Adding Auto Glow Texture

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 _glowmask 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_glowmask.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_glowmask.png).

   • Only the parts in the glow texture that are visible will glow in-game.
   • Make sure the _glowmask 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 Identifier MODEL_LOCATION =
        Identifier.fromNamespaceAndPath("yourmodid", "geo/example_model.geo.json");

    private static final Identifier TEXTURE_LOCATION =
        Identifier.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
        );
    }
}

Step 3: Tint the Glow (Optional)

You can tint the glow by passing a color to AzAutoGlowingLayer, without needing a custom layer.

Fixed tint:

.addRenderLayer(new AzAutoGlowingLayer<>(Color.RED))

You can use any Color, such as Color.ofRGB(64, 255, 96) for a custom shade.

Dynamic tint:

For a tint that changes with the entity's state, pass a function instead. It receives the render context every frame and returns an ARGB color as an int:

.addRenderLayer(new AzAutoGlowingLayer<>(context ->
    context.animatable().isAggressive() ? 0xFFFF4040 : 0xFF40FF60
))

Because the function runs every frame, you can also use it to pulse the glow, for example by driving the color from context.animatable().tickCount and context.partialTick().

How tinting works:

• The tint is multiplied with the glow texture's colors. Tinting works best when the glowing parts of your _glowmask texture are white or grey. A colored glow mask will mix with the tint (for example, a red glow tinted green turns dark).
• The tint is also multiplied with the renderer's own color, so it stacks with any tint your renderer already applies instead of replacing it.
• Color.WHITE (0xFFFFFFFF) means no tint, and is the same as using new AzAutoGlowingLayer<>().
• The tint's alpha fades the glow, but only while the entity is fully visible. When the entity is invisible or its renderer alpha is below 1, the renderer's alpha is used instead. The RGB tint still applies in those cases.
• The tint only affects the glow layer. The rest of the model renders as normal.

Troubleshooting

1. Glow Effect Not Visible:

   • Symptom: Entity model renders completely black on the exterior of the model.
   • Verify that your _glowmask texture is in the correct file path.
   • Ensure the glow texture is named correctly (must include _glowmask).

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 _glowmask 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.

4. Tint Looks Wrong or Too Dark:

   • Make the glowing parts of your _glowmask texture white or grey, since the tint multiplies the texture's colors.
   • Make sure your tint includes full alpha (0xFF at the start, e.g. 0xFFFF4040). A tint like 0xFF4040 has an alpha of zero, which makes the glow invisible.

Advanced Configuration (Optional)

The AzAutoGlowingLayer renders the glow at full brightness (LightCoordsUtil.FULL_SKY) by default. If you want to customize the glow brightness or other behaviors, extend the AzAutoGlowingLayer class and override its methods:

• getPackedLight(context): the light value used for the glow render.
• getGlowColor(context): the ARGB tint for the glow. Override this instead of passing a function to the constructor if your tint logic is easier to keep in a subclass.
• determineRenderType(context): the render type used for the glow, including how invisible and glowing (outlined) entities are handled.

public class PulsingGlowLayer<K, T> extends AzAutoGlowingLayer<K, T> {

    @Override
    protected int getGlowColor(AzRendererPipelineContext<K, T> context) {
        // Your tint logic here, returning an ARGB color
        return 0xFF40FF60;
    }
}