ExtendedMove Class

The ExtendedMove class expands on the standard Move class that is used by various GameBase classes, such as the Player class. The ExtendedMove class adds support for absolute positions (in millimeters) and rotations to be passed from the client to the server. This makes it easier to support new input devices such as the Leap Motion controller in multiplayer environments where the server must validate all moves.

Configure Your project.conf

The files for the ExtendedMove class and its support classes may be found under the T3D/gameBase/extended/ directory. In order to make use of the ExtendedMove class in your own project you will need to modify your project's buildFiles/config/project.conf file to pass along the $TORQUE_EXTENDED_MOVE variable to Torque 3D's Project Generator. Specifically you'll want to add the following to the top of your project.conf file:

// Set this to true to enable the ExtendedMove class.  This
// allows the passing of absolute position and rotation input
// device information from the client to the server.
$TORQUE_EXTENDED_MOVE = true;

After making this change you will need to run your project's `generateProjects.bat' file to rebuild the Visual Studio files.

Example project.conf

Here is a complete example of a project.conf file with the required change, along with Leap Motion controller support:

<?php

// Set this true to enable hifi networking instead of standard.
// In general ... hifi is designed to better deal with fast
// moving players in close proximity to each other, such as
// a racing game.
$TORQUE_HIFI_NET = false;

// Set this to true to enable the ExtendedMove class.  This
// allows the passing of absolute position and rotation input
// device information from the client to the server.
$TORQUE_EXTENDED_MOVE = true;

// Our path to the Leap Motion SDK:
$LEAPMOTION_SDK_PATH = "C:\Users\dwyand_2\Downloads\LeapMotion\Leap_Developer_Kit_0.7.1_Windows\Leap_SDK";

// Configure Torque 3D
Torque3D::beginConfig( "win32", "MarbleMotion" );

    // Include Leap Motion module
    includeModule( 'leapMotion' );
        
    // Enable for optional minidump debugging support
    // addProjectDefine( 'TORQUE_MINIDUMP' );
        
Torque3D::endConfig();

?>

Use With Other Move Classes

Using the ExtendedMove class is an all or nothing proposition. You either have your application compiled with it, or you don't. When you make use of it in your project, it is in place of the standard Move class and therefore its special properties may be accessed from any other GameBase class.

This operates in the same way that HiFi networking does, which also takes over how the Move class and its support classes operate. This means that you cannot have both ExtendedMove support and HiFi networking active at the same time.

Passing Data to the ExtendedMove Class

As the ExtendedMove class is an extension of the standard Move class all of the usual global input variables are still available. So you would still use $mvTriggerCount0 to activate the first trigger, for example.

Beyond these standard global input variables, the ExtendedMove class adds a number of global input variable to handle absolute position and rotation values. By default, the ExtendedMove class supports three sets of positions and rotations. This is enough for two hands when using the Leap Motion controller, or for head tracking from the Oculus Rift plus two hands using a Razer Hydra. Additional sets may be added by modifying the ExtendedMove::MaxPositionsRotations constant and recompiling.

GameBase Classes And ExtendedMove

Currently there are no GameBase classes that support the new properties of the ExtendedMove class. You will need to implement support for the ExtendedMove class yourself as your project requries. This could be in the form of a modified Player class, or something completely new.