Proper 3D in Corona

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

Hi Corona team

I have a game I’ve been working on in Corona now for 8 months and has finally been released on Google Play store 6 weeks ago.  Downloads are now hitting 500 a day on good days and I’m adding to app store this weekend.  My game is in isometric as it is a SimCity-style city builder.

You can see it here - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spheregamestudios.designercity

I would like to do my next big release in full 3D so I can have variable PoVs, play with lighting for night and day, have realistic shadows and let users roam their city as if in they were driving around in one of the cars and many other things.

I’ve invested a lot of time and effort in LUA and would hate to have to restart in Unity.  Are there any plans to release a 3D capable version of Corona without me having to port everything to Unity?  My models are all 3ds exported to pngs.

Would really like to keep my codebase in LUA.

Thanks

Adrian

#2

Hi Adrian,

Corona is a 2D/2.5D engine and there are no plans to make a 3D version. I’m not sure how many POVs you would require in your 3D concept, but as for lighting, you may be able to achieve some of this using Corona filter effects. Also, there is a new 3rd-party product from the same author as TexturePacker called “Sprite Illuminator” which can apparently render dynamic lighting effects onto 2D objects… I haven’t tried it myself, but you could explore that for lighting effects while remaining in 2D.

As for shadows, another Corona developer created a module that can render dynamic, realistic shadows that move and adjust to a lighting source.

Best regards,

Brent

#3

Hi Brent,

That’s a shame because 2.5D just won’t work with 3ds models… I was hoping with John on board and with Unity pushing into 2D that Corona might look into 3D?

What I really wanted to achieve is to allow the user to pan, rotate and zoom the view point and not just the display group.  The ability to be able to view a city from all angles would be a really cool feature. Much like SimCity BuildIt.

Lighting by applying overlays is never going to look right compared to ray casting. And I can’t see how a shadow can be realistically created from a 2d image of a 3d model?

Looks like I might have to port to Unity then which is a shame as I love the ease of Corona.  Are there any plans to be able to compile to windows devices on the roadmap?  Also are you guys planning on supporting openIAP for SlideMe? http://slideme.org/developers/iap

Also, don’t know if you are aware but I got a Google Play notice about a security vulnerability in Vungle plugin?

Looks like Unity is my only hope for true 3D… Shame

Thanks

Adrian

#4

There are 3D engines using Lua, either as the main interface or as a scripting layer. Off the top of my head I can think of Havok (which I used for a previous project, back when it was called Vision), ShiVa (unfortunately, was Lua 5.0, last I checked; might have changed), and Urho3D. (I don’t know the licensing terms of Bitsquid and Evolution, but they use Lua as well.) There are also assorted projects like goluwa, but they’re almost certainly less maintained / full-featured / multiplatform / etc.

Obviously the API of any of these is unlikely to have much in common with Corona, but I imagine a decent chunk of your codebase must be just regular Lua, if you’re loathe to change.

#5

Hi Adrian,

Corona is a 2D/2.5D engine and there are no plans to make a 3D version. I’m not sure how many POVs you would require in your 3D concept, but as for lighting, you may be able to achieve some of this using Corona filter effects. Also, there is a new 3rd-party product from the same author as TexturePacker called “Sprite Illuminator” which can apparently render dynamic lighting effects onto 2D objects… I haven’t tried it myself, but you could explore that for lighting effects while remaining in 2D.

As for shadows, another Corona developer created a module that can render dynamic, realistic shadows that move and adjust to a lighting source.

Best regards,

Brent

#6

Hi Brent,

That’s a shame because 2.5D just won’t work with 3ds models… I was hoping with John on board and with Unity pushing into 2D that Corona might look into 3D?

What I really wanted to achieve is to allow the user to pan, rotate and zoom the view point and not just the display group.  The ability to be able to view a city from all angles would be a really cool feature. Much like SimCity BuildIt.

Lighting by applying overlays is never going to look right compared to ray casting. And I can’t see how a shadow can be realistically created from a 2d image of a 3d model?

Looks like I might have to port to Unity then which is a shame as I love the ease of Corona.  Are there any plans to be able to compile to windows devices on the roadmap?  Also are you guys planning on supporting openIAP for SlideMe? http://slideme.org/developers/iap

Also, don’t know if you are aware but I got a Google Play notice about a security vulnerability in Vungle plugin?

Looks like Unity is my only hope for true 3D… Shame

Thanks

Adrian

#7

There are 3D engines using Lua, either as the main interface or as a scripting layer. Off the top of my head I can think of Havok (which I used for a previous project, back when it was called Vision), ShiVa (unfortunately, was Lua 5.0, last I checked; might have changed), and Urho3D. (I don’t know the licensing terms of Bitsquid and Evolution, but they use Lua as well.) There are also assorted projects like goluwa, but they’re almost certainly less maintained / full-featured / multiplatform / etc.

Obviously the API of any of these is unlikely to have much in common with Corona, but I imagine a decent chunk of your codebase must be just regular Lua, if you’re loathe to change.