I’ve been continuing my efforts to program a custom simple 2D/3D engine in Java with OpenGL with which to create a more user-friendly standalone version of my MIDI animator (and hopefully some games in the future). Lately I’ve been focusing on creating a GUI system. In terms of free open-source 3D engines in Java, I don’t much like most of the GUI implementations, so creating my own has been fun. Granted, I still run in to bugs that are tricky to fix while trying to accomplish relatively simple things, but trying to solve such problems is educational and always a bit addicting, like solving a puzzle, especially as I’m doing it for myself.
So here’s my latest progress update. I’ve settled on using STBTT (included in lwjgl) font rendering for the GUI text and the underutilized Nvidia path rendering (included in OpenGL in general) for the panels (and hopefully more in the future, including possible note shapes in the actual MIDI animator). The panels are movable and can contain an arbitrary amount of word-wrapped text. You can scroll through the text, and the panel can include a y-axis scrollbar of arbitrary size. You’ll also notice that the text fades in and out at the top and bottom, a nice little touch in my opinion that I probably spent too long programming:
I’ve also been streaming my programming efforts on twitch, which is also addicting. It turns what is usually a pretty solitary activity into something at least a little more social, and it’s fun watching the viewer count tick up now and then. Shout out to twitch user Subtixx who has even offered helpful points and advice allowing me to fix problems my eyes don’t catch (such as null-checking the darn scrollbar!); many thanks Subtixx!
My current to-do list includes (but is not limited to):
- allow gradient coloring on the panels and text
- allow rounded corners on the panels
- allow panels to have shadows (render a semi-transparent panel behind)
- allow panels to be resized dynamically
- allow panels to be closed (and maybe shrunk?)
- allow panels to contain some select common GUI elements, such as:
- buttons
- text fields (short and long)
- radio buttons
- check boxes
- sliders (continuous and quantified)
- menus (pop-up and drop-down)
- tabs on the top or side of panels (which perhaps are just specialized buttons?)
So there’s still quite a bit to do. But I must do it, for this is my quest.
In other unrelated news, a 4th album from symphonic / power metal band Ancient Bards is finally happening! I love this band and I can’t wait for their new album!
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