Psuedo 3d Textures

[Mr_Lange]

There seems to be no proper term for this technique, and it honestly blows my mind that its not used anywhere other than some old video games, because it would be incredibly useful if applied right. This is hard to explain. I need to change a texture based on the angle that its viewed from. The best example of this technique was used in Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64.

The character graphics in both games had no 3d, other than Mario Kart 64 which probably just used a textured quad. When the object is rotated or viewed at a certain angle, the corresponding image is swapped in to make it appear that its being viewed from that angle. The quad itself is billboarded. Its a clever illusion.
I need to use this technique for a big project of mine, but despite all my experimentation, I’m stumped.
Basically, I just need a plane (quad) that references multiple images (image sequence? uv map?) and moves/swaps the visible image for a different one based on the angle its being viewed at. How would I go about doing such a thing?
A couple other details:
I’m using Blender 2.49 out of preference. If for some reason Blender 2.5+ is the only way to accomplish this, I will use it.
If Python is the only way to achieve it, I’m up a crick. I haven’t the first clue how to write in Python, let alone to do this specifically, and for Blender. Maybe someone can help me with that?

Thanks in advance.

[arexma]

The proper term is “sprite”

Sprite (computer graphics)

In your case it’s “2.5D”

2.5D

Do you need to create the stills for the sprite? Then you just have to surround the model with cameras, link the cams to different scenes, and write a batch script to render all scenes.

If you want to use that technique inside Blender I guess there’s no way around python. I´d include all angles in one stripe texture, and then check the surface normal of your polygon against the viewvector of the camera and change the U-offset of the texture so the right portion of it is visible according to the rotation.

And if you’re going to use Python I´d use 2.5.

[Michael_W]

The particle system can do this using billboards I believe… I’ve never actually done it, but a grid of textures like thsi could be linked to rotation

Choose “billboards” as object type, set the “number of splits” to divide the texture up and set “animate” to based on “angle” You may then just emit a single particle with a long lifespan if you want just the one mario…

[Mr_Lange]

The proper term is “sprite”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(computer_graphics)

In your case it’s “2.5D”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2.5D

Do you need to create the stills for the sprite? Then you just have to surround the model with cameras, link the cams to different scenes, and write a batch script to render all scenes.

If you want to use that technique inside Blender I guess there’s no way around python. I´d include all angles in one stripe texture, and then check the surface normal of your polygon against the viewvector of the camera and change the U-offset of the texture so the right portion of it is visible according to the rotation.

And if you’re going to use Python I´d use 2.5.

“Sprite” refers to drawing raster graphics as an independent entity of sorts. It does not cover the technique I’m talking about.
"2.5D is an extremely broad term that refers to things as common as parallaxing. Just reading the article shows its very long and goes through many different topics all related to “2.5D”. It has no direct association with this technique, other than vaguely applying to it via a superficial definition.
Creating stills for the sprite is easy. That’s if I actually modeled and textured a character, which hardly applies to this.
Yes, I do need to do it within Blender, and what you just explained may be very helpful, thank you.

The particle system can do this using billboards I believe… I’ve never actually done it, but a grid of textures like thsi could be linked to rotation

Choose “billboards” as object type, set the “number of splits” to divide the texture up and set “animate” to based on “angle” You may then just emit a single particle with a long lifespan if you want just the one mario…

I thought of that method but I didn’t know if or how it could be done. I’ll give it a try later, but I don’t think I’ll get the results I’m looking for.