jpg

(Original forum post http://my.bzflag.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=139382#p139382)

==Editor Support==
The mesh object is supported by the [[BZWTools]] blender plugin, the Wings3D Exporter and hand coding.

==History==
The Mesh object was added with the [[BZFlag 2.0.0|v2.0.0]] release of BZFlag.

[[Category:Map Making]]
[[Category:Map_Objects]]