how to render a material on top of everything?

[robert.blodgett]

Hi, I'm trying to set up a material that is applied to a mesh such that the mesh renders on top of everything else already rendered.  I tried playing with the rendering order, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

 

Here's the material:

<material name="glow" parent="mesh_base">
		<options order="5" transparent="2" depth_mask="0" cast_shadow="0" cast_world_shadow="0"/>
		<blend src="src_alpha" dest="one_minus_src_alpha"/>
		<state name="emission">1</state>
		<parameter name="albedo_color">1 1 1 1</parameter>
		<parameter name="roughness">0</parameter>
		<parameter name="specular">0</parameter>
		<parameter name="emission_scale">2.67</parameter>
		<parameter name="emission_color">1 0.31764707 0.31764707 1</parameter>
</material>

[ulf.schroeter]

Maybe helpful

 

https://developer.unigine.com/forum/topic/545-forcing-objects-to-be-rendered-last/?fromsearch=1

[robert.blodgett]

Interesting, ulf.  That may work, however, i was looking for a simpler answer.  Basically I'm just looking for the equivalent of disabling the GL_DEPTH_TEST.  Or perhaps clearing the depth values between "rendering passes", like rendering a new group of objects after having cleared the depth buffer.  I hope this easier solution exists in Unigine.

[ulf.schroeter]

well, I think I had some similar issues some years ago, see this post https://developer.unigine.com/forum/topic/453-depth-clear-material. I think the requested explicit material depth control is still missing in Unigine 2. Also - as far as I know - there is no explicit control of depth buffer clear operations.     

[silent]

Hi,

Yes, there is indeed no way currently to disable depth test for specific material without modifying engine source files. We are still thinking on more user-friendly implementation and maybe it will be available in the next SDK versions.

 

Thanks!

[ulf.schroeter]

Simple addition of a material depth test parameter (comparable to blend parameter) should do the trick, shouldn't it ?

[silent]

Hi Ulf,

 

Yes, this step should not take too much time I guess.

[robert.blodgett]

I have found the ObjectGui allows you to turn off the depth test.  ObjectGui just seems to be a quad in space though.  How hard is it to make ObjectGuiMesh have the same property?  Is there some way to make an ObjectGuiMesh get the same property as the ObjectGui?

ObjectGuiPtr guiObject = ObjectGui::create(256, 256);
...
guiObject->setDepthTest(false); // this works




ObjectGuiMeshPtr guiMesh = ObjectGuiMesh::create(mesh, name);
...
guiMesh->setDepthTest(false); // doesn't exist.

[silent]

Hi Robert,

 

Without modifying Engine source code it's currently not possible, I'm afraid. I will add feature request to our internal bug tracker regarding the ObjectGuiMesh and setDepthTest().

 

Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

[silent]

An option to disable depth test will be available together with 2.5 SDK update. It will work with Alpha Blend transparency objects (including ObjectGuiMesh).