Materials Reference

Module defined in lua/common/jbeam/materials.lua. Processes material switches, glow maps, and deform group material bindings for vehicle 3D objects.

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Exports

Functions

M.process(vehicleObj, vehicle)

Processes the vehicle's glowMap and flexbody deformGroup data to set up switchable materials on the engine object. Creates material switches for glow maps (with simpleFunction or advancedFunction evaluators), binds deform group materials to beams, and pre-compiles all material states to avoid shader lag at runtime. Stores result in vehicle._materials.

• Parameters:
  • vehicleObj - userdata - The C++ vehicle object (from scenetree)
  • vehicle - table - Assembled vehicle data with glowMap, flexbodies, beams sections
• Returns: nil

Internal Notes

• Glow map entries support two evaluator types:
  • simpleFunction: string (single trigger) or table {triggerName = coefficient} - summed and multiplied
  • advancedFunction: {triggers = {...}, cmd = "..."} - arbitrary expression
• Evaluator functions are compiled via load() with a material variable environment (mv).
• Deform groups link flexbody materials to beams: when a beam in a deform group deforms, its associated flexbody material switches to the damaged variant.
• All material states are pre-switched during processing to force shader precompilation.
• Output stored in vehicle._materials = { mv, triggerList, triggers, matState, deformMeshes }.
• triggers copy sent to vehicle side has evalFunction stripped (not serializable).