dxCreateSprite%(parent%)

Parameters

parent (optional) - parent entity of sprite

Description

Creates a sprite entity and returns its handle. Sprites are simple flat (usually textured) rectangles made from two triangles. Unlike other entity objects they don't actually have a mesh that can be manipulated.

The sprite will be positioned at 0,0,0 and extend from 1,-1 to +1,+1.

Sprites have two real strengths. The first is that they consist of only two polygons; meaning you can use many of them at once. This makes them ideal for particle effects and 2D-using-3D games where you want lots of sprites on-screen at once.

Secondly, sprites can be assigned a view mode using dxSpriteViewMode. By default this view mode is set to 1, which means the sprite will always face the camera. So no matter what the orientation of the camera is relative to the sprite, you will never actually notice that they are flat; by giving them a spherical texture, you can make them appear to look no different than a normal sphere.

The optional parent parameter allow you to specify a parent entity for the sprite so that when the parent is moved the child sprite will move with it. However, this relationship is one way; applying movement commands to the child will not affect the parent.

Specifying a parent entity will still result in the sprite being created at position 0,0,0 rather than at the parent entity's position.

Note: Sprites have their own commands for rotation and scaling.

See also: LoadSprite, dxRotateSprite, dxScaleSprite, dxHandleSprite, dxSpriteViewMode, dxPositionEntity, dxMoveEntity, dxTranslateEntity, dxEntityAlpha, dxFreeEntity.

Example

dxGraphics3D 640,480

cam = dxCreateCamera()
dxMoveEntity cam,0,0,-5

sp = dxCreateSprite()
dxRotateSprite sp,20

dxRenderWorld:dxFlip
dxWaitKey
End

Index