I remember a good while back, someone suggesting rendering the 3d scene and colouring the entire level mesh black (0,0,0). Transparent entities would be made see through. Then rendering whatever you want to check for camera visiblity, white (255,255,255)
The biggest problem was checking all the pixel on the screen, as this was a very slow process even if rendered in a lower res, like 640x480.
BUT, what about rendering the camera in a super low res mode. like 64x48 pixels? This would be alot quicker to check. AND, since the colours of the pixels should be blended, then, you are only checking for anything OTHER THAN black. If this is detected, then you entity is visible to the camera.
Anyone tried this out at such a low resolution? I think it might be a workable solution.
The biggest problem was checking all the pixel on the screen, as this was a very slow process even if rendered in a lower res, like 640x480.
BUT, what about rendering the camera in a super low res mode. like 64x48 pixels? This would be alot quicker to check. AND, since the colours of the pixels should be blended, then, you are only checking for anything OTHER THAN black. If this is detected, then you entity is visible to the camera.
Anyone tried this out at such a low resolution? I think it might be a workable solution.