[compiz] Feature Request

[Mark McCarron]

I was thinking of a black void into which objects could be placed.  For example, you would be able to render an entire level of an FPS within the void and include basic collision detection.  I know that a void will add to the overhead as both the inside and outside must be rendered.  Also, most games use a form of BSP tree that only renders what is visible as a method of optimisation.
 
I have a good sense of what I want to achieve in terms of visual and interaction.  For example, let's say you are using MySpace (or Facebook, Newsvine, etc.) and there is a link that will direct you to someone's public desktop.  After clicking the link, the user will be directed away from the current window to a seamless transition to the the other users desktop.  This depends on two factors, firstly a dynamic DNS entry being available for the system in question and it being powered on at the time.  Each desktop could contain shortcuts that will lead to other desktops, so that people can surf from desktop to desktop.
 
I would like to develop a prototype, but unfortunately I work and it leaves very little time for anything else.  That's why I thought I would try to describe the interface here.  Besides, its something that will need to integrated into the overall architecture of Compiz and that's best left to the developers.


Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:08:28 -0700From: srhlefty at gmail.comTo: markmccarron_itt at hotmail.comSubject: Re: [compiz] Feature RequestCC: compiz at lists.freedesktop.orgI agree that it wouldn't be technically challenging to implement, at least the basic features.  The tricky part is definitely figuring out the best way to give the user control over the space.  Does the space look like an FPS level, with rooms and architecture, or just a black void with windows floating around? The more specific of a vision you have, the easier it is to write code for.  Figuring out what to do is often harder than how to do it. If you can code in OpenGL, a good place to start is to just write a standalone application with dummy blocks to represent the windows, and FPS movement controls.  I've actually written something like that in the past for a different project.  That would be a good sandbox to play with control schemes.  Windows are inherently 2D, so to keep them from disappearing if the user is looking the wrong way I suggest it might be useful to map them to cubes. 
On 10/19/07, Mark McCarron <markmccarron_itt at hotmail.com> wrote: