How to use the Auto Glow Texture feature

Overview

The Auto Glow Texture feature allows you to easily apply glowing effects to textures specific to your model without requiring additional code for handling emissive layers. AzureLib achieves this by using a second texture file with the _glowing suffix in its name, which defines the emissive parts of your model.

For instance, if your base texture is:

example_model.png

The glow layer texture would be:

example_model_glowing.png

The AzAutoGlowingLayer handles applying the glow automatically, saving time and effort for developers.

Setup Instructions

Step 1: Prepare Your Textures

1. Base Texture: Prepare a normal texture for your model as you usually would (e.g., example_model.png).

2. Glow Layer Texture: Create the glow texture by duplicating your base texture and blacking out any areas that shouldn’t glow. Keep the glowing parts visible (e.g., example_model_glowing.png).

   • Only the parts in the glow texture that are visible will glow in-game.
   • Make sure the _glowing texture matches the dimensions of the base texture.

Step 2: Add the Auto Glow Layer to Your Renderer

The AzAutoGlowingLayer is designed to be added to your renderer’s pipeline to apply the glowing effect automatically.

Here’s how you can integrate it into your custom renderer:

public class ExampleEntityRenderer extends AzEntityRenderer<ExampleEntity> {
    private static final ResourceLocation MODEL_LOCATION =
        ResourceLocation.fromNamespaceAndPath("yourmodid", "geo/example_model.geo.json");

    private static final ResourceLocation TEXTURE_LOCATION =
        ResourceLocation.fromNamespaceAndPath("yourmodid", "textures/entity/example_model.png");

    public ExampleEntityRenderer(EntityRendererProvider.Context context) {
        super(
            AzEntityRendererConfig.<ExampleEntity>builder(MODEL_LOCATION, TEXTURE_LOCATION)
                .addRenderLayer(new AzAutoGlowingLayer<>()) // Add the auto glow layer
                .build(), context
        );
    }
}

Troubleshooting

1. Glow Effect Not Visible:

   • Verify that your _glowing texture is in the correct file path.
   • Ensure the glow texture is named correctly (must include _glowing).

2. Texture Not Found:

   • Double-check that your main texture file is correctly registered in the renderer.
   • Confirm the model uses a texture location that matches your _glowing texture pairing logic.

3. Render Issues:

   • Make sure your glow texture dimensions match the base texture.
   • Test with a simple texture first to isolate potential issues.

Advanced Configuration (Optional)

The AzAutoGlowingLayer uses a packed light value of 0xF00000 by default for the glow layer render. If you want to customize the glow intensity or modify other behaviors, consider creating a custom layer by extending AzAutoGlowingLayer.