The ability to use an alpha mask for "UI groups"

[rater193]

Essentially, the idea behind this is to use a greyscale image to set how “transparency” for a group would be represented. This system would be extremely useful for countless reasons! There is already the ability to clip an object to render to a specific frame and only inside it, however it would be nice id we had more control by using an alpha map. an example of how this would be useful would be a round minimap. right now you have to do math to do a spherical minimap, but with this system, you just draw out in paint or photoshop an area that you want to be visible, then upload the decal, and use it as the alpha mask for a ui group.

A lot of other engines already do this, one notable engine being unity3D, i use alpha masks for ui elements on there all the time.

Here are some example screenshots of things that would be possible with alpha masks
Stats bar

Healthbar

[Tiffblocks]

I’d like this to be supported by our UI, but it’s a complex feature with significant performance implications, so we’ll see.

[rater193]

the shader for coding this in isnt hard to code at all. Considering this is a shader that would make this work, it SHOULD be pretty quick with almost anything.

[EchoReaper]

Hi rater193,

Welcome to the devforums! Generally a good rule of thumb to follow is to assume that nothing is simple. It can be a good idea to trust the professional engineers that are more familiar with their own systems and programming in general when they say something about a particular feature. Also, keep in mind that if it were really that simple, it would have been implemented already :P

Thanks, and enjoy your stay.

[rater193]

fair enough