Leonardo RD's blog

I have added a new parameter to the iCelNavMeshParams class, polygonSearchBox. Here is a detailed description (copied from the parameter values post):

"Before creating a path, Detour finds the closest polygons in the navigation mesh to the origin and destination points. This parameter determines the dimensions of the bounding box where Detour will look for the closest polygons. The bounding box is represented by two vertices: (center + polygonSearchBox) and (center - polygonSearchBox), where center is the point one wants to find the closest polygon to.

This parameter is also used to determine if a low level path that was calculated by Detour reaches it's intended destination (Detour always returns a path, either to the destination or the closest possible point). If the distance between the two points, in each of the coordinates, is less then this parameter, then they are considered to be close enough for this purpose."

One simple way to understand this parameter using the demo application is clicking on a point that is not exactly on the navigation mesh. For example, consider clicking on the walls: the greater the y coordinate of the polygonSearchBox, the higher you can click on the wall and still have the path traced.

If some object changes position in a map, instead of rebuilding the whole navigation structure, one can update it using the iCelHNavStruct::Update() method. This method takes a bounding box and a pointer to a sector as parameters (although the sector is optional): the bounding box describes the area of the navigation mesh that one wishes to update, and the sector determines which sector should be updated. If no sector is specified, then the bounding box will be collided with each of the sectors navigation meshes' bounding boxes to determine what sectors have to be updated.

Note that this should probably not be used for objects that are on constant movement (npcs for example), since it's not very fast. This can be seen on the apppathfindingtest application by pressing 'y' (check last modifications to the demo application on this post).

Although updating a navigation structure takes some time, it is still way faster then rebuilding it.

In order to showcase the updating capabilities of the navigation structure, I have added a large stone block to the initial sector of the path finding demo application. This block moves linearly back and forth between two points near the stairs, and it is taken into account when building the navigation structure.

Stone block and the hole left behind when the navigation structure was built.

I also added some new hotkeys to this application, here is a description:

• '4' - Toggle stone block rendering.
• 'u' - Update the area of the navigation structure where the stone block is.
• 'y' - Toggle auto-updating for the area where the stone block is. When this is turned on, the navigation structure will be updated every frame.