If such is the case where faces make the best for running a smoother
game. Then there seems to be a problem with .obj loader then. As it
can't import a circular face, but only the first three vertexes of the
circle.

On May 18, 10:03 am, Rob Bateman <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hey Shawn
>
> Reinorvak is right is saying that triangles are generally used for rendering
> because of their simplicity. this is true whether you use quads in Lite or
> not - geometry will always be subdivided to tris for rendering purposes.
> However, quads are useful when generating geometry in Lite because they can
> halve the amount of faces needs to draw a primitive - which leads to less
> data and faster sorting, moouse events etc. a quad is momentarily converted
> to two tris on rendering, but keeping the persistent data as a quad has
> processing benefits that make it worthwhile if your geometry will allow it.
> would be interested to hear the results of any tests you've been doing.
>
> Rob
>
> On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 6:17 PM, Reinorvak <[email protected]>wrote:
>
>
>
> > I'm not sure what Away3D would do in the background, I would suggest
> > trying a simple test to see which is better, I imagine Triangles will
> > win, but why guess when we have the opportunity to test it out. Try
> > drawing some excessive amount of squares on screen, lets say 500? Do
> > one test with triangles one with quads and have them all rotate. That
> > should give you a good idea on how everything is working in the
> > background.
>
> > Not sure how to make it interrupt to make the triangle faces into quad
> > faces, but best of luck.
>
> > On May 17, 11:57 am, Shawn McInerney <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > Hi Reinorvak,
>
> > > Thanks for the info! The reason I am considering using quads for
> > *certain*
> > > pieces of geometry is that they end up being half the number of faces.
> > For
> > > example a primitive cube created with quads can have a minimum of 6
> > faces.
> > > But away3Dlite's cube primitive automatically triangulates each face so
> > that
> > > there is a minimum of 12 faces.
>
> > > In the specific case of away3Dlite and primitives, I *think* away3Dlite
> > > really only does 3 things (although they are 3 incredibly useful
> > things!):
>
> > > 1. Draws the faces in 2d with correct perspective to emulate 3d (using
> > > Flash's built in 3d tools).
> > > 2. Figures out the uv data so that we can put bitmaps on the primitives.
> > > 3. Figures out what is in front of what with respect to the camera (z
> > > sorting, culling).
>
> > > If I am correct, I don't see any advantage to triangles in this specific
> > > particular instance. In fact, drawing 12 faces instead of 6 should be
> > > slower. Again, please correct me if I am wrong :) I am no expert.. just
> > > trying to figure this all out.
>
> > > Best,
> > > Shawn
>
> > > On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 8:28 AM, Reinorvak <[email protected]
> > >wrote:
>
> > > > Where as its true that triangles speed up the process for lighting and
> > > > shading, there is a 2nd reason why most to all games use triangles,
> > > > which I believe Away3D overlooks being a flash program. I'm not sure
> > > > if Flash can render quads easier then triangles, but for the most part
> > > > the triangle is selected because its the simplest amount of
> > > > information to push over to the graphics card, and what most graphic
> > > > cards are built to handle.
>
> > > > At least for any game that involves a large amount of 3D objects, all
> > > > models created should be triangulated. Also if  you want to obtain any
> > > > curved surfaces you'd need triangles, I don't believe Quads can do
> > > > this as effectively.
>
> > > > Again, I don't know if flash compensates for the quads being in a
> > > > different type of system, but for any game built entirely for 3D,
> > > > triangles are the geometry you want.
>
> > > > On May 16, 6:35 pm, Shawn <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > > I meant backface culling.. not light culling
>
> > > > > On May 16, 3:27 pm, Shawn <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > > > > > It is my understanding that the main advantage of triangular faces,
> > as
> > > > > > opposed to quad faces, is that tri's ensure planarity  so that
> > things
> > > > > > like shading and lighting can be calculated properly (Please
> > correct
> > > > > > me if I am wrong). But since lite does not have shading or
> > lighting,
> > > > > > is there any speed advantage to using quads? Would I be screwing up
> > > > > > other existing away3Dlite such as light culling and z-sorting?
>
> > > > > > Also, are quad faces still an option with lite? I read in this
> > post:
> > > > > > <http://groups.google.com/group/away3d-dev/msg/dc6ab0c9a98504d9>
> > that
> > > > > > quad faces could be created in Away3DLite by doing the following:
>
> > > > > >     "About quads, you can take a look at the primitives'
> > > > > >     buildPrimitive() function. You just need to push
> > > > > >     the 4 faces' indices into the _indices vector,
> > > > > >     and then flag those values as a quad by pushing
> > > > > >     into _faceLengths the value 4.
>
> > > > > >     e.g., if you want to create a face from a quad :
>
> > > > > >     push the four indices values into _indices :
> > > > > >     _indices.push(a, b, c, d);
>
> > > > > >     then push the value 4 into _faceLengths
> > > > > >     to flag it as a quad:
> > > > > >     _faceLengths.push(4);
>
> > > > > >     don't forget you must call buildFaces()
> > > > > >     afterwards to create the faces from
> > > > > >     the data you've entered!"
>
> > > > > > But I can't figure out how to implement this technique in the
> > > > > > primitives' buildPrimitive(). I am using the latest trunk revision,
> > > > > > Revision 2520 of away3DLite.
>
> > > > > > Thanks in advance,
> > > > > > Shawn
>
> > > --
> > > Shawn McInerney
> > > MooseMouse Media, Inc.http://moosemouse.com
> > > [email protected]
>
> --
> Rob Bateman
> Flash Development & Consultancy
>
> [email protected]

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