Book Image

jMonkeyEngine 3.0 : Beginner's Guide

Book Image

jMonkeyEngine 3.0 : Beginner's Guide

Overview of this book

jMonkeyEngine 3.0 is a powerful set of free Java libraries that allows you to unlock your imagination, create 3D games and stunning graphics. Using jMonkeyEngine's library of time-tested methods, this book will allow you to unlock its potential and make the creation of beautiful interactive 3D environments a breeze."jMonkeyEngine 3.0 Beginner's Guide" teaches aspiring game developers how to build modern 3D games with Java. This primer on 3D programming is packed with best practices, tips and tricks and loads of example code. Progressing from elementary concepts to advanced effects, budding game developers will have their first game up and running by the end of this book.From basic concepts and project creation to building a complex 3D Game, you will learn to layout 3D scenes, make them interactive and add various multi-media effects.You will find answers to common questions including best practices and approaches, how game characters can act and interact, how to simulate solid walls and physical forces, how to take it online to play over a network and much more.From Zero to Hero, start your journey to make your game idea a reality.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
jMonkeyEngine 3.0 Beginner's Guide
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Time for action – give your hover tank a shine


Next, let's make the surface look more metallic and less plastic. Similar to the Specular color for plainly colored shiny materials, multimapped materials have a SpecularMap layer that defines varying degrees of shininess of the surface.

Using a graphic editor, you can create a specular map from an existing diffuse texture as follows:

  1. Copy the DiffuseMap tank_diffuse.jpg image as a template and save it as tank_specular.jpg.

  2. Desaturate the image (decrease contrast and brightness) so the whole map is evenly medium gray.

  3. Paint white and light gray over areas of the hover tank that you want to be smooth and shiny.

  4. Paint black and dark gray over dull, rough, worn-out areas of the hover tank.

The resulting SpecularMap typically looks similar to a grayscale version of the color map. A working example is included as assets/Models/HoverTank/tank_specular.jpg.

Let's apply what you learned about texture mapping in HoverTank.java. Add the following lines to the...