Jupiter
Extended (“EX”) Technology is the latest multi-platform
game development kit from Touchdown Entertainment. Driven
by an all-new DirectX 9 renderer and numerous other upgrades,
Jupiter EX is the ideal technology for teams creating advanced
3D games.
RENDERING
Jupiter EX is powered by a new flexible, extensible, and data
driven DirectX 9 renderer that uses materials for rendering
all
visual objects. Each material associates an HLSL shader
with artist-editable
parameters used for rendering, including texture maps (normal,
specular, emissive, etc.), colors, and numeric constants.
LIGHTING MODEL
Jupiter EX features a unified Blinn-Phong per-pixel lighting
model, allowing each light to generate both diffuse and
specular lighting consistently across all solid objects in
the
environment. The
lighting pipeline uses the following passes:
Emissive
The emissive pass allows objects to display a glow
effect and establishes the depth buffer to improve
performance.
Lighting
The lighting pass renders each light, first by generating shadows and then
by applying the lighting onto any pixels that are visible and not shadowed.
Translucency
The translucent pass blends all translucent objects
into the scene using back to front sorting.
SAMPLE
LIGHTS
Jupiter EX's lighting model is very flexible and allows developers to easily
add new lights. Existing lights include:
Point
Light
The point light is a single point that emits light equally in all directions.
Spotlight
Similar to a flashlight, the spotlight projects light within a specified
field of view. The spotlight can also use a texture to tint the
color of the
lighting on a per pixel basis.
Cube
Projector
Similar to the point light, the cube projector uses a cubic texture to
tint each lit pixel.
Directional
Light
This lighting is emitted from a rectangular plane and is used to simulate
directional lights like sunlight.
Point
Fill
Although similar to the point light, the point fill is an efficient option because
it does not utilize specular lighting or cast shadows.
VISUAL
EFFECTS
Jupiter EX features
a new optimized, data driven effects system that
allows for the creation of key-framed effects that
can be comprised of dynamic lights, particle systems,
models, and sounds. Examples of the effects that
can be created using this system include weapon muzzle
flashes, explosions, footsteps, fire, snow, steam,
smoke, dust, and debris.
Integrated
Technologies
MODELING
AND ANIMATION
Jupiter
EX contains a flexible animation system designed to create
highly realistic characters and animated objects. This module
includes support for skinning, animation blending, level of
detail and lip-syncing.
Jupiter EX's facial
animation system features phoneme-based lip-syncing that
support a wide range
of expressions to bring game characters to life.
NETWORKING
MODULE
Jupiter EX's networking module uses a client/server architecture and supports
a
wide range of multiplayer applications with up to 16 players on each server.
Jupiter EX
also includes Linux server support.
DATABASE EDITOR
The Game Database Editor (GDE) is a new tool that replaces
the Attribute system used in Jupiter and allows easy editing
of game attributes and game resources. The GDE also features
an optional interface with AlienBrian.
Content
Creation Tools
WORLD
EDIT
World
Edit is similar to the DEdit environment creator in Jupiter
with enhancements to support Jupiter EX's new rendering and
visibility systems. World Edit allows level designers to create
dynamic 3D environments, worlds, levels, structures and lighting
with one easy-to-use tool. The level designer also uses World
Edit to populate the world with objects and interactive items.
MODEL
EDIT
Jupiter
EX features the latest version of ModelEdit, which has been
extended to include improved UI. ModelEdit ensures models are
optimized to interact correctly with environments and other
objects. Artists can also use ModelEdit to define specific properties,
assign texture IDs, attach objects to models and manipulate
animation data.
FX
EDIT
FxEdit
is used to create and modify visual effects. The tool enables
the creation of in-game visual effects without requiring a
recompile, thereby increasing the efficiency of the design
and implementation
of special effects. The latest version of FxEdit has been updated
with an improved user interface as well as more robust and
efficient effects.
3D STUDIO
MAX / MAYA EXPORTERS
Jupiter EX includes custom plug-ins for 3D Studio Max and Maya
that allow developers to export world geometry as well as character
models. The model exporters also include support for skinning,
animation blending and level of detail.
Contact
us at
for more information about licensing Jupiter EX.
