Navgraph Auto-Generation

The NavPower build process automatically generates a polygonal nav-mesh over every walkable surface in the level using the level geometry as its input. The build process for a typical next-gen level takes only a few seconds and produces a compact, efficient NavGraph (300kb typical).

The automated NavGraph generation easily handles complex level layouts such as overpasses, ramps, curved tunnels, spiral staircases, and multilevel buildings using a proprietary voxelization and surface extraction technique. The rapid NavGraph auto-generation makes it easy to evaluate NavPower for your game and maximizes content creation throughput during development.

Dynamic NavGraph Modification

The NavPower runtime system provides excellent support for next-generation games requiring destructible or rapidly changing environments. The NavPower dynamic obstacle system quickly reconfigures the NavGraph at runtime, blocking off or penalizing traversal through specified areas. The dynamic obstacle functionality is fully 3-D, allowing obstacles to block walls and ceilings just as easily as they might normally block off the floor.

Additionally, NavPower supports many other runtime modifications such as jumping connections, point-to-point special connections, and line-to-line special connections. Finally, all of the runtime functionality is highly customizable, with filters to control which creature types are blocked, penalized, or able to use each of the runtime features.

3-D Surface Movement

Full 3-D surface movement allows groups of characters to run up walls and across ceilings just as easily as they would traditionally walk across the floor. Whether on wall, floors, or ceilings, the high-quality steering code handles character avoidance gracefully in crowded areas, making coordinated squad type motion easy to implement with characters automatically avoiding each other and re-pathing as necessary to avoid new dynamic obstacles.

Of course, all of the movement functionality is also highly customizable, with tunable creature sizes, parameterized movement models, and direct access to the underlying repulsion system.

Flying and Swimming Movement

The optional NavPower FlightPak adds 3-D volumetric path planning and motion planning for flying and swimming creatures. With the FlightPak, creatures are able to move through a connected set of convex volumes, turning and banking as specified by the tunable flight parameters.

For those familiar with the NavPower surface movement, the API is extremely similar, providing the client with straightforward commands along with command specification parameters that control how the command is carried out. The FlightPak can be used separately from the NavPower surface movement or in conjunction with it to create creatures which can both run and fly.

Production Ready

The NavPower system is used daily on hundreds of levels with dozens of character types at studios both large and small. The NavPower technology has a proven track record of allowing companies to focus on creating innovative AI-based gameplay without worrying over the low level path planning and motion planning issues. For further information about the NavPower technology, please contact us at .

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Underworld (c) Eidos Interactive Limited 2008.