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

Time for action – populating the sky with stars


Before we start writing some Panda3D code to make all this happen, we have to change the names on our skybox image files. Panda3D and Spacescape use different naming conventions and we have to switch over to the Panda3D naming methods in order to use the images.

  1. Navigate Windows Explorer to BGP3D/Images and locate the skybox images we saved. All of their names will start with Purple_.

  2. Remove the top, bottom, left, right, front, and back words from the filenames so the files are named Purple_1.png, Purple_2.png, and so on.

  3. Reduce all the numbers in the filenames by 1. 1 becomes 0, 2 becomes 1, and so on. We should have Purple_0.png through Purple_5.png when finished.

  4. Rename Purple_2.png to Purple_3temp.png.

  5. Rename Purple_3.png to Purple_2.png.

  6. Rename Purple_3temp.png to Purple_3.png.

What just happened?

The preceding diagram shows the new numbers for each of the images to double check against.