Calibrated Screenshots

The screenshot generation code for FC Resource was based upon measurements prepared from a level made for alignment purposes using the in-game level editor. Given the lack of accurate tools in the editor, this introduced errors into the screenshots. Therefore, using the FCML editor to create precise levels was a little difficult and tedious. Comparing the positions of objects using the screenshots was also an impossibility. However, the good news is that I've re-created this alignment level using FCML, resulting in much more accurate numbers. Although the screenshots are not yet flawless, they have become very accurate.

I discovered that static rectangles and dynamic rectangles are slightly smaller than their actual width and height numbers. The build and goal areas follow their dimensional numbers exactly. This, no doubt, led to some inaccurate screenshots!

The only thing left needing calibration is the display of the joints (grey circles). However, due to limitations in the drawing library that I am using, this is difficult.

New Boundary Markers for Screenshots

Design and level pages now have a new screenshot available: the enhanced wireframe. In contrast to the regular wireframe image, this also draws the axis of the arena and its three important boundaries. The axis is the same type of axis on any Cartesian coordinate plan: two lines cross at the origin (0,0). The inner boundary, colored blue, is the immediately viewable area that isn't shrouded by the top toolbar or the sides of the arena. Outside that boundary is the middle boundary, colored red, that is the area that can actually be panned to and viewed. Far out is the outer boundary, colored cyan, that shows the point at which physics "stop." Any object that is wholely beyond this point disappears from the level.


Above is the screenshot from the "Enhanced Wireframe" tab on design and level pages.