Implement polygon-based tools

[Poikilos]

The current system of generating tools creates a ridiculous number of polygons for a tool that is 64x64 or more (the number of polygons in a 32x32 tool is also very high). Ironically, making a mesh for each tool would use far fewer polygons.

Example:

• a rod that is 20x20 pixels diagonally (such as for a tool) and about 3 pixels wide
  • polygon count:
    • front & back: 20*3 + 20*3
    • right & left (with stairstepping since diagonal, so multiply height by 2): 20*2 + 20*2
    • bottom: 3
    • subtotal: 203, but Multiply ALL by 2 due to converting quads to tris
    • TOTAL: 406
• For contrast, a 3d modeler could produce a mesh like that in 30 seconds that has only 20 tris!
  

Possible solutions:

• Add a feature to Bucket_Game to use a mesh for a tool, if that is backward-compatible (does not require an engine change). If not, then:
• Add a "smart" 3D object generator to the engine (This is definitely backward-compatible, but the improvement will only be visible in clients that have the feature [I guess]). A tracing function (as opposed to the current function which is a voxelizer) can generate the 3D model that is far more efficient. Intelligently choosing which parts to make smooth or sharp on the edge is possible--basically, any extension that has a continuous thickness can become a shaft. Basing the model on an extruded rectangle (put implemented as making a "hill") would be much easier to program and still have the same savings or more. This would change the style from voxel-style to a smooth style, so it should be optional. Customizing and using an existing heightmap generator is possible if the code is changed to: 1. convert color to grayscale (lighter if farther from edge, calibrated by farthest as 100% aka white) 2. account for alpha (change to A>255 black but retain A, trim parts of the model where alpha is below a threshold or even just delete all points on the outer edge). Here is a list of heightmap projects with detail optimization:
  • hmm (C++11, MIT License)
  • tin-terrain (C++, MIT License; needs certain changes since caters to GeoTIFF)