====== LAB6: Scene Graph ======

This lab is based on "Chapter 6: Scene Managers" in the book "Ogre 3d 1.7 Beginner's Guide" by Felix Kerger. 

===== Discussion =====

Discussion thread for this lab is here: [[https://piazza.com/class/i4l9of1fw8j3ew?cid=52|Lab 6 Discussion Thread]]

===== Goal ======

The primary goal of this lab is to see how the representation of geometry in a scene can affect rendering performance. In particular, a scene where everything is represented as a movable object can get super heavy. Instead, you can "bake" meshes that won't move into static batches, which get optimized for rendering performance.  

===== Preparation =====
 
Continue with your project or use an older version starting from lab2.
 
For the bonus point you might have to replace the pk3 file ''/Ogre1.9_vc100/OgreSDK_vc10_v1-9-0
/media/packs/chiropteraDM.pk3'' **Use of course your own Ogre sdk path.**

with this pk3 file: {{:public:t-gede-14-1:chiropteradm.zip| chiropteraDM.zip}} **Rename it back to chiropteraDM.pk3, make sure to change the extension of the file to pk3**

The original file in the OgreSdk folder seemed to be missing a few textures, for this one I replaced the missing textures with one colored textures.
===== Lab Project =====

Follow these steps to complete the lab project:

  - **Create a New Project** Create a new empty project called "Lab6" in the same way you have created new projects for other lab projects.
  - **Create a Manual Grass Object** You will use the ''createManualObject()'' method in Ogre to specify new geometry inside your code representing a single bundle of grass straws. This method is handy for simple geometries or when you want to procedurally generate them. The grass bundle you create is essentially a set of three quads, each at a 60 degree angle to the next, and that all crossing in the middle - producing a star with 6 spikes if viewed from the top. If viewed from the side, you always see the front of one or two quads, regardless of where you stand. You can therefore make this object hold a texture that is visible from all directions, a property that is called **billboarding**. To get started, create a new method in your ''MyApplication'' class which you should call ''createGrass()''. Inside this method construct the quads and assign grass tecture to them. You construct them by specifying all the vertices first (in model space) and then the indices of each triangle that make up the three quads. Here is the code with the initialization of the manual object and the first quad specified: <code cpp> 
		Ogre::ManualObject* manual = _sceneManager->createManualObject("grass");
		manual->begin("Examples/GrassBlades", Ogre::RenderOperation::OT_TRIANGLE_LIST);
		// Vertices for quad 1
                manual->position(5,0,0);
		manual->textureCoord(1,1);
		manual->position(-5,10,0);
		manual->textureCoord(0,0);
		manual->position(-5,0,0);
		manual->textureCoord(0,1);
		manual->position(5,10,0);
		manual->textureCoord(1,0);
                // Put vertices for other 2 quads here
                // ...
                // Triangles for quad 1
		manual->index(0);
		manual->index(1);
		manual->index(2);

		manual->index(0);
		manual->index(3);
		manual->index(1);
                // Put triangles for other 2 quads here                
                // ...
                // And now wrap up the object and add to scene graph for display
                manual->end();
		Ogre::SceneNode* grassNode = _sceneManager->getRootSceneNode()->createChildSceneNode("GrassNode2");
		grassNode->attachObject(manual);
</code>To add the two missing quads, use the following corner vertex positions: Quad 2 = (2.5,0,4.3),(-2.5,10,-4.3), (-2.5,0,-4.3), (2.5,10,4.3), Quad 3 = (2.5,0,-4.3),(-2.5,10,4.3),(-2.5,0,4.3),(2.5,10,-4.3). Don't forget to give the vertices texture coordinates, which are the same for all quads. Now call ''createGrass()'' from your ''createScene()'' method and you should see a single bundle of grass right in the middle of the scene.
  - **Instance Grass Object** To create multiple instances of the object you created, you need to first convert it into a proper Ogre **Mesh**. In the ''createGrass()'' method, **replace** your last two lines with the following line:<code cpp>manual->convertToMesh("BladesOfGrass");
</code> This essentially creates a new model with the name "BladesOfGrass", which you can now refer to in subsequent ''createEntity(<name>)'' calls. So do that next: Let's create 2500 instances of this model, spread across the ground in a 50x50 square patch! You can do this using a nested for-loop (over i=0-49 and j=0-49) and inside the loop do the following:<code cpp>
Ogre::Entity* ent = _sceneManager->createEntity("BladesOfGrass");
Ogre::SceneNode* node = _sceneManager->getRootSceneNode()->createChildSceneNode(Ogre::Vector3(i*3,-10,j*3));
node->attachObject(ent);
</code>Notice that you are not naming each entity or node when you create them! But Ogre requires unique names for each of its nodes and entities. When a name is not given, Ogre actually assigns unique names. you can take a look at these names by printing them out inside the loop:<code cpp>
std::cout << node->getName() << "::"<< ent->getName() << std::endl;
</code>(Just remember to remove the print-outs for later steps). Do you notice that with 2500 grass models the rendering has slowed dramatically?
  - **Optimize using Static Geometry** If we assume that the each grass model will stay in the same location in world space throughout your application life, we can optimize rendering by bundling them up into a packet of pre-transformed static geometry. First create a single new ''StaticGeometry'' instance. Add this line after the ''convertToMesh'' call:<code cpp>Ogre::StaticGeometry* field = _sceneManager->createStaticGeometry("FieldOfGrass");
</code> And now, instead of instancing the grass entities into the scene graph directly, we add them into the static geometry object in the body of our nested for-loop. So, the body of the loop becomes: <code cpp>
Ogre::Entity* ent = _sceneManager->createEntity("BladesOfGrass");
field->addEntity(ent,Ogre::Vector3(i*3,-10,j*3));
</code> Finally, after we have added all the entities to our ''field'', we need to ask the static geometry to "bake"/optimize with the following call: <code cpp>field->build();
</code>Now you should try running the scene again and see if there is any improved performance! 
  - <box green 100% | Bonus point>**Testing Another Scene Manager** The so called "world geometry" of a game is often considered static and can be highly optimized for rendering. One optimized format for representing a static world is the BSP level format used originally by id's Quake engine. Ogre can read worlds in this format and display them using the ''BspSceneManager''. To try this, add the following method in your application<code cpp>	void loadQuakeMap() {     
		// add the Quake archive to the world resource group
		Ogre::ResourceGroupManager& rgm = Ogre::ResourceGroupManager::getSingleton();
		rgm.addResourceLocation("/Development/OgreSDK_vc10_v1-8-1/media/packs/chiropteraDM.pk3", "Zip", rgm.getWorldResourceGroupName(), true);
		// associate the world geometry with the world resource group, and then load the group
		rgm.linkWorldGeometryToResourceGroup(rgm.getWorldResourceGroupName(),"maps/chiropteradm.bsp", _sceneManager);
		rgm.initialiseResourceGroup(rgm.getWorldResourceGroupName());
		rgm.loadResourceGroup(rgm.getWorldResourceGroupName(), false);
	}
</code>Of course replace the absolute path here with a path that is correct on your system. To initialize the camera to properly view this map (it's actually rotated), add the following camera initialization method:<code cpp>	void setupQuakeMapView(Ogre::Camera* cam){
		// modify camera for close work
		cam->setNearClipDistance(4);
		cam->setFarClipDistance(4000);
		// set a random player starting point
		Ogre::ViewPoint vp = _sceneManager->getSuggestedViewpoint(true);
		// Quake uses the Z axis as the up axis, so make necessary adjustments
		cam->setFixedYawAxis(true, Ogre::Vector3::UNIT_Z);
		cam->pitch(Ogre::Degree(90));
		cam->setPosition(vp.position);
		cam->rotate(vp.orientation);
	}  
</code>
Finally, you need to tell Ogre to use the BSP scene manager, which you do when you create your scene manager in the ''startup()'' method of your application. You can name the scene manager explicitly like this:<code cpp>_sceneManager =_root->createSceneManager("BspSceneManager");
</code> Now you have everything you need to display the Quake level, all you have to do is to call ''loadQuakeMap()'' and ''setupQuakeMapView(camera) from your ''startup'' method and comment out some of the other things you don't wish to include (e.g. the grass above). Also, you may want to free up the camera movement (i.e. go back to the free mouse movement of camera, instead of having camera following the Ogre).
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===== When You Are Finished =====

Upload your **source files** into Lab6 in MySchool. The lab projects will not be graded, but their completion counts towards your participation grade.