[Fluxus] texture transparency for particles

[gabor papp]

hi Kassen,

> Are there any known factors that would cause this?
it's difficult to tell without seeing your code, but try 
(hint-ignore-depth). it is needed for transparent objects, because the 
transparent parts are also written to the z-buffer, which should be 
avoided. then you also need (hint-depth-sort), but as i see you are 
using that already.

> Another thing that has me wondering is depth-sort. When should this be
> called? Is it merely the scope of the statement that matters or does it also
> matter when it is called relative to the moment when objects get
> defined/placed/moved?
it does not matter when it is called. it is specified on state level. 
simply put fluxus works in two passes. first it sets hints, object 
parameters, transformation, etc. then it renders everything in the 
second pass.

> It seems to me like using a scale vector (with
> non-equal elements) on a skinned particles object will muck with the
> depth-sort between the particles. Can this be prevented?
if you use (scale) with non-uniform values on the particle primitive, it 
will distort the orientation of the particles. they will not face 
towards the screen. try to change the "s" primitive data instead if you 
want to scale the particles. something like this:
(with-primitive p
	(pdata-map!
		(lambda (s) (vector 1 .5 1))
		"s"))

best,
gabor