3D Graphics

GameMaker is a program meant for making 2-dimensional and isometric games. Still there is some functionality to create 3-dimensional graphics. Before you start with this though there are a few things you must understand.

• The 3D functionality in GameMaker is limited to the graphics part. There is no support for other 3D functionality. Once you start using 3D graphics you might get problems with other aspects of GameMaker, like the views, depth ordering, etc. The functionality is limited and has low priority to be extended. So don't expect support for 3D object models, etc.
• When you use the 3D functionality, there are a number of other things that can no longer be used.
  • You cannot use background and foregrounds in your rooms anymore. (The reason is that they are tiled to fill the image but with perspective projections this no longer work correctly).
  • You cannot use the mouse position anymore. The mouse will not be transformed to the 3D coordinates. You can still get the position of the mouse on the screen (in the view) but you will have to do calculation with this yourself (or not use the mouse at all).
  • You cannot use tiles anymore. Tiles will most likely no longer match up correctly.
  • Collision checking still uses the 2-d positions of the instances in the room. So there is no collision detection in 3D. Sometimes you can still use this (if you use the room as a representation of a flat world (e.g. for racing or FPS games) but in other situations you have to do things yourself.
• All 3D functionality is through code. You must be rather fluent with the GML language. Also you must really understand a lot about how GameMaker works otherwise you will run into trouble.
• You must have some basic knowledge about 3D graphics. In particular I will use terms like perspective projections, hidden surface removal, lighting, and fog, without much explanation.
• There is no 3D modelling in GameMaker. Also I do not plan on adding support for loading 3D models.
• You must work carefully to keep a reasonable speed. Also, things are not really optimized for speed.

If this did not discourage you, read on.

Information on 3d graphics can be found in the following pages:

Going to 3D mode
Easy drawing
Drawing polygons in 3D
Drawing basic shapes
Viewing the world
Transformations
Fog
Lighting
Creating models
Final words