> > anti-aliasing could be implemented, I suppose.. or at least a slight blur effect... also, voxels can move around more smoothly and move in all directions (and rotate in all directions as well)

> > > I posted this yesterday on the Imperial Seige forum, but I'd like to get comments from here as well:
> > > -------
> > > What was ever wrong with sprites? I just got into RA2 modding recently, but I must admit that Voxels seem problematic (mostly due to the normals) just to get an image that is sub-standard to sprites in many aspects. After all, one of the greatest things ever invented in computer graphics is anti-aliasing, and since voxels don't really support that, they will never look as good until we use them on super hi-res monitors where the blockiness isn't so apparent.

> > > The only practical use seems to be where the little planes fall to the ground and crash (rotating as they fall)...at no other time do we see any more than the top of each unit at the same camera angle. (Except for the vehicles going up and down hills, but honestly I could live without that.)

> I think for example the legs of the MK2 in TS need 3D too.
> And Banshees need it too while cornering.

> > > I'm asking because I'm interested in doing a space-based mod; basically using the RA2 engine and completely redoing the graphics. Yes, starships are 3d and rotate on all axes, but I would personally rather have a cleaner, sharper image than a blocky semi-3d voxel. Sprites seem to be the only logical method even though the RA2 program itself seems to be geared toward voxels. From what I've found, sprite-based vehicles have not been explored much in RA2, and it is requiring a good amount of trial and error to get them to work.

> > > So I'm curious, what advantage(s) do you modders see with the voxels?

so i'll reply with exactly the same thing from the SW:IS forum

yep, nothing wrong with vxls, in fact, they're much better than shps, it's 3d, if not u cant have functions like planes spinning when crashing, tanks rocking and stuff, unless u want ALOT of frames
and as for normals, it'll soon be a thing of the past, i'll be working with flyby, xcc and eclipse to release the info on perfect normals

anyway, there's nothing wrong with SHP units, no problem if u have the resources and skills to make the 3d model and convert it to thousands of frames
you ARE new to ra2 modding, go explore voxels, and u'll learn that u can make things that look as good as 2d images and many possibilities like firing animations, hva animation and stuff, if u really want good vxls with nice RA2 normals, use the 3ds2vxl tool to convert your 3ds ships, it'll still be easier to make than SHPs

and your mod, there're already 2 that have the idea

extra: anti aliasing.... now how are u gonna do that with SHPs? the edges will still be as edgy as ever, if u're talking about the colours, u're very wrong if u think it couldn't be done with vxls