Book Image

Panda3D 1.6 Game Engine Beginner's Guide

Book Image

Panda3D 1.6 Game Engine Beginner's Guide

Overview of this book

Panda3D is a game engine, a framework for 3D rendering and game development for Python and C++ programs. It includes graphics, audio, I/O, collision detection, and other abilities relevant to the creation of 3D games. Also, Panda3D is Open Source and free for any purpose, including commercial ventures. This book will enable you to create finished, marketable computer games using Panda3D and other entirely open-source tools and then sell those games without paying a cent for licensing. Panda3D 1.6 Game Engine Beginner's Guide follows a logical progression from a zero start through the game development process all the way to a finished, packaged installer. Packed with examples and detailed tutorials in every section, it teaches the reader through first-hand experience. These tutorials are followed by explanations that describe what happened in the tutorial and why. You will start by setting up a workspace, and then move on to the basics of starting up Panda3D. From there, you will begin adding objects like a level and a character to the world inside Panda3D. Then the book will teach you to put the game's player in control by adding change over time and response to user input. Then you will learn how to make it possible for objects in the world to interact with each other by using collision detection and beautify your game with Panda3D's built-in filters, shaders, and texturing. Finally, you will add an interface, audio, and package it all up for the customer.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
Panda3D 1.6 Game Engine
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Dissecting task objects


There is one more subject to cover before we're finished with our exploration of tasks, and that is the task object itself. Every method we created as a task so far was set to accept a variable called task. The task manager passes a task object into that variable.

Honestly, we don't need to interact with the task object very often. For the most part, it just supplies us with extra information about the task. We access that information by using the following attributes of the task object:

  • task.time returns a float that tells us how much time has passed since the first time the task was executed. This float continues to increase even when the task isn't being executed.

  • task.frame returns an integer that tells us how many frames have passed since the task was added to the task manager. This count may start from 0 or 1.

  • task.id returns a unique id number for the task. The task manager assigns this id number when the task is added.

  • task.name returns the name given to the task...