draw text in 3d world (pref c# other ok)

OK........

The problem is i want to have several numbers and i want them to change from the values sent to them by a socket and they will sometimes change very fast. It doesnt seem like a good way to have a texture for every digit and then change them.

But if thats the only solution there is, its not much to do...

I will leave this for another day or two and is noone can come up with a better solution for me i will give you the points.

Thanks for your answer!


/Dj

Since it seems like this is the only solution i will give you the points.

Thanks for the help.



/Dj

Here is an example of doing this in a slightly different way. It eliminates the need for so many textures. This method only needs one. It also uses DrawText to update a texture then applies that single texture to the cube.

It is fromTom Miller's book on Managed DirectX. He has a chapter on Rendering to surfaces and another on 2d & 3d text. http://www.amazon.com/Managed-DirectX-Kick-Start-Programming/dp/0672325969/sr=1-1/qid=1161696045/ref=sr_1_1/104-8413604-7171909?ie=UTF8&s=books

I combined some sample code from each chapter and threw in a cube & an incrementer and here is the code. It assumes you have a mesh called "cubeExample1a.x" 2 folders up from the debug folder. Also, don't forget to add all the appropriate references (the directX ones). Let me know if you need any explainations of the code.

Although it may sound slow to you it does display faster than you are able to read it.

If you have trouble running it, I can upload the project file to ee-stuff.



using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Data;
using Microsoft.DirectX;
using Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D;

namespace Chapter10Code
{
      /// <summary>
      /// Summary description for Form1.
      /// </summary>
      public class Form1 : System.Windows.Forms.Form
      {
        private Device device = null;
        private Mesh mesh = null;
        private Material[] meshMaterials;
        private Texture[] meshTextures;

        private Texture renderTexture = null;
        private Surface renderSurface = null;
        private RenderToSurface rts = null;
        private const int RenderSurfaceSize = 128;
        System.Drawing.Font myFont = new System.Drawing.Font("Arial", 36.0f, FontStyle.Bold);
        private Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Font my3DFont = null;
        private string TexText;
        private int increment = 1;
        private int value = 0;

        /// <summary>
            /// Required designer variable.
            /// </summary>
            private System.ComponentModel.Container components = null;
        private float angle = 0.0f;

            public Form1()
            {
                  //
                  // Required for Windows Form Designer support
                  //
                  InitializeComponent();

            this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint | ControlStyles.Opaque, true);
            }

        /// <summary>
        /// We will initialize our graphics device here
        /// </summary>
        public void InitializeGraphics()
        {
            // Set our presentation parameters
            PresentParameters presentParams = new PresentParameters();

            presentParams.Windowed = true;
            presentParams.SwapEffect = SwapEffect.Discard;
            presentParams.AutoDepthStencilFormat = DepthFormat.D16;
            presentParams.EnableAutoDepthStencil = true;

            // Create our device
            device = new Device(0, DeviceType.Hardware, this, CreateFlags.SoftwareVertexProcessing, presentParams);
            device.DeviceReset +=new EventHandler(OnDeviceReset);
            OnDeviceReset(device, null);
            my3DFont = new Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.Font(device,myFont);


            // Load our mesh
            LoadMesh(@"..\..\cubeExample1a.x");
        }

        private void OnDeviceReset(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Device dev = (Device)sender;

            if (dev.DeviceCaps.VertexProcessingCaps.SupportsDirectionalLights)
            {
                uint maxLights = (uint)dev.DeviceCaps.MaxActiveLights;
                if (maxLights > 0)
                {
                    dev.Lights[0].Type = LightType.Directional;
                    dev.Lights[0].Diffuse = Color.White;
                    dev.Lights[0].Direction = new Vector3(0, -1, -1);
                    //dev.Lights[0].Commit();
                    dev.Lights[0].Enabled = true;
                }

                if (maxLights > 1)
                {
                    dev.Lights[1].Type = LightType.Directional;
                    dev.Lights[1].Diffuse = Color.White;
                    dev.Lights[1].Direction = new Vector3(0, -1, 1);
                    //dev.Lights[1].Commit();
                    dev.Lights[1].Enabled = true;
                }

            }

            rts = new RenderToSurface(dev, RenderSurfaceSize, RenderSurfaceSize,
                Format.X8R8G8B8, true, DepthFormat.D16);

            renderTexture = new Texture(dev, RenderSurfaceSize, RenderSurfaceSize, 1,
                Usage.RenderTarget, Format.X8R8G8B8, Pool.Default);

            renderSurface = renderTexture.GetSurfaceLevel(0);
        }

        private void LoadMesh(string file)
        {
            ExtendedMaterial[] mtrl;

            // Load our mesh
            mesh = Mesh.FromFile(file, MeshFlags.Managed, device, out mtrl);

            // If we have any materials, store them
            if ((mtrl != null) && (mtrl.Length > 0))
            {
                meshMaterials = new Material[mtrl.Length];
                meshTextures = new Texture[mtrl.Length];

                // Store each material and texture
                for (int i = 0; i < mtrl.Length; i++)
                {
                    meshMaterials[i] = mtrl[i].Material3D;
                    if ((mtrl[i].TextureFilename != null) && (mtrl[i].TextureFilename != string.Empty))
                    {
                        // We have a texture, try to load it
                        meshTextures[i] = TextureLoader.FromFile(device, @"..\..\" + mtrl[i].TextureFilename);
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        private void SetupCamera()
        {
            device.Transform.Projection = Matrix.PerspectiveFovLH((float)Math.PI / 4, this.Width / this.Height, 1.0f, 10000.0f);
            device.Transform.View = Matrix.LookAtLH(new Vector3(0,0, 580.0f), new Vector3(), new Vector3(0,1,0));
        }

        private void RenderIntoSurface()
        {
            // Render to this surface
            Viewport view = new Viewport();
            view.Width = RenderSurfaceSize;
            view.Height = RenderSurfaceSize;
            view.MaxZ = 1.0f;

            rts.BeginScene(renderSurface, view);

            device.Clear(ClearFlags.Target | ClearFlags.ZBuffer, Color.DarkBlue, 1.0f, 0);
            device.Transform.Projection = Matrix.PerspectiveFovLH((float)Math.PI / 4,
                this.Width / this.Height, 1.0f, 10000.0f);

            device.Transform.View = Matrix.LookAtLH(new Vector3(0,0, -580.0f),
                new Vector3(), new Vector3(0, 1,0));

           // DrawMesh(angle / (float)Math.PI, angle / (float)Math.PI * 2.0f,
             //   angle / (float)Math.PI / 4.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);

           // DrawMesh(angle / (float)Math.PI, angle / (float)Math.PI / 2.0f,
             //   angle / (float)Math.PI * 4.0f, 150.0f, -100.0f, 175.0f);
            value = value + increment;
            TexText = Convert.ToString(value);

            if (value > 990) { value = 0; }

            my3DFont.DrawText(null, TexText, 5, 5, Color.Red);


            rts.EndScene(Filter.None);
        }

        protected override void OnPaint(System.Windows.Forms.PaintEventArgs e)
        {
            RenderIntoSurface();

            device.Clear(ClearFlags.Target | ClearFlags.ZBuffer, Color.CornflowerBlue, 1.0f, 0);

            SetupCamera();

            device.BeginScene();

            // Draw our Mesh
            DrawMesh(angle / (float)Math.PI, angle / (float)Math.PI * 2.0f,
                angle / (float)Math.PI / 4.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);

            using (Sprite s = new Sprite(device))
            {
                s.Begin(SpriteFlags.None);
                s.Draw(renderTexture, new Rectangle(0, 0, RenderSurfaceSize, RenderSurfaceSize),
                    new Vector3(0, 0, 0), new Vector3(0, 0, 1.0f), Color.White);
                s.End();
            }

            device.EndScene();

            device.Present();

            this.Invalidate();
        }

        private void DrawMesh(float yaw, float pitch, float roll, float x, float y, float z)
        {
            angle += 0.01f;

            device.Transform.World = Matrix.RotationYawPitchRoll(yaw, pitch, roll) * Matrix.Translation(x, y, z);
            for (int i = 0; i < meshMaterials.Length; i++)
            {
                device.Material = meshMaterials[i];
                device.SetTexture(0, renderTexture);
                mesh.DrawSubset(i);
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
            /// Clean up any resources being used.
            /// </summary>
            protected override void Dispose( bool disposing )
            {
                  if( disposing )
                  {
                        if (components != null)
                        {
                              components.Dispose();
                        }
                  }
                  base.Dispose( disposing );
            }

            #region Windows Form Designer generated code
            /// <summary>
            /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
            /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
            /// </summary>
            private void InitializeComponent()
            {
                  this.components = new System.ComponentModel.Container();
                  this.Size = new Size(800,600);
                  this.Text = "Form1";
            }
            #endregion

            /// <summary>
            /// The main entry point for the application.
            /// </summary>
        static void Main()
        {
            using (Form1 frm = new Form1())
            {
                // Show our form and initialize our graphics engine
                frm.Show();
                frm.InitializeGraphics();
                Application.Run(frm);
            }
        }
      }
}

Hi again.
Thanks a lot for your help!

The problem still is that its using drawtext in 2d.
In the end i want the cube to be able to spin and the number to keep incrementing during the spin.
Lets say i want to show two sides of the cube and want to see both sides with there own incrementing numbers.

Starting to think i have to make my own drawtext function :(
If you should think of anything i would really appreciate it!
Thanks for your help!

/Dj