Re: [GD-General] Vector GUIs

[Brian H. <ho...@py...>]

Tom Hubina mentioned to me that a compromise would be to=
 rasterize 
the vector elements into a 2D mesh and then use texture mapping=
 to 
fill the interiors with some kind of repeating texture.

This works fine if you can use a textured background and you're=
 happy 
with it either A.) repeating differently at different=
 resolutions, or 
B.) having it bilerp up.  The advantage is that drawing the GUI 
requires almost no texture consumption because you don't have 
predefined GUI elements sitting in texture memory, just=
 decorative 
textures (fills, strokes, etc.)  You could also leverage the use=
 of 
vertices by relying on vertex color for added effects, e.g. doing=
 
bevels or gradients.

There are worst case situations where the number of vertices can=
 
skyrocket, e.g. making a round radar image that has to be=
 perfectly 
smooth at 400x300 screen size on a 1600x1200 display (well, the=
 worst 
case would be a full screen circular HUD element at 1600x1200). =
 
Obviously you don't have to hit 1-pixel accuracy, and I'm not=
 even 
sure if vertex counts are really a concern compared to the=
 texture 
savings.

I do think there's a lot to be said for pixel perfect interface 
elements, it adds a level of polish that makes a big difference=
 in 
perceived refinement.  I know every time I play a game that has=
 base 
640x480 interface bitmaps scaled up to the desired resolution=
 that it 
just looks really unpolished to me, but maybe that's my own bias=
 
showing through.

In fact, I've seen this when dealing with 2D games that have nice=
 
looking sprite artwork, then I see a similar game using 3D=
 graphics 
and textures, and the latter looks much worse because of bilerp=
 and 
mip artifacts.

Brian